by Erin Johnson
Wiley squared his shoulders. “I’ll go.”
Hank pushed back and stood. “Me, too.”
I frowned. “It’s night—in the monster-filled forest.”
Maple pouted. “It’s dangerous.”
Yann nodded. “I go, too.”
Annie huffed. “Oh dear. I’ll be worried sick about all of you.”
Jun glanced down at Misaki, then lifted his chin. “I’m going also.”
Misaki just nodded. “Okay. I’ll stay here and guard these guys. You remember the way?”
Jun’s shoulders slumped, and he looked disappointed at her lack of concern. “Yeah.”
I frowned. “So the guys are all going?”
Captain Kenta cleared his throat and asked, hesitantly, “How about you, Sam?”
He blinked up with his milky blue eyes. “Yesss. If you are.”
Kenta grinned, a little color returning to his pale face. “Yes.”
Aw.
The men, including our hovering vampire friend, pulled their wands out and said their goodbyes. I squeezed Hank tightly before letting him go. “Be careful out there. Her house is even creepier than she is.”
Hank winced. “Good to know.” He bent and kissed my forehead. “And I will be. You, too. If anything odd happens, go back to the guesthouse?”
I nodded. “Will do.”
Rhonda, Misaki, Maple, Annie, and I gathered on the porch. Iggy’s lantern dangled from my hand as we watched the guys go.
“They’ll be all right, won’t they?” Maple glanced at Rhonda. “I gave the protection charm you made me to Wiley.”
“Aw.” Rhonda patted her shoulder. “Sure, they will.” She flashed her eyes at me once Maple turned around.
Misaki waved a hand. “Jun and Kenta know the way—plus they have the vampire with them. What could go wrong?”
I sighed as they disappeared down the street, out of sight. That was the thing. Lots could, and usually did, go wrong.
52
A Summoning
I slumped in my tufted armchair at the table and watched Misaki pace back and forth across the parlor. Annie lounged on the chaise we’d dragged up by the window, and Rhonda sat beside me, chin resting on her folded hands, just staring at the clouded eyeball. Iggy’s orange flames cast stark shadows across the room.
Maple glanced up from nibbling her fingernails. “They’ve been gone a long time.” Her worried eyes shone in the firelight.
I nodded. “How long has it been?”
Misaki stopped her pacing and stood before the grandfather clock Yann had restored. Its pendulum swung back and forth, back and forth. She spun around and sighed. “Over two hours.”
Maple whimpered.
Misaki crossed her arms. “You have to remember—it’s slow going in the dark woods. Plus, the witch may have taken some convincing.”
Maple’s bottom lip quivered. “Or a monster came and….”
I reached over and took her hand. “Hey. We have to stay positive.”
She nodded, but tears welled in her eyes.
Rhonda darted a hand out and snatched up the eye.
“Ew.” Iggy shrank back in his lantern. “Don’t touch it.”
“C’mon, guys. Please?” Rhonda drew the word out, begging. “I’ll just try it and if it doesn’t work—”
“No!” Annie and I chimed together.
The older lady tipped her head to the side. “We trust you, dear, but you could unintentionally make it worse.”
Rhonda threw her hands up. “And what’s worse than this waiting?”
Maple gulped. “She has a point.”
I lifted a brow at her. “You think we should let Rhonda give it a go? What if she summons a demon instead? Or explodes the eyeball, and then we can never find out whose it was?”
Rhonda clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “Explode it? That only happened once, and it was over two hundred years ago.”
I looked up startled. Sometimes I forgot how old she was. It was easy to, considering she looked twenty.
Iggy scoffed. “I think we already know whose it is.” His eyes grew round. “Serial killer… missing an eye?”
I shuddered. “But I thought Chief Abe said she lost it in prison?”
He shrugged. “Maybe it’s her other eye.”
Maple gnawed on her nails. “How did the raven get a serial killer’s eye?”
Rhonda still held the cloudy, slightly gummy sphere. “I’m going to try, and if it doesn’t work, so what? The boys will be back any moment with Madame Shi.”
