Page 19 of Ghost
A moment passed—during which time seemed to hold its breath—before Kasai turned his beady eyes toward Damen. Something significant passed between them. That much was obvious from the way Damen’s arms tightened around my shoulders.
“Damen?” I really wasn’t in the mood to be judged by an animal.
He let out a slow breath, whispering so low that I almost couldn’t hear. His anger had dissipated, and his body shook under mine. “I don’t understand.”
It seemed as though he was on the verge of an anxiety attack. Knowing how those felt, it concerned me. Perhaps I had done something to trigger it?
“Damen?” Could it be, was he notsupposedto be able to see spirits for a reason? Did this state make him fragile? “Is everything alright?”
Kasai opened his beak. And a voice—deep, guttural and strangely-accented—permeated through the air. “I’m not saying that anything is certain. I’m just saying that there’s something there.”
I screamed, scrambling to my feet—my concern over Damen’s delicate state forgotten. My worst fears had come to fruition. Somehow, it had happened. “My mother always said that I would bring about ruin and destruction. And now look, I’ve caused the apocalypse.”
“What?” Damen shook himself out of his stupor and looked at me. But his eyes were still slightly wild as he answered. “I… We… What? No, this isn’t the apocalypse.”
He was a liar. How could it not be? Animals—not even spirit animals—could talk.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but your bird is talking. If it could, I am sure you’d have mentioned it before,” I pointed out.
“Perhaps I never had anything to say,” Kasai responded. He sounded amused, but I wasn’t sure animals could feel amusement.
I gaped as the shock of his voice stunned me for the second time.
Damen slowly got to his feet, regaining his composure. “Stop joking around, Kasai. We’ll discuss the implications later.” He levelled a stern look at his companion, who only ruffled his feathers in response.
Then he turned his focus back to me, taking my hands into his own. “Bianca, relax. I was just surprised because Kasai hasn’t spoken out loud before. But his true form is not what it appears.”
My confusion must have been evident, because Damen sighed. “A shikigami is a spirit. Not a being from this realm. You cannot think of them in physical terms. Their presence is tied to the spiritual force of the onmyojiwho conjured them.”
So… That still didn’t explain how it could talk. It was scientifically impossible for a beak to form human words. Sure, there were parrots. But thisthingwas holding entire conversations. It wasthinking.
It also didn’t explain why it was currently looking at me, practically radiating glee.
“Stop that.” Damen frowned at the creature before turning back to me. “Ignore him. He’s doing that because he likes you. In any case, Kasai is bonded to me. Allowing him to remain in this realm.”
Bonded? Realms?
What was Damen saying—that Kasai was ademon?
And apparently he’d been gaining power! Damen was much too calm about this situation for my liking. But it all made perfect sense. After all, these were the signs of demonic possession: conjuring ceremonies, spiritual forces, strangely erotic accents.
Poor Damen had, somehow, become the unwitting vessel of this demon and his demonic plans. How long had he been this way? How could the others have missed what was happening? Without my assistance, Damen would eventually be drained from his life-force and he would die.
I had to save him. I refused to lose my friend to a servant of Satan.
But I would have to be clever about it, because demons were tricky beings. I had learned that the hard way. The bird would know something was up. He would be looking for weakness and distrust.
I narrowed my eyes at Kasai, and he cocked his head back at me. Watching. Plotting.
“She’s going to try to exorcise me.”
I gasped. Mostly in surprise at his horrible, but true, words. I had to play this off, and I could never let my guard down. “Why, I never—”
“Please don’t try to exorcise my shikigami, baby girl.” Damen gave me a knowing look. “We’ll discuss this in more detail later, but in the meantime, just don’t.”
Now I reallywasoffended. I had been downgraded back to ‘baby girl’. This was all Kasai’s fault.
“This is absurd,” Mr. Weaver—who had previously been staring at Kasai in shock—snapped back to himself. He edged away from the bird, eyeing it warily. “You shouldn’t be powerful enough for this. You’ve done something, ignorant boy. You still can’t exorcise me, Gregory would have your head!”
