Chase picked up his gun.“Never grab my gun away from me again,” he said, giving me a long look.“I mean it.”
“You would have caused far worse damage if you’d shot it,” I said.
“Nevertheless, justdon’t.”He made sure the safety was on and slid it back into his hip holster.“So, what the hell was that thing doing in my living room?”
“How did it get in?”Delilah asked.
“I’m not sure.It was here when I got home.”Chase’s voice was steady, but he seemed unnerved.He rubbed his chin.
“Listen, you know that disc you found?”I asked.
He nodded.“What about it?”
“We found out what it is.And I think that might be why the kappa showed up.That’s a tenzar—a cursed talisman.When you picked it up, you triggered the curse.It was probably a trap for someone else, but you found it first,” I said.
Chase’s bravado faded.He sat down, staring at me.“Curse?What kind of curse?”
“We think you stumbled into an interdimensional space when you were in the park this morning.There are natural portals as well as the ones that were opened when Otherworld decided to initiate contact.As far as what kind of curse, we aren’t sure.I need to find someone who can help me figure out the answer.Until then, you’ll have to be as cautious as you can be.”I could smell the nervous tension rising.Full-blooded humans—or FBHs—gave off strong scents, and my sisters and I had hypersensitive senses of smell, as well as hearing.
Chase sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it out, the only sign that he was unnerved.“So, basically my life is fucked until we figure out what kind of curse it is.Wait, can it be negated?”
“I don’t know,” I said, wishing I could give him a better answer.“But I’ll do my best to find out whatever I can.But you need to tell me if anything out of the ordinary happens.Even something small could give us context.”
“Is there anything I can do to protect myself?Can you cast some sort of spell?”he asked.
I wanted to help, but I knew my limits.“Given there’s a curse involved, my help might end up making things worse.I wish I could be more helpful, but...”
“Camille’s right,” Iris said.“Depending on the nature of the curse, any magic we do might end up exacerbating the damage.”
We chatted for a bit longer, then headed out after checking his apartment to make certain there weren’t any other creepy-crawlies lying in wait.Chase stopped me at the door.
“Camille, don’t think I’m ungrateful.I wouldn’t have survived whatever that thing was—especially what came out of the…kappa, you called it?”His eyes were coffee-dark and warm.
I nodded, lightly rubbing my throat.“We know, and we understand.And I’m sorry this happened.I wish I had more information for you right now, but this is going to take some research.If I give you the wrong answer, it could make things a lot worse.”
He let out a soft breath.“You have a lot of monsters like that one in Otherworld, don’t you?”
I nodded.“All sorts.But make no mistake, you have them here, too.You’re just not used to seeing them.Don’t ever underestimate what hides in the darkness.Sometimes, the monsters under your bed are real, Chase.Never assume you’re safe.I learned that early as a soldier’s daughter.”
“Your neck…”
“I’ll heal up.The marks will fade.Some scars last forever, Chase,” I said, thinking of Menolly.“And others…well…they fade with time.”
Chase started to answer, then fell silent.He just nodded as I smiled and turned to follow Iris and Delilah back to the stairwell.
We wereon the way home when the rain started in earnest.It rained at home, but nothing like the wet drizzle here in Seattle.As the fat droplets spattered against the windshield, I tried to sort through the witches I knew who might be able to help with Chase.
“What do kappas do to people?And why was that other creature inside the frog demon?I assume the kappas are demons?”Delilah asked as she flipped on the turn signal and eased into the right lane.
“Yes, the kappa is a demon,” Iris said.“I’ve never heard of something growing inside of one, though.I wonder if there are parasites that can infect demons?”
“I don’t know,” I muttered, still trying to put together a list of who I might be able to contact.“I might contact Derisa and ask her for advice.”
Derisa was the High Priestess of the Moon Mother, back in Otherworld.She might know, though everybody seemed to think that witches knew every aspect of magic, when the reality was quite different.We all specialized, with few exceptions.
I was trained in moon magic, and yet there was something deeper there—I could feel it, but I had never been able to coax my latent abilities to the surface.I tried to be patient, although it was hard.But to wield magic required patience.It required time and energy spent practicing and honing one’s skills.Energy manipulation happened every day, with every choice, but when you deliberately set out for a specific result, it meant that you had to consider every step in every ritual until it became second nature.
We arrived home and, after leaving a note for Menolly to tell her what had happened, we headed to bed, the rain pounding at our windows.