It was late in the evening and Amicia was shopping in a hardware store. She had spent a very infuriating 3 hours checking all the lumber stores in Pocatello for peach wood. She was finally led to a small family run shop. She had just finished speaking to the clerk about purchasing some peach wood. The man said he wasn’t sure if they still had any and she almost screamed in frustration. The man must’ve noticed her body language because he very quickly said he’d check in the back if any more had come in. She was waiting in the store now.

She looked at all the merchandise on the floor. There were doors, cabinets, and all different sorts of furniture in the store. She was especially impressed by one statue of a mountain bluebird. The state bird of Idaho if the little plaque below it was to be believed. She was just walking down the far wall when she heard something. A baby’s cry.

Amicia whirled around. Waaaah, Waaaah. It was faint and soft. She put a hand on her gun. She didn’t see anyone when she came into the store. The clerk had noted that he didn’t get many people in the store this late at night. Her coming in at this time was unusual.

She crept down low, her gun fully in hand. Slowly, she made her way through the wooden furniture laid throughout the store. She made sure to keep a wall on one side at least, cutting off an avenue of attack. Her heartbeat was racing. The Variant had killed almost 2 dozen people. She didn’t want her name to be added to the list.

She heard the sound getting clearer as she approached. Then she heard something else. “Mama, mama,” the voice said. She was sure then that whatever the sound was, it was just up ahead and around to the left. She was nearing the end of an aisle. If she turned left at it, she’d be in a corner of the store. She’d be isolated and alone.

A bead of sweat formed on her brow. She hadn’t finished gathering her supplies yet. If the creature had grown intelligent enough to lure Emily Jacobson to its lair, maybe it had figured out that Amicia was hunting it. She didn’t know how far it had evolved, but it had been given much more time than the first Variant Araña had fought in his youth. A variant that had shattered his knee, giving him a permanent limp. Was she really ready to fight something like that?

It was time to find out. She turned left at the corner. There was someone standing there. The sound of a baby’s cry was coming in their direction. It was a woman in a long white dress. Who was she? Another victim? Had it enthralled another woman to do its bidding? Amicia hid her gun behind her back as she approached. She stopped 15 feet away to call out.

“Ma’am?” No response. She got to 10 feet. “Ma’am? Are you alright?” Amicia asked, louder this time. The woman in white turned around. She was in her 30s with her phone in hand. She seemed startled at being approached. Amicia asked her, “I heard crying from over here. Is everything ok?”

The woman let out a little laugh. “Oh yes, I’m just on the phone with my husband. He’s having trouble putting my baby to sleep.” Amicia relaxed. It was fine. She was fine. Just a woman on the phone with her husband.

“Ah right. Babies can be so difficult. I’m sure you must be exhausted.”

“Oh don’t get me started. I practically jumped at the chance to grab some duct tape from the store. Papa needs it to finish baby-proofing everything.” The woman said while shaking some tape she held in the other hand.

“Well I just wanted to check up.” Amicia said. She started walking back to the counter where the clerk was. “Congratulations on your baby speaking by the way. I hear it is such a milestone when they start saying their first words. It must feel great for them to call you mama.”

The lady had a puzzled expression on her face. “My baby can’t speak yet, he’s barely 5 weeks old.” Amicia froze at her words. She saw it then. There was a section of mirrors on display to her left. There were almost 40 mirrors in total. The mirrors were hung on a wall with only a slight gap between them. Each mirror held a section of a face. Together they made up the image of an infant. Its skin was pallid and streaked with grey. Its eyes were a bright demonic yellow. It looked like he was floating in water.

It was staring at Amicia. It tilted its head as if it were considering something. Then it smiled a sick smile filled with malice. With a hand, it started reaching towards her as if it could pull her into the mirrors. Amicia moved fast, she grabbed a nearby lamp and threw it towards a mirror that reflected an image of the thing’s hand. The mirror’s glass shattered as the lamp struck it and the infant’s image faded away.

The woman nearby looked at Amicia in shock. She seemed like she was about to call her crazy when suddenly a torrent of water bursted from the section of mirrors. The woman screamed and ran away towards the exit. The wave of water was all encompassing. It crashed against Amicia, throwing her backwards.

