Chapter Twenty Kasu
The night of the demon bazaar came quicker than Kasu realized.
Even just thinking about stealing Lady Camellia’s elixir made her shake with anticipation and fear.
Soon, the demon lord would leave for the mortal realm and her private chambers would be empty.
This would be their only chance. If they did not succeed here, they would have to wait a month for the next demon bazaar, and who knew if the Pale Lady would be willing to delay that long.
As the House prepared to wind down for the evening, Lady Camellia swept past Kasu’s counter, dressed in a deep-red gown so dark it looked almost black and a shawl made of wolf pelts. The flowers sticking out of her eye socket were arranged in a stunning display of crimson and vermillion hues.
The boxes for the bazaar were already packed and ready to go. A pair of servants hauled them over their shoulders and took them outside. Lady Camellia gave Kasu the barest of nods as Banse and Manzu held the doors open for her, and the shadows of the city swallowed her up.
Soon, it was time to close up. Turning her attention back to the last tasks of the day, Kasu took stock of the trades she had collected.
Some would remain on the shelves for a week, available for their owners to buy back.
Others would be labelled and packed up, ready to be shipped up to the mortal realm and sold to humans with unscrupulous taste and dishonest morals at next month’s demon bazaar.
Though the heavens frowned on such corrupt dealings, Kasu longed to visit the bazaar even once – to stand beneath the vaulted sky and feel the wind brush through her hair – but most ghosts could not survive more than a few minutes in the mortal realm.
Only demons of a certain strength could visit as they pleased. Demons like Lady Camellia.
Kasu carefully wrapped the goods in cloth and sealed them away, taking only a moment to guess how much each piece would sell for.
A jewelled necklace that could make the wearer slightly happier was probably worth the equivalent of two good horses and a bag of rice.
The voice of a famed singer – at least a whole herd.
Two mirrors of departure – a pair of looking glasses that connected to one another and could transport an individual between them – would go for the price of a small palace.
Once she was done sorting and packing everything, Kasu waited for the rest of the staff to lock up then grabbed a small, empty bottle and tucked it into the pocket of her dress. It would be useful for decanting a few drops of Lady Camellia’s elixir into.
Arun was waiting for her at the edge of the forest. His rash had fully healed, as had any lingering annoyance at Ruo for lying to him. Kasu found them both waiting for her.
“The front of Camellia House is always locked, but there’s a hidden back door that has a warped frame. I bet I can prise it open if I wiggle it just right,” said Kasu, as they headed to the rear.
Sure enough, the door was ever so slightly askew. It was short work to jimmy it open.
Kasu noticed Ruo hesitating at the threshold. There would be no easy escape for them while inside Camellia House. The enclosed space meant Ruo would not be able to teleport away should trouble arise.
“Ruo, keep watch outside,” she said.
The curse harrumphed. “I’m coming! You can’t have all the fun by yourself!”
Kasu smiled. “All right. Stick close to me.”
It was dark inside. Everything from the walls to the chandeliers looked strangely unfamiliar without the warm glow of lantern light to illuminate them. The sound of a ticking clock echoed through the hallway as she gestured for Arun and Ruo to follow her.
The doors leading to Lady Camellia’s private chambers were shut tight.
They loomed from floor to ceiling, painted a deep, violent red and carved with camellias and roses and blooming peonies.
On either side of the double doors stood a statue – on the left a tiger, on the right a dragon.
The tiger sat on its hind legs, mouth open mid-roar.
A roulette wheel etched with strange symbols lay at its feet.
Arun tried the door handles first. When the doors did not open, he slammed his shoulder into the wood. They still did not budge.
“You’ll never get in like that.” Kasu intervened before he could break any bones. She turned to the tiger statue, reached into its open mouth and pulled out a small glass marble.
“What’s that for?” Arun eyed the marble as though he expected it to explode at any moment.
“How good is your luck?”
“What?”
“The wheel in front of the tiger’s feet.” Kasu gestured to the statue. “Drop the ball onto the track and give the wheel a spin. Luck will determine where we end up.”
“Wait, what does that mean?” Arun’s expression crumpled in confusion, and Kasu had to remind herself that patience was a virtue. Perhaps the reason there were so many Heavenly Principles pertaining to it was because it was so hard to maintain.
“No matter what you do to it, the door won’t open until you spin the wheel. Whatever awaits us on the other side will be decided by where the ball lands.”
Arun wrinkled his nose. “How does Lady Camellia get anywhere?”
“These are her chambers. She can go where she likes, as she likes.” If any ghost or demon had a complaint about the gambling parlour, the staff were instructed to send them to Lady Camellia’s chambers.
Kasu was not exactly sure what happened to them afterwards.
She supposed the lucky ones got to leave with their lives.
She did not know where the unlucky ones ended up.
“I would consider myself only moderately lucky. How about you?” Kasu asked.
“Let me roll the ball!” Ruo placed their paws in front of the statue.
“You’re a curse,” said Kasu. Curses had the worst luck.
“You also don’t have opposable thumbs.” Arun took the marble from Kasu’s hand with all the gravity of a king accepting a crown.
He pointedly ignored the way Ruo flattened their ears and hissed at him.
“I’m lucky,” he said, though it sounded rather like he was trying to convince himself of that fact.
Don’t mess this up, Kasu wanted to say, though perhaps that was too harsh. If General Shusa or some other god was here, they would smile and say something comforting and encouraging like “Don’t worry” or “Do your best”.
“Don’t do your best.” The words tumbled out of her, a jumble. Kasu slapped her hands over her mouth as Arun shot her an annoyed look.
“Yeah, break a skull, human!” Ruo chimed in, always intent on making things worse.
Without another word, Arun gave the wheel a spin and tossed the ball in. The etchings on the side of the roulette blurred together as they whirled, slowing, slowing, until the glass marble came to a stop on a section of the wheel with a picture that looked like a pack of playing cards.
Before anyone could speak, the doors slid open to reveal a long corridor lined with paper doors.
Each one was painted a different colour and marked with a different number of dots and symbols.
The door to Kasu’s right had two red dots and two Xs with the painting of a deer in the middle.
To her left, another door bore four black dots and a drawing of a bird.
The line continued for at least ten feet, each door bearing a different symbol and painting until the corridor came to a dead end.
“Look up.” Ruo nudged the back of Kasu’s knee.
More doors. Level after level of them all stacked upon the first, extending all the way into the darkness. Kasu had no idea how to reach them. There were no stairs that she could see, no ladders to climb or pulleys to ride.
“I guess we choose a door and go in?” said Arun.
“It’s a puzzle,” Kasu murmured. There was probably a right way and a wrong way to go.
A door that would lead to Lady Camellia’s private chambers and others that would…
Actually, she didn’t want to think about where the others would lead.
All she had to do was figure out the solution.
The dots and symbols on the doors had to mean something.
“I’ll choose one!” Ruo used their double tails to nudge open the nearest paper door.
“Wait!”
It was too late. Kasu rushed to close it, but the door blew wide open, slamming against the wall.
The floor tilted. Like a rotating puzzle piece, the walls moved as well and suddenly the doors were above and beneath her.
“Kasu!” Arun leapt for her as she and Ruo plummeted through the open doorway.
The tips of their fingers brushed against one another.
Kasu fell anyway.