by Erin Johnson
“Silence!” Madame Shi hissed.
I dipped my head. I was going to be heading to the principal’s office at this rate. Ha. My breath came in quick pants as I tried to let the humor distract me.
“There is a spirit here.”
Wiley groaned.
“The spirit of a man who died in this house.”
Poor Hank. I was probably cutting off all the circulation to his fingers, I was squeezing his hand so hard.
“Spirit. Speak to us.”
“Or not. You could always just go away quietly,” Iggy squeaked.
I tapped his lantern with my toe to shush him.
“Open your eyes.”
I peeled one open, unsure I wanted to see a ghost.
“The spirit stays on the fringes, just out of sight in the shadows.” Madame Shi’s mismatched eyes seemed to glow in the candlelight. “Perhaps, spirit, you will speak to us through the cards.” She released Hank’s and Yann’s hands and lifted the tarot deck from the table in front of her. She shuffled, then flipped the first card and laid it on the table, face up.
My friends and I leaned forward to get a better look. My stomach clenched when I spotted it. Death. A line drawing in brown ink depicted a skeleton wearing a crown, a field of dead bodies behind it.
“What is it?” Iggy hissed.
I leaned to the side, and he peeked out of his lantern. I made a face. “Death.”
His mouth disappeared. “Oh. So we’re off to a good start then.”
Hank’s throat bobbed. “Maybe it just means the spirit has passed.”
I gave him a tight-lipped smile. Way to stay positive.
Madame Shi flipped the next card and laid it over the first in the shape of a cross. I gulped. A man lay on his stomach, a forest of swords protruding from his back.
The necromancer made a noise in the back of her throat and Rhonda pulled her mouth to the side. “Er, that’s not looking good.”
“What does porcupine man mean?” Yann’s eyes darted from Madame Shi to Rhonda and back again.
“I see unexpected calamity… leading to death.” The necromancer clicked her cracked nails together before drawing the next card.
Wiley winced. “Maybe we should just try the crystal ball or something?”
“Yeesh.” Rhonda recoiled when she spotted the next card, which Madame Shi laid down to the right of the first two.
Iggy shook his head. “I don’t want to know.”
Hank tilted his head as he frowned down at the cards. “These are open to interpretation, right? It could mean—”
Annie cut him off. “I don’t think ‘the lord of darkness’ takes much interpreting, dear.”
Madame Shi closed her eyes and swayed slightly in her chair. “I see much misfortune brought on by an evil presence in your lives.”
The entire house seemed to groan and creak, noises starting upstairs and then trailing throughout the house.
42
Calling All Spirits
Maple snapped her eyes shut tight and hunched her shoulders to her ears.
Madame reached for another card.
I made a face. “Maybe that’s enough cards?” I didn’t think I could handle more bad news. I mean, was the deck just full of terrible cards?
Madame Shi dropped the cards to the table and they fanned out. She gripped the edge of the table, tugging on the purple velvet cloth. She squeezed her eyes shut, her face pinched.
Annie leaned around Sam toward her. “Are you all right?”
Iggy peeked out of his lantern. “She constipated?”
The necromancer trembled.
I looked to Hank. “Is she ill?”
“I’ll summon the medic.” He shoved back from the table, his chair scraping across the floorboards, and half rose, then froze, his eyes wide and round.
“Hank?”
“What is it, dear?” Annie blinked at him.
I gripped his arm as he dropped back into his seat, staring at something behind me. I whirled toward the front door, following his gaze, and gasped.
Maple shrieked, and in a flash of magic, Sam transformed into a snake and slithered under the table.
My chest heaved as a glowing green man made his way, step by step, down the stairs. A rope hung around his neck and his black pits of eyes bored into me. Scream. Imogen, scream. My brain and body weren’t cooperating.
I sat frozen, the pit in my stomach tightening with each step. His footsteps thundered through the house like a beating drum. Clomp! Clomp!
He rounded the balustrade and faced us.
“Madame Shi.” In the corner of my eye, I caught movement as Hank shook her arm. “Madame Shi!”
