Page 71 of Between Ghosts and Gods

“I’m fond of you, my little ghost. You’re a hard worker and you don’t complain. You have a good eye, and you’re content doing the same thing over and over. Go back to your desk, Kasu. Keep your head down and work diligently, and we can forget all of this.”

Kasu seethed. How could she just walk away after everything she had seen? How could she abandon Arun and Ruo? Lady Camellia insulted her by even daring to suggest such a thing.

She stepped away sharply.

“The heavens never forget and neither do I!”

Lady Camellia tittered, but behind her laughter Kasu could tell that the demon was furious. “You stupid girl, why don’t you just do as you’re told? I offer you a good life at my parlour and this is how you repay my generosity? You’ve already forgotten so much. Do you remember your sister? Do you know what happened to her after you sold your soul to me?”

Kasu hardly dared breathe. Sister. Yes, she had had a sister once. Small hands. A smile like sunshine. A sickness. Hunger and coughing and a constant cold that crept into her bones no matter how many pieces of firewood Kasu burned. The images were vague, but the feelings were distinct.

The demon plucked a flower from her eye socket and tossed it at Kasu’s feet. A red poppy. Forgetfulness. A peaceful sleep. Death.

With one swipe, the demon snatched her off her feet. Kasu barely had time to struggle as she was lifted into the air. Lady Camellia’s skeletal hands squeezed her so tight her ribs felt like they would crack at any second. As she gasped for breath, two bony fingers pinched her mouth open.

“Your worst memories.” The demon uncorked the blood-red elixir and dripped the smallest amount onto Kasu’s tongue. “I’m sure they’ll be exquisite.”

Lady Camellia’s crooning voice chased Kasu all the way down into the darkness.

Chapter Thirty-Five Kasu

The moment Kasu and her sister drew their first wailing breaths, they destroyed their mother’s happiness.

Kasu was the elder, born just moments before her sister. Twins. An ill omen. In some parts of the country it was customary to drown one of the babies so as not to invite misfortune. Unfortunately for their mother, drowning one or both would not save her. The damage had already been done.

Kasu would later find out that her mother was the daughter of a minor official. Her family had arranged for her to marry a soldier of good rank. A promising match, though her mother was in love with the cattle herder who sometimes brought his cows to graze near the edge of the village. Their mother had been wilful. Stubborn. Fine clothes and fluffy rice meant little to her in the face of true love.

By the time Kasu and her sister were born, neither the soldier nor the cattle herder wanted anything to do with them.

The shack was cold. No matter how many times Kasu patched the straw roof or adjusted the wonky door, the wind somehow managed to blow right through. Like clockwork, when the trees turned colour, her sister began coughing. One day, she started coughing and never stopped.

Her stomach was empty, so empty. The hollow ache seemed to echo through her bones. She could not bear it. Her hunger was a vast madness.She doubted anything less than the world would satisfy it.

Their mother made money doing laundry. Kasu and her sister did odd jobs around the nearby village – delivering messages, mopping floors, collecting water from the local well.

When they were little, old women would pinch their red cheeks and toss them scraps. Then they grew up. No longer small and cute and easy to pity, the handouts stopped.

Mother had a gentle smile. She sang them lullabies on nights when the howling wind did not drown her out.

Mother had fists like iron. Sometimes, she hit Kasu. Sometimes, she tried to hit Kasu’s sister and ended up hitting Kasu instead.

“Kasu? Kasu, can you hear me? Hang on!”

One day, her mother returned from the village with an old lady Kasu had never seen before.

“They’re really dead?” Her mother’s shoulders trembled.

It was then Kasu learned that her grandparents were gone. She couldn’t say she mourned them much. Her grandparents had disowned her mother just because she had two babies in her belly. It was their fault that Kasu’s family were poor and starving.

“They’re dead.” Her mother buried her hands in her hair. She had started pulling at it recently. Sometimes, Kasu would find clumps in the corner of the house. “What about their estate?”

“It will go to your uncle.” There was something odd about the old woman her mother had brought home. Her shadow sometimes flickered like a flame.

“But it belongs to me!” Mother ripped her hands from her hair. Several greying strands came away in her palm.

The old lady nodded. “When you were driven from your home, they took your identification token – your pendant – didn’t they? It has the sigil of your family carved into it. If you had it again, if you could prove that you were their daughter, their inheritance would be yours.”

Something had possessed Kasu’s mother. She looked more alive than she had in years. Her eyes shone with a fervour Kasu had never seen before.