Chapter 15: The Devil

Yuki sat on the porch swing, staring out at the front yard with a cup of tea in her hands.

The debris from the magic storm was strewn across the grounds, making the land look like a small junkyard. Somehow, it served as a perfect metaphor for her life right now, a giant mess with nobody to help clean it up. She took a sip of tea, letting out a sigh as the hot liquid streamed down her throat.

The front door opened behind her and Mike walked out, then sat down next to her on the swing. She fought the urge to scoot away, to turn her venom on him, but resisted. It was a knee jerk reaction to years of anger, and she mentally applauded herself for resisting.

“Ratu is working on a cure down in her Labyrinth,” he told her. “She seems fairly optimistic that we can undo the gorgon’s curse, but it will still take her a couple of days to finish putting what she needs together.”

“Good.” She sipped her tea, trying to keep her hands from shaking. It was hard existing without that burning rage seething away inside of her, and she was afraid of what would come next. Though Mike had healed her wounds, it was always possible that he might decide to kick her out or put her back in the tower. What didn’t scare her so much was his judgment. Whatever the man thought of her, she likely deserved.

What scared her the most was that she would let him do it.

“So, the emerald is gone for good? No way we can get that back and use it on Oliver?”

Yuki shook her head. Discussion of the emerald hadn’t happened yet. After the events in the front yard, she had told them everything about what had happened to Beth. The Rat King and Tink had filled Mike in on how Oliver had used Beth to steal secrets from the house, secrets he planned to turn over to the Society if she didn’t give herself up.

Beth’s contract with the demon weighed heavily on Yuki’s mind, and she had gone over what was specifically said in the deal. Mike had frowned at this, but said nothing else.

“The emerald ... this is hard.” She set down the teacup and gripped the wood of the bench, her fingers biting into the wood. “I’ll tell you about the emerald, but no questions until the end. It’s something I only want to talk about once.”

“Okay, then. I’ll keep quiet.”

She took a deep breath, remembering the events from so many years ago. “When Emily vanished, I thought she had been stolen away, abducted by a darker force. For years I searched, turning up nothing. You have to imagine my surprise when, one day, she reappears in the tower, as if she never left.”

The memory of Emily cut deep, and Yuki bit down on her lip to keep from crying. She could still picture Emily standing against the balcony, the wind tossing her curly hair behind her. In disbelief, Yuki had approached, suspecting it was a dream or a trick. Emily had turned around, a twisted smile on her face, extending her hand as if to take Yuki’s and hold it.

“When she came back, we got into a fight. I was caught off guard and it was fairly one-sided. During our fight, she pulled out this clear piece of glass. At least, that’s what I thought it was. Have you ever heard about how your eyes are the window to the soul?” She touched her right eye in memory of the pain from the attack. “She apparently needed a piece of my soul. Not even the whole thing, just a very specific part. When she pulled it out, it...”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” He gave her hand a squeeze, then retracted his hand. “Continue.”

“I don’t know why or how, but I came to, and she was holding that emerald. I didn’t know it until now, but the emerald was a part of my soul, and she had just built some kind of magical artifact. When you used the gem to make me whole again, it destroyed itself to give back what had been taken from me. You can’t just make a new soul, no matter how hard you wish it, but you can give back what was stolen.” Yuki took a deep breath, then wiped a tear off her cheek. “And then she left. A few years later, I turned three hundred. For a kitsune, it’s when we grow our next tail and choose the magic we wish to master. I was so hurt and angry that I deepened my knowledge of the frost that had grown in my heart, which resulted in this.” She touched the white fur of her ears. “Kitsune can change their shapes, but we can’t just whimsically change our nature. I’ve been missing a piece of myself for so long, it’s very hard to describe how it feels to have it back.”

“She took a piece of your soul?” Mike asked. “Is that ... I mean, is that common, or...”

“No. It is powerful, dark magic to do something like this. In fact, I would even say it’s lost magic. It’s one of the few things abhorred by literally everybody. I would wager that even these Society people would rather destroy someone like that than accept them into their ranks.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Mike muttered.