I sniffed in quick pants of breath, and the ghost drew closer and closer. Wiley scrambled back and tipped over in his chair, slamming to the floor.
“What’s happening? Imogen?” Iggy squeaked.
But I couldn’t answer. I could barely breathe.
The man, Daichi, stopped before us in his suit. He opened his mouth. A round, black hole. He opened more and more, the pit growing larger and larger. I wanted to look away but was transfixed.
The candles guttered and went out as the man’s mouth stretched impossibly huge, as though he were about to swallow us all up.
With a raspy gasp, Madame Shi lurched back to consciousness.
“Ahhhhh!” Maple shrieked and the green spirit disappeared.
We sat in shaken silence for several moments, my heartbeat thundering loud in my ears. Wiley scrambled to his feet and stood, panting. He raised a trembling hand and pointed to the staircase. “What was that thing?”
Madame Shi’s eyes blazed. “You’re all in danger. That was a threat. You felt its power.” She lurched to her feet and her accoutrements and purple cloth flew into the black bag.
“You’re leaving?” I raised my brows. “But we need your help.”
She curled her lip back, revealing her rotten teeth. “I cannot help you.” Her eyes darted around the room. “This house is beyond help. You must leave—or die. The choice is yours.” She hobbled to the door, the bag magically hovering beside her, and left.
I looked at Hank. He’d gone pale and looked as shaken as I felt. I leapt to my feet and ran after her, Hank right on my heels. I pushed open the door and bounded down the porch steps.
“Wait! Madame Shi, isn’t there anything we can do? A cleansing spell or a, I don’t know, but there has to be something, right?”
She whirled on me. Mist curled around our calves, the night dark and moonless.
She pointed a ragged nail at me. “The only thing you can do, if you wish to save your souls, is leave this house and never return.”
I lurched back, stunned by her dire warning. Hank caught my shoulders and held me close.
The ravens in the trees took up their cawing again. Several black shapes took flight and as Madame Shi hobbled toward the street, the birds swooped over her, shouting their grating cries.
I whimpered, and Hank slid his arms around me, resting his chin on top of my head. “I’d say that went well.”
I let out a noise that was half laugh, half cry and squeezed his arm.
The front door creaked open, then banged shut and footsteps thudded across the porch. Hank and I turned as Maple and Wiley dashed toward us.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded as she and Wiley jogged to a stop beside us. Maple held up her wrist. “Rhonda gave me a charm.” She gasped in some air, breathless. “You should ask her for one, too. She said it’ll protect me against ghosts, but even so, I can’t stay in that house one more minute.”
I blinked at the woven threads of the bracelet around her wrist, a clear stone worked into the pattern. I lifted a brow. Well, that would’ve been nice to know about sooner. I could’ve used some ghost protection.
Wiley squeezed Maple’s shoulders from behind. “We’re all going back to the guesthouse. You guys coming?”
The door creaked open again, and the rest of my friends poured out. Annie held Igg
y’s lantern, and Sam was back in human form.
I turned back to Maple. “You go ahead. We’ll be right behind you.”
As Rhonda and Francis neared, I lifted a brow. “Can I get one of those ghost charms, too?”
“Huh? Oh.” Rhonda threw her head back and chuckled. She came close and lowered her voice. “Just between you and me, that’s a bracelet I got at some music festival ages ago.”
“What?”
She patted my shoulder. “I wanted to make Maple feel better so I told her it had a special ghost protection charm on it, but there’s no such thing.”
My eyes widened. “Rhonda!”
She shrugged. “Well, she feels better, doesn’t she?”
She moved on, and Francis floated past. “I can’t get that woman’s stench out of my nose.” He sniffed as he drifted by. “Very unusual…, yet, somehow familiar.”
Annie, right behind him, handed me Iggy.
My flame folded his arms and glared up at me. “You just run out of there and abandon me to the ghost? Here, ghost! Take him!”
