He’s just a person. And yet, he’s anything but.
I shove the door shut, making a face at myself in the mirror as I turn away to inspect the shower. There are three matching black bottles—generic shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Another reminder that I’ve never actually seen Ghoul’s bare face. I quickly dart out of the bathroom and inspect the other rooms. They are bare like his own with the strange, ghostly feel of disuse. It almost seems like he’s a visitor in his own house.
Huffing, I make my way out using the same way I came in, careful to lock the laundry door before shifting into phoenix form. I learnt nothing tonight except that Ghoul has exceptional hygiene.
Chapter 45
Ghoul
Fifteen years ago
Ihad been alone in the cave for a year when he came for me.
Darkness had become my friend. Silence had become a familiar melody. People don’t wander close to this area. Something about the malevolent power I gave off warned everyone, including other animals, to say away. So when the murmur of adult male voices hit my ears, I sit bolt upright, my eyes burning into the far light over the cave’s small opening. I crawl towards them with caution, in case they’re people with weapons again. But then the voices fade away, the sounds of the feet crashing into the jungle headed in the opposite direction to my cave.
I let loose a breath, and sniff the air in consideration. A scent hits me. Barely able to believe my nose, I scamper out on hands and feet, rubbing my eyes with one hand. Warm food. Placed right before me on a clean, green banana leaf. I sniff all over it, seeking any poisons or bad magics, becausethosehave been tried before too. But all I can smell is something similar to my mother’s cooking; the spices she used, the warmth of rich ghee.There is no other thought in my mind as I tear into the meal, the flatbread warm on my tongue, the potatoes and cooked meats melting in my mouth, hitting me right in the heart. My groan is pure bliss as I sit back on my haunches.
Hunger has become normal for me. Sometimes I try to hunt after sunset, but there’s never any game around my cave, and I can’t risk going into the village. Can’t risk seeing someone I know and having no choice but to hear the sizzle of flesh and the scent of ash. Death so fast there isn’t any time to scream and I never have any control over it. My heart is already broken, I fear another injury to it will kill me. So with my belly full, I crawl back into the depths of the cave and sleep contentedly.
The next day, the deep voices reach my ears again, and I’m curious enough to want to see who would dare come here with food when no one else had ever bothered. Who would ever be nice to the monster in the cave? The monster of the village?
On hands and knees, I creep up to the entrance, eyes closed, listening closely. One of the accents, heavier, commanding seems foreign. The local voices are frightened, but his is not. “Good afternoon, child,” he says in my mother tongue. My eyes fly open and I scamper back, in case I hurt this person who brought me food. “Don’t be afraid. My eyes are covered.”
Frowning, I creep out again, cautious for any attackers. But only a single man stands there, in an English suit, coloured like cream, and a patterned white strip of cloth tightly bound around his eyes. He is tall, his skin darker than a white man’s, and instinct tells me he’s a king cobra. My mind fills with questions, but most importantly, “Do you have any more food?”
Two minutes later, we’re sitting down opposite each other while I shove my face with spiced rice and chicken. “I have been looking for someone like you all my life,” he says quietly. “A serpent with great power.”
He still can’t see me, but I nod vigorously, because my cheeks are full of food. I have been alone for so long. So unwanted that I’m starving for any connection.Hungryfor mere conversation. “Do you want to live, child? Live without fear? Live like a king with many serpents at your command?” Chewing, I listen carefully. “I come from a place like that,” he says. “Where a beast like you would be worshipped. Where you could learn how to use your powers.”
My spine straightens. “Really?”
He smiles. “You want to do that? Learn to use your powers?”
“If I can stop killing people, yes!” I exclaim. “Everywhere I go, people die.”
“Very well. I can help you…if you will do something for me in return.”
To leave this cave? To have a normal life with food? “Anything!”
He reaches into his pocket and takes out a small jewelled pocketknife. “Just a small oath to swear yourself to me,” he says gently. “That you will always obey and never betray or lie to me. And then you are free from this life of nothing.”
We make it to the docks in the middle of a tropical storm, at the peak of monsoon season. Rain falls like bullets upon the sailors, making the sound of a war drum upon the wooden boards of the big ships that sail across many oceans. And in this turbulent weather, I couldn’t be happier. I feel like a new boy. My eyes are closed and bound shut with fine, comfortable cloth, and I’m in new clothes and shoes that fit me with room for growing.
“Will you help me, child?”
The king has helped me so much already, it feels like grace to say yes when he whispers the instructions in my ear.
And undoes my blindfold.
They don’t see their death coming on the ship that’s taking me to my new life. The first one drops like a sack of heavy rice. I come upon the second from the side, the next from behind. They fall one by one, after one last terrified twist of their faces. The last look at my monstrous form, then they jump right into the sea.
“I missed that one,” I grumble, closing my eyes and hurrying back to the tall figure of my saviour as his own men take over the ship.
“No matter. You are a good boy,” the King Cobra says, stroking my hair. “Such a good boy.”
I lean my cheek to the side, savouring the feeling of the human palm on my face. The feeling of having done somethinggoodfor once fills me up like sweetened milk. I believe him. Every word.
The journey is long, but the cobra king and his serpents make the time go fast with grand stories. The place we’re going is heaven. It’s the land of opportunity for a child like me, full of wide-open spaces where I won’t have to hide. Where there’s no need for a secret cave in the jungle. He told me that those days are behind me.