“Giving up your soul or selling it is one thing. Your mind stays behind and, in a way, you are still you. But ripping out a chunk of someone’s soul is dangerous magic. It can give you control over someone, can dictate their actions. It can be used as currency, or even as a means of immortality. When Death comes for you, he expects a soul. Handing over your collection is sometimes enough to balance the scales.”

“Interesting. Do you suppose she was hoping to control you?”

“I don’t know. The last thing she ever said to me was that she wished she could forget about me.”

“Mmm hmm.” He sat back, rocking the swing. “You do realize that the emerald was capable of granting wishes, yes? Well, one wish per person. It wasn’t all-powerful, but it could make your desires real enough.”

“I do now, but not at the time.”

“When Emily said those words, that’s what happened. Whatever her plans for the emerald were, they were dashed the moment she said that. You wouldn’t know this, but the moment she left, she handed over the emerald to the rats and then promptly forgot about them. Emily’s memories are tied into the house and the geas itself. I can’t say this with any certainty, but I know the geas does weird things to our heads. It’s why nobody remembers anyone else until I meet them. When Emily forgot about you, it was as if she had never met you in the first place. But what if somebody asked where you went? I suspect the emerald itself took care of that to ensure her wish was properly granted. When the house reset ... you were simply gone.”

“I don’t get it. Why go through all that trouble to hurt me if she was just going to erase me from her memory?” Yuki wiped a tear away from her eye. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Did Emily ever mention a shadow? Or a secret staircase in the tower?”

Yuki’s ear twitched. “Only once. She thought she saw a secret door in her room, but I was never able to find it again. That was months before she disappeared though.”

“I see.” His face darkened. “I have a theory, but it’s only a small one. When I was in the tower, I came across a shadow man who knew that I was the Caretaker. He offered me advice and power but wanted a piece of my soul as payment.”

“Did you tell him no?”

“I did. But I keep thinking back to what he told me. He said this place would burn, and offered to fast track me on my quest, which I’m still unsure of.”

“Emily mentioned a quest several times. She thought she needed to fill the house with magical creatures or something.”

“A quest? A quest for what?” He suddenly sounded eager. “What was she trying to find?”

“Nothing, really. She was deliberately vague about it all the time, but it’s because she didn’t know. Said it was a weird feeling that she got, like she needed to fill the house with magic. More creatures, more rooms. Talked about some weird dreams a couple of times, but that was it. Wish I could say more, but...” Yuki sighed.

“Oh.” Mike shook his head in disappointment. “Was really hoping you would tell me where I could find the user manual for this house. Guess I’ll just have to wing it like I always do.” He offered her a weak smile.

“Winging it is a nice way of putting it.” Yuki looked out at the yard. “According to Tink, this isn’t even the first time the yard has been wrecked this badly.”

He coughed. “Anyway, I have a theory that I want you to think on. If Emily made a deal with this guy, do you think she could have been forced to do things? Things she didn’t want to do? She hired Ratu to dismantle magic items beneath the house with nobody knowing about it, and Zel has hinted more than once that she may not have been all smiles and sunshine. I think she even banished the fairies to the Labyrinth, and then obviously the whole thing with the rats was a secret. Her behavior before she died was erratic, and the others didn’t know what to make of it since none of them had the full story. She was trying to achieve immortality or godhood, according to Ratu, but even Naia didn’t know about that.”

“It’s possible.” Yuki took a deep breath and let it out. “Think on this, then. That wardrobe in the hallway upstairs, it’s made from a special tree that used to grow in the backyard, that’s where the portal was originally. We would go into the backyard and just walk into the woods and emerge by the tower. Emily also had a small grove of younger trees out back that allowed her to walk to places all over the world, but I’m guessing you haven’t seen any.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Do you know how you grow trees that quickly?” She hugged herself. “With a dryad. Her name was Amymone, or Amy for short. Her tree was centuries old, and she was very powerful. Amy could grow a tree to full size in a matter of weeks instead of years. One day, on a lark, she let Emily open a portal in her own tree. You see, Emily still needed to seed her destinations, and Amy got this idea that she could combine her magic with Emily’s to grow a portal somewhere else. That’s how we found the world with the tower, completely by accident. However, you need to know that dryads need their trees to live, Mike, and sometime after she abandoned me, Emily cut all of the trees down, including Amy’s. Its remains sit upstairs, in your hallway, with a lock on the door.”

