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“I don’t know why I’m here,” Hellboy grumbled. “This isn’t the kind of case I’m good at.”
Kate smiled from her position in the driver’s seat of the Jeep; beside her, Hellboy was sunken into his own seat, which was pushed as far back as the space would allow. The stumps of his horns still hit the ceiling whenever the Jeep hit a bump. The oversize Right Hand of Doom lay across his lap, clutching the half-empty bag of Doritos he’d brought along to keep himself occupied on the little road trip.
“I need you to be my muscle, HB,” Kate said. She glanced at the directions on the Jeep’s GPS and turned onto a dirt road nearly hidden from sight by trees and bushes. They’d been driving for over two hours and their destination was definitely secluded. “We don’t know what we’re going to find when we get there.”
Hellboy shrugged. “It’s just a kidnapping case. Don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for the kid and the parents, but shouldn’t the police be taking care of this?”
“That’s what I said when we got called for this case,” Kate said. “Turns out the area had some pretty spooky things happen in the past. Most of the houses are supposedly haunted, there have been apparitions in the woods, that sort of thing.”
“So the parents think a ghost made off with their kid?”
“Hey, I don’t entirely believe it either, but we need to check it out anyway.”
As Kate drove on, she had to admit the area was pretty spooky; the dirt road was smack in the middle of a thick forest. Even though it was still early and sunny outside, the trees were so thick that Kate had to turn on the headlights of the Jeep to illuminate the road. They hadn’t passed another car for miles. The houses, or what they could glimpse of them through the trees, were far apart, and just as old, dark and spooky as the trees.
It was like driving through a dead forest. Kate tried not to shudder.
Evidently, Hellboy felt the spookiness too. “Who the heck lives out here? This place doesn’t feel right.”
Kate shrugged. “Mr. and Mrs. Fominykh do. And up until late yesterday, so did their son.”
“So what’s the story? Did someone just break in and snatch up the kid?”
“Not exactly,” Kate said. She narrowed her eyes through the gloominess to try and spot the Fominykh’s house; in the distance, she could see a single, brightly-lit house at the end of a long dirt driveway. “Their son’s name is Nicholas and he’s eight years old. Both Nicholas and his parents were in the house all day yesterday. Mrs. Fominykh left her son to play in his room—on the second storey of the house—and an hour later, he was gone. Nor forced entry into the house.”
“So maybe the kid walked out himself to find candy and got lost in the woods?”
Kate shook her head. “The parents insist they would have seen him leave his room. There’s no way he could have jumped out his window either.”
“So someone climbed in and took him.”
“They insist that it’s impossible to climb that side of the house.”
“Don’t tell me they really think a ghost floated by and took the kid?”
“They’re not saying that in so many words, but…” She trailed off as she turned the Jeep onto the driveway. “Let’s just say there’s a reason the police called in the BPRD on this one.”
They drove up the driveway, reaching the house within minutes. A tall, pale man with twitchy eyes greeted them at the end of the driveway. He nodded tersely at Kate, and graciously tried to hide his flinch when Hellboy stomped out of the Jeep.
“You must be Mr. Fominykh,” Kate said. “I’m Kate Corrigan, and this is agent Hellboy from the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence. I’m very sorry to hear about your son; we’re here to help in any way we can.”
“Thank you for coming,” Mr. Fominykh said. “My wife is inside.”
He led them inside the house. It was old, but decorated very lushly. As they were led into a large living room, Kate noticed several shards of broken pottery and dishware littering the floor.
“Are these from the kidnapping?” she asked, indicating the shards.
“Oh… no,” said Mr. Fominykh. “No, Nicholas broke those. We’ll explain in a moment.”
Mrs. Fominykh was sitting in the living room, red-eyed, and holding a tissue. She nodded shakily as Kate and Hellboy walked in, seemingly not fazed by Hellboy’s appearance. If they really did live in a haunted area, then surely the sight of a demon wasn’t about to come as a shock.