She only stopped when her back hit a cabinet. The glass of the cabinet broke, the shards cutting into Amicia’s back. The water seemed endless as it kept crashing upon her. She couldn’t breathe. She tried to put her hands in front of her face so she could block it just long enough that she could get a breath in. The torrent pushed her hands back, trapping them against the cabinet. It was too strong and she couldn’t push against the water. The water relented just enough so that she could collapse into a pile on the floor. Then it came back with an angry resurgence. She was running out of air. She desperately tried to breathe without taking in water.

Amicia thought of the mayor she had seen drown earlier that afternoon. Was that her fate? This was the first creature that Araña had led her to. He trusted in her ability, but the Variant was crushing her with this flood. She was close to blacking out when she felt a hand close around her foot. The hand dragged her 20 meters away. She was no longer in front of the wall of mirrors.

She looked up to see the store clerk looking at her in worry. Behind him were two others. A man and a woman in light orange vest. More employees. The woman that ran away must’ve alerted them to the strange water. The man was speaking but Amicia couldn’t hear him. All she could hear was the rushing of water. All she could do was try to breathe.

A half an hour later, she stood with shaky legs. The staff had taken her to the back office so she could rest in a chair. She had been given a towel as her clothes were drenched. One of the other employees had run out to get her some clothes. The clerk was standing close to her with his hands out, just in case she fell.

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“Ma’am I think it’d really be best if you remained seated. Are you sure you don’t want us to call an ambulance? Your back is cut up awfully bad.”

“I’m fine. Where’s my gun?”

The clerk pulled at his collar. “Now I know that the pipe burst put you in an awful position, but there’s no need to get violent. We will do everything in our power to make this right.”

She shook her head. Grabbing her wallet from her back pocket, she flipped it open for him to see. “I’m in law enforcement. I need my weapon back. Now.”

“I’ll uh, I’ll have Larry bring it for ya.”

“Did you find that peach wood I wanted?”

“Uh the peach wood, right. We didn’t have any planks, just a small table made from the stuff,” he replied. He walked out of the room and came back holding a small wooden table in his hand. “It’s on the house if you promise not to sue us.”

She put her keys on the table. “I need you to drive me back to my hotel. I also want you to carry that to my room.”

An hour later, she was back in her hotel room. There was a plate of steak, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables on a table nearby. She had ordered room service to bring it in for her. She had been out all day and it turns out almost dying really makes a girl feel hungry.

She put a slice of rib-eye on her tongue, the juices bursted with flavor in her mouth. She moaned in satisfaction. It had been a while since she ate this well. The hotel staff was unimpressed by the wad of soaked cash she paid with. Still after looking at her injured state, they accepted her money.

She had changed into a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. It felt amazing to be dry. Amicia looked over all of her gear. She had everything ready for tomorrow. A satchel of herbs to burn. A gun she had taken apart and put back together, making sure every part was thoroughly cleaned. Finally, the peach wood. She had kicked off the legs of the table. With an expensive wood carver she got from the clerk of the hardware store, she scraped the wood off the legs until she had 4 pristine sharpened stakes. All that was left was a square plank of wood from the table. She started whittling it into the shape of a mother cradling her baby. The finished portrait was small enough that she could carry it in one hand. She hoped that these would be enough.

She fell back into the soft bed beneath her. She pulled the covers over her shoulders, relaxing in its warmth. Amicia dreamt of her brother. His final days in that hospital bed. He looked so thin. She could see him grow paler by the hour. The doctors said she should wait outside and she screamed at them. They couldn’t do anything for him, but they still wanted her to leave him? To let him die alone? She wished so badly their mother was here, but she was stuck in New York. A storm had grounded all flights out. It was so bad that Amicia couldn’t even reach her on the phone anymore.

So here she was, waiting by her brother’s bedside alone. She wished he would just open his eyes, eyes so much like her own. She wanted him to talk to her. She wanted to tell her brother she loved him and that he was the best brother in the world. That she looked up to him ever since she was 6 and he stopped the other kids from making fun of her weird eyes. She got up from her seat. She had prayed to every god she could think of these past few days. She took his hand in hers, squeezing tight.

