Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON TWO (Ongoing)

Part 2.7

It's odd to see my old room again. It's the same as I'd left it when I got my internship at Witch Doctors Inc. The neat bed in the corner, the bookshelves lined with spellbooks, the desk with the moon-speckled cushion that Onyx liked to sit on.

Even though it's mine, it doesn't feel like it is. It's the remnant of a time when my life was shaped by others. The life I live now is my own.

I linger here awhile. My father was always busy with work, and Emmeline didn't want much to do with me, so it was me and Onyx most of the time. The memories flood back, and they feel strange in my mind, like they don't belong there.

Emmeline's maid Jasmine let me in, then scurried away before I could ask any questions. Emmeline arrives later and meets me in the kitchen. I barely notice her petal-soft glare, because there's a presence here tugging at my insides. It's coming from...not here, but below. Its aura is damp. It's something cold and broken. Something unforgiving. And something, something I once knew.

"This is where two of the fires broke out," Emmeline says. Her elbows are on the table, her face propped up in her palms. Her eyes are unreachable. "The second one lunged straight at Jasmine."

"Where exactly?"

Emmeline points out the spot, right in front of the oven.

I roll my eyes. "She's sure she didn't have the oven on too hot?"

Emmeline folds her arms. "Jasmine saw a flame leap straight at her arm, then shoot to the floor."

"I'd like to speak to Jasmine."

Emmeline purses her lips. "Jasmine is upset. She's terrified of the spirit."

I fold my arms. "I need to speak to Jasmine if I'm to carry out a thorough investigation."

Emmeline doesn't answer for a while. "Fine," she relents.

Jasmine certainly looks terrified when I call her in for questioning. I shoo Emmeline away so it's just me and her. I don't want Emmeline influencing her answers.

"Yes, it jumped at me," she confirms, tucking a strand of mousey brown hair behind her ear. "It burned my arm, then went to the floor. The first time it was a flame that hovered in the air. It stood there watching me before...spiralling."

"Spiralling?"

"It was...sucked apart. The bits and pieces spiralled towards the bottom of the door."

"Did it look like a phoenix?"

Jasmine shakes her head. "It didn't look like anything at all. It's been happening all over the house." Her eyes dart to the stove. Her lip trembles. "It's Miss Harmony," she blurts, "coming back to take revenge on Miss Emmeline for stealing Mr Robert!"

Inside me panic whirls, but I keep my face and voice calm. "What makes you say that?"

"It only happened after the memorial." Jasmine looks close to tears. "I'm going to hand in my resignation. I can't stay here any longer."

"Take some time to think about it," I tell her. "There's a rational explanation for what's happening. There are no such things as ghosts."

"They say that," Jasmine says, "but people have seen them. Ghosts and witches. It's all real."

"Just don't make any hasty decisions. Maybe you should take a few days off to get some distance."

Jasmine dashes out of the room the moment I let her go. I take a few samples from the kitchen - some ash from the stove, a curl of onion from the table, a used tea towel. I'll run diagnostics on them when I get back. But before that, I'll do the real stuff - the energy sensing.

I reach out with my mind...and immediately recoil.

It's here.

The coldness.

Broken.

It wants me.

I stumble backwards. I can't stay here any longer. I leave the house without saying anything to anyone else.

Panic pounds in my chest. What was that? What could be so cold? What could pull at me like it needed me, like it needed to be whole?

It isn't my mother's ghost. I refuse to believe that. I'm not going to listen to panic. There's a logical reason for everything. My cauldron will tell me what it is.

My cauldron lets me down. There are no charms, hexes or short-term curses working on any of the items I brought back.

I don't want to go back to that house. I don't want to feel that coldness again. And I don't want to speak to anyone.

All I want is sleep, but sleep gives me nightmares. I see my mother with black butterflies for eyes. "Why did you do it?" she asks me. "Why did you kill me, Lily?"