All things considered, Zora thought herself lucky to be living in the kingdom of Piosanto. The salty scent of the ocean always lingered in the air even when the smells of smoke or spices from the marketplaces tried to overshadow it. Piosanto was situated on a high cliffside, far from the crashing tides, and was afforded a magnificent view of the ocean.
However, there’s no such thing as a perfect kingdom, and Zora knew that perfectly well. While other realms may worry about inflated market prices, natural disasters or even troublesome neighbours, Zora knew that Piosanto’s problem eclipsed them all. And that problem was the one day a year the people of Piosanto feared for their lives. They called it Mischief Night.
For years, this night was the bane of Piosanto’s existence. Even after people learned to reinforce their homes, stock up on sage and salt, and have at least one weapon made of wrought iron on hand, the night brought with it a wave of destruction that would wipe most kingdoms off the face of the planet.
On one of those fateful nights, fourteen-year-old Zora, curled up in a bed made for a child half her age, found herself wide awake. A cold breeze leaked through the holes of her blanket and clawed at her arms like the talons of a wolf. From outside, the young teen could hear the cacophony of chaos rampaging through the streets. The smashing of glass, a choir of terrified screaming and a congregation of unholy, wicked cackling. Even after years of hearing the same chorus on the same day of each year, Zora could never understand how others could sleep through such madness.
Something crashed against the window with a sharp bang. With a small yelp, Zora tumbled out of her bed with the blanket landing in a heap on top of her head. She lifted the blanket off her and groaned, watching the static cause strands of her inky black hair to cling to the fabric like flies to a spiderweb. Zora scrambled to reach under her bed, frantically patting the wooden ground.
“Where is that bloody thing?” she muttered.
Finally, her hand found purchase with a rod made of cold wrought iron. Zora yanked the poker out from under her bed and began swinging violently toward the window.
When she finally approached the glass, she peered through and saw the source of the commotion. A scraggly branch scratching against the glass as the wind buckled the tree the branch was bound to.
Zora sighed, lowering her arms and shaking her head.
Look at you, acting like a lunatic over a tree. The younger kids are probably more composed than you.
Zora turned to go back to bed when she suddenly found herself standing eye to eye in front of a small figure. She jumped with a shout and launched herself against the window. The small figure waved at her, the little girl wearing a sheepish grin on her face and a dirty pink nightgown.
“Greetings, Zora,” the girl said.
Zora sighed, she placed her hand on her chest and tried to will her heart to slow its rapid beating. “’Tis just you, Livia.” Zora began to shuffle away from the window.
Livia approached and gently took her hand.
Teenage Zora yanked her arm away from the younger child, shocking herself at how quickly her reflex kicked in. Her heart sank as she found her gaze lingering on the pink-red web that covered her hands, how they led to the stubs of nails that never grew past her fingertips.
Livia frowned as she watched her older roommate. “I apologize, Zora. I did not mean to frighten you,” she croaked.
Zora forced herself to look away from her hand and placed it on Livia’s frill-covered shoulder.
“You need not worry about it. ’Tis not your fault.” Zora tried to assure the girl in pink. She went back to sit on her bed and placed the poker behind her.
Zora knew Livia was familiar with the scars she’d brought with her to the orphanage.
Even so, whatever possessed me to react like that?
Zora’s insides began to bubble, and acid ate away at her stomach lining. She knew that the last thing Livia needed was to be put more on edge than necessary on a night like this. So Zora forced a brave smile onto her face and straightened her back, a vain attempt to appear more confident.
“And besides, I was not frightened. You merely surprised me, is all.”
Livia giggled. “Yes, of course. I surprised you.”
Zora began to chuckle, happily shifting across her bed to allow Livia to sit beside her.
At least she seems to be feeling better.
Zora reached back behind her and placed the poker onto their laps. “Is a fire poker truly the best defence against monsters like them? This does not have a great reach, and it could easily be yanked away by the ghouls.” She raised the poker in the air and began to examine every point and rounded edge.
