Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON ONE (Completed!)

Part 4.9

LILY
PRESENT TIME

Amanda gestures to the seat next to her, but Ara won't come in. "Tommy isn't feeling well," she insists. "The fire quartz makes him itch."

Amanda's eyes snap with annoyance. "Tommy has fire quartz intolerance, not a fire quartz allergy. He won't get hurt by a little magic in the air."

Ara steps forward hesitantly, but I watch her mother closely. Tommy has, she'd said. As if her daughter's imaginary friend was a real person.

"My arm is worse," Amanda tells me, once Ara has sat down. "It could be a doll's arm for all it moves. This morning I woke up and couldn't see, not properly. It's like I was seeing through little holes, and everything else was just not there."

Like having buttons for eyes, I think.

I sneak a glance at Ara. She doesn't seem to register me. She has the prettiest vermilion eyes, but they stare past me, to something only she can see.

I turn back to her mother. "We've confirmed that there is a curse on you."

Amanda lets out a small yelp. Ara looks at her, curious. "A curse? On me? Who would want to curse me?"

Someone did, I want to say. And it has something to do with me. And your daughter. And a family of disfigured dolls.

I hold my tongue. "The curse indicator spell definitely found a curse," I tell her instead. "Ms Hannigan...Amanda. Do you have any dolls at home?"

"Dolls? Of course we have dolls. Ara loves them. Why?"

Why? Why the awkward questions? Why not just answer me? I bite back my irritation. "The spell revealed five dolls. They were all...broken."

Amanda frowns. "I didn't know the curse indicator spell could do things like that."

"Well it can," I lie.

Amanda looks down at her daughter. "You don't have any broken dolls, do you?"

Ara scrunches up her face to think. "The big one has a funny finger. And I...I pulled some of its hair out." She shrinks back into her seat, hand in mouth.

I shake my head. "No, not like that. They're...not made right. Their limbs are in all the wrong places, and..." I shut my eyes. The memory blazes before me like its own curse.

Amanda grimaces. "Who would buy dolls like that?" Her mouth opens slightly, and she lets out a slow breath. "Oh."

"Oh?"

"The haunted house dolls."

"Oh I remember," Ara pipes up. "I went to touch one, and Mummy told me off."

"That's right." Amanda scratches her chin absent-mindedly. "We were going on holiday to the tropics, but we stopped in Tyfyr on the way. It's a small village south of the Forest of Sorrows. There's a legend about it being burned to the ground by the Dark Witch, all save for the manor, Tyfyr House. They were running haunted house tours."

"Really?" Now that was interesting.

Amanda bites her lip. "I know it sounds bad, but I only took Ara because it was supposed to be a fun tour. They made it very kid-friendly, not spooky at all."

"You said there were dolls," I prod.

"There were, in the attic. They were roped off, but Ara slipped under the ropes to get to one. The guide was not happy. I remember that." She winces.

I'm starting to piece it together. Some of it, at least. The curse has something to do with the dolls, I can feel it. I've seen those dolls, or some past version of me has, and they fill me with all sorts of bad vibes.

The Dark Witch had spared the house where the dolls were found. But why was Amanda cursed when it was her daughter who came in contact with the dolls? That's what doesn't make sense. Amanda's the one turning to wool and thread, but Ara is fine. Why?

Ara looks at her feet, swinging slowly to and fro. "No, Tommy," she says quietly. "We can't go there again."