by Erin Johnson
He winked at her as he adjusted his tie. “I’m not bad out of uniform, either.”
49
Too Good to be True
I slept off the effects of the curse, and by the next morning felt as good as new. And it wasn’t just me. The house seemed to be recovering as well.
With the curse destroyed, our repairs stuck, and we made great progress. Once and for all, Yann fixed the roof, and we got the new exterior siding on and painted a bright, fresh white.
We rotated shifts, keeping up our nightly watch over the house—but they were thankfully uneventful. No more hauntings, no more destruction or vandalism. It all felt a little too good to be true. I wished we knew who had been behind planting that amulet.
Chief Abe had come by yesterday and seemed impressed with how much we’d already fixed the place up. He said he’d talked to Emi and Haru, and Yoshi and Yori—they all denied planting the curse. Not that I expected them to own up to it if they had.
The chief had also indicated that he’d gently let Emi and Haru know that the whole town was aware of their relationship. And that he’d not-so-gently let Yoshi and Yori know the jail sentence for people convicted of blackmail. We’d see what came of that, but at least Emi and Haru were free to live without secrets—if they chose to.
With our progress, our spirits rose and the house began to feel more and more like home. Maple attributed her sudden positivity to Rhonda’s charm, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was a fake.
It was midmorning on the fifth day of uninterrupted progress when I took a break from refinishing the upstairs bedrooms to work on my relationship with the ravens. Sam sat beside me on the porch step and we watched the spot under the bush where I’d just left a shiny bottle cap as a present, along with some peanuts, still in their shells.
Sam hugged his knees. “Look,” he whispered. “Here he comesss.”
I held still as a shiny black raven flapped over to the bush, a mere fifteen feet away from us. He landed on the ground and eyed me with one of his shiny, round eyes. The sun glinted off his feathers, giving him a pretty purplish tint. This bird was large and had a distinctively ragged tail feather.
Sam smiled at me. “Your friend isss back.”
I grinned and flushed with pride. This bird had seemed to take a specific liking to me. I could do it—I could make bird friends!
“Psh.” Iggy crossed his arms. “Imogen already has friends. Does she really another one? Especially one with weird little feet?”
I grinned. “Someone’s jealous.”
“Me? Jealous? Of that?” My flame scoffed. “As if.”
The bird hopped closer to the bottle cap, tipping its head right and left. It darted down, grasped it in its beak, and then winged up and away, disappearing over the tree tops.
Sam beamed at me. “He liked hisss presssent.”
I patted his back. “Thanks for the tip, buddy. Round and shiny is where it’s at for the birds.”
“Oh, hi, I’m a bird. My interests? Round and shiny.” Iggy huffed. “Give me a break.”
Sam nodded at me. “You ssshould do like your brother sssuggesssted and transssform into a raven.” He sighed. “Oh, to fly.”
I grinned. “Slithering’s pretty great, too.”
He nodded. “Oh, yes. Of courssse I love to ssslither.”
Something caught Sam’s attention and his smile dropped. He turned pale and hunched his shoulders up to his ears. I frowned and followed his gaze to the street.
Captain Kenta walked toward us, flanked by Misaki and Jun. I turned toward Sam, opening my mouth to ask what was going on with him and Kenta—but Sam was gone.
I blinked and looked right and left. “Sam?”
The guards came up the front path. We’d paved it with stones and laid down lush, green grass on the front lawn. Annie and Sam had worked on the garden beds in front of the house and two beautiful rosebushes now bloomed in their pots at the bottom of the stairs.
Misaki waved. “Looking good.”
I batted my lashes. “Why, thank you.”
She rolled her eyes. “The house.”
I grinned as they jogged up the steps past me. “I’ll be in in a minute, just taking a quick break.”
Misaki called, “Slacker,” over her shoulder before stepping through the open door that Jun held for her. He ducked in behind, but Kenta lingered with me on the porch. Bags hung under his eyes and his goatee had gotten scruffy—nearly a beard at this point.
He scratched at it. “Hey, have you seen Sam? I thought I saw him talking with you a minute ago.”