I rolled my eyes. “The ghost was already gone. I went after Madame Shi—I’d have come back for you, of course.” I looked up at Annie. “Thanks for grabbing him.”
Hank and I turned and followed Sam and Yann up the walk and back to the guesthouse. We all agreed to sleep on what we’d experienced and talk it over the next morning.
If we could sleep after that.
43
Parlor Tricks
I picked at the bowl of porridge and blackberries that sat in front of me. My eyes darted to the pitcher of fresh cream and carafe of maple syrup. Normally, I’d be all over that, but my stomach was still twisted into a tight knot from last night. I set down my spoon and leaned back.
Hank looked over at me. Dark bags hung below his eyes. “You’re not going to eat?”
I shook my head and gave him a weak smile. “I don’t have an appetite.”
Iggy, who burned on the table in front of me, stopped munching on his cedar stick. His eyes widened. “You’re not eating? Are you dying?”
I rolled my eyes. “Har har.”
Jiji looked me over, concern pinching her brow.
I waved off everyone’s looks. “It’s fine.” I gulped. “The séance was just—”
“Terrifying?” Wiley supplied.
“Dreadful?” Maple hung her head.
“I lossst control and jussst ssshifted.” Sam blinked and pushed his glasses up his nose. “How embarassssssing.”
Misaki, who sat between Jiji and Fumi, set her spoon down and leaned back. She crossed her arms. “Look, I wasn’t there last night, but from what you told me, all those things sound like dumb parlor tricks.” She scoffed and threw a hand toward her teenage sister beside her. “Even Fumi could do most of that stuff.”
Fumi shot her a dark look.
“Parlor tricksss?” Sam’s eyes widened behind his glasses and he gasped, as though he’d just put all the pieces together. “We were in the parlor.”
Annie patted his hand. “No, dear, it’s just an expression.”
“What do you mean?” Hank found my hand under the table.
I gave it a grateful squeeze. His warmth always comforted me.
“Madame Shi could’ve just used the mirage spell.” Misaki shrugged. “It certainly takes some skill to have the ghost move around like that.” She tapped her lips, her eyes distant. “And some imagination to do the whole mouth thing. I give her points for creativity.”
I frowned. “You think Madame Shi was trying to scare us?”
Misaki picked up her spoon and pointed it at me. “Why not? She could’ve pretended to pass out. Makes her job a lot quicker.”
“But—” I gasped. “We didn’t even pay her.”
“Oh.” Misaki looked down, her lips pressed tight together. She jerked her head up. “Well, maybe she didn’t care about the money. Maybe she just wanted you guys to move on so we wouldn’t come bother her at her house again.”
Iggy sneered. “If you can call that rotten shack a house.”
“Hey, we shouldn’t make fun of the way she lives.” Though I’d caught myself mentally judging the filth and creepiness myself.
Misaki gestured over the table to Jun, who sat directly across from her. “Hey. Why don’t we go with you guys to work on the house today?”
I looked to Hank, a question in my eyes. Were we even going to continue working on it?
Hank dropped his head and shook it. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to go back.”
Misaki clicked her tongue. “I thought you didn’t believe in the ghost.”
“No.” Hank shook his head. “I didn’t. But if there’s even a chance that what Madame Shi said last night is true, I’m not sure I can in good conscience let everyone return to that house.” He let out a quiet groan. “I’m so sorry, everyone.” He looked up. “I know if I’d talked to you all before approaching the council about this place, you would’ve told me it was creepy and haunted.”
“And a money pit.” Iggy lifted a flaming orange finger.
Hank’s lips twitched toward a smile that didn’t reach his bloodshot eyes. “And a money pit.”
I squeezed his arm. “Hey. It’s not your fault we have a poltergeist.”
“But it is his fault that we have a house that has a poltergeist.”
I shot Iggy a look and he shrank slightly. “It’s true.”
I slid an arm around Hank’s back and leaned my head on his shoulder. “No one blames you for this.”
“But I blame myself.” He looked up and glanced at each person around the table. “And I couldn’t take it if anything happened to you guys.”
