Muti Nation Read Online Free Page A

deathly glare fixated on me, but there are no discernible eyes in the face. A gaping maw where a mouth should be is breathing sour-smelling air into my personal space. Adrenaline pumps through my body with each frantic heartbeat. But no matter how badly I want to move my limbs are frozen. Whimpers escape my throat and get stuck in Howlen’s palm. Trembles of fear affects each molecule of my being. And yet, I can only stare at it.
    It picks up on my fear, and satisfaction crosses what passes as a face. Suddenly it shrieks a high-pitched scream—one indistinct word before poof . The blacker than black shadows dissolves into the night.
    My body is my own again.
    I sit upright, casting Howlen’s hand aside in the process, and inhale thick, warm oxygen into my lungs. My hands are shaking, tears prick the corners of my eyes, but I’m only rattled. Nothing I can’t handle.
    “Is this the first time this has happened?” Howlen asks.
    I nod. I don’t trust myself to lie out loud yet. I’ve seen worse than a perverted shadow, in the daylight no less. At night though, I’ve had my fair share glimpsing dancing shadows in my house.
    “Are you okay?”
    “Give me a sec,” I answer, still weak with surprise.
    He does.
    We sit in silence for a few minutes. In that time, I gather my thoughts and analyse the event, wondering what to make of this intrusion.
    “We’ll have to get Father Gabriel to bless your house or something.”
    I cast a disapproving glance over my shoulder. “Sure, let’s tell the Catholic priest there was a malevolent spirit in my house, while I was having premarital sex. Then he can report it to God, or worse—my grandfather.”
    Howlen doesn’t mean to smile, but he does.
    “Shut up, Howl.”
    The alarm clock’s neon red numbers read 02:32 a.m., which means I haven’t been asleep for more than an hour. There’s no way in hell I’ll get to sleep again. Not tonight. I push my fingers through my hair and the knots get tangled around my fingers.
    “Are you okay, May?” he asks again, using the nickname he’d chosen for me on these occasions.
    “Fine, fine,” I answer level-headed. “It’s nothing but a warning. You know how it goes.” He should know by now though he’s a sceptic through and through, regardless of what he’s witnessed first-hand. These entities are conjured up to warn people like us away from digging around. They can’t hurt us, just freak us out.
    The bedside lamp switches on with an audible click , casting an artificial yellow glow across the bedroom. Shadows recede into the corners of the room, not disappearing entirely. I’m reminded to buy a 100-watt light bulb the next day, because the 60-watt I purchased just doesn’t cut away the gloom. The wattage, however, is ample enough to make me feel better. Pieces of clothing lead into the room from the hallway, randomly strewn across the floor. The duvet is halfway across the foot of the bed and on the grey tiled floor. My dressing table is a mess with perfume bottles lying on their sides on the silver tray, while the silver necklace tree stands at an awkward angle. The empty Durex box somehow ended up near my closet on the other side of the bedroom. I guess the discarded foil packaging and used condoms are on Howlen’s side of the bed.
    A blush creeps up my neck and settles on my cheeks as I study the disarray but the embarrassment is quickly replaced with claustrophobia and disbelief.
    “May,” Howlen says as he sits upright.
    I steal a glimpse of him and notice worry lines creasing his forehead.
    “What case did you get called out for this afternoon?”
    “Tonight’s little event is not related to my new case,” I insist. It’s an unconvincing lie, because everything is related one way or another. I stand up and walk to my wardrobe to find a T-shirt dress to cover myself. “I’m 78% sure of that.”
    “I’d like to see how you came up with your number.”
    I grin and pull on the washed-out Garfield shirt for