by Erin Johnson
Wiley grunted. “The dead’s already raised and terrorizing our new house.”
Rhonda stuffed the rest of the toast in her mouth and rubbed her palms together. “Nige. So gat’s why wergoing to ga neromanger?” She chewed.
Misaki tugged at the top knot that bobbed on her head. “I’ll take you. It’s my day off.”
Jun looked up from his bowl. He often joined us for meals. “I thought we had plans?”
“Ah.” Misaki waved a hand. “We’ll do something tomorrow. These guys need help, and I know the woods better than anyone.”
Jun’s face fell and he turned away, but Misaki didn’t seem to notice.
I lifted a brow and blinked my stinging eyes. “The woods?”
She nodded. “Madame Shi lives outside the town’s walls.”
“Why?” Maple gaped. “Isn’t that dangerous out there? With all the monsters?”
Misaki grinned. “She’s… an unusual person.”
Jiji patted her granddaughter’s hand. “Be careful out there.” She leaned closer. “Don’t let the foreigners do anything stupid.”
Misaki rolled her eyes. “I’ll try.”
I clicked my tongue. “Hey.”
The guard just shrugged.
* * *
We finished breakfast and ventured outside Kusuri’s walls and into the woods. Misaki led the way, with Maple, Rhonda, and I following. We’d left Sam and Jun to work on house plans, and Hank, Wiley, and Yann got to work repairing all the damage from the previous night.
I wasn’t sure it was worth it to fix, but didn’t say so. Hank seemed determined to get the house in good order and wouldn’t let a little thing like a poltergeist get in his way. Annie hadn’t wanted to walk this far, and Maple came along because she was too afraid to be at the house.
Even in the middle of summer, the air felt pleasantly cool in the shade of the forest. Birds sang and flitted from branch to branch overhead, and moss blanketed the trunks of the tall, strong cedars that soared upward all around us.
Misaki swung a stick from side to side as she strode confidently through the trees. I glanced right and left. Without her, I’d be lost. Every direction looked the same and we didn’t seem to be following any discernible path.
“How do you know the way?”
She glanced back at me, then hopped over a fallen log. “Found her hut once a few years ago.” She grinned. “Made an impression.”
Huh. Iggy swung from the lantern in my hand. “That doesn’t sound like a good thing.”
“You’ll see,” she called back.
I gave Maple an uncertain look. She hugged her arms around herself, jumping at every little snap of a twig or flutter of wings.
“Hey.”
She startled at my voice.
I grinned. “It’s all right. The woods aren’t haunted.”
Her eyes darted left, then right. “As far as we know.”
Rhonda strolled about, hands in pockets, whistling out of tune. At least someone was relaxed about all this.
We wound our way deeper and deeper into the forest, the ground sloping away beneath our feet. We entered a narrow canyon, moss-covered rock walls rising tall on either side of us. Goose bumps rose on my arms at the chilly air in the shadows and our footsteps sounded louder in the silence. No more birds chirping overhead.
Down and down we wound until we moved past two gray boulders that marked the exit of the canyon. A small pond opened before us, with a house built on stilts rising from it. We all froze, taking it in. Maple edged closer and stood just behind me.
I didn’t blame her. It wasn’t the most welcoming as far homes went… or the most homelike, as far as homes went.
A string of bones and skulls dangled from the tallest peak of the thatched, mossy roof. Wood beams protruded from the house, their ends sharp and jagged like broken bones.
Several golden torches burned around the edge of the pond and along the narrow path that led to the hut’s front door. Despite the water, no frogs croaked or crickets chirped. Silence hung heavy in the air.
I took a step forward, just half a moment before Misaki could finish hissing, “Wait!”
37
The Witch’s Hut
“Raat! Raat! Raat!”
An ear-splitting call went up from somewhere nearby. My friends and I shot our hands to our ears, covering them. I looked around for the source of the noise. An odd-looking owl perched in a tree right above our heads, squawking.
