Chapter 9 Beware
The night wore on and day came, but no light shown through the clouds or lit the house. The windows and door were impenetrable, and all electrical systems were not operational. The house creaked and groaned; whether it was the wind or the little girl, none could tell. "I can't take it anymore." Lil said, pacing, "I have to find out what the hell is causing her to do this. Why did she never attack Grampa? He's been living here for decades."
"Maybe its because you're a girl." Botan sat on a box stuffed with odd and ends. "Think about it, you said she tried to please her parents, but only her father showed her any love. Maybe she sees James as her father, and doesn't want you around."
"So if she wants me gone, why did she seal the house up?"
"Revenge," Hiei said, leaning against a wall, "Plain and simple. Jiji lived here for decades, alone, and she doesn't want any competition at all. She's going to get rid if it at the source."
"Lil, I have a hunch." Kurama stood up from his seat on the stairs, "How did your grandmother die?" Lil didn't understand, "She died here, of a heart attack in her sleep. She was never very healthy; she died before I was even born."
"What about your mother?"
"She died of the same thing, but she was healthy as a horse; where are you getting at?"
"The little girl could be responsible for their deaths. And you are next if we don't stop her." Lil paled. Botan shook her head, "Ghosts can't kill people, they're insubstantial; they can't touch people in the living world."
The house groaned loudly, but the sound was so commonplace, it was ignored. Keiko shivered; Yusuke put his arm around her, and Kuwabara did likewise with Yukina. Hiei glared daggers at the carrot top, but said nothing and allowed the fool to comfort his sister. Jin drifted around the ceiling with a thoughtful look on his face. "Lass, remember when princess Popsicle here was a'sleepwalkin'?" he said, "The little wraith was givin' her a dream."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, people die o' fright sometimes, right? I mean where else would the phrase come from?"
"Jin, you aren't making any sense." Lil said, frowning. "Since when does Jin ever make sense?" Yusuke said.
"M' point is, yer gran and yer mum might'a died o' fright in their dreams caused by the wee lass."
"…. Have you been eating coffee grounds again?"
Kurama waved his hand, "No, he may have something there."
Yusuke jerked in surprise, "Jin? Saying something intelligible!"
Jin inspected the bottoms of his feet, in response to Kurama, "Have somethin' where?"
"So much for being intelligible."
"Jin, its an expression." Kurama said.
"Um, hello? We're talking about me, my problems." Lil said irritably. "What am I going to do!"
"Well that's easy, just don't fall asleep or be alone at any time ever again." Yusuke said.
"Oh yeah, that will solve my problems, Yusuke; turning into an insomniac." Yukina stood up and tapped Botan on her shoulder, "If the ghost is not at rest, perhaps she can be made to be at peace; that's partially your job, is it not, Botan?" the room went silent. Botan made a cat face, hugging the small Koorime, "YUKINA, YOU"RE A GENIUS! Now why didn't we think of that earlier?"
"Because the authoress has but one brain cell." Lil said, walking up the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Shizuru said, "isn't your life at stake or something?"
"Whose isn't? Kurama, Hiei, I'll need your help. Jin, you and Touya try to break out of the house; Yusuke and Kuwabara, guard the others." The determined human girl marched up the stairs and through the house, followed by the fox and Jaganshi. The door of the attic slammed open as she stomped into the small room of the tower. "There's something else in here; when I was here the last time, she showed me her memory of this room. There's something different about it now, but I can't put my finger on it."
Hiei shrugged, "I've been in here too; there's nothing."
"No, there's something here, I know it. Curse my short attention span!" she punched the wall angrily. The hollow thud sounded through the room. Kurama's eyes snapped to the spot where her fist was, "Do that again," he said. She thumped the wall again. "Of course, her closet! She had a closet, it must have been sealed up!" she said excitedly, running her hands over the wall. She ran out of the room and dove headfirst into one of the piles of junk in the attic. When Lil climbed back out, she had a sledge hammer in her hand. Kurama raised an eyebrow.
"If the fourth floor is forbidden, how did you know that would be here?"
"…. Lucky guess? Er, I've been up here a few times, I just never told Grampa about it" The house groaned again. Lil skittered past the fox and started to tear the wall down where she heard the hollow sound. "Grampa will have a stroke if he finds out I'm busting holes in the wall." She muttered. Hiei and Kurama pulled away the pieces of drywall as they were pulverized; Lil hit a wooden surface behind a wooden frame. Dropping the hammer, she helped pull away the last of the old drywall. "It's a door." She said, running her hand over the dust-incrusted surface. The antique egg-shaped doorknob glinted faintly. She pulled on it, but to no avail. Hiei touched her arm; she stepped aside. In a lightning fast slash, he cut open the lock.
Lil pulled the door open, her eyes growing wider at what she found. The walk-in closet was filled with old, decrepit furniture packed together, and piles of papers stuffed into boxes. She pulled one of the boxes out of the closet and sifted through the papers, "All her drawings…" she said. The box was filled with the girl's drawings. The vibrant pictures of butterflies, flowers, rainbows, and animals had not faded in the dark for so many years. Kurama knelt to look at the back of the picture Lil was holding. He snatched it away from her and turned it over. On the other side of the picture of some indistinguishable four-legged animal was a vivid depiction of a woman in a dress being beheaded. "Chesa must have hated her mother as much as her mother hated her." He said, letting the paper fall to the ground.
Lil dug through the box again; on the back of each innocent picture was a gory scene of her mother's murder, all but one. "Look at this last one, it's the only one with a date on it: November fourth."