“Aw.” Wiley winked and pressed a hand to his heart. “We love you too, big guy.”
Hank rolled his eyes but grinned. “I’m serious.” His blue eyes landed on my face and his expression softened. “Especially you.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks.
“So now we’re playing favorites?” Iggy crossed his arms.
“Come on.” Misaki lifted her palms. “That’s what I’m saying. We’ll all come with you—we can keep each other safe.” She raised her brows. “Right, Jun?”
The tall guy nodded and leaned forward. “Yeah. I’m off today. I’d be happy to go with.” His throat bobbed and he looked down at his bowl. He’d barely touched his food either. “But you know, sometimes it’s smart to quit. If you’re pushing and trying and it’s just not working, well, maybe it’s time to try something else.” He hung his head.
Misaki frowned at him. “Maybe.” She shook her head. “But we’re not there yet.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
Hank raised his brows. “Really?”
“Yeah.” I grinned at the guard down the table. “If Misaki’s going, I know we’ll be safe.”
She sat straighter and beamed.
“I’m in.” Wiley shrugged. “If Maple is.”
Her eyes widened. “Me? But….” She sighed and rubbed the bracelet around her wrist that Rhonda had given her. I felt a little guilty for letting her think it was enchanted. “Fine. I’ll try again. But I’m not going upstairs.” She gulped. “Or downstairs.”
The others agreed to give it another go today.
“I’m going too.” Fumi grinned, her messy bun hanging lopsided from her head.
“Oh, no you’re not.” Jiji chuckled and stroked her fluffy white cat as Cat nibbled on Rini’s front paw. I chose to ignore the weirdness of the pets.
Fumi gaped. “Why not? Grandma, I’m just as—”
The older lady shook her head of tight gray curls. “I need at least one non-haunted granddaughter to help me around here.”
Fumi crossed her arms and huffed, while Misaki chuckled.
Jiji shot her a look. “No laughing matter.” She lifted her brows and addressed the whole table. “Good luck today.”
44
The Attic
Maple, true to her word, stayed on the ground level and helped Hank
and Wiley refinish the floors and repair holes in the walls. Misaki and I wandered upstairs to repair some walls in the bedrooms. As we wandered down the hallway, she tilted her head back and pointed at the ceiling. “What’s that?”
I glanced up. A rectangle was outlined in the peeling white paint, and a string with a small loop dangled from one end of it. I made a face. “Probably goes up to the attic.”
She turned, her thick, straight brows raised. “You haven’t even gone up there yet?”
Iggy sniffed and folded his arms. “Imogen and I have had enough of attics, thank you.”
Yeah. I definitely didn’t need to see any more ghosts. I nodded at him.
“Oh, come on.” Misaki jumped, and despite her tiny stature, managed to snag the ring. As she landed, she tugged it down, opening the hatch. A ladder unfolded, making a steep ramp up to the small rectangular hole and the dark attic beyond. The guard backed up and peered into the darkness. “There’s probably tons of cool stuff up there.”
I shook my head at her. “Yeah. Like maybe a cursed box that opens the gates to hell? Or a mysterious locket—already found one of those. Or maybe a doll whose head spins all the way around.” I crossed my arms. “Not happening.”
Iggy peeked out his lantern and jabbed his thumb up at me. “I’m with her.”
Misaki rolled her eyes and gripped the ladder. She gave it a shake, testing its solidity, then scampered up. “Oh wow.” Her torso disappeared into the attic and then her booted feet climbed out of sight.
I gulped and edged closer to the base. “What is it? What do you see?”
My heartbeat picked up its pace as I waited for an answer. “Misaki?” I looked wide-eyed at Iggy and gripped one of the ladder rungs, peering up into the dark space above. My voice rose with panic. “Misaki?”
“Boo!”
I lurched back as her face appeared in the opening above me.
“Sorry.” She giggled.
I clutched my chest and gasped, exchanging a look with Iggy. My little flame roared hotter. “Are you trying to extinguish us? Some people.”