Livia laughed. “I suppose you are already planning the blueprint for how to improve this.” She grabbed the rod and stabbed at the air.
“Perhaps loading it into a giant crossbow to launch at the demons.” Zora smirked. “Or stuffing another rod in there to make it extendable.”
Zora laughed, wondering if it would be a bad time to mention that her idea was to somehow get the poker to shoot out fire. While she had no idea how she would do it, she imagined it would be quite a spectacular display.
“Pardon me. Could the two of you please quiet down?” a small voice squeaked.
Across from Livia and Zora were a pair of beds built like theirs. One had pale lilac blankets and the other lime green. Inside the lilac bed, a small girl stirred and covered her ears and curly raven hair with a pillow.
“Apologies, Junia,” Livia said, putting the poker back down on the bed. “We did not mean to wake you.”
“Forget waking us, the two of you could wake the dead.” A blond girl sat up in the green bed and crossed her arms. She narrowed her eyes at the pair of chatterers as she spoke.
Zora rolled her eyes. Of course Cassandra would be the most irritated. She was the type to have a perpetual chip on her shoulder and always believe any positive development had a catch. “’Tis already arduous enough you were creating such a racket last night with your next great invention, now you rob of us what little sleep this night will grant us!”
Zora sighed. To Cassandra’s credit, she did have a good reason to complain this time. Most of Zora’s plan for Mischief Night was her improvising as she tinkered along. Unfortunately for everyone else in the Kudo Home for Orphaned Children, improvisation was not the quietest method of inventing. Zora had lost count of how many times someone knocked on the door to her hideout asking her to quiet things down.
“Well, should everything go according to Zora’s plan, then a few lost winks of sleep will be nothing compared to the message we send the phantoms!” Livia jumped out of her bed with a proud smile.
Zora pushed herself off the bed shortly after and placed a hand on Livia’s shoulder. “That message being, ‘Get out and stay out.’” Zora then began to tickle Livia, causing the girl in pink to squeal as she playfully tried to swat the teen away.
However, that laughter was soon joined by another’s. From a voice that no one could recognize. Everyone in the room became silent, and they were frozen in place. Puffs of snow-white air escaped the lips of the four girls as the room became more frigid and their breath became heavier. The silence was broken by a series of bangs from the shaking door to the room.
Junia screamed as she dove under the covers like a turtle retreating into its shell. Cassandra slowly leaned over her bed frame and gently shushed the panicked child, her eyes as wide as a frightened deer’s.
“They are here,” Junia whimpered. “What are they going to do to us?”
“As long as Mr. Junpei’s sage stays on our door, they will not be able to do a thing,” Cassandra whispered, not daring to move another muscle.
The banging on the door became louder and faster by the second. Zora shoved Livia behind her, the elder stretching her arm in front of the younger. Though Zora was unsure how she could hold off a ghost unarmed, she would swallow a sea urchin whole before letting any wayward spirit lay a spectral hand on her best friend. Zora shuffled over to a dresser, quietly slid the drawer open and pulled out a pair of royal blue gloves.
“Do you remember where the trap was set up?” Zora whispered, gingerly slipping her gloves over her hands.
Livia nodded. “Bait area just by the stairs and the rope is tied under the lantern by the tub room. Why? Do you believe the ghost can break down the door?”
Zora shrugged. “I am not sure, but it may be a good idea just in case.”
“Is your half-baked trap honestly your biggest priority at the moment?” Cassandra hissed. “I believe we have more important things to worry about.”
The banging continued, the grains in the door’s wood beginning to crack and the room shaking.
Zora’s eyes darted around, finally resting on her bed where the fire poker lay. She wondered if she would have enough time to grab the poker and shove it inside the ghost’s form just before it could reach the other girls. What would happen if it turned on her or, worse, if the wrought iron did not affect the monster? How would it retaliate against such a feeble attack?
