Page 9 of A Serpent in the Garden

What did you do to him? I demanded as Serich’s back smacked into the hearth. He ripped the cross off the mantelpiece and brandished that one, too.

He thought you were mad or a liar or both, It said, sounding as though it were shrugging. Who is he to sit in judgement?

What did you do?

And as though It thought I ought to consider myself lucky that it condescended to answer, It said, I got a little closer to my window than usual.

Window?

I pressed up against the glass. It barked out a laugh. He noticed.

“Serich, It just wanted you to know I wasn’t lying.” My voice turned soothing, the way it had when the horses were spooked, back when they let me anywhere near them. “It won’t hurt you.”

I’d thank you not to speak for me. I don’t like this one.

I wasn’t aware It liked anyone at all.

Serich held up a hand as if to fend me off. “We’ll need holy water for this, I’ll have to run back to the church to grab my texts—”

“Its always said that won’t work, holy water, Livvy and I tried that once, in the beginning—”

“Livvy meant well, I’m sure, but she’s unqualified in such matters, you should have gone to Father Hull immediately.” He shook his head as if trying to jostle loose a thought. “What is Its name? There have been cases where knowing an entity’s true name can cast it out—”

“It won’t tell me that.”

Serich paused, stymied, but rallied quickly. “What is the sex? We can narrow down the possibilities with one of my texts, cross reference names and abilities.”

“It won’t tell me that, either.”

I fail to see how that’s even relevant.

“It speaks inside your head, Desideria!” he said, his amber eyes feverish against his dark skin, bright with a kind of horrified awe. “It has a voice; how can you not make an educated guess?”

“It’s not an earthly voice,” I said. “It doesn’t sound like us, it’s inhuman, it goes from high to low in a heartbeat and every time I think I know what It is, it says something that makes me think the opposite.”

Can you please try and be a little more helpful? I begged It, watching Serich gnaw on a thumbnail as he eyed me with professional interest. As if I were a specimen. I didn’t like the sensation. You’ve hated being here all these years, I know you have. You’ve never made a secret of it. Please.

Its answer was swift, clipped. No.

Do you like being stuck with me, is that it? Have you grown attached?

I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.

“What is It saying?”

“It doesn’t want to help,” I said bitterly. “It hates being with me but says we’ve no choice in the matter, that nothing and nobody can separate us so why bother attempting.”

Serich’s eyes fluttered closed for a few beats, his twitchy lids slick and shiny. “Tell me what Its said about the possession. Everything you can remember.”

I flipped through my memories since It was in an uncooperative mood. What had It said, exactly? Holy water and crosses would not work, that It would leave if it could, some bluster about a flaccid sack. Forces stronger than me or It. This is a cursed possession, It had snarled. And when It and I had bickered over where the blame truly lay while waiting outside the church, It had said blame the bitch who put me here.

“Cursed?” Serich asked, after I’d related what I knew. “If it’s truly a curse, then it needs to be broken. We just need to figure out how.”

It shifted uncomfortably. Good. That meant Serich was onto something. It had gotten much too cozy in my head.

You have no chance, It said. None. You will die in the attempt and another damned human will find themselves with a sudden infestation.

How do you know I’ll die?