The realization of what she said made Mike’s eyes widen. “She ... Emily killed someone who lived here?”

Yuki nodded. “She must have. And guess what? Nobody will ever remember Amy because you’ll never meet her. Those memories are locked away, forever.”

“How do you remember then?”

Yuki shrugged. “The world where I’ve been trapped is technically inside and outside the house at the same time. The tower used to be a place like this one, that much I’ve gathered. While there, I felt the house reawaken and sensed your presence in it, but could do nothing except lure you to the opening. I truly felt that the home was mine by right. It was something Emily and I spoke of often.”

“You also weren’t yourself. Not your full self anyway.” He stood up and stretched. “I want you to think about something really hard for just a bit. It isn’t something I know for certain, but it’s a theory I have that I want to share.”

“Okay.”

“When Emily attacked you, she had some greater purpose in mind. I have no doubts that she knew what that emerald was capable of. A piece of your soul, trapped inside for all eternity, capable of granting the user a wish. The wish isn’t something you can just say, but something you have to feel, deep inside. When she walked away, leaving you behind forever, she said that she wished she could forget about you. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t wishing that for her sake, but yours. She had already gone so far as to pull out a piece of your soul, so what was next? As long as she knew who you were and where to find you, she could come back anytime to finish the job.”

The weight of his words struck her in the chest like a hammer.

“I ... I read some of your journals. Or Ratu did, and told me about it. You two loved each other, of this I have no doubt. And whatever was about to happen? She had one shot to save the person who mattered most to her, and she took it, even though it cost her that love and all its memories. I don’t know this for certain, but...” he shrugged, then rubbed his arms. “Just ... I think she got caught up in something she couldn’t beat.”

Yuki blinked away the tears that were forming in her eyes, her eyes on the messy yard. Was it true? Could what happened have actually been an attempt to save her?

“I’ll be inside when you’re ready. If I know my demons, then I am willing to bet that Oliver is planning something of his own. We have until sometime tonight or tomorrow before the Society can check in with him to answer their questions, based on what he told Beth, anyway.” He stood up and stretched. “However ... take your time. We’ll be waiting.”

Without warning, he patted her gently between the ears on his way by. Such a casual touch from someone she barely knew, but she recognized the gesture immediately as something that Naia had done in the past. Even though the memories of Yuki had been erased from history, her time in the house had been very real indeed.

Once the door closed and Mike was gone, the floodgates finally opened and Yuki let her grief flow freely.

Mike sat at the kitchen table, his eyes tracing the patterns in the wood grain. He looked up at the sound of the front door opening and waited for Yuki to join the rest of them. Ratu and Tink sat on one side of the table, and they had opened the window for Zel and Abella to participate. The fairies sat on the window ledge, kicking their legs over the gap between the ledge and the floor. Scattered around the room were Reggie’s higher-ups, and seated at the table was the Rat King himself.

When Yuki sat down, Tink gave her the stink eye, a small growl emanating from the back of her throat.

Yuki bowed her head, her lip curling in anger.

“Look, I know you’re mad about what happened, but I’m here to help, okay?”. Mike could see the irritation under her eyes where her tears had fallen. “If Mike was able to forgive me, even if it’s just for today, then you can just get over yourself.”

“She’s mad because you ate the last of my Eggos” he explained, trying to hold in a smile. “Sofia keeps tossing them out, so she hides them in the back as kind of a secret stash for when I want a snack.”

“Oh.” Yuki blushed. “I’m ... sorry about that.”

Tink crossed her arms and looked at Mike. “Fox buy husband more after she smash demon.”

“I...” Yuki let out a small laugh. “Okay, Tink. I’ll buy him more.”

This seemed to placate the goblin, who sat back in her chair. “Husband have good plan?”

“As a matter of fact ... no.” He looked across the table. “Ratu, how far along are you on unfreezing the others?”

“A couple of days at least,” she explained. “I’m worried that if I rush it, I might screw up, and that’s simply not an option.”

