“So, will you tell us or not?” Alasie said with hurt in her voice “I don’t know what is going on with my grandfather and Betty, but I thought you trusted me, we were supposed to be friends.”

“You will think I am mad.” I sighed, looking at her and Josh.

“We won’t I promise.” Josh lifted his hands in the air “Besides the way you acted yesterday, you owe us an explanation.”

“I guess you’re right.” I propped myself on my elbows, still feeling drowsy because of the pill Betty had given me.

“You remember Akesuk?”

“The man that went mad a few years ago? Of course…” She contorted her pretty face “Why?”

“I went to visit his brother yesterday, to find out more about his presumed madness.”

“Was it because of your book?” Josh asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

“No.” I shook my head “Alasie you know how I mentioned Tapeesa’s strange behavior towards me? I felt like she was reaching into the depths of my soul.”

“Yes, but …”

“She has also warned me against something in the woods. She said that death was coming. Imagine she said the same thing to Akesuk before he died.”

“What are you trying to say, Faina?” Alasie leaned forward.

“That Akesuk was never mad, Alasie. But he did lose a piece of his mind when he saw Kalluk in the woods.”

“So…” Josh shook his head in disbelief “You’re trying to say that it was Kalluk you saw yesterday?”

“And the day I found the footsteps in my backyard.” I clarified, studying their skeptical expressions “You don’t believe me.”

“It’s really hard to process.” Alasie hugged her slender frame “What do Betty and my grandfather have to do with this?”

“They know about him,” I said simply, watching their eyes widen in horror.

“What Tapeesa has to do with Kalluk?” I heard Josh say.

I turned to Alasie “This is the thing your grandfather didn’t want to tell you about, but I am sick of lies. Kalluk had a younger sister, a powerful shaman who possessed a gift of walking in spirit worlds and she was also Tapeesa’s ancestor.”

“That’s why people in the community are calling her witch? Makes sense …” He said, scratching the top of his head.

“Your grandfather threw her out because people assumed, she had something to do with Akesuk’s madness, they feared her.”

“This is insanity. This can’t be… I …” Alasie stuttered, her fear-filled eyes darting from me to Josh.

“But if you saw Kalluk yesterday, why I couldn’t?”

“I don’t know.” I admitted “The only thing I know is that Akesuk was the only person we know of, who saw him too. I found his diaries, he wrote: Don’t move. Stay perfectly still, don’t breathe, don’t make a sound, for he is sightless.” I repeated what I read in his journal.

“Holly shit Faina.” Josh suddenly stood up “This gives me the creeps.”

“Well, I’m right in the middle of it. What do you think it makes me feel?”

“If he is real and if you’re right …” Alasie said slowly “Than what are we supposed to do to stop him?”

“We find his weakness and kill him,” I said with a serious expression, glancing into their round eyes.

“He’s a spirit … He can’t be killed.”

“Well, Josh … Not by us, no. But there is one person that probably knows how to.”

“Tapeesa.” He finished for me “But if what you say is true, won’t she want to protect the only family she has left?”

“Then why even bother to warn me against him?” I stood up, regretting the fast movement as my head spun.

“Whoa! Slow down! Where do you think you’re going anyway? Especially in this state!” Josh tried to push me back down, but I resisted.

“He doesn’t wait for me to take a rest, Josh! The next time I might wake up with severed neck. I am going to visit her.”

“This is so messed up.” I watched him rub his temples in agitation “What am I even doing? Chasing some ghost? Out of a madman’s imagination?”

“Well I don’t blame you for your skepticism, believe me since I am still in denial. Normally spirits don’t just casually walk around in my life. So excuse me, I have to save my ass from a murderous maniac.” I walked around my bedroom, tossing on the first sweater I could find. It was wrinkled and used, but that was the least of my worries right now.

“Wait!” Alasie called from behind me “We are coming with you.”

“No … I can’t drag you into this mess, it’s too dangerous.” I objected, willing them to stay out of it. But I was too selfish to really mean it as I silently begged them to support me. I couldn’t do this by myself, I didn’t have the courage.