Kate sat on an ottoman close to Mrs. Fominykh; Hellboy opted to stay on his feet, and spare the house any more bits of broken furniture.
“Mrs. Fominykh, we’d like to help you find Nicholas. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions first?”
“Of course,” Mrs. Fominykh said, her voice hoarse from crying.
“For starters,” Kate asked. “What was Nicholas doing when you suspect he was taken?”
The woman waved her hand, indicating the top part of the house. “He was just… in his room. By himself.”
“You’re certain he was alone?”
Mrs. Fominykh nodded. “Absolutely.”
“And you’re certain he couldn’t have snuck out of his room when you weren’t looking?”
“No, impossible.”
“But you think that a ghost kidnapping him is more possible?” Hellboy interjected.
Mrs. Fominykh shot him a dark look. “His bedroom door was locked, mister Hellboy. I unlocked it myself to check on him, and saw that he was… gone.”
Kate frowned. “If you don’t mind my asking, why was his door locked?”
“He was being punished,” Mr. Fominykh said. He indicated the fragments of a smashed vase on the side table. “Nicholas is a sweet boy, but for some reason he refused to stop playing with our vases and dishes. He waits until we’re not looking, and always ends up breaking them.”
“Is that what happened yesterday?” Kate asked.
Mrs. Fominykh nodded tearfully. “Please understand, agents, we love our son. But this behaviour is a serious problem. Nicholas keeps breaking valuable things, and lying about it, so… we’ve had to resort to punishing him again and again. When he broke the vase yesterday—it was a very expensive vase—he was spanked, and sent to his room for an hour.”
“When we went to get him, after the punishment was over,” said Mr. Fominykh. “He wasn’t in his room anymore. It was like he vanished into thin air.”
“What did the police say?” Hellboy asked.
“They didn’t believe us, and said his door must have been unlocked, someone may have broken in, or that he just wandered off himself. But we know that isn’t true. We have no enemies, and the neighbours live far away. Agents—this entire area is very old, and very strange things have happened here for centuries. We knew that when we bought this house, and even Nicholas wasn’t afraid… we all thought of it as a novelty. Up until now, the occurrences have been amusing at best, annoying at worst. But this… for the spirits to take a child from his home… this has never happened. We’re frightened.”
“Have you ever personally seen instances of paranormal activity?” Kate asked.
“Granted, we’ve never actually seen any ghosts,” said Mrs. Fominykh. “But there have been… things. Sounds like moaning or footsteps in the night. Garden tools outside getting moved about, little things stolen and put back—as we said, annoying at worst. For the most part, we’ve enjoyed the experience of living in a haunted neighbourhood. But this… this whole incident with Nicholas changed everything.”
“I understand,” Kate said soothingly. “Do you mind if we take a look around the house?”
“Please.”
They began with Nicholas’ room. Hellboy, too tall to fit through the doorframe, waited in the hallway while Kate took a quick look around the boy’s bedroom. It was normal enough; littered with toys, but not disturbed. She opened the window, poked her head outside, and closed it again.
“They’re right about one thing,” she said. “No forced entry in the bedroom, and the side of the house is completely bare. No one human could have climbed it and snuck in.”
“I gotta admit, the ghost theory isn’t looking too crazy right now,” Hellboy said. “Unless the parents are lying. Wouldn’t be the first time someone lied about supernatural events to cover up something uglier.”
“Honestly, I don’t think they’re lying,” Kate said. She peered through the closed window at the yard and the woods beyond, narrowing her eyes in thought.
“Let’s go see the outside,” Hellboy said. “We can scan for paranormal activity there.”
Kate nodded, and followed Hellboy’s heavy, creaking steps down the staircase. They passed the kitchen, going towards the back door leading to the yard, passing through a mudroom stacked with gardening tools, coats, and shoes.
“Hang on a minute, HB…” Kate said. She rummaged through the pile of adult and kid shoes, and found what she was looking for; a pair of old leather boots that must have once belonged to the father.
