“Can I have another one, please?” a voice repeated.

“Kacey I said its okay-“ Mandisa began to say though paused as she was the only one in the room.

“Kacey?” she asked now sitting up at the edge of the bed.

“Kacey?” the voice of an old man repeated after her though with a cackle.

“Haai-ke,” feeling uneasy, Mandisa rushes to the door and heads downstairs.

“Kida Devva is a demon that can copy the voices of the dead, experienced or high level Devva can copy the appearance of the dead,” says Kacey to Mandisa while reading from the journal.

“So this Copycat demon was in your room?” Colchester asks his tone laced in concern.

“Are you sure it said the voices of the dead only?” Mandisa asks while rubbing the top of her lip with her finger.

“Yeah, that’s what it says,” Kacey reassures.

After supper, the residents camped out in Mandisa’s room in case the Copycat demon made an appearance.

“Ngoba, Mandisa?” whispered a voice in her ear. She scrunched up her eyes, fearing that if she opened them it would make it all the more real that the voice she was hearing was indeed that of her grandmother.

[Translation; why in Xhosa]

“Go away,” she groaned in her pillow; this caught the attention of Colchester on the floor as he asked her why was wrong.

“It’s back,” she stated and looked up to see him getting on the bed next to her. They waited for the voice to say something but it never did as they drifted off to sleep, Mandisa in Colchester’s arms.

“Woo!” a voice squealed and Mandisa squinted to see where it came from after registering that it was Fitz and Eliza, she looked up to meet Colchester’s gaze.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she recollected herself while getting out of bed and patted down her hair with her palms.

“Well, don’t get shy now,” Akira says while gripping the arm of a drowsy Jiro.

“What did I miss?” Kacey asks, rubbing at her eyes and Fitz explained what had occurred.

“It was so cute like watching the Titanic all over again,” Fitz beamed as they all took the lift downstairs to get breakfast.

“The sleeping Titanic,” Eliza giggled.

“Oh look what I read in the journal,” Kacey says while pointing to the journal in hand.

“It’s too early in the morning for this Kace,” Fitz whined and Kacey swatted at her words with her hand.

“The Kida Devva can only repeat words it’s heard while its ‘victim’ was still alive,”

“So, it can’t make up words itself?” Akira asked and Kacey nodded.

During the evening the residents retired to bed though this time they didn’t camp out in Mandisa’s room. This time Mandisa tried not to fall asleep in order to catch the culprit, by midnight as she sat straight up in her sheets her eyes began to grow heavy.

A vision came to her like a dream or rather a memory that wasn’t hers, the day of her initiation after she had ran away the music and ululating died down as her grandmother seethed at her absence. The occupants had left leaving her mother and grandmother draped in thick blankets, a spark in the corner of the room set the little hut ablaze.

“We are sorry ancestors,” her mother called out. The exit was blocked by thick smoke and flames as they screamed for help to no avail.

“Why Mandisa?” the voice of her grandmother asked and this woke her up, searching around the room to see where the voice came from.

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“Who are you?” she asked in return.

“Why didn’t you Thwasa, Mandisa, it was your destiny?” she had no response to this.

“I’m sorry,” is all she could muster to say.

“I didn’t know that would happen,” she began to sob and the voice disappeared never to utter a word again.

The week went by, Mandisa explained what had happened to her mother and grandmother and she stayed in her room on most days with Colchester at her side.

“Thank you but I don’t want to be a bother to anyone,” Mandisa told Colchester as he tucked her in bed, pulling up the sheet then blanket over her body.

“Did I say you were bothering me?” he stated, expressionless.

“Why are you doing this, you’ve been with me for the past week?” she asked him while looking up to meet his gaze in an attempt to catch him out on a lie.

“Because I care about you,” after he said this he leaned forward and kissed her.

“Wha- why?” she asked in shock after he pulled away.

“Goodnight,” is all he could muster up the courage to say as he walked out her room with flushed pink cheeks and ears.

The week of Thanksgiving came up though Colchester and Mandisa’s awkward interactions with each other as Mandisa asked for the milk and Colchester accidently poured it over her toasted sandwich and bumping into each other with smiles and flushed cheeks did not go unnoticed by the other residents.

“They do know we know right?” Kacey asked Eliza and Akira at the table for supper.

“They like each other,” Jiro says while biting into a hamburger steak prepared by Akira.

“Anyway, I’ll be making the Turkey for lunch tomorrow, also I really wish I had an Astrobucks pumpkin spice latte right now,” Kacey deterred the conversation.

“I’ll make a casserole,” Fitz offered.

“No!” the residents yell in unison.

“Wha- why not?” she pouted.

“Remember the last time you tried cooking,” Akira referred to the times that Fitz burned the rice or rather anything that went into a pot, over salting the food or putting in sugar in the food instead.

“You cooking- handicapped and that’s okay,” Kacey rubbed a hand on her back to comfort her.

“You can help make the fruit juice,” Eliza tells her and her face lights up.

The next day was spent preparing for their Thanksgiving lunch; they enjoyed it around the dining table with an assortment of side dishes made though all except one did not touch the fruit juice as Fitz juiced grapefruits instead of oranges.

“I like it,” Jiro said and a small smile played on Fitz’s lips.

“Do you know what I just realized?” Fitz said to the other residents while they tucked into their meal.

“We haven’t celebrated any birthdays,” she says and the nod in agreement.

“We were probably too occupied ran away from weird creatures or dealing with our own transformations,” Eliza suggested and ate the stuffing on her ivory colored plate.

“Okay so whose birthday is coming up?” Akira asked while wiping Jiro’s mouth full of brown gravy.

“Mine,” Kacey said, “On the fourth of January,”

“What did you do last year?” Fitz asks her.

“Nothing I didn’t feel like celebrating without my family,” she told them.

“Don’t worry, now you have us!” Jiro yelled and the rest of the residents agreed.

For the residents, the weeks passed quickly, and this particular week was Christmas Even though they wanted to embrace the festive mood a Holiday demon called the Kaliki Devva. At night, this bear-cub-sized demon with green fur and pointy horns atop its head liked to scare them by hiding under their beds and pulling at their feet or hiding in shadowy areas and jumping out scaring them this especially annoyed Fitz.

“That’s it, I’ve had it!” she yelled at the top of her lungs and her voice echoed through the walls of the mansion.

“Yeah we getting rid of this thing one way or the other,” Akira agreed with his wooden club in hand as the rest of the residents crept down the stairs armed with broom sticks and baseball bats.

“Shush, we don’t want it knowing we looking for it,” Eliza pleaded also at her wits end with the devilish creature.

“There!” Jiro cried and they charged towards it in a corner of the living room.

“Now, Gherro!” Mandisa commanded Gherro and he scratched on the wooden floor with his fingers and a translucent portal opened as chased it inside.

“Thank you, Gherro- san,” Jiro said to him

“Are you joining us for Christmas dinner?” Akira asked him and he declined the offer saying he had other plans.

The residents enjoyed their Christmas dinner with various casseroles and meats that they were apprehensive try at first since Mandisa’s South African tradition of eating beef tongue.

“It looks normal,” Fitz said poking at her plate with the slice of meat on it.

“Hey, its not bad actually,” Akira said Eliza, Jiro and Kacey agreed while they tuck into their meal.

“I’ll stick to the beef roast rather,” Fitz finalized and Colchester agreed with her as they pushed the slices of meat to the corner of their plates.

“So there’s actually something I wanted to tell you guys,” Placing her fork next to her plate, Kacey started to speak.

“I’m not Harold Troy, my grandfather's, granddaughter,”

“You mean you not related to the old man?” Akira asked and she nodded.