I still had my misgivings, but bit my lip and looked to Annie. She sat upright on the chaise and swung her feet to the floor, crossing her arms. “I don’t like this.”
I sighed. “Me neither.”
Misaki continued to pace. “What do you plan to do?”
Rhonda beamed, clearly taking our reluctance as permission to proceed. She stood and placed the eye on the table in front of her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her shoulders rising, then falling. Misaki paused and the room grew quiet.
“I’m going to summon the spirit of the person who once owned this eyeball.” She tilted her chin back, eyes still closed, and held her arms a little ways away from her sides, fingers spread wide. “Oh, Great Spirit—”
“Er.” Maple held up a finger, and Rhonda peeled an eye open. “Didn’t you say necromancers always draw a protection circle?”
Rhonda snapped her fingers. “That’s right! I was, uh, quizzing you. You passed.”
Maple gave her a flat look.
I grabbed a bag of salt from the kitchen (we’d moved in a few essentials so we could eat and snack while working on the house). Rhonda poured the salt in a circle that encompassed the table, which we all gathered around, murmuring incantations as she did so.
Rhonda sealed herself in, then set the salt aside. She resumed her stance, eyes closed. Iggy’s flickering firelight cast stark shadows across her face.
“Spirits from beyond—”
Misaki interrupted her. “How do we know the person’s dead? Maybe they just lost an eye?”
Rhonda shot her a look. “Well, it won’t work if they’re alive. Now let me think—Madame Zerna would always sway a little….” Rhonda moved her hips back and forth.
Iggy and I exchanged doubtful glances.
“Spirits from beyond, send forth the owner of this eyeball…”
Iggy frowned and muttered, “Is she just making this up?”
I grinned and whispered, “Probably.”
“Appear to us, spirit, appear to us now, in this very room. With your eyeball, a tether to the earthly plane you once inhabited, we summon you.” Rhonda held very still, then peeled an eye open. “Did it work?”
Maple shook her head, and I opened my mouth to suggest we give it a break and go look for the guys, when a poison-green light limned Rhonda’s edges. My breath caught.
“What?” Rhonda looked around at our shocked faces, wide-eyed. “Is my hair weird? Do I have something in my teeth?” She shuddered as the light grew brighter. “Did it get colder in here?” Her breath fogged.
I stared, rooted to the spot as the green light grew brighter until it peeled away from Rhonda and floated toward the dining room, outside the circle of salt. Speechless, we all turned to watch.
The shifting light swirled and took shape. And suddenly the apparition of a woman hovered before us.
53
The Ghost
Rhonda spun around to face us and jabbed her thumb at the glowing green ghost in our parlor. “You guys! I did it!” She beamed. “Psh. Necromancers think they’re all that, but—”
The ghost interrupted her, and she spun to face it. “Who are you? Why have you summoned me?” The ghost had long, dark hair and wore a headdress of velvet and coins, like a fortune teller. Her full cheeks made her look healthy and her painted nails glittered in the candlelight, all in shades of green.
Iggy shot a flaming arm out toward Rhonda and squeaked, “She did
it. She summoned you.”
The ghost focused her gaze on Rhonda. I frowned. She had two eyes.
Rhonda plucked the eye off the table and held it up for the ghost to see. “I believe this belongs to you?”
The ghost frowned.
The Seer tried again, though quieter and less sure. “We, uh—found your eye?”
The ghost’s dark hair floated about her as though she were underwater. “My eye?” She blinked. “But I have my eyes.”
She did. She totally did. Which was strange.
I shifted in my seat and plucked up my courage. “Who are you?”
The ghost drew herself up taller. “I am Madame Shi, the necromancer.”
My mouth fell open. I gaped at Maple, who looked as shocked as I was.
Misaki crossed her arms. “No, you’re not. Madame Shi is alive and lives in the woods. What’s your real name?”
The ghost’s eyes blazed. “How dare you! I am Madame Shi!”
Misaki frowned at Rhonda. “You sure you did this whole summoning thing right?”