“Yeah.” I frowned. “He was here. I’m honestly not sure where he went.”
Kenta’s shoulders slumped. “Thanks, anyway.”
As soon as the front door shut behind him, a small green snake peeked up over the edge of the stairs. My first instinct was to scream and bolt, but after a moment, I recognized Sam.
He slithered up beside me, then in a blink of an eye transformed back into Sam as I knew him. He pushed his glasses up his nose as he darted a glance at the front door.
“Thanksss for covering for me.”
I lifted a brow. “I honestly had no idea where you went.” I frowned as Sam hung his head. “What’s going on with you and Kenta, buddy?”
Sam whimpered. “I’m not a poisssonousss sssnake.”
Iggy and I exchanged looks. “Okay.”
Sam shook his head… and kind of his whole body. He was still getting the hang of things. “I didn’t mean for my fangsss to come out.”
My eyes widened. “What happened?”
Tears welled in his eyes as he looked at me. “Kenta kisssssed me…”
I tried to hold back a smile. Go, Sam.
“But my fangsss came out and I… I… I accidentally bit him!” Sam hugged his knees to his chest and let his head fall forward, burying it in his arms. His shoulders heaved with a sob.
I grabbed Iggy’s lantern and scooted closer. I threw an arm around his shoulders, my stomach twisted with worry for my friend. “Was Kenta hurt?” I asked gently.
Sam shook his head, but didn’t lift it. “I—I don’t think ssso. But I ran away.”
I pressed my lips together, thinking it over. “He hasn’t seemed hurt—in that way. But I know he misses you. He wants to talk to you.”
“I can’t.” Sam sobbed.
I hugged him tighter to my side. “Did you not want to kiss him?”
“No! I mean, yesss, I did want to. But…” Sam’s voice grew so quiet I had to lean over and turn my ear to make out his words. “I’ve never kissssssed anyone before and I got flussstered and my fangsss came out and I got embarassssssed and I can’t faccce him.” His shoulders shook as he cried. “I panicked and ran away.”
“Oh, Sam.” I leaned my head against his shoulder. “Nobody really knows what they’re doing in love.”
“Least of all this one.” Iggy jabbed a fiery thumb in my direction.
I sighed. “It’s true. When Hank and I had our first kiss…” I thought back to that tiny island out in the deep waters of the mermaid kingdom. “I was just learning to control my powers.” Not that I was a whole lot better now.
“And… well, I accidentally pulled too much magic from him.” I shuddered. It’d been horrible—the fact that he lost consciousness, not the kiss. That had been phenomenal. I grinned. Sparks and magic still literally flew between us; we’d just gotten better at keeping that behind closed doors. I shook my head. Focus, Imogen.
“I was afraid I’d really hurt him. I got embarrassed and ran away, well, swam away, too.”
Sam lifted his head and blinked at me with red, puffy eyes. “What did you do?”
I swallowed, thinking back. “I… avoided him for a while, like you did. But eventually, I just talked to him.” I grinned. “And now we’re engaged, so it all worked out.”
Sam rubbed his wet cheeks with the back of his hand. “I’m ssscared to talk to him. I’m afraid I’ll freak out and messssss thingsss up. And
I like him… ssso much.”
I pointed at him. “That’s the important part. Tell him how you feel about him.” I shrugged. “Being vulnerable is always attractive.”
Sam nodded. “Thanksss Imogen. You’re a good friend.”
I hugged him tighter.
“See?” Iggy folded his arms. “Plenty of friends already.”
50
A Gift
As dusk fell, we wrapped up our work and prepared to call it a night. We gathered on the front lawn and gazed up at our accomplishments. The dark roof stood out, neat and trim against the bright white paint on the new wood siding.
Horace had come by a couple of days ago and helped with the windows, making them super thick and insulating. I hadn’t realized his glass-working skills extended beyond mirrors to windows also. They glinted in the soft light, clear and clean. During the day, they flooded the house with sunlight—cheery and bright and a world away from the dim brown light that had once squeezed in between the planks nailed over the windows.