Hellboy gave her a quizzical look before pushing open the door to the back yard. The outside was as creepy as the woods they had driven through to get to the house; the trees were quiet, but every once in a while there would come a little rustling sound out of nowhere. The yard was dark and overgrown, and felt musty and stifling.
“Nice garden,” Hellboy sighed.
“Well, they did say that garden tools are being stolen.”
Hellboy began fishing though his coat pockets. “All right, let’s see if we can rustle up some spooks out here.”
He’d started pulling out an amulet, but Kate put her hand on his arm. “Hang on just one moment. I have a hunch.”
Hellboy watched her tie the laces of the old leather boots together and walk up to a tree with low branches. “You think those boots are going to catch ghosts?”
“I don’t think we are dealing with a ghost,” Kate said. She swung the laces over the branch so the boots now hung from it. “I’m going to test out a little theory. Don’t laugh at me if I turn out to be wrong, okay?”
Hellboy crossed his arms and smirked. “Depends what you’re about to do. If you start to dance, I’m whipping out the cellphone and taking pictures.”
“Oh, you can just be quiet now.”
Kate took a few steps away from the dangling boots. Hoping she wouldn’t end up looking like a complete idiot, she shouted, “Grandfather, please come visit this yard! Grandfather, please come tend this house!”
For a while, there was nothing, and Kate feared her theory had been wrong. She repeated the summons three more times before a rustling in the wood caught her attention. It was hard to see through the darkened foliage, and at first Kate thought she was just seeing a raccoon or a dog, but then two furry little hands parted the bushes and a bearded face peered out, looking up at Kate, then Hellboy, with guarded caution.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Hellboy said. “Is that a--”
“It’s a domovoi,” Kate said. “The houses in the area must be full of them.” Smiling, she took a few steps towards the little man, slowly so as not to spook it. “Grandfather domovoi, may we speak with you? We need your help.”
The domovoi looked long and hard from Kate, to Hellboy, as though trying to make up its mind whether they were friends or enemies. If he noticed that Hellboy was a seven-foot-tall demon, he made no reaction.
“I don’t think he speaks English,” Hellboy remarked.
“Ssh,” Kate said. “Grandfather, may we speak with you? Are you the guardian of this house?”
After a moment, the domovoi shook his head, and finally spoke, pointing to the neighbouring house barely visible through the trees. “That one is my house.”
“Thank you,” Kate said. “We are all friends here. We think that you or your brothers may be protecting a little one named Nicholas Fominykh. We are grateful, but the protection is not necessary. Will you lead us to him?”
“Nicholas is safe,” the domovoi said, as though that was the end of the conversation.
“We’re happy to hear that,” Kate said. “May we see him? We will not take him without your permission.”
Again the domovoi gave them a good long look. After a long moment, he stepped out of the bushes. He was just two feet tall, dressed in clothes that looked hand-sewn from larger pieces. He had a long scraggly beard that nearly touched the ground. “Follow,” he said, and walked off through the bushes.
“Good call,” Hellboy said to Kate as they followed the domovoi through the thick forest, careful not to lose sight of it. “How did you figure it out?”
“It was a hunch, really,” Kate said. “It isn’t just ghosts who can haunt a house. Besides, why would a ghost want to kidnap a child? But a domovoi, on the other hand… it explains everything, the damage, the stolen things, and why Nicholas seemed to just disappear from his bedroom. A domovoi can appear anywhere in its house. And an angry domovoi can do a lot of damage.”
“Like breaking dishes and vases,” Hellboy smirked. “Poor kid. Bet he couldn’t figure out why he kept getting in trouble.”
The domovoi led them to a clearing in the woods; a young boy looked up at them. He was sitting on a pile of blankets and surrounded by toys that must have been scavenged by the domovoi from other houses. Another domovoi, who must have been the guardian of the Fominykh house, came to stand protectively between the agents and the boy. The domovoi who had led them to the clearing whispered something in the other one’s ear, and he relaxed his stance, though kept a wary eye on the intruders.