“Summoning?” The ghost looked down at her transparent arms, then back up at Rhonda. “You are also… a necromancer?”
Rhonda tossed her braids over her shoulder, looking proud of herself. “I’m a Seer, so yeah, basically.”
The ghost rolled her eyes. “Not the same at all.” She lifted a brow. “Who were you attempting to summon?”
Rhonda held up the eye. “The owner of this.”
The ghost peered at it, a line creasing the space between her brows in confusion. “Like I said, I have both my eyes. You should have left this to a real necromancer.”
Annie huffed. “We were trying to call on Madame Shi to do this.”
The ghost balled her hands at her sides. “I am Madame Shi.”
Iggy waved a hand at her. “Sure you are, sweetheart.”
The ghost’s glow grew brighter and her eyes blazed with anger. “Do you mean to tell me someone is impersonating me?”
Huh. Now that was a thought. I lifted a brow. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
The ghost looked down. “A big typhoon was coming. I had to evacuate on the train to Kusuri.” She jerked her head up. “There was some kind of problem—the train lurched suddenly, and—and that’s it, that’s all I remember.”
Rhonda turned to face us and snapped her fingers. “That’s it. She must have lost her eye after she died, or in the crash.” She shrugged. “And a raven plucked it up.”
Misaki shook her head. “But that still doesn’t explain why she thinks she’s Madame Shi.”
“Unless...” I felt as though someone had poured a bucket of ice water over me. Goose bumps rose on my arms. “Unless the woman in the woods isn’t Madame Shi. Unless that woman stole Madame Shi’s identity.” I threw an arm towards the ghost. “And stole her eye.” My chest heaved. “Because she only had one….”
Misaki shot to her feet. “Chiyoko!”
I nodded. “Chiyoko survived the crash and switched places with the real Madame Shi. But she knew only having one eye would be a dead giveaway, so—”
“She stole mine,” the ghost growled.
Maple lurched to her feet. “Wiley—the guys are in trouble!”
My chest tightened at the thought of them at that serial killer’s haunted shack in the woods. “We have to go save them!”
“Thanks, ghost! Been real helpful.” Rhonda bowed her head. “Summons is done, return from whence you came.”
The apparition disappeared, and Rhonda kicked the circle of salt with her foot, breaking it. “Come on!” She grabbed the eyeball, I grabbed Iggy’s lantern, and we all dashed out the door.
54
The Train Wreck
We raced through the dark streets of Kusuri and made a quick detour to Chief Abe’s police box, but found it unmanned. He must’ve been out on a call. So we sped on, leaving the safety of the walled city and heading into the dark, monster-infested forest.
Our going was slower than the first time we’d trekked out to the hut. In the dark, we tripped over tree roots, and once, Misaki took a wrong turn and we had to backtrack to find our way.
The whole time, a single raven flew overhead, its black shape peeking now and then between the tree tops. I wasn’t sure whether I found its presence comforting or like a harbinger of doom.
By the time we made our way through the narrow rock canyon, my chest ached with anxiety. That knot only tightened when the hut came into view, its torches burning bright orange in the darkness, the flames reflecting off the murky water of the pond. The taxidermied owl frog called out, announcing our arrival, as we sped past it.
I coughed as we entered the rotten front garden, the pile of entrails and bones even more disturbing now that we knew that the woman pretending to be Madame Shi was only an impostor.
Misaki slammed her fist against the wooden door, which rattled beneath her blows. “Open up!”
Groans issued from inside, and I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. Maple whimpered, while Annie leveled a grim look at the door, her wand raised.
Misaki had raised her fist to pummel the door again, when it flew open and Madame Shi, or rather, Chiyoko, stood in the doorway. She wore her white skull face paint and her dark, tangled hair was still twisted in those curved, twin horns.
“Where are they?” Misaki lurched to the side to move past the witch, but she stepped in front of her, blocking her path.
“Where are who?” the old woman sneered, revealing dirty, rotten teeth.
“Charming as ever,” Iggy muttered.
“Drop the act,” Misaki growled. “We know who you are—Chiyoko.”