"That's tomorrow," Kurama said, taking the picture from her, examining it. "It's also the only picture without a scene of her mother's death on it." Hiei leaned over Kurama's shoulder, "Its her own death." he surmised. The crayon drawing of a child with brown hair was clear enough; but standing over the fallen figure was a woman in a dress, probably her mother. There was no blood in the picture, only the little girl with her eyes closed, lying in a bathtub with her nightgown on and a toaster that was plugged in. "Here the person in the bathtub has been electrocuted by this other person." Kurama ran his finger over the crayon drawing. "Her mother murdered her."
Lil sat back from being on her knees and rested Indian style on the floor. "Why would she depict her own death?" Hiei had reentered the closet and sifted through the other boxes. He pulled out a piece of official-looking paper. "Take a look at this," he said, showing the others. The paper was her death certificate, dated at November fourth.
"She must have foreseen her own death; she was a psychic after all." Lil said, taking the certificate.
"We have to find a way out this house." Kurama said, standing up.
"No, we can't just run; what if someone else comes to live here? They will be in great danger."
Hiei snapped, "So what do you want us to do? She was a crazy little girl with a bitch mother! What are we going to do to fix that? Send her ghost to a psychiatrist?"
"You're a crazy little boy with a bitch mother too! We already know sending you to a shrink didn't work!" The uncovered eye on his forehead glowed brightly. "She's at work again." he gripped the hilt of his sword and disappeared from the room.
Jin and Touya both used their more potent techniques to try and break through the seemingly invincible windows of the living room. Touya used a great deal of his energy fling Shards of Winter at the unfreezing glass. Jin slammed into the doors with his Tornado Fists, but only hurt his knuckles. "Touya, buddy, I think I have what sailors call 'cabin fever'." He said breathing fast.
"Just be calm, Jin," the ice master said, "if there's a way to break something, its you; we'll get out of here soon enough."
Jin stood on solid ground, smacking his forehead against the wall unhappily, "I can't go no more. I'm out. I give up." He muttered sadly. Touya stopped his work and looked at Jin. He was shivering, rubbing his arms for warmth. Touya's Shards of Winter were freezing the inside of the house. "Look, we shouldn't give up; lets just try somewhere-"
"Touya?" Jin looked up from the door; Touya was missing. Cursing colorfully in Gaelic, he listened from any sounds. A small noise made him look up. The ice Master was suspended in mid air, clawing at his collar. Jin flew up next to him, "Touya, wha's wrong? Why are ye floatin'?" Touya's face turned a shade of blue to match his hair, "He's choking'," Jin started to scream as loud as he could, "YOU'LL NOT HAVE HIM, LET HIM GO! COME OUT AND FIGHT YA BLOODY COWARD!"
Stupid. Challenging a supernatural entity. That's Jin. The doors to the room slammed shut; Touya dropped to the floor gasping and coughing. Jin darted to his friend's side, "Are ya' all right, buddy?" Touya rubbed his throat and nodded. They had not even stood up and taken two steps when they heard a squish beneath their feet. Looking down, they discovered they were ankle deep in a dark liquid and rising. "Blood," Jin said. The level of dark red rose to his knees. "She's trying to drown us! Touya, try the doors!" the two struggled with the other doors to the room, but they were useless. They tried various attacks on the wood, but it didn't even scratch it. The level rose almost to Jin's chest; Touya was up to his chin. "Touya, get on my shoulders, you have to bang on the door before the level gets over yer head!" Jin cried.
"But you'll drown!"
"Not as fast as you would, now get up here!" Touya obeyed and climbed up on the Wind master's shoulders. He pounded his fists on the doors with all his yokai might. They screamed for help until their throats grew sore. Jin took one last breath before the level rose above his head, sloshing around Touya's waist. The ceiling was not a foot away from his outstretched arm. The ice master continued to beat the doors, too terrified to even make coherent words. Blood swirled around his chest; 'I'm going to die.' he thought sadly.
Suddenly, the door cracked, and then slammed open. A red tidal wave roared into the hall, and Touya was pulled under until the liquid leveled and soaked into the carpet. Touya sat up, sputtering, and retching in disgust. "Touya!" a voice called. He looked up and saw Lil, Kurama, and Hiei dangling from a light fixture. The plaster gave away but they all managed to land on their feet. "Touya, what happened?" Lil asked, using her hands to squeegee his face. His blue and green hair was a dark, reddish-brown. "It was Her again," he whispered.
"Lil! Get over here and revive this baka!" Hiei said. Jin had nearly drowned and needed a swift press on his chest to expel the red liquid from his lungs. He sat up and shivered, trying desperately to clean his hands with petrified disgust. "Come on Jin, Touya; let's get you two cleaned up." Lil said, sympathetically squeezing is shoulder. Though the power was out, the plumbing was still in working order. The five waited for each other to use the only bathroom with a window for light.
Returning to the safety of the cellar, what with its absence of sharp or dangerous objects, they began to talk in hushed voices. They had until the next day to stop her or someone would die, maybe all of them. They had to put Chesa to rest, but they couldn't do that until they found her body. "There are millions of places her body could be. And we can't leave the house, so what's the use?" Yusuke said.
"I have had it with your negative thinking, Yusuke! Maybe we are all going to die horribly at the hands of a little girl! Then again maybe we won't if we keep our heads!" Keiko roared, causing the teen to shrink away in terror. "So lets try and think about this and not give up, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Lil jumped up and shouted, "I've got it!"