The chipped bricks of the chimneys had been fixed and straightened. Annie’s rose and gardenia bushes in the beds that wrapped around the porch looked lovely and lush. I tipped my head back and inhaled. And they smelled wonderful—fragrant and sweet.
I looked past the bright, tidy house. Sam, Maple, and I had cleared the brambles, with Jiji’s help, and we could now see all the way back to the iron fence. Fireflies flitted just on the other side of it among the grave markers. The cemetery didn’t seem as ominous anymore. More like a peaceful neighbor.
“Caw!”
I glanced up as Hank walked over to me, dusting his hands off. Even the ravens circling overhead didn’t seem threatening anymore. They were my buddies now. Or we were nearly there. I still hadn’t been gifted anything, like Sam had, but we were making good progress.
Hank came up beside me and slid an arm around my waist. “Admiring our handiwork?”
I grinned and nodded. “It’s looking great.” Crickets chirped nearby.
Hank’s stomach grumbled loudly, and he pressed a big hand to it, his eyes wide. “Excuse me.”
I chuckled. “I think we’d better get back to Jiji’s before your stomach eats itself.”
Maple and Wiley were already halfway down the stone path to the street, with Annie right behind them. I let go of Hank and spun to go.
“Caw!”
I turned back around. The light was fading fast, so I lifted Iggy’s lantern to get a better look.
“It’s that dumb bird,” he grumbled.
Sure enough, my friend with the mangled tail feather perched on the edge of the roof. Something glinted in its dark, curved beak. It hopped sideways, then swooped down and landed on the step. It turned its head to watch me out of one beady black eye.
I edged closer.
It set the object down on the porch step. “Caw!”
I pressed a hand to my chest. “For me?” I beamed.
“It can’t answer, you know? Dumb bird.” Iggy’s flames crackled.
I glanced back, grinning at Hank, and pumped a fist. “Sweet! I’m in—it brought me a present.”
He chuckled, a dark streak of soot below his eye. He jerked his chin at the steps. “Let’s see what it is.”
Just then, Sam opened the front door and stepped out, Yann behind him. The raven startled and flew off, cawing as he soared higher into the sky. I glanced up and called after him, “Thank you.”
Sam blinked at me. “Did he bring you a presssent?”
I nodded and skipped up to the porch steps. I crouched in front of the bottom one as Hank, Sam, and Yann gathered around. I set Iggy’s lantern beside the round object.
“What is it? A marble?” I lifted the round object and turned it this way and that in the light. I crinkled my nose. “It’s softer than a marble should be.” Almost… gooey.
I kept turning the cloudy sphere until something became visible below the surface. I held it closer to Iggy’s light to get a better look, as Hank watched on, over my shoulder. I squinted. “Is that…?”
A smaller brown circle became visible under the clouded, scratched surface, with a pale gray circle inside that, almost like a—
“Eeeek!” I dropped it and lurched backward off the step. Hank caught me and I pointed a shaking finger at the round thing that rolled to a stop on the ground.
“What ees eet?” Yann blinked at me.
I gulped. “An eyeball.”
51
Someone Call the Necromancer
I drummed my fingers on the round oak table in the parlor. The same one we’d sat around for the séance. Iggy’s fire cast the only light, which glinted off our new windows.
I gulped. We needed to get some drapes or something—it felt like I was on display in the big front windows, unable to see out into the darkness.
Night had fully settled around us as Yann and Wiley ran off to the guesthouse to fetch Rhonda and Francis. We hoped Francis could tell us if the eye was human. We needed to know what we were dealing with.
I glanced to Hank, who sat beside me, a pensive crease between his brows. He stared at the eyeball, which sat in the center of the table.
“Do you think it’s like the curse?” My brows pinched together. “I touched it with my bare hand.” I shuddered.
Hank looked up. “No.” He shook his head. “The bird held it in its beak.” He gave me a bracing grin. “I’m sure you’ll be okay.” He glanced down at my hands. “You might just want to wash them.”
I curled my lip. “I already have… five times.” I shuddered again. So gross.