“Okay. So let’s talk worst case scenario. We need to go get Beth back, and that means I need to go try to make a deal with a demon. If something happens to me, the house will go dormant again. Ratu, I want you to go back to the tower and work on the cure. Reggie, you and the rats can go with her as well. If the house falls asleep, someone has to be able to come back and unfreeze Naia. She’s the only one who remains awake when the house is asleep, and we can’t let the house die because she’s stuck as a statue and unable to pick a new Caretaker.”

“Wait, you assume that you should go?” Ratu asked. “Why not someone else?”

“You mean Yuki?” He looked over at the kitsune. “Honestly, if anyone were to go by themselves, she would probably be the best option. I would never ask someone to do such a thing by themselves, though, it’s simply too dangerous. However, if she volunteers to go, she can come with me.”

“I’ll go,” Yuki offered without hesitation. “I want to help.”

“Tink go too!” The goblin stood up in her chair and slung her club over one shoulder. “Smash mirror demon in his stupid face.”

“I would go as well,” Abella offered.

“No.” Mike held out his hands at their protests. “You can’t all go. This isn’t a problem we can just punch in the face. As much as I would love having everybody by my side, I think that whatever we do can’t look like a frontal assault. We need to catch him off guard.”

“He has a point,” Ratu added. “If he walks in there with all of you, Oliver will know what’s coming. A demon in his lair is thrice as dangerous.”

“Which brings me to why we are here. We need a plan of attack, and we need to do it quick. Based on what I’ve been told, the Society contacts this demon once a month to ask it three questions. Once a question has been asked, it knows the answer. But I’m worried. Yuki stoned Beth on the way in to protect her. According to the deal she made with him, he can’t freely give the Society information anymore regarding this house.”

“That’s how she put it.” Yuki said. “She gave herself willingly, and he accepted. I stoned her as she fell, so the agreement should be sound and he won’t be offering freebies to his captors.”

“But here is what I don’t like. Yuki pissed off a demon with nothing to lose and plenty of time on his hands. What if he tries to ransom her back to us, threatening to shatter her if we don’t play along? Or, even worse, the Society may have a way to undo the curse. They’ve had their own gorgon’s eye for a long time, and I can’t trust that they won’t find a way to make a new deal with Oliver by offering to unstone her. Remember what they did to Dana? Do we really want something like that to happen to her?” He looked at Yuki. “Abella even told me that Amir had a fucking genie. Could a genie fix her?”

“A lesser djinn, technically, but yes, they have one.” Yuki shifted in her seat. “It may or may not be capable of undoing a stone curse. I don’t know the extent of its abilities.”

“Which means we are on a timer. The faster we act, the less time they have to plan anything. We need to figure out how to get in, get Beth, and then leave before sometime ... tonight or tomorrow?” He turned to look at Zel.

“Um ... not entirely sure.” She looked at Tink and Reggie. “Did Beth give a definitive time on when the Society checked in with Oliver?”

“Tink no remember,” the goblin said, scratching her cheek. “Rat face?”

Reggie scowled at Tink. “I was under the impression that her deadline to acquiesce was also when they might check in with him. Still, it would be better to assume sooner rather than later, since we have no definitive time.”

“Okay then. It’s super important that we make this happen tonight then. So ... ideas?” Mike looked around the room.

“How are you even going to get there?” Zel asked.

“The rats will help,” Reggie offered. “For Lady Beth, the rats will do anything. Since the demon took her through the reflecting pool, I have had my rats studying the area around it. We think we’ve identified a path that we can chew to his location.”

“Good. Once we are there, we need a way to grab her and get out. However, she’s a heavy statue, so ... suggestions?” Again, Mike looked around.

“If we can actually get ahold of her, I can do it.” Yuki offered. “With magic, of course, but we’ll have to be careful. The statues hold up to the elements, but a sharp blow will shatter them.”

“Okay, so we have to be careful, which means that we need to either trade with Oliver to get her back, or defeat him. Assuming he doesn’t want to trade ... anybody know how to kill a demon?”

“Killing him won’t work,” Ratu said. “When you slay a demon, typically it goes back to Hell. So if you were to kill him, he would likely just reappear in his mirror world where he had been trapped. There is magic that can do it, but I don’t know that we have anything lying around that could do it.”

