The Wizard, Jerry I guess, brushes dust off his robes. He looks cross, but not nearly as afraid of Grampire as me and my family were. Maybe they’re friends?

  “What curse? I can’t believe you woke me from hibernation. What day is it?” Jerry glances behind us and gasps in horror. “My door!”

  “Focus, Jerry,” Grampire says. “We got a curse problem. The little pup got herself on a bind.”

  Jerry looks at me for the first time. I wave, a little self-conscious. “Hi! I’m Malia, nice to meet you.”

  Grampire sighs heavily behind me, and I remember she said not to tell people my real name. But it’s rude if I don’t introduce myself, right? We’re asking for a big favor here.

  He blinks at me. “The Bonecrusher has a kid?”

  “She ain’t my kid,” Grampire grunts. “And why does everyone call me that?”

  “I’m more like her umm…” I search for the right word. “Prisoner?”

  Grampire glares at me and I laugh anxiously.

  “Show him the mark.”

  I pull out my phone. Thank goodness I took a picture before we left; I don’t want to lift up my shirt for a strange old man to see my ribs. I find the picture and show Jerry the screen. His eyes bulge out as soon as he sees it.

  “That’s the mark of Death.”

  “Yep,” Grampire says.

  Jerry looks at me, eyes still impossibly wide. “And you have that?”

  “Yeah,” I confirm.

  Jerry runs a hand through his hair. It’s balding on top, I’m now noticing. “I can’t believe it. Never thought I’d live to see the end of the world.”

  I glance at Grampire frantically and she sighs. “He’s being dramatic. It ain’t the end yet.”

  “But getting close!” Jerry seems almost excited for some reason, despite me feeling like I’m gonna puke. “Death is the last horseman. Just three more seals to go.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I feel sick. This is ridiculous! I just want to get this off me and go home. “Can you remove it for me? I’m sorry I trespassed in your garden.”

  Grampire glares at me sharply. What did I say?

  Jerry doesn’t notice. He frowns at the picture on my phone. “I can’t, I’m sorry. This is way above my pay grade.”

  “Do you know anyone who could?” I hate how desperate I sound.

  Jerry shakes his head. “This magic is very old. I feel it just standing close to you. It has to be an incredibly powerful caster, much stronger than me.”

  “So we’re looking for an old, powerful guy.” Grampire almost seems bored. How, when my life and maybe the world is on the line?! “Any other advice?”

  “If you find the caster, that’s great, but if they won’t remove it, you’re still stuck.” The Wizard nods at Grampire. “But you know what to do in that case.”

  “What?” I ask Grampire.

  She smiles wickedly and cracks her knuckles. “We kill them. Kill the caster, break the curse.”

  No! I don’t want to kill anyone! That would suck so much, ugh. I’m sure we can talk it out. But I don’t feel nearly as confident as I did before coming here. If the Wizard didn’t set the curse as a security system like I thought, then that means someone just left an enchanted rock laying around randomly. How are we going to find someone like that?

  “Cheer up,” Jerry says in response to my silent freak out. “That’s the last option. You’d be better off by finding someone stronger than me to tell you about it. Maybe a sorcerer? They’re well versed in old magic.”

  Okay. Okay, that’s not so bad. We just need to find someone who knows a lot about this spell and how to break it ourselves. No finding and killing the mysterious rock-maker.

  “If that’s all, I’m going back to sleep.” The Wizard stretches and groans. “I can’t believe you woke me up for this.”

  “Apologies,” Grampire says, but she doesn’t sound sorry at all.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Jerry turns to me. “How’d you get the mark anyway? Death is a bad one.”

  “Oh, I got struck by lightning. I was here, actually—”

  Grampire clears her throat loudly. I look at her in surprise. “It’s time we go. Jerry, I’ll send you some money for the door.”

  “You were here?” Jerry is no longer smiling. “What were you doing here?”

  “I was fixing up your garden! I thought you were gone or, like, dead, but I guess you were just sleeping—”

  “Malia.” Grampire’s voice turns my blood to ice. Her red eyes burn in the dark of the house. “It’s time to go.”

  Jerry the Wizard ignores us and runs to the window. I realize what mistake I made a second too late. His garden was a beautiful, flourishing oasis, but it’s currently scorched to high hell from death lightning.

  Jerry screams when he sees it. “My garden! You trashed my garden!”

  “Bye, Jerry,” Grampire says, but the busted door slams closed before we can leave. It glows with a yellow aura, and, horrifyingly, so does Jerry. He turns, slow, and my stomach drops to my toes. His eyes are just yellow balls of energy, and he looks extremely pissed off.

  “You’re going to pay for what you’ve done.” The Wizard’s voice booms overhead like thunder. Loose items float into the air, and Jerry summons a yellow ball of energy from the palm of his hand.

  “Fuck,” Grampire mutters. She glares at me and I wince. “You talk too much.”

  “Sorry,” I squeak.

  Grampire sighs and picks up her tire iron. She cracks her neck and turns her glare to Jerry the Wizard. “Let’s get this over with. I need to get back home and take a nap.”