Page 58 of Locked
My emotions were likely right at the surface, but I still needed the laugh.
I knelt down and gathered up the edges of the paper and the chicken.
It was obviously a whole chicken used for rituals. The feathers were plucked, but the life blood hadn't been drained and the head and feet were still intact. It definitely wasn't what I'd been expected upon peeling the paper back.
I was still giggling when I set it up on the counter in front of me.
"I am so sorry I dropped you," I said, still snickering. "I wasn't expecting you to be looking at me."
The chicken, of course, didn't respond, but I think it understood where I was coming from all the same. Now that I was looking at it, I realized what a great service Kinden had done for me.
This chicken still had it's life blood, which would greatly alter the ashes' final appearance. It would look more realistic, that was for sure.
I carried it out to the sun room, having decided earlier to use the brazier out there rather than try to fan all the smoke out of the kitchen.
The chicken was around the same size as Basil, and I knew it'd need a high, steady heat to get it to do more than cook.
I plopped it down in the brazier, crumpling up the paper into a cone that I could use to ignite the flames.
There was kindling in the base of the bowl from the last time I'd done a cleansing ritual out here, so I concentrated as hard as I could and was surprised when a green spark set fire to the paper cone in my hand almost immediately.
Smiling, I lowered the green flame to the chicken in the brazier, causing the twigs and leaves beneath it to combust and fill the room with the pungent aroma of burning greens.
It took some time for the chicken to catch on fire, but once it did, it went up quickly, the fat beneath the skin sputtering in the high heat.
I opened the windows to let out the smoke, but then I went and sat in one of the lounge chairs, leaning forward and folding my hands as I watched the chicken turn to ash in the bowl.
It was going to take hours for it to finish.
I was vaguely worried about the bones. What if Mother opened the box of ashes and found a bone fragment and was able to tell that the animal wasn't a cat?
I heard my tablet chime out in the living room and I got up, keeping my eyes on the fire until I was through the door of the sun room.
I hopped over the brook and grabbed my tablet from the table where I'd left it.
Smiling when I saw who the notification was from, I quickly hurried back out to the sunroom and opened up the video chat invitation I'd just received from Sorrel.
"Hey there!" I said, smiling in a way I hoped was warm.
"Hey Z! How's tricks?" Sorrel asked.
I shrugged. "Pretty good considering… I'm burning a chicken…" I turned the screen around to show the green flame in the brazier and the blackened mass in the center.
"Awww. RIP Basil…" he said jokingly, placing his hand over his heart. "I barely knew ye."
I smiled, but it must have looked sad or something because Sorrel immediately started backtracking. "Oh cripes. I'm sorry, Zelle. I was just trying to be funny… it's probably too soon for that, huh?"
"No, it's fine, Sorrel," I assured him. "But it is lonely… Super quiet. Never really knew how much that little feline ran his mouth until he wasn't here anymore."
"I wish I could be there with you…" he lamented.
"You will be. Soon enough. Soon as you're back fromParis…" I grinned. "Unless you meet some beautiful French woman there and fall in love and never come back…"
He scoffed. "As if anyone could ever hold a candle to you, Zelle."
"When do you come back?"
"Next week. And you'd better believe that after I drop this artwork off at the gallery, I'm going to be knocking on your door."