“Damn. Really, we can’t just kill him?” Mike laid his dagger on the table. “This was able to hurt Cecilia. Would this do anything?”

“You could hurt him, but it would only be temporary and he would heal,” Ratu answered.

“But what if it was a fatal injury?” Mike pointed to the side of his own skull. “If I could lodge it in his brain or something? Even if he heals, we could shut him down that way, right?”

Ratu frowned. “Maybe, but demons are very good at shapeshifting. You would have to catch him off guard. It sounds strange, but it’s no difficult feat for a demon to move its internal organs around to avoid injury.”

“Okay, so Oliver has a demon healing factor and we need to stab him in a brain that moves around. What else do we know about him?”

“Demons always have to tell the truth,” Zel added, holding up one of her notebooks. “They love to play games with mortals. Also, they are completely immune to fire and heat, on account of being from Hell. Oliver’s dimension is traversable by others, but Oliver himself cannot leave. I even have some notes from Beth about her time there, so can tell you how to leave without a portal. There’s a reflecting pool on his side, and I even have the words to get out. The place was a large garden with animal statues and she even drew me a crude map.” Zel flipped her notebook over to show everyone a drawing on it. “Once there, he is likely to be in his pavilion over here.” She tapped on the drawing with a finger.

“Okay, good, we can use that.” He looked at the others. “If we’re going to stab him in the head with the dagger, what do we do to keep him off balance? Between us, Yuki and I should be able to do something to keep him off guard long enough to play pin the knife in the demon. Any ideas?”

Everyone looked at each other, but no ideas were offered. Mike sighed, sitting back in his seat. They needed a plan, and they were going nowhere fast.

“I have a question.” Yuki had pulled a few cards from her sleeve, cycling through them. “Could a demon hurt a demon?”

“I mean ... yes, I suppose.” Ratu leaned forward with interest. “You have something?”

“I think I might. I could cause a distraction, which might let us disable him.” Yuki looked across the room. “I would like to point out that even if we take Beth from Oliver, he is going to be beyond pissed. We wouldn’t actually be solving the real problem, just putting a band-aid on it. Even if we plant that dagger in his skull and bury him deep in the dirt, the Society can go back and forth to his world, remember? That’s how they put Beth there in the first place. They will go looking for their magic eight-ball when he doesn’t show up when called, pull the knife out of him, and then there will be literal hell to pay.”

Mike felt his heart sink. Yuki was right. They needed an even bigger solution, but what? What could be done to destroy a demon or even get rid of the Society?

The room suddenly cooled, causing Mike to shiver. He rubbed his arms for warmth and saw Ratu shifting uncomfortably.

“Could you ease up?” Ratu asked, squinting at Yuki. “It’s freezing in here.”

“That isn’t me,” Yuki replied. Everyone went quiet at the sound of soft cotton feet pitter-pattering across the floor. A bundle of fabric flew through the air, and Jenny tumbled to a stop in the middle of the table, causing everyone to jump.

“Jenny!” Mike put a hand to his chest. “You scared the crap out of me.”

I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That WILL be a queer thing, to be sure, the doll said, her voice echoing in his skull. Yuki suddenly sat up straight as if a bolt of lightning had traveled through her body.

“Um, yeah, I’m sure it would.” He was happy to see her active, but this wasn’t helping. “Do you have an idea we can use?”

And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing. Jenny looked around the table, then settled on Yuki. If he smiled much more, the ends of his mouth might meet behind, and then I don’t know what would happen to his head! I’m afraid it would come off!

“Jenny.” Mike let out a sigh. “Jenny, I know you’re trying to be helpful, but if you know something, we need a straight answer.”

“No. No, you don’t.” Yuki held her hands up for silence. “In fact, none of you do. She’s quoting Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Why would she be doing that?”

“She’s quoting that book? We had no idea,” Mike admitted. “She’s always been a bit weird about talking, no offense Jenny, but she was saying some really strange things once she got her hands on the emerald. Our theory was that she was having visions of the future, but now I wonder ... was she quoting Alice this whole time?” He tilted his head. “Or maybe it was both? She referenced something that actually happened, actually. Sorry to say this, but I beheaded your Jabberwock.” He winced as the words left him.