I frowned as I looked at it, realizing why it seemed so odd. It appeared to be a taxidermied Frankenstein’s creature, a mishmash of body parts from different animals. It had an owl’s tawny body but a frog’s head. Rough, ragged black stitching held the animal parts together.
A dark figure I hadn’t noticed before lurched up from the garden in front of the house and peered our way.
“Madame Shi!” Misaki called, her hands still over her ears as the frog owl sounded the alarm.
“Raat! Raat!”
The necromancer ducked her head and hobbled, hunched over, into the house.
“Wait!” Misaki cried.
The old woman slammed the door behind her.
Misaki shot me a look and I shrugged. “What?” I shouted. “I was supposed to know she had a creepy owl thing security system.”
The guard jerked her head. “Come on!”
We edged past the creature and headed around the pond toward the hut on the far side. Twisted tree roots snaked into the water, which I was careful to keep my distance from.
The owl alarm stopped its cries, leaving us in heavy silence again. As we neared the house, more creatures emerged from the shadows. I curled my lip at a spider with a squirrel’s head, a lizard with the feet of a mouse, and a raccoon with white duck wings.
As I passed the winged raccoon, its mouth dropped open and its eyes blinked. “Ahh!” Iggy and I screamed in unison. I leapt back and slammed into Misaki.
She righted me and made a face at the creature. “Like I said. This place made an impression.”
More and more taxidermied creatures littered the necromancer’s lawn. I guess some people had pink flamingos, and she had these lovely monstrosities. I glanced back at Rhonda, who wore a frown on her face. “Are all necromancers this creepy?” I whispered. We’d nearly entered the garden and I didn’t want her to hear and be offended… or turn me into one of them.
Rhonda shook her head. “I’ve known a lot of necromancers in my day.” She recoiled from a snake with a wolf’s head, its eyes shifting right and left, right and left. “And I’ve never seen anything like this. For the ones I knew, spirits and death are a part of the natural cycle—keeping a body preserved like this, instead of letting it decay and return to the earth? They would have viewed this as very unnatural.” She shrugged. “But eh. Everyone’s got their hobbies.”
Iggy made a face. “I guess.”
We stepped past the half-fallen fence that surrounded the garden and crept toward the front door. Twisted, moldy roots rose from the ground, and bones and bird skulls littered the earth. I buried my nose in the crook of my elbow and tried to breathe through my mouth. “Ugh. What is that?”
Misaki coughed, Maple covered her nose and mouth, and Rhonda hiked her kimono over the lower part of her face. Flies buzzed around a pile of red entrails.
“That’s just revolting.” Iggy’s flames turned a pale green.
We stepped past them and between the twin torches that burned alongside the doorway.
Rhonda looked right and left, frowning. “There’s no protection circle drawn around the house. Odd.”
Misaki was the only one brave enough to knock. The raps echoed through the dark, dense forest.
Footsteps scuffed from inside. A hoarse voice on the other side of the door croaked, “Go away.”
“Eep.” Maple stumbled back a few steps. “I think we should do what she says.”
My stomach tightened, and I felt inclined to agree.
Misaki glanced at us, a little exaspe
rated. She lowered her voice. “She’s a hermit, lives out here all alone, keeps to herself, and then a bunch of strangers comes marching up to her door.” She lifted her brows. “She’s probably more afraid of us than we are of her.”
Iggy frowned. “Do we have a bunch of dead animals sewn together? No? Then probably not.”
The guard shot him a look, then knocked again. “You don’t need to be afraid. We’re here to talk to you about a house in Kusuri you once performed a séance at.”
There was a pause. “The lawyer’s house?”
She remembered it.
Misaki nodded. “Yes. My friends here are remodeling it and have run into some…” She glanced at me and winced. “Challenges.”
Hooowwwoooooo.
I froze, my skin tingling and ears pricked. Rhonda, Maple, and I all looked to Misaki. She held still, listening, then let out a shaky breath. She spoke again, her words low and urgent. “Please, Madame Shi. Let us in. There’s a monster nearby.”