Maple and Sam sat beside me. “Maybe it’s a cow’s… or something.” She looked for the umpteenth time toward the window. “Wiley’s been gone awhile.”
Hank said gently, “You know Rhonda. She probably took a bit to wake up and get ready.”
Maple nodded, but by her frown I could tell she was unconvinced.
I sighed. The day had been going so well. The air inside smelled like lemon cleaner and fresh paint—the sickening moldy smell completely gone. The flooring on the ground level had been completely sanded and restained, and the wood boards now gleamed in the firelight.
Annie, Maple, and I had outvoted Yann to paint the dark wood of the fireplace bright white, and we’d cleaned out the ashes and soot stains. Everything had seemed so cheery just half an hour before. Now this eyeball cast a gloomy light on everything.
Only Iggy remained in a cheerful mood. He beamed brighter. “Told ya. Birds are good-for-nothings and we don’t need them. Psh.” He shook his head, smiling broadly. “Who thinks an eyeball is a good present? It’s not even new—a used eyeball.”
Annie frowned. “What do you mean, dear?”
Iggy threw a lick of flame toward the eye. “It’s all cloudy and gooey and half-decomposed.” He rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks a lot, bird.”
Hank blinked. “True. It’s as though it’s semipreserved.”
Odd. We all jumped as footsteps sounded on the steps outside. We looked expectantly toward the front door.
“Knock knock!” Misaki’s voice chimed, a moment before she, Jun, and Captain Kenta stepped inside. “We’re heading to get yakitori, you guys wanna—” She broke off and looked around.
I glanced at Sam, who turned bright pink, then hung his head.
Misaki frowned. “What’s going on?”
Hank pointed at the eyeball. “The ravens brought Imogen a… unique gift. We’re waiting on Rhonda and Francis to figure out our next steps.”
More footsteps sounded outside and Jun spun his head. “Speak of the devil….”
Rhonda and Francis brushed by the guards, with Yann and Wiley on their heels.
Wiley thumbed at the seer as he stomped over to Maple. “She took forever.”
Maple squeezed his arm. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
He chuckled. “I just went down the street.”
Everyone moved closer, gathering around the table.
Jun’s brows shot up
when he spotted the eye, and I noticed Kenta edge closer and stand beside Sam. I pressed my lips tight together. Come on, Sam. My shifter friend glanced up, caught Kenta’s eye, and gave him a shy, wavering smile. The captain’s face relaxed and he smiled back. I let out a breath. They’d be okay… I hoped.
Rhonda peered down at the eye as Francis hovered behind her. She straightened and grinned, looking quite proud of herself. “Ah. Keep your eye ‘out.’ Get it?” She chuckled and pointed at the sky. “Oh spirits, you’ve got a sense of humor.”
I flashed my eyes at Iggy. Did they, though?
Francis bent forward, his aquiline nose nearly touching the gooey sphere, and sniffed. He straightened. “It’s human.”
Hank frowned at it. “Is there a way to figure out whose eye this is?”
Rhonda tapped her bright fingernail to her lips, then looked up at Francis. “A summoning?”
He nodded and lifted his sharp nose in the air. “I was thinking precisely the same thing.”
“Like a séance?”
Rhonda shook her head. “Close, but a little different. When you have something that belonged to someone, especially a body part like this, we can often summon the spirit to appear before us. With the object in our possession, it’s easier to control the spirit—in case they’re feeling a little poltergeisty.”
Wiley curled his lip. “This sounds fun.”
Misaki knocked the table. “We should get Madame Shi then.”
Rhonda jerked her head up. “Huh? I mean we could, but do we really want to disturb her? It’s already dark and the forest is full of monsters….” She pressed all ten brightly colored fingertips to her chest. “I’ve spent quite a lot of time around necromancers, you know, picked up a thing or two. I could probably give it a whirl.”
Hank cleared his throat. “All due respect, Rhonda, but this is a possibly dangerous situation. I think we need to call in the expert on the dead.”
Rhonda crossed her arms, and her shoulders slumped. “Fine.”
