Tree of Wishes

Broken Puppet Strings: A Cypress Perspective

"Ah... yes. I see it," she said with whimsy, most likely part of her act. "It was... a woman! I cannot see how she entered, but I can see what she did inside."

True to her word, the crystal ball showed a woman carrying a wooden doll up to the altar. It was easy to make out her red, waist-length hair that had been curled to perfection, along with her laced black dress and matching hairpiece. I believe the term for this fashion is 'gothic lolita'. In any case, she performed the ritual on her own and succeeded, causing her to glow from the tree's blessing for a short moment. However, this didn't create any external changes, and she didn't demonstrate her powers either. Instead, she ran to the exit as quickly as possible, disregarding the trail of evidence she left behind.

"That was certainly helpful," I said sincerely considering we now had a face to work with. "Can you get a name as well? I would very much appreciate it."

She concentrated on the ball, rewinding the scene back to when she was praying. It zoomed in close enough to get a shot of her smooth, mannequin-like face.

Although the signal was weak, it did pick up the following: "My... is... Annabelle Bambola... sacrifice... him..."

"Excellent," I said, more than pleased with these results, then pulled my wallet out my pocket to pay for her services. "That's it for now, thank you."

"Not a problem, dear," she said without a glance at the money left on the table. If you're wondering how I know this despite her lack of eyes... well, we've been friends for that long.

Right as we were about to leave, we bumped into another person intending to come in. The man in the navy-blue suit was slouching with his hands in his pockets, and even though I couldn't remember who he was, I knew he had been a visitor from the short, white horn sticking out of his wild, red bush of hair.

With his lion tail curling behind him, the man casually said, "Yo, Lenore. Got some bad news. I crunched the numbers, and we are not gonna be climbin' outta this one."

"Oh, I was afraid of that," Lenore, the skeleton, said with resign in her voice yet not surprised in the slightest. "How long do you think we have?"

"A month, probably."

"What a shame..." Lenore then perked up, turning her attention towards us. "Oh! But this is good timing, Eddie! Can you be a dear and help these two find a woman named Annabelle Bambola?"

Eddie chuckled and pushed up his frameless glasses. "Sure, no problem. Last name sounds familiar, so I'll double check with my firm."

Surprised yet relieved by this sudden development that would save us even more time, I said, "I would appreciate it. I'll be sure to pay you for your services. What is it you do exactly?"

"Anything you want," he answered, and while at first I thought he was joking, he then continued, "I can get what needs to be done however it needs to. All you have to do is pay up."

"Um... alright then," I said with a bit of hesitation, but if Lenore trusted this man, it would be wise if I did the same.

Anubis was still hiding behind me the entire time, even when I shook hands with the man to seal our deal.

---

Through the man's mysterious connections, we found out the Bambola family doesn't live in Gradmid, but they do own a summer home in the surrounding woods. It was a quaint, light blue cabin two stories tall with a small lake close by. I'm sure it was a lovely place during summer, yet in the winter, when it was caged by cold, bare trees absent of life, it felt... unsettling.

When we arrived there, I noticed there was a pile of logs beside the cabin stacked all the way up to the roof. I could understand being prepared for the weather, but this was excessive. We then approached the white, perfectly crafted door and knocked. In less than a minute, the door opened, revealing a woman dressed in stereotypical maid attire. I hadn't seen someone wear a bonnet in decades.