Amicia stood there holding him, until she felt him squeeze back. She opened her eyes. He was looking at her with a smile. He looked so happy. Why was he happy? Didn’t he know? That soon she’d never see him again? She wouldn’t be able to waltz into his apartment to rummage through his food. He wouldn’t be able to drunkenly call her late at night, demanding she come join him and his friends. All the small happy moments that should’ve lasted a lifetime. Moments that would never come again.

“Avery?” she asked. Her voice was so small. So full of hope. Avery smiled brighter. He brushed a hand through her hair. She smiled back at him. He opened his mouth to speak. She wanted him to tell her it would be ok. Then, nothing. “Avery? What’s the matter? Talk to me, please,” Amicia said, fear gripping her heart. He opened his mouth, trying to speak. Instead, He started coughing. Coughing up water.

“No no no no no. AVERY!” she screamed. As she tried to grab Avery into a protective hug, she was harshly pulled back by dozens of hands coming from the darkness. They pulled her legs from underneath her and she fell onto the floor. She wrenched her arms away from them, twisting back and forth to get out of their grasp. She fought as hard as she could, but there were just too many of them. They shoved her prone on the floor. A pair of hands pushed her chin upwards so she could see her brother.

He was convulsing on the hospital bed. His chest rose and fell in rapid erratic rhythms as if he was having a seizure. She tried to scream, but more hands closed around her mouth. She saw the heartbeat monitor next to him beeping. It went faster and faster until, Beeeeeeeeep. It went flat, and she watched her brother die all over again.

She woke from the nightmare in cold sweat. She tried to gasp for air, but then she felt a burning sensation in her chest. She started coughing and coughing. She pulled her hands away from her mouth. They came away wet. The Variant had come for her again. It knew what she was and why she was here. She had to act fast.

She jumped out of the bed, throwing her covers wide. There on the table, the carving knife she had left. She sprinted to it. Amicia could feel the edges of her vision fading. Her lungs were running out of air. As she grabbed the knife, she felt a shock of pain on her left shoulder. She turned her head to see a hand attached to nothing grabbing her. She stabbed the knife into the hand, but she cut herself as well in her attempt. The hand bursted into black water, coating her shoulder and burning her.

She wanted to scream, but still couldn’t breathe. She rushed into the bathroom. There, the mirror. In it, she saw her own reflection. Her face was red as she choked. Her shoulder was a bloody mess and it mixed with the dark ichor leftover from the ghostly hand.

She cut the back of her own hand. She dipped two fingers in the cut, coating them in her blood. She drew a witch sigil in the mirror with the blood. In the olden days of Britain, they would draw these sigils and place them in foundations of a home. The sigils were meant to protect them from evil and ward off malevolent spirits. The sigils were comprised of concentric circles in flower-like patterns. She didn’t have a way to access the interior of this room. Instead, she drew the sigil in the mirror. Her own image, in the center of the sigils drawn by her blood.

A sacrifice, an image, and an intent to banish evil while protecting herself. The combination of these would empower the sigils. She heard the Variant cry out. Its voice was a mixture of a newborn babe and a demonic entity. A hoarse sound filled the air as it growled at her. She could hear its pain and anger at being denied another meal. The Variant was outraged that she would fight back. That she would rebuke it not once but twice. She watched the sigils in the mirror begin to move. The circles of the sigils started turning against each other. Every cycle her blood would become ever more golden in color. In the mirror, they grew brighter and brighter until a flash of light enveloped her.

Everything stopped. She couldn’t hear the monster anymore. It was gone. She was safe for the moment. She fell gently towards the tub. She started throwing up into it, her body trying to expel whatever the monster tried to put in her. She kept at it until she could finally take in air again. Her lungs were still burning. She touched her bloodied shoulder and gasped at the pain. With every ounce of willpower, she dragged herself over the lid of the tub. She turned the faucet shower on. It was so, so cold. She laid there, letting the waters cleanse the filth from her body. She closed her eyes. Just a second of rest she thought. She'd close her eyes for just a moment.