Cumin: Book 1

Stillborn

After the exorcism, Naru had the three of us search the house for anything that could have been a vessel of sorts for spirits. At one point Takigawa found a pull down ladder to the attic, and since Ayako hated dust and spiders like the plague and Takigawa was uncertain the decayed wooden rungs of the ladder would hold his weight, I was sent up with a flashlight.

"You're such a baby," I muttered loud enough for her to hear. "If I get bitten by a black widow and die, it's going to be all your fault."

"Technically it will be all Naru's," said Ayako with a sniff.

It took more than a little bit of courage to poke my head up past the floorboards. Nose full of the must of forgotten space and mildew, I brought up the flashlight. The edges of its beams were foggy, as though the air itself had gathered layers of dust. The roof had the traditional paper wrapped fiberglass insulation stuffed in-between the eaves, and, of course, streamers of cobwebs slung here and there like a spider party. Despite that, the attic was large enough to count as another floor in and of itself, with room to stand and more. I could even see a covered window at one end.

"See anything?" said Takigawa.

"A few boxes," I moved the light towards the west side to see how wide the place was. Another wood paneled wall held up the idea that this could have been a room unto itself. Most attics I knew just had the roofs slope down until they met the floor. Along this wall were more boxes, and a few antique pieces of furniture. "And I think a dresser and table, maybe a half a dozen chairs or so."

"Well, are you going to check them out or not?"

I shot him my best 'are you freaking kidding me?' look over my shoulder. He just sent me an equally incredulous look back.

"After all the things we've faced, you're going to let some dried out house spiders and maybe a dead mouse scare you?"

"Shut up, Monk, don't you know freaky stuff always happens in the attic? Attics and basements."

"Then just use the warding magic I taught you. Besides, we did exorcise the house already, there's probably nothing."

"Except rats that could bite me and give me malaria."

Ayako snorted. "You can't get malaria from rats, now just get up there already. If anything happens I'll shove Monk up with you."

Takigawa grimaced. "Gee, thanks, though I don't see you rushing in to help."

I sighed through Ayako's second round of excuses about phobias and nails and hair while climbing up onto the dusty floor. I stood up slowly, leery of sticking my head into a nest of cobwebs, used or unused and swung my flashlight across the wall of furniture and boxes.

"What am I suppose to be looking for anyways?"

"You've got a sixth sense, don't you?" called up Takigawa.

"Ugh, for the last time, it's not as reliable as you lot seem to think it is."

"And for the last time, it is. Now hurry up. Wouldn't want you catching malaria."

I smiled as Takigawa chuckled at his own joke and Ayako scoffed.

After taking a few steps deeper into the attic, I allowed myself to fall into the cautious security that a tarantula wasn't about to drop on my head. I did see a few daddy long legs scurry for cover when I moved the first box, but other than that the attic seemed to be rather clean. The heavy layers of dust seemed to only be on the floor and some of the boxes, which turned out to be filled with yellowing layers of old classified newspapers. Thinking they might hold at least a little more information on the previous owners, I shouted a heads up to those below and got ready to lift.