“May I offer you some tea?” Hana said.
The Shiikuin slowly tilted its head, allowing the curves and angles of its mask to catch the light. Shadows morphed the wooden face, shifting its expression until it settled into the illusion of a dark, joyless smile. “We have come to ask you a question.”
“I am happy to provide anything you wish to know.”
The mask’s painted lips tightened into a thin line. “Where is your father?”
Hana’s spine turned to stone.
“And if you lie…” The Shiikuin outstretched its arm, a foul melding of iron and rot. It opened its hand, extending black talons where there should have been fingers. “We will know.”
Hana nodded, not trusting her voice. She slowly placed her wrist in the Shiikuin’s grasp, using every ounce of strength and will to keep from shaking.
“Ishikawa Hana.” The Shiikuin’s talons closed around her arm, digging into a vein and her pulse. “Tell us where your father is.”
“He is not here.”
“We sensed his absence.” The Shiikuin pushed a black talon deeper into Hana’s wrist. A drop of blood dribbled from her arm.
Hana clenched her jaw, ignoring the pain.
“Where has he gone?” a chorus of voices demanded.
“I do not know.”
The Shiikuin leaned closer, peering at Hana through its mask’s hollow eyes. “Tell us where he is.”
“The last time I saw him was before I went to bed yesterday evening.” Cold sweat beaded on Hana’s nape. “He was gone when I woke up. I do not know where he is. I swear it.”
The Shiikuin tightened its grip, drawing more blood. “Tell us what you do know.”
She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled it slowly through her teeth. “This morning, I discovered that the pawnshop was ransacked and that a bird was missing from the vault. My father was missing too. It appeared as though the thief escaped intothe world beyond the door and that my father gave chase. He has not returned.”
“Ishikawa Hana.” The Shiikuin brought its mask to within a breath of Hana’s face. It wrung her wrist, cutting her skin deeper. Shadows turned the Shiikuin’s smile into a sneer.
“Yes, Shiikuin-san?” Blood spattered onto Hana’s foot.
The Shiikuin released her. “You speak the truth.”
Hana clutched her arm to her chest. It trembled against her pounding heart. “Thank you, Shiikuin-san.”
“We will come to collect the birds in two days.”
Hana bowed. “Yes, Shiikuin-san.”
“Allthe birds.”
Hana paled. “But—”
The Shiikuin tilted Hana’s chin up with a black talon, nicking her skin. “You have your mother’s eyes. You might find reading your clients’ faces and examining their choices more difficult without them. The new moon is in two days.”
Chapter Nineteen
The Teahouse at Midnight
Keishin listened in on the conversation between the masked creature and Hana from the top of the stairs. The Shiikuin’s chorus of voices sent ice through his veins. He crouched, just out of sight, clutching a kitchen knife in his right fist. He had never stabbed anyone before, but this day was a day of firsts.
When the Shiikuin demanded the truth from Hana about what had happened to her father, he gripped the knife tighter. But as Hana calmly gave her answers, Keishin found himself loosening his grip, understanding in that moment the reason for her father’s ruse. He had ransacked the pawnshop and staged a theft so that Hana would have a truthful story to tell. He had lied so that she would not have to.