Then, just as quickly as the banging began, it stopped. The cold was lifted from the room and the air became light once again. The four girls breathed a collective sigh of relief, one so hard Zora felt like their lungs were emptied of air and bodies about to fall over.
Junia peeked her head out from under the covers, her hands still shaking. “Is it gone?”
Cassandra’s eyes darted around the room. “I am not sure.”
“Perhaps we did not need the trap after all.” Livia chuckled.
Zora also laughed, both to lift the spirits of her sidekick and partially from relief.
The contraption was a bit haphazard anyway. Zora shrugged, watching Livia make her way to the window. I could have used a few more test runs. Though with ghosts only coming here once a year, I am not sure what the most effective testing method would be—
Zora’s thoughts were quickly interrupted by a loud laboured groan followed by Livia’s panicked shrieking. When Zora looked up, she saw Livia’s shoulders clamped onto by a pair of translucent cyan hands.
“Livia!” Zora shouted. She charged forward with the strength and speed of a panther. She reached out and grabbed Livia’s shoulders, struggling to release the young girl from the spectral intruder’s grip.
Junia’s eyes were wide and watering with fear, though she too grabbed for Livia’s shoulders with her tiny hands. However, pulling Livia away from the phantom was like trying to pull a tree out of its roots.
Zora whipped her head around to face Cassandra, who was frozen in shock. “Cassandra, get one of the pokers!” Zora shouted. Her grip slowly began to slip.
The blond girl shook herself out of her frightful stupor and ducked under her own bed. In a flash, Cassandra came back out with a wrought iron poker in her tightly gripped hands. With a small yell, Cassandra thrust the poker behind Livia and struck at the wraith’s hands.
Sparks flew from the other side of the window, the amber embers drilled holes into the ghost’s striped sleeves. A shrill, garbled shriek erupted from outside as the ghost lost its grip on Livia’s shoulders. She tumbled forward with a yelp, the ghost toppling through the window after her.
“Get away!” Cassandra shouted at the ghost.
Zora scooped Livia off the ground and pulled her back from the flailing ghoul. His stringy silver hair bounced around like an anemone under the ocean water as he grabbed at his head. Thick white smoke puffed out from his hands, kissing the ceiling of the bedroom.
Zora eyed the door as the smoke began to envelop the room. She turned to look down at Livia. She’d stopped shaking in Zora’s arms and broke away before giving her older roommate an affirmative nod. Zora dashed for her bed and yanked her fire poker off the covers. She shoved the door open with Livia trailing behind her. Livia slipped into the hall outside as Zora turned to face the back of the silver-haired spectre.
“Hark!” Zora shouted. “Demon!” Zora jerked her arm back and flung the poker toward the ghost like a javelin. However, the poker completely missed the ghost in front of her, falling harmlessly onto the ground.
The phantom narrowed its ghastly gaze at Zora. The shadows in its eyes deepened as it gave a low growl.
Zora’s eyes widened, and she slowly backed up through the doorway. “Why must I be cursed with such lousy aim?” she muttered. From behind the creeping ghoul, Zora could see Cassandra holding a shaking Junia in a tight embrace.
Cassandra narrowed her eyes at the teen. “Please tell me this is all part of your ridiculous mystery plan,” the blond girl whimpered.
Zora dumbly nodded, hoping her lack of confidence was covered by the ghost’s intense teal aura. It coiled back like a snake, ready to pounce with a venomous bite. Zora blindly grabbed behind her, only stopping when she found the bedroom doorknob. The phantom let out a visceral roar. As the smoke from its hands dissipated, it charged forward toward Zora. She pushed the door open with her back and squeezed through the crack she created.
After entering the hall, Zora slammed the door in front of her. A thick thud rumbled its surface and nearly knocked Zora onto the carpet. She pressed her hands against the door, noticed a bundle of green sage leaves hanging from a nail and finally allowed herself the chance to breathe. Zora’s breath flowed more easily as her nostrils took in the sage’s sweet scent. A row of lanterns lined the hall sandwiched between each door. Zora’s gaze fell onto a coiled and anxious Livia at the top of the spiral staircase.
