"Are you sure that i should stop?" she responded.
The woman nodded.
"I believe you, okay, i believe you so you can stop now." she said softly.
Phoebe's hair stopped flying around aimlessly and slowly came back down. Ancestor Saxon, was wheezing surprisingly, seeming to be exhausted from the small task of acting like her fan.
Phoebe wondered how the two humans would react if they could see an immortal spirit hunched over in exhaustion as if it had been engaged actively in a sport.
Turning to the husband, Phoebe spread her arms out and eyed him curiously.
"Should i do you next?"
The man shook his head vigorously. He didn't want his secrets revealed but he wanted his family to be helped.
"Please, help us." he begged. "Something has gone wrong with our family, especially our son. All sorts of weird things keep happening in the house.
First, our daughter died suddenly a few months ago, and then our son became weird. He walks around at night, screaming weird things.
He cuts every part of his body when he gets his hands on something sharp. His hair has fallen out and he makes these weird monster like noises...."
Phoebe raised her eyebrows at that part, monster like noises.
The man noticed her frown and he said, "Before you tell me that i should go to a doctor, let me save you some time. We have visited more than ten hospitals and his condition has not changed. We even had him committed for a while in a psychiatric ward and nothing changed. "
He pointed to a picture high above the fire place. It was a picture of a young teenage boy holding a trophy in his hands. He was a good looking boy, with a wide smile on his face.
There were more pictures on the wall, all of the family but most of the boy on different occasions. Phoebe studied the pictures, learning what she could from them.
He seemed to have been popular and smart. He also thrived physically, engaging in sports like basketball. From all indicators, this was a happy family, wealthy and perfect.
"That was our son, our Michael. But, if you see him now....." the father broke off.
"Take me to the boy." Phoebe commanded.
The parents that had solemn looks on their faces stood up and led the way to the bedroom upstairs. The mother was trembling as she opened it, seeming to be afraid to enter.
The father shoved it wide open and led Phoebe inside. A boy was sleeping in the middle of the bed in the large bedroom. Phoebe could see the difference between the boy in the pictures and the boy on the bed.
The one on the bed was hairless and skinny, basically skin and bones. His arms and legs were bound and she guessed that this was done to protect him.
She didn't need to see ghosts in order to tell that something had gone wrong with the boy. A child didn't become this malnourished naturally when he came from a wealthy family that pampered him.
His bedroom had an entire shelf with expensive toys and car models. He had different expensive electronics and designer shoes and clothes.
"Something is eating this child." the Saxon spirit said.
"He stinks." Connie added.
Phoebe didn't want to roll her eyes but seeing a ghost pinching it's nose with a look of disgust on its face was quite comical. You are dead, how does the smell affect you?
"What was the first thing that you noticed which told you that something was wrong?" she asked the father.
The father turned back to look at the mother as if she had all the answers. From where she was standing close to the doorway the mother opened her mouth and responded.
"His grades started slipping."
Phoebe frowned and shook her head. His grades were not exactly the answer she wanted.
"He lost his appetite." the mother gave another answer. She tried hard not to look disgusted but her face betrayed her. "He stopped eating cooked food and he developed an appetite for insects."
Connie made gagging sounds and Phoebe glared at the ghost.
"I want to know about the physical changes, did something on his body change?"
As she asked, she got gloves from her back pocket and put them on. When she was finished, she tossed another gold coin in the air and caught it.
This coin had the image of a cat, a black cat. She looked at the coin and saw no change.
"No ghost." the Saxon spirit declared.
Phoebe frowned and looked at the boy on the bed. She touched the pendant and communicated with the spirit using her thoughts.
"Have you ever seen anything like this?"
"I am not sure, maybe you should first check his body."
Phoebe was already moving as she intended to check the boys body indeed. If the answer was not with a ghost, then it was with the boy himself, or the parents.
"Has anything changed in your family situation. anything at all?" she asked them.
She checked the boys feet and noticed that they were awfully white, as if he lacked blood. They were also unnaturally cold, which was weird.
She turned him slowly and looked at his back, then his stomach and she opened his mouth. That's when the boy opened his eyes, and she saw nothing but emptiness in them. It was if he wasn't there.
Phoebe looked at the worried parents who were watching her every move and she gestured for them to hurry up.
"You haven't answered my question, has anything changed in the family situation other than your son's physical condition?"
The father shrugged and he looked at the mother.
"Nothing that i can think of. My husband and i are both fine and so is our business. The only one that is ill is our son." She answered.
Phoebe turned to the invisible ghost assistant and gestured her head in the direction of the window. Connie went over and opened it.
The raven Yin flew in immediately and landed on Phoebe's shoulder. In it's mouth were a few strands of brown hair. Phoebe took the hair from the bird and she looked at it.
She didn't know whose hair it was so she showed it to the couple. The father had black hair which was short, cut in a military fashion. The mother had brown hair, but it was longer than the one in her hands.
"Where did you get this Yin?"
The bird answered. "The energy of someone in this house is on this hair and i found it buried in the backyard of another house."
Maybe it was because the couple had heard an invisible ghost talking so seeing a bird talk did not shock them to the extremes. In fact, it grew their hope in the young shaman.
"What else was there?" she asked.
The bird opened its mouth and made regurgitating noises. Then, it threw up on the pristine floor of the bedroom.