Page 31 of Between Ghosts and Gods

“What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed. “This is the Pale Lady, one of the four demon lords and mistress of the theatre district!”

Arun did not look impressed.

Neither did the Pale Lady.

Extending her bark-covered hand, the demon curled a single finger.

“Come with me.”

Chapter Sixteen Kasu

Kasu knew that she should move, but her feet remained rooted to the spot. The Pale Lady stood as tall as a mighty oak yet as slender as a birch.

“Listen,” Kasu whispered, turning to Arun, “whatever you do, please don’t say anything that could offend the Pale Lady!”

“What if I try to cut her?” Arun’s hand drifted over the hilt of his sword once more.

“Don’t fight her, either!”

“Then how about—” he began, but whatever Arun was going to suggest, Kasu would never know.

“Well, well! My lead actor goes missing, and when I decide to look for him I discover two little ghosts standing over his corpse. What am I to make of that?” It was difficult to read the expression on the Pale Lady’s face – the moths kept getting in the way.

“Um, Madam Pale Lady” – Kasu hunched over, trying to make herself appear as small as possible – “please accept our deepest condolences for what happened to your actor. We didn’t kill him, I swear. It was a wolf. A huge white wolf covered in eyes. A–a curse. We were following it when we stumbled upon the body.”

The moths covering the demon’s eyes fidgeted and crawled over each other, their small, furry bodies rearranging themselves over her face.

“A curse, you say? A white wolf? Why would my actor be attacked by a curse?”

“Who knows? Maybe he did something terrible. He was a demon after all.” Arun was unflinching in his insolence. Kasu wished she had brought her rag with her so she could stuff it in his mouth.

She dared to glance back at the dead demon. Curses were born from humans to kill other humans. It was unusual for a curse to target a demon, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t. The kill was clean. There were no marks on the body – no blood from a cut, no ligature marks to indicate strangulation, no caved-in skull or evidence of broken bones. Kasu wondered if this was how all curses murdered their targets. She’d have to ask Ruo about it later.

“Enough. The play is about to start. Come with me.” Again, the Pale Lady gestured for them to follow her.

Walking down a dark alleyway filled with razor blades would probably be safer than going anywhere with a demon lord, but it was not as if they could refuse. Saying no would earn them a one-way trip to the Pale Lady’s stomach.

With Arun and Kasu in tow, the demon lord strode through the narrow alleyways, sweeping past heaps of trash piled against the walls, and down the winding side streets.

Soon, Kasu found herself standing in front of a towering wooden scaffold. The Grand Pavilion. It was the largest and most lavish theatre in all the western quarter. To reach the very top, they had to take an elevator pulley operated by two labouring ghosts who would tug on the ropes and haul the elevator box up what felt like miles and miles of scaffolding.

The journey up was slow and precarious. With each excruciating moment that passed, Kasu expected one of the ghosts to let go of the ropes and send the elevator plunging back to the ground.

When they finally made it to the top, she dropped to her hands and knees in fright. The scaffold was so tall it overlooked the entirety of Ghost City.

Kneeling was a mistake. She could feel the floorboards beneath her stinging palms sway ever so slightly. There were no safety rails and no guard ropes around the edge of the platform. If someone fell from this height, they would be nothing but a splatter of blood and organs on the ground below.

“Are you OK?” Arun offered her a hand, which she resolutely refused to take.

“Fine,” she replied through gritted teeth. She was so high up a strong breeze could blow her away.

The longer Kasu refused his hand, the wider Arun’s smirk grew. “I didn’t know you were afraid of heights. Don’t worry. If you hold on to me, I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

Kasu scowled at him and forced herself to her feet.

In the middle of the platform, a large, raised circle and a connecting catwalk marked the stage. Surrounding it stood several low tables with velvet cushions from which guests could wine and dine while watching the show – though how they could enjoy themselves on this death trap was anyone’s guess.

In the centre of the stage she saw a group of ghosts and demons. The Pale Lady was slowly making her way towards them. Willing her shaking legs to move, Kasu stumbled after the demon lord.