Maple whimpered, and I found her hand and squeezed it.
Hoooweeeooo. The call sounded again. Louder. Closer.
“Why should I let you in?” the witch croaked.
I slid closer to the door, ducking under a string of tiny animal skulls, and spoke in a hushed tone. “We just want to ask you some questions—find out what you remember about the house.”
“And the ghost you spoke to,” Maple squeaked.
Rhonda meandered about the front garden, frowning at the clean white bones that protruded from the earth. It was as if Madame Shi was growing them.
Misaki flashed her eyes at me and twirled a finger for me to keep trying.
“Oh. Um. And you totally don’t have to, but we’d be so grateful if you came to the house and performed another séance. We believe a spirit may be haunting us and—and we’ll pay you of course, but only if you want—”
I choked on my words as another animal howl sounded nearby. My heart thundered in my chest.
“Just a minute.” The witch’s voice sounded farther away, as though she’d moved deeper into her hut.
“If she doesn’t let us in, you’re going to need to run.” Misaki’s chest heaved. “I’ll do my best to fend the creature off, but—”
I shook my head. “We’re not leaving you to fight it alone.”
Misaki opened her mouth to speak, but stopped, eyes wide. I turned around and followed her gaze over my shoulder. A pair of glowing green eyes watched us from the shadows of the forest.
Maple spotted it and her hands flew to her mouth. Misaki and I spun to face the witch’s door and pounded with our fists. “Let us in!” I nearly pressed my lips to the rough wood of the door, I wanted in so badly.
I lurched forward as the door swung open.
“Come in,” Madame Shi hissed, sweeping an arm toward the interior.
Despite the ferocious monster on our heels, I hesitated in the doorway. I’d only seen her from afar before, but now got a better look.
Madame Shi wore her long, black hair parted over her shoulders. She’d twisted some of it into two downward-curving horns that protruded from the sides of her head like stylized pigtails. Twigs and small bones stuck out from her dark, matted locks, and she’d smeared soot across the top half of her face, forming a sort of mask.
Mismatched eyes blinked at me, one brown, the other cloudy and gray. She clicked her long, dirty fingernails together. Tap, tap tap. “Get inside!”
Maple slammed into me from behind, ushering me into the dim light of the hut, Rhonda and Misaki on our heels. The door slammed shut behind us, the lock clicking into place a moment later.
38
Madame Shi
Maple, Rhonda, Iggy, Misaki, and I huddled together inside the one-room hut. Madame Shi scuttled past us, her back hunched, and headed for the walk-in fireplace on the far wall. A cauldron bubbled over a fire. I lifted my brows. Wow. So she was like, legit, a witch.
Awhoooooo!
The monster call sounded again, and a snuffling noise came from the other side of the door behind us. Maple clutched my arm and I shrank up against her. Even though the monster was apparently right outside, I wasn’t entirely sure we were safer in the hut.
“Caw!”
I jumped, then grimaced at the taxidermied raven mounted to the wall. Its wings splayed, then folded against its side, then fanned out again. All around the room, mounted to the walls and propped upright on the ground, were taxidermied animals with enchanted parts. Mouths opened and snapped shut, eyes shifted from side to side, and tails swished in mechanical, repetitive motions.
“Lovely place you have here,” Iggy muttered.
I flashed my eyes at him. This was not the person to insult.
Madame Shi reached the bubbling cauldron and whipped her head around to look at us with those disturbingly mismatched eyes. I gulped. It was as though the cloudy one was looking straight through my soul. “Care for a cup of tea?”
“Oh.” Misaki coughed into the crook of her elbow, her eyes watering. “Is that what that smell is?” She managed a watery smile, while I struggled to breathe through my nose.
Maple gave a little shake of her head, but Misaki shot her a look. “We need to be good guests.” She turned to the witch and forced a smile that looked more like she was baring her teeth. “Yes, please. That’d be lovely.”
