Page 24 of Heir to a Curse

“One of the incense sticks maybe?” Jerry asked. “I hope my girls didn’t leave anything burning.”

I waved away the thought. “The plates are made for that. So unless someone burns a log on one of those, that’s not likely to start a fire.”

“We could install a basic sprinkler system,” Mike said, staring at the ceiling. “This is wild.”

“Cursed,” Jerry reminded us. “You didn’t see anything, boss?”

“I dreamt of wild things,” was all I offered.

Jerry’s eyes got huge. “Like demons or something?”

“Sort of,” I admitted.

“Could easily have been a lightning strike,” Mike said. “Hits the building and shakes the foundation, which causes some structure cracks in something old like this. You probably dreamt weird stuff to explain the noise.”

“Probably,” I allowed. “Anyway, I’ll have to order supplies to fix it.”

The sound of footsteps on the bridge made us turn. Mr. Yamamoto was there, eyes kind, and mask in place.

“Morning,” I called to him, as the three of us scrambled for masks. None of us willing to risk the older man’s life.

He paused at the end of the bridge and seemed to sigh. “One of the maids reported noise back here last night,” he said. “I had hoped it was just you, Mr. Frank.”

“Zach,” I reminded him.

He nodded instead of actually agreeing to call me by my first name. “Sofia’s addition caused a bit of havoc, I see. It happens.”

“The shrine gets magically damaged each time a new family member’s ashes are added?” I asked.

He tilted his head to look at me like he could see that I’d had an insane dream that could not be reality, but somehow was becoming just that. “Yes.”

Fuck. I glanced back inside, where Sofia’s urn sat untouched, and at the tree of engraved names. “Can you tell me anything about a particular line in the tree?” I asked, needing to know. I crossed the room to point out the area in question.

Mr. Yamamoto stepped into the shrine and peered at the area I pointed out. “Sofia’s line. Long before her time and even before the family came here.”

“The name on the end, just stops. Do you know anything about it?” I prodded.

He studied it from a distance. “Not really. It wasn’t unusual for a child to die young and not have any extending family. There might be more information in Sofia’s study direct to her family line. That line is probably only two centuries old. I’m not sure any of the family that old is interred here. They would have had to have brought them over, which is unlikely in those early days.”

I sighed, having hoped for more specific answers. “Thank you. I’ll add the repairs to the shrine to my list of things to do.” I’d have to mock up something for the door, as full repairs meant another long trip into town, and we had drywall and subflooring arriving today. But I added a long list of items to my list so at least I’d know what we needed. “Might install a sprinkler system too. In case there is another fire.”

“Of course. Do what you need to. Anyway, your delivery arrived and is out front.” He turned and left then, leaving the three of us standing around the shrine, and me confused as ever.

“What the fuck?” I said more to myself than to the guys.

“Boss?” Jerry asked.

“No. It’s nothing. Just my mind doing backflips this morning.”

“Better your brain than your body,” Mike said. “We’re all too old for real backflips anymore.”

And that little truth broke the tension as we all had to laugh, reminding me that my back hurt. We made our way back to the main house to eat and get started on the day. Though I can’t say my mind didn’t wander the entire time to the memory of the man’s face and the feeling of his lips on mine.