Page 24 of Monstrous Travels as Wicked as Sin

“Marvellous.” Percy swished out the flame of the match that lit his cigarette, opened his mouth to speak again, and was cut off by another terrifying scream that made Joe spill his beer before he could take his first sip.

“She’s rowdy today.” Maisie sent a glare through an open doorway. “Haven’t heard a peep out of her in months, and now with the lightbulbs again…”

“I’m on it.” George picked up his box and wandered off.

With a knowing sparkle in her eye and an air of adventure, Maisie asked, “Would you like me to bring her out?”

“Yes, please,” Percy responded at once.

Maisie gave a nod and disappeared.

“Bring who out?” Joe rasped.

“The skull,” Percy replied.

“The what?”

“Thescreamingskull,” Percy elucidated.

“Here she is,” said Maisie, setting down a lacquered wooden block with a gold plaque and a perfectly preserved, fully toothed, bleached-white skull on top. “Isn’t she a beauty?”

Another ghastly scream racked out of the thing the second it was placed before them.

“Hello, darling,” said Percy, cigarette lazing at the corner of his lips, his fine fingers tilting the skull up to meet his eyes.

“Heeeeeeeee…” the skull wheezed.

“Hmm,” said Maisie, eyebrows raised and hands back on hips. “She likes you.”

“I like her too,” Percy mused, leaning his head back to examine the remains that continued to sigh out the unearthly moan.

Joe shifted a little closer with an inquisitive gaze. “How’s she making that sound?”

“I haven’t a clue.” Percy turned the skull, searching for some trick or other that would explain the noise, but it was nothing more than some old bone stuck on a plank of wood.

Joe manoeuvred the base in order to read the little plaque. “Molly Tulloch.”

“That’s right.” Maisie leaned in close, the flames of the fireplace lighting a pair of watery grey eyes and scarlet lips eerily as she whispered, “Molly Tulloch. Also known as… The Headless Witch of Twatt.”

Percy choked a laugh in the back of his throat, but Joe was already too caught up in the mystery of the thing to break into more than a smile. “She’s the woman on the sign outside?”

“That’s her,” said Maisie, clearly impressed with Joe already.

Joe took the cigarette from Percy’s mouth, along with the skull that was handed across. It was in supernaturally good condition, and no wonder, being a supernatural object. It was small, sleek, and it had exactly the same presence an occupiedhead would usually have. Joe placed it down carefully, keeping it close on the bar in front of him. “Why did they do it?”

“She’s a witch. Isn’t that enough?” came a booming voice by Joe’s left arm.

“Not really, no,” Joe responded on a sharp exhalation of smoke.

That stumped the man, who frowned at Joe briefly, until Percy said, “Hello, Charlie.”

“Percy.” The tall man, with white beard and hair, wearing a rustic woollen blue sweater, tipped his head to Percy. “When were you going to come say hi to the Mrs?”

“Oh, leave him be.” ‘The Mrs,’ another sexagenarian, though a small and grey one, slipped her slender fingers around Percy’s biceps.

For that, she got a kiss on her cheek from Percy, which made her shoulders curl delightedly and her hands grip his arm that much tighter.

“Vaila, have you met my fiancé?” Percy said. “His name’s Joe, and he’s beautiful.”

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