“She was making dolls with bird skulls, and there was one that she couldn’t be bothered to finish making,” Green Eyes finished for him. “She was so frustrated, what was it she said?”
“She gave up and declared it trash, a project never to be picked up again,” Ty said. “I’m hoping that means what I think it means.”
“That she doesn’t own it,” Alexis concluded. Ty nodded.
“Huh?” Christoff asked.
“Police can look through your trash, because by throwing it out, you’ve given up all ownership of it,” Ellie said.
Ty nodded. “So we got sticks, we got bone…”
Here was the test.
“Feel like an art project?” I asked. It was the hardest thing in the world to do, to act normal. To make this leap of faith. “Do you need me to strike a pose, to get you inspired?”
I saw them exchange looks, and it killed me.
Checking with one another.
I knew, now. The Tenements might have been showing me the worst possible thing, but the vision hadn’t been lying.
I managed to stay still, even as my degree of agitation stepped up a notch.
If I moved, it would be to hit a wall, or to scream.
I managed a light smile, so my body language wouldn’t fail to match the levity of the question.
“How are we doing this?” Ty asked.
Bundle it together,” I said. “Bones in the center of each faggot. If the wood bends, try to wrap it around. Match the shape of the body.”
“We might need a few more trips for sticks,” Ty said.
“Maybe,” I agreed. “Let’s see.”
Unsure whether to build it on the outside or in the Tenements, we used loose electrical wire from the tenements to hang an ‘x’ across the portal. Building it at the threshold.
It was, as it happened, like being crucified in reverse. The body came together on the ‘x’, bone, then sticks, bound in place with string. Ty’s stock, for the nails with Ofuda attached.
Somewhere distant, a resident of the Tenements screamed, a feral sound.
Out in the real world, there was a distant crash, and a cheer taken up by dozens.
Whatever their feelings, my friends gave their full attention to the project, rubbing cold hands, then resuming work. Alexis’ hands were hurt, but she gave direction to Ellie, Roxanne, and Christoff, who seemed happier with something to do. Ellie and Roxanne traded off, which amounted to them doing nothing about half the time, but Christoff remained hard at work.
“Take a break,” Ty told him. “I’m actually capable of doing the magic thing, and I’m all-in with this stuff, and I’m taking some breaks.”
“Nah.”
“You’re really into this magic stuff, huh?”
“Not sure anymore,” Christoff said.
“Then take a break. I don’t want anyone losing fingers to frostbite. We’ve got enough damaged hands and arms right now.”
“Nah,” Christoff said.
“But-”
“Revenge,” Christoff said. “Shut up and let me do this.”
Ty sighed, and resumed his own work.
It was… vaguely human shaped. More empty space than branch and bone. As the others turned to putting the twigs that had broken off and shoving them into the empty spaces, I stepped forward.
“I’m fucking done with mirrors,” I said.
I tore off a section of branch-entwined rib, and stuck it through the thing, to where the ribcage was missing some.
“I’m done standing back and letting them come after us.”
I used Roxanne’s kitchen knife to shave the larger, gnarliest branches from my arm, and put them in place. I wasn’t sure if they clutched or if the wood merely settled in a different way with the weight of the wood on top.
I didn’t look at my friends. I didn’t want to see the look they would be sharing, as if they weren’t sure they’d made the right call.
“I made promises. I’m keeping them.”
Tearing, loose bones, branches and feathers from my gut. My stomach was empty inside, the wood plentiful. I hadn’t nourished that human side of me in a long, long time.
“I’m moving forward for my friends,” I said.
When I tore more away from my chest, slashing at myself with the knife when the branches and bones snagged, it was maybe more violent than it had been before.
“I’m doing this for Evan, because I believe in the promise I made him,” I said. “I’m going to kill the monsters.”
I continued to tear at my chest. I was losing steam, feeling weaker. There was flesh there, and I didn’t hesitate to add it.
“I’m sufficiently convinced,” I said. “That those bastards out there are monstrous enough to qualify.”
I grabbed at spirits, and shoved them into the effigy. I couldn’t speak, too weak, lacking energy.
There was only the innumerable, violent, chaotic noises of the Tenements and Hillsglade house, in the silence, as I grabbed spirits that no longer had body cavities to hide within.
Last of all, I found my heart, struggling to evade my grip. Larger than any spirit yet.
Tearing it free, I lost my strength. I felt Evan at my collarbone, gripping me with tiny talons, flapping, as if his tiny bird body could somehow hold me up.
But I was like a puppet with most of my strings cut.
My friends didn’t step forward to help. Maybe they were afraid, maybe they didn’t want to interfere, maybe they had other reasons. But they didn’t step forward to help.
Green Eyes, still on the other side, reached around, embracing the body, and put a hand to my chest, stopping me from crashing into the thing.
Her other hand touched my wrist, and raised my hand and my heart up to the other body’s chest.
With my knife, I used the last of my strength, fueled by the one or two spirits that lingered within my body, and I cut one of the wires. The body tumbled backward, almost see-sawing on the remaining wire, and I tumbled with it.
My body crumbled to dust.
The effigy-body landed in snow.
I curled new fingers, and I felt the wood crawl. Flesh, too, sought purchase on the new body. Not much, but it was some. I felt my face grow in. I wound the loose wire around the looser parts of my body as it consolidated.
“Thank you,” I spoke, as my tongue emerged.
I stood, wobbling on limbs that were a little weaker.
Without looking back at the humans, I headed in the direction of the house, Evan flying alongisde me, Green Eyes crawling through the snow.