Yuki scowled but brushed it aside. “Yes, but why? Don’t you see? Why that book? It’s one of my favorites, I could rehearse it by heart if needed. It’s why I made the Jabberwock, I felt like I was Alice and had been trapped through the looking glass. If she’s having visions of the future, why not just tell us up front, why quote from the book?” Her eyes widened. “Oh my god, I think I get it.”

“Get what?” Zel asked.

“The emerald had a piece of my soul in it. She can’t be straight forward because of it. That book was my salvation, and I suspect Jenny has had a vision of what’s to come, but is stuck sharing it through the words I love the most. Is that ... is that right?”

Jenny approached Yuki, then bowed her head. Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it.

“Jenny,” Yuki whispered. “A flame after it’s been blown out ... a smile that stretches all the way round ... oh my god, you’re brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!” She looked at Mike, her eyes lighting up in excitement. “I know what we have to do, but I’m going to need some help.”

Hours later, they stood by the reflecting pool, their eyes on the untroubled waters. The rats had finished their examination, their teeth steadily grinding into the cold rock nearby. A blast of heat emerged from the hole they had chewed, and Mike found himself looking at a sky that made him think of dusk. He licked his lips as the hole widened, then looked over at Yuki for support.

“You sure this is going to work?” he asked.

“No.” She frowned at him, the warm wind ruffling her hair. “But we’re going to try anyway.”

He clenched his jaw, waiting for the portal to be wide enough, then his eyes slid over to the reflecting pool. If what Zel’s journal had suggested was true, Beth was going to exit the same way she came in, and the last thing they needed was for her statue to be hurled into the front of the house via the closet shortcut. On Yuki’s advice, they had blocked off the closet door upstairs, which would render the shortcut inert.

“Remember. Don’t eat or drink anything. You’ll be stuck forever.” It was one of the few things he could remember from Zel’s list that hadn’t been emphasized during their meeting.

“Oh, don’t worry about that.” Her lip curled up to reveal very sharp teeth. “I’ll have other things to worry about.”

“Okay, on my mark.” He checked the time on his phone. “Ten minutes.”

“You’ll know that I’m there. Trust me.” Yuki turned her face toward him, the light of the portal reflecting off her dark, green eyes. The reddish hue of Oliver’s prison made her fur look orange in its light.

“Okay.” He looked into the portal and took a deep breath then hopped in.

It was disorienting, the sensation of falling and then falling some more, but he gracefully landed in a crumpled heap on the other side. The crimson world he had viewed through the portal was gone, and now he stood in a beautiful garden. Scattered throughout were several statues of animals wearing fancy clothes, as if preparing for a tea party.

“Holy shit,” he muttered, looking around. “Through the looking glass, indeed.” He stood, dusting himself off. The animals in the garden nearby slowly turned to face him, and he found himself looking at a statue of a bird in a top hat. It regarded him with cold, lifeless eyes.

“Mr. Radley.” Oliver’s voice spoke directly in his ear, but the demon was nowhere to be seen. “This is a ... surprise.”

“Yeah, I’m here to talk about my friend and was wondering if we could have a friendly chat?”

“That dagger on your belt does not suggest a friendly chat.”

“Yeah, well...” Mike touched the hilt with a grin. “From what I’ve been told, it would just piss you off.”

Oliver laughed. “You are a brave man, Mr. Radley.”

“Please. Call me Mike.”

“Mike, then. Okay, I’m curious. Let’s talk.” The statues lifted arms, wings and snouts to point there way through the small hedge maze, and Mike followed. It didn’t take him long to find the gazebo at the center of the floating island, and he fought hard to keep the surprise off his face when he arrived. A large pedestal had been built, and Beth was placed upon it, frozen in a defiant stance.

“As you can see, she is well cared for.” Oliver appeared behind him, wearing a bright white button down shirt with a purple overcoat and a top hat. He waved a hand at the small table nearby. “I wasn’t expecting company, but perhaps you would like some tea?”

“No thanks. I’m only here to talk.”

“Well, I would like some tea.” Oliver sat down at the table and poured himself a piping hot glass of a red liquid. “So what brings you here today?”