Page 49 of Between Ghosts and Gods

“I am here.” The Pale Lady clambered out of the demon’s body, letting it sag to the floor around her feet. Despite emerging from a pool of blood, her white dress was unmarked. Her long, pale hair tumbled to the ground as she sat in the too-small tent, her antlers poking at the top of the fabric.

“Do you have to do that every time?” Arun asked, queasily.

Kasu tried not to look at the fortune teller’s body. The demon’s six eyes stared up at her, glassy and unseeing. Death was a part of the under-realm, but it did not get any easier to stomach.

The Pale Lady was unbothered. “Their lives are mine, anyway. They all signed contracts with me agreeing so,” she said.

It was not just ghosts who signed contracts of service – lesser demons also found work under more powerful ones. The terms were often the same, except that, unlike ghosts, once their contracts were over, demons could not try petitioning the heavens for a chance at reincarnation. A weak demon was often doomed to an eternity of servitude.

“They’re still people, all the same!” Arun scowled.

Calmly, the Pale Lady gestured for them to take a seat in front of her divining table. “I believe you have something for me.”

Kasu and Arun glanced at one another. After a moment, they both sat down.

“There was a problem,” said Kasu.

“We did our best,” Arun added, already on the defensive.

It wasn’t a great place from which to start negotiations. Kasu knew that if you wanted a good deal you had to be aggressive.

The Pale Lady’s moths vibrated their wings in displeasure. “So you failed.”

Kasu and Arun exchanged looks a second time. Carefully, Arun pulled the bottle of green smoke from his sash.

“We have this.”

“I know about Lady Camellia’s memory collection. That is not what I asked for.” The Pale Lady sounded uninterested. This was not as fun as an elixir that could be used to torture someone into reliving their worst moments over and over again.

“It’s not what you wanted, no,” said Kasu. “We were stopped from finding and obtaining the elixir by another group of ghosts.”

“Another group of ghosts?”

“If you would like to know more, perhaps we can strike a new deal?”

“After you so miserably failed to uphold your end of our first bargain?”

“The ghosts mentioned Lord Cobalt.”

“Oh?” The Pale Lady tilted her head to one side.

Kasu nodded. Now that she thought about it, she still had no idea why they had broken into Lady Camellia’s quarters in the first place. Could Lord Cobalt have heard about the elixir too and sent his men to steal it?

The Pale Lady seemed to be thinking the same thing. Plucking the green memory bottle from Arun’s hand, she twirled it between her fingers before pocketing it somewhere inside her robe.

“Very well, tell me about these ghosts and I will tell you about Sunan.”

Kasu tried not to show how relieved she was as she recounted their experience sneaking into Lady Camellia’s chambers – the memory bottles, the ghosts, the mirror of departure they had found wedged into a tree.

“Now it’s your turn to tell us what we want to know,” said Arun.

Kasu gave him a despairing look. Well, if the Pale Lady had not eaten them both yet, perhaps she wouldn’t start now.

The demon grinned and made herself comfortable, her antlers still brushing against the top of the tent. “Some time ago, Sunan came to visit me. She had stolen a reincarnation wheel and needed somewhere to hide from the eyes of the heavens.”

Arun stiffened. For a moment, Kasu was sure he would insist that the Pale Lady was lying again, but this time he managed to hold his tongue.

“She didn’t stay long. I believe she moved on to the eastern quarter next. To do what, I don’t know. That was the last I heard of her.”