The woman’s eyes widened and she cackled. “Haven’t heard that name in quite a while.” Her hoarse, grating voice sent shivers over my skin.
Misaki shoved her against the wall and pushed past. Maple, Rhonda, Annie, and I slid quickly inside behind her. The stench inside the house made me cough into the crook of my arm.
I peered around with my stinging eyes. I didn’t spot our guys at first, among the filth and rubbish that covered every inch of the floors and walls.
Misaki let out a cry and ran forward. She crouched down beside a shape, which I realized a moment later, with a sickening lurch, was Jun. He lay sprawled on his stomach, and Misaki, hands trembling, rolled him over. His chest heaved in shallow pants as he looked up at her, his face pale and gaunt. Maple pressed a hand to her mouth, stifling a gasp.
The witch spread her soot-stained hands wide, her fingernails ragged and ridged. “Oh good. You’re all here.”
Misaki set her jaw. “What have you done to him?!” She balled her fists and lunged for the old woman. Before she’d made it two steps, she clutched her stomach and doubled over. She collapsed to the ground beside Jun, groaning.
“Misaki!” I moved toward her, but a searing pain cut across my stomach and I dropped, my cheek landing hard on the rough wooden floor. I gasped for breath, the cramping nearly unbearable. My head ached, nausea twisted my stomach, and my whole body throbbed with pain. I blinked my blurry eyes and found Iggy’s lantern tipped sideways beside me, his worried eyes round.
“What’s she doing to you?” Iggy’s flames shrank.
I opened my mouth but couldn’t form words. Behind the lantern I spotted Maple, Annie, and Rhonda laid out on the ground, writhing in pain.
A booted foot landed with a thud in front of my face as the witch limped past. I lifted my chin to follow her. She walked between the grotesque taxidermied animals she’d sewn together, their eyes blinking, mouths chomping. She stopped in front of the walk-in fireplace and held something up to the light of the flames. Madame Shi’s eyeball! She must have stolen it from Rhonda.
“I’ve been looking for this for ten years.” She sneered. “Since you brought it to me, I suppose I owe you an explanation.” She cackled, a sound like grating metal. “Besides, you’ll all be dead soon anyway. Some sooner than others.” She kicked something at her feet, and it grunted.
<
br /> A wave of nausea rolled over me. “Hank,” I managed to whisper. He rolled over to face me, his lips dry and white and the skin of his face tight to his skull.
He looked half dead already. No. A tear trickled down my cheek. I wanted to go to him, but I could hardly speak, much less stand.
The witch twirled a gnarled hand, and a parade of roughly fashioned dolls magically floated over and hovered beside her. Bones and twigs made up their limbs, and hair twirled around their heads, like nests. Above each one, a ratty-looking ball hovered—a ball that looked a lot like the curse I’d found in the attic.
The witch gestured at the dolls. “Poppets. I made them of you, with bits of hair stolen from your visits here and my visit to your home.” She sneered. “I had to improvise once the vampire got here—whipped one up real quick.”
My heart sank. So she’d gotten Francis, too? He was lying in this hovel somewhere like the rest of us. If her curses were strong enough to take down a vampire, the rest of us didn’t stand a chance.
“Caw!”
I lifted my eyes at the muffled cry. At the window on the back wall, a beady black eye peered at me through the boards that covered the opening.
“Caw!”
The raven disappeared. Another cramp made me tuck my knees up to my chest in the fetal position. I gritted my teeth and groaned.
Iggy’s flames guttered erratically. “Imogen? Imogen, what’s happening?”
The witch pointed a gnarled finger at the balls of hair and teeth that hovered over the poppets. “Personal curses for all my poppets.” She sneered again as she looked down at the cloudy eyeball in her hand. A mouse scurried over her foot, but she seemed not to even notice. “Where to begin? Ah, how about that train ride.”
I strained to listen over the pounding of my heart in my ears.
“I survived the monster attack that sent our train off the rails. I was the only one of us prisoners who did, though my poor, unfortunate guard was still conscious when I bashed his head in with a piece of shrapnel.”