The girl in the pink nightgown pointed a finger toward the ceiling where a cupboard without its doors hung up above. The cupboard was held up by a thick rope hooked onto the ceiling by an old winch that Zora scavenged from the scraps behind the woodworker’s shop. Her eyes followed the rope down to where it was tied to the holder of the lantern by the bathing room’s door. Even staring at the precariously hanging cupboard, Zora was still in awe at how it stayed up for that many hours.
Well, it would appear I am better at tying knots than I gave myself credit for.
The elation was short-lived, as Zora’s thoughts were interrupted by the thunderous banging of the bedroom door. Zora swallowed the urge to yell as she continued to force her hands into the grains of wood. She looked up and saw the hanging sage. With another breath, Zora refocused on Livia. She pulled a hand off the door and raised it up to the sage leaves. She reached the breaking point, the point of no return. This experiment would either end in complete disaster or send the message loud and clear to the invaders.
Never mess with the Kudo kids.
Zora raised three fingers as she locked eye contact with Livia. As she counted down, her hand came closer and closer to the bundle of sage leaves. At the count of three, Zora yanked the leaves off their hanging nail and whipped the door open in one swift motion. She moved with the surprising grace of a dancer as she felt the frosty air lick at her ankles.
The ghoul burst out of the room with its fingers curled like a tiger’s claws, and its back was hunched forward. Its eyes were as crazed as a feral beast’s. Zora crouched behind the door, hanging on to the knob for dear life. She could feel the phantom’s gaze burn into her skull through the door. She squeezed the doorknob, the sweat causing her skin to stick to the brass like glue.
“Oh no! I am a lone child in distress,” Livia shouted. “I am completely defenceless and completely on my own with no one to protect me.”
Zora rolled her eyes. Perhaps a bit too on the nose, Livia.
Still, the next phase of the plan was set in motion. When Zora peeked her head out from behind the door, she saw the phantom turn its gaze to Livia. The young girl was at the top of the stairs and wildly waving her arms in the air. The ghost cautiously approached her, its arm outstretched toward her.
Zora crawled out from behind the door, biting down on her lip as she prayed that she wouldn’t cause the floor underneath her to creak and turn the ghost’s attention her away. Zora’s gaze floated over to the rope keeping the cupboard suspended in the air. Her heart felt ready to burst out of her chest, and the weight bearing down on her shoulders felt hefty enough to push her through the floor. She could see the beads of sweat trailing down Livia’s face as it adopted a deathly pallor. With every inch forward that the spectre shifted, Zora moved a small step behind him.
Livia’s body was shaking like a flower in a hurricane as the ghost stood mere inches away from her. However, by that point, Zora had also reached her destination. The end of the rope that was tied to the lantern.
With one hand, Zora grabbed onto the rope while she used the other to tug on its end. The knot quickly untangled from the force of Zora’s tug. The rope zipped across the surface of her gloves, protecting her hands from the scorching speed of the rope’s travel path around the coils of the lantern and unfurling from around the winch. The phantom had mere seconds to process what was happening as it looked up at the rapidly diving cupboard. Livia was quick to jump a couple of stairs back as the box began to fall.
The sound of wooden thunder cracked as the cupboard crashed on top of the phantom. The cupboard bounced against the floor, sending shockwaves across the ground and nearly knocking Livia and Zora off their feet. Despite her legs still shaking from the impact, Zora forced herself to sprint toward the cupboard. She slammed the sage leaves onto the box before collapsing onto her knees and dropping her head on top of it.
“Did we just catch a ghost?” Livia said. Her bright eyes and a smile lit up the room.
“I believe we did.”
The warmth radiating off Zora’s young roommate washed over her. A smile quickly formed on her face as she looked back down at the cupboard. Her plan had gone off without a hitch.
“What in the world is going on?” a delicate voice cried from the floor below.
