Page 20 of Death of a Mortal

This was the best I could have hoped for in catching an animal, but…

Nella knelt to the ground, still weak, and I asked the bird, “I assume you wouldn’t be kind enough to pluck out its eyes and heart for me?”

The bird stared at me and cocked its head. I didn’t know what went through avian brains, but I imagined this was its version of rolling its eyes.

I took a deep breath. “Fine.”

When I took the little brown mouse in my hands, it was still warm, causing a gag to creep up my throat. I swallowed and closed my eyes—I had to do this…somehow.

I think Nella said something, but I didn’t register it through the racing, gruesome thoughts running through my mind. “Don’t look,” was all I managed to say right before I took its head in one hand and its body in the other and pulled.

I turned my head and vomited when I felt and heard the separation.

“Naci!”

“No.” I gulped, wiping my mouth on my shoulder. “Nella, please don’t look. I’m”—I gagged—“fine.”

I opened my eyes and looked at the bloody mess. I heaved again, but my stomach was empty, nothing but bile rising in my throat.

With trembling hands, I opened its chest and scooped out its insides. I couldn’t tell what organ was what. The banshee would have to accept that there might be some extra parts.

As for the eyes… Tears streamed from mine as I did what I had to do. I knew the poor thing was already dead before I did my unforgivable deeds, but I still felt my soul had a permanent stain on it.

For Nella. I’d stain my soul as much as I needed to for her.

After several steadying breaths, I tore off a portion of the sleeve wrapped around the flower and gathered the mouse’s remnants.

From the ground, I looked at the bird watching me and asked, “Can you show me which way is west? Toward the banshee’s house?”

The bird blinked twice, then took off. I put my arm around Nella’s waist once more, and we followed our new friend until I could make out a small wooden cabin in the distance.

When we arrived, I knocked on the door, feeling much more confident after making it through the first parts of the task. But that was fleeting as I remembered the rest of the task I would be required to complete once we stepped inside. Had we survived the horrors of the forest just to be tortured by the banshee? Would it kill us anyway once it got what it needed from me?

The banshee opened the door, and the smile that greeted us from the other side made my blood run cold, all but confirming my fears.

Chapter 7

Powerless

“Come in, children,come in,” the banshee said with that same wail-mixed-with-words.

Nella immediately reached for her ears, and I threw daggers with my stare at the banshee.

“Cut it out, or I won’t help you! You’re hurting her after she almost died doing your ridiculous task!”

The banshee’s smile only widened as it pointed a gnarled finger at Nella and kept its lack of eyes on me. Its fingertip glowed green for a moment. Then I saw the same green glow surround Nella’s ears, seeping out through her fingers. “Her delicate ears are protected so long as I get your full cooperation.”

I nodded at Nella, indicating that she could take her hands from her ears. “Why can I understand you and she can’t?”

The banshee stepped back to allow us inside. Once we were over the threshold, it looked from me to Nella and back, and began pacing around the small cabin, seeming to think before it answered. A large round wooden table that had more nicks, cuts, and stains than any table I’d ever seen—including the ones at The Flayed Pig backhome—took up most of the center of the single room. A pang of sadness swept through my heart but was gone as quickly as it came. That wasn’t home. Not anymore.

The banshee stopped its pacing in front of a lit stone fireplace off to one side of the table and turned to face a cauldron resting atop the flames. Wafts of smoke rose in perfect spirals. A strong, sweet scent like dead flowers mixed with decaying fruit filled the small cabin.

“Even I cannot answer why you can understand me,” it replied.

I glanced at Nella to make sure she wasn’t showing signs of pain from her ears as it spoke, but she made no flinch or motion to cover them.

“It’s curious indeed, but I would assume it has something to do with the truth and memory you’ll produce for me here and now. Sit down.” It gestured toward a chair to its right.