The boy was staring at Kate and Hellboy with big, glassy eyes. “Are you Nicholas?” Kate gently asked.
“Yes,” the boy nodded.
“My name is Kate. This is my friend, Hellboy. Your parents asked us to help them find you. They’re very worried about you.”
“They’re mad at me,” Nicholas said glumly.
“It’s true, they were mad,” Kate said, crouching down so she was eye-level with him. The two domovoi were still protectively standing guard. “They spanked you and sent you to your room, isn’t that right?”
Nicholas tearfully nodded.
“But it’s not because they hate you, or want to hurt you. Parents can be wrong sometimes, and your mother and father were wrong about you. You never broke any vases, right?”
Nicholas’ eyes went huge. “No, never! But they don’t believe me.”
Kate smiled, and nodded her head towards the two domovoi. “That’s because these fellows here were doing the damage, and your parents didn’t know they existed. Isn’t that right?”
“They were bad to the house,” the first domovoi said. “Bad to the yard. We must guard the house. Protect the house.”
“We understand,” Kate said to the domovoi. “We understand that you have to protect the inhabitants of the house. You took Nicholas away because you thought his parents were hurting him, didn’t you? Because you wanted to protect him?”
“We must protect those of our house,” the Fominykhs’ domovoi said. “Even from themselves.”
“Of course,” Kate said. She reached a hand out towards the boys. “Nicholas, do you miss your parents?”
Nicholas nodded.
“Would you like to come with us? We’ll take you to your parents.” Nicholas immediately looked to his domovoi protector, concerned, and Kate added, “And grandfather domovoi may come with us. I think that once we all speak with your parents, things will change.”
Satisfied, Nicholas scrambled to his feet on the pile of blankets, and took Kate’s hand. With the domovoi in tow, they picked their way through the thick brush, back to the Fominykh house.
“Who knew you were so good with kids?” Hellboy whispered as he stomped through the foliage.
Kate smiled.
*****
A very grateful Mrs. Fominykh tearfully embraced her son the second the bizarre little procession made their way back inside the house. To Kate and Hellboy’s relief, they were more than willing to sit down and listen to the story of the domovoi, though the little guardian himself had opted out of entering the house, preferring to remain hidden in the garden.
“He’s meant to be a friend, a protector of the house,” Kate explained. “He only took Nicholas because he wanted to protect him; he didn’t understand that you weren’t actually hurting him.”
“So he was the one breaking the dishes?” Mr. Fominykh said. “Oh Nicholas, we’re so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Nicholas said, hugging his mother. “He was really nice to me. He wasn’t scary at all.”
“Breaking things are their way of showing displeasure, especially when they feel their position is not being respected,” Kate said. “You didn’t even know he existed; that’s why he was upset. All of the houses around here are very old, and they must each have a domovoi.”
“We had no idea,” said Mrs. Fominykh, holding Nicholas on her lap. “Of course we wouldn’t want to upset him.”
“Just treat him like an ally,” Kate said. “Leave the boots out in the yard for him, put some food out for him once in a while—in exchange, he’ll protect your house, and your family.”
“Of course,” Mr. Fominykh said. “Of course we will. Thank you, agents. Thank you for everything.”
“Hey, she’s the one who did all the hard work,” Hellboy said, gently knuckle-bumping Kate’s shoulder with his stone hand. “I’m just the pretty face.”
They left the now-happy family, clambering back into the Jeep. It was getting dark outside; Kate couldn’t help but yawn as she sat in the driver’s seat, tired but happy.
“You did good out there, Katie,” Hellboy said, squeezing his way back into the passenger-side seat. “I don’t even know why you brought me; you could have done this all by yourself.”
Kate laughed as she started the Jeep’s engine. “I think I could get used to missions like these. No screaming, no claws, nothing to shoot? This is more my pace.”
“Then they’re all yours,” Hellboy said. He fiddled with the GPS on the dashboard. “Now how about we find the closest bar? Suddenly I’m in the mood for a beer.”
The end