We hesitantly stood on Tapeesa’s front porch, nobody making the first move to knock on her door. We were all anxious to face this mysterious woman, but what scared us the most was knowing and facing the truth.

“All right.” I said, nervously shifting from one foot to the other “Let’s do this.” I took one last breath before I finally mustered some courage to tap my knuckles against the wooden door.

After a few long minutes, a curtain on a window stirred, revealing an old’s woman crinkled face. Her thin lips were pressed tightly, almost as if she resented us.

I almost thought she won’t open the front door but at last, she stuck her bony head into a crack, eyeing us suspiciously.

“What do you want?” She screeched in her thick accent, her black eyes widening at me and my company.

I instantly felt the prying hands of her mind pushing through the barriers I tried to build to protect myself from her mental invasion. I gasped loudly as she effortlessly tore them down, drinking in every thought that plagued my mind.

I had to clutch the railings for support as I tried hard not to black out. Suddenly her onslaught was over and I could breathe again.

She straightened her posture as well as she was able to “Good. You may enter.” She pointed towards me.

“What is going on?” Josh grabbed my sleeve, turning my attention to him.

“I am the only one who can enter,” I whispered to him, hiding my quivering fingers by tucking them in the pockets.

“But… No way!” Josh protested, trying to push past me “We are here to keep her safe!”

“She enters alone, or she doesn’t. As she wishