WE STOPPED on the blue room’s threshold. Something felt different about the
space. The mental cobwebs were building up over my mind again, blurring
my eyes and slowing my reactions. I glanced at the hand holding the sage; the
black veins spread down my arm, going nearly all the way to my shoulder. I
blinked. They were gone again.
“Stay alert,” I hissed. “She’s trying to pull us back into her trance.”
I stepped into the room and was slapped by a sense of surrealism. The
shelves still stood against the walls, their blank-faced dolls staring down at
the doorway. But the desk below the window was gone. In its place lay a cot.
Pink lace had been painstakingly sewn around it, and a rattle rested on its
edge, ready to be given to the infant inside.
A small, gurgling cry came from the crib. Enthralled, I stepped closer.
There was no child inside. Instead, one of Ruby’s dolls lay amongst the soft
sheets and pink cushions.
The doll bore a striking resemblance to its creator. Long, mousy hair
spread out from its head. Its eyes were large and clear blue. The arms
stretched out, and at first glance, they seemed to ask for a hug. But then I saw
the blood trickling from the back of the doll’s head. Its plastic cranium had
broken open from the fall that had flung its limbs wide. Its lips were parted in
a tiny, surprised smile. The shining eyes held no life.
I choked out a cry as I stumbled back from the image. Ruby was at my
side in an instant. She threw a handful of salt into the crib, and sick, icy
shivers ran up my limbs. I blinked, and the cot was gone. Only the desk
remained in its place, the malformed, unsmiling dolls glaring up at me.“You’re okay,” Ruby whispered. “It was just a trick. Put it out of your
mind.”
She turned towards the window, and I followed her gaze. Night had fallen
and obscured the yard, but I thought I saw something large move in the back
corner.
“Raul’s hanging there again.” Ruby’s voice was raw. “We buried him,
but… but he’s—”
“Back,” I finished. “Don’t look at it. It’s another illusion.”
“Spread some more sage.” She took a quick breath and pressed my arm as
she moved past me. “You were right. Shreya’s strength is concentrated here.”
I raised the bunch of herbs. The smoke spread through the room, hanging
about the corners and blurring the walls. Ruby scattered fistfuls of salt across
the dolls, the desk, and the windowpane.
“Get that corner, too.” I nodded towards the place where holes had been
drilled into the wall. When I looked closely, I could see a rusty outline from
the bracket Shreya had once been chained to.
Ruby tipped salt across the wall and the ground. Tiny plumes of black
smoke rose from the floor, as if the salt were burning the wood. My herbs
were burnt down to stubs, so I threw the bunch into the corner. “I’m out.”
“Me, too.” Ruby shook the empty salt container. “Do you think it was
enough?”
“I don’t know. Let’s see.” I went to the window and grabbed the frame. It
rattled and shifted up an inch. Cool air floated through the gap. I strained,
alternately yanking it up and down, trying to shake it loose. I stepped back,
my breathing laboured.
“It could just be jammed.” Ruby stepped up and tried the window herself.
It still stuck. “Jammed from a natural cause, I mean. Come on, let’s try the
front door.”
“All right.” I reached out and gave the frame a final yank as Ruby stepped
into the hallway. It only moved up an inch before freezing again. I sighed and
turned to leave the room.
Something crouched in the corner where I’d thrown my smouldering
sage. I froze, my heart thundering, as Shreya raised her head to glare at me.
Her tousled hair hung like curtains around her face, and her faded steel-blue
dress was grimy. Metal clinked as she shifted, and I saw a long chain running
from a collar around her throat to the wall.
“Ruby?” My voice was a squeak.Ruby was already halfway down the hallway, but she stopped and turned
at my voice.
With a snarl, Shreya’s lips parted. One hand moved forward to cover her
belly. She was ringed by the salt, and the sage’s smoke drifted past her face,
but she didn’t seem to notice or care.