Zora leaned over the railing and saw the door to the head of the orphanage’s office bang against the wall. Soon after, Junpei Kudo burst out of the room and toward the stairs, his glasses blanketed by a thin fog.
“Mr. Junpei, we caught a ghost!” Livia shouted.
The joy was quickly yanked away as the cupboard began to jostle.
“Livia!” Zora tried to plant her body onto the box to settle the rumbling. However, the teen reacted too late as the box was thrown into Livia. The pain in Zora’s joints as she was tossed back was nothing compared to the pain of her heart sinking as she saw the ghost spear himself through the ceiling.
Livia screamed as she tumbled down the stairs, her body becoming a tangled mess of limbs. The cupboard slid down with her, leaving a trail of thunder behind it before stopping at a curve in the staircase. Zora scrambled to her feet and ran down the stairs, nearly tripping over the cupboard on the way to Livia, who lay sprawled on the ground.
“By the gods! Livia!” Junpei shouted. He was quick to reach Livia’s side and roll her onto her back.
Livia moaned, her eyelids sealed shut by a river of blood trickling from under her right eyebrow.
Zora felt as if a dagger had been plunged into her heart, the knife twisting as Livia looked around the room absent-mindedly. Though the wannabe inventor was no stranger to failed experiments, even taking a few nasty burns or two, but no one else had ever been hurt before.
“Oh, Livia, please forgive me.” Zora wept. “I thought that the sage would be enough to contain it.”
Livia opened her eyes and weakly turned her head toward Zora. “It got away?” She moaned.
Junpei shook his head, “Never mind that. Can you stand up?”
Livia planted her hands on the ground and gritted her teeth. Slowly, she arched her back upward and shuffled around on her rear as she struggled to sit up. Zora reached out to try and lift Livia up by the arm.
However, she was gently pushed away by Junpei, who placed a hand on Livia’s back. “Zora, do you believe we will be able to safely bring Livia to a doctor?” Junpei carefully scooped Livia up and let her wrap her arms around his neck.
Zora could barely look the two of them in the eye as she made her way to the door. The bile inside her stomach licked at her insides, and her hands became sticky with cold sweat.
As Zora opened the door, she was greeted by a storm of rubble, broken glass and a canopy of smoke blotting out the stars. Townsfolk wandered the streets, their faces covered with ash and some covered with blankets. Most of the buildings on the block had their windows shattered and the doors rendered piles of splinters and screws. On the curb of the street, Zora could barely see that in place of the bank was a giant crater filled with brick and soot. Above the town was the castle itself, the walls ready to cave in and the roofs of the towers covered with smoking holes.
“Hey, Queenie! Thanks for the night out!” a raspy voice boomed. “Enjoy the parting gift!” A streak of purple light pierced through the smoke clouds and arched toward the castle. The light sunk into the hole in the tower before giving way to an explosion of lilac brilliance. The night sky was blotted out by the explosion, and the air was filled with manic cackling. The light faded away, uncovering the crown of the early rising sun. The top of the castle’s towers were burnt away, and sickly green spectres spiraled out of the ruined structure and into the sky.
Zora stepped out, the streets feeling empty and lifeless. After the dark laughter of the ghosts faded, only silence remained in the ruins of the town. She turned her head toward the inside of the orphanage and nodded toward Junpei as he cradled the oblivious Livia.
“I believe the coast is clear,” Zora croaked.
Without another word, Junpei rushed out of the building and down the street. Zora’s heart sank to the bottom of her stomach, and a chill covered her like a blanket made of ice. When she looked up at the orphanage, her knees began to shake and she covered her mouth. Most of the windows were shattered, the roof looked ready to cave in, and the cracked walls barely held the door frame upright.
How can we last another year at this rate?
Zora collapsed onto her knees. How much longer would they need to suffer? If the next Mischief Night destroyed their home, what would happen to Junpei and Livia? What would happen to everyone else who lived there? Zora gritted her teeth and dug her fist into the dirt.
“We do not deserve to live like this,” she growled. “No matter what, I will make sure we never have to live like this again.”