“I’ve never been more grateful I can’t drink,” Iggy muttered as the witch dipped a ladle into the cauldron and spooned dull green liquid into five teacups that magically hovered over to her. I frowned. She didn’t have the best aim. Half the liquid ended up spilled on the floor.
“Don’t just stand there in the doorway, come in, come in.” She waved at us, and as a unit we shuffled a few feet further into the hut.
A few lanterns and candles burned, providing the only light besides that coming from the glowing liquid of the cauldron and the fire that burned below it.
Boards and thin fabric tacked to the walls covered the windows, turning the only daylight that managed to enter the space brown and sickly. A thick layer of gray dust blanketed every surface in sight—and there were a lot of surfaces. Despite the tiny size of the space, the witch looked like she could be on the next episode of Hoarders.
“Please, sit.” She waved at an old sofa with stuffing pouring from its cushions.
My friends and I gingerly perched on the edge of it, sitting shoulder to shoulder. I set Iggy down on the floor, then turned my head and whispered to Maple, “If I get bed bugs from this thing….”
Her eyes grew round.
The witch magically summoned a wooden chair. It flew across the floor, slammed into her side, and sent her stumbling. We all half-rose, arms outstretched as if to catch her, but the witch righted herself and waved us off. She moved over to the chair and lowered herself down, but missed it and fell hard on the ground.
A choked noise came from Iggy’s lantern. I didn’t even look at him. I was trying my best not to laugh, and I knew if Iggy did, I’d lose it. Not that I wanted the necromancer to break a hip or anything, but this was like a slapstick routine.
She finally managed to climb into the chair with a wobbly leg and sat on it, facing us. A brown mouse scurried past her foot, and Maple squeaked and yanked her feet off the floor. The witch seemed oblivious. She swept our cups of tea to us, and they magically hovered before our faces.
I fought to keep my poker face, despite the fact that the tea smelled like actual poop. I plucked mine from the air and fought to smile as I said, “Thank you.” My eyes watered and twitched as the odorous steam rose into my face.
“Of course.” The witch clicked her long, cracked nails together. Black dirt lined them and covered her hands to the wrist. From there up, Madame Shi wore a garment that was like a quilt of animal pelts and covered her from neck to ankles.
Not wanting to meet her cloudy-eyed gaze anymore, I glanced down at the chipped teacup in my hands. Something brown and crusty lined the rim, and a dead fly floated and swirled on the surface. My
stomach clenched and I fought to control my nausea.
The witch leaned forward, and I couldn’t help but lean away. “So you’re remodeling the old house, you say?” She searched our faces.
I gulped and nodded. “That’s right.”
Her eyes landed on my face and I couldn’t help but drop my gaze.
“You’re fixing it up? Going through the place?” She edged closer, her raspy breath rattling in her throat.
I held very still, unable to shake the feeling that I’d wandered into the witch’s house in Hansel and Gretel and was about to be eaten. Without all the great candy though. I wouldn’t dare eat anything in this place.
I gave myself a mental shake. Maybe I was being unfair. She couldn’t help that her eyes were a bit frightening, and maybe she just had an alternative sense of interior decorating.
I forced myself to meet her gaze, though my insides trembled. “Yes. It’s been quite the undertaking.”
Her eyes, well, really only the dark one, lit up. “Have you found anything?”
“Oh.” I glanced at my friends, then turned back to her. “Yes, actually.”
She lurched forward, nearly coming off her seat, and I jerked back. “Where is it?” Her lips parted, revealing black and yellow teeth, many broken.
“I—I gave the locket back to Emi. It was hers, after all.” My chest heaved.
The witch’s face fell, and she slid back into her chair. “Oh. That’s all you found?”
I nodded, my heart thundering in my chest. What had she expected? A movement caught my eye, and I glanced over as Misaki slowly removed her hand from the wand in her pocket. I let out a shaky breath. So I wasn’t the only one put on edge by this lady.
The witch clicked her dirty, broken nails together. Tap, tap tap. “You want me to do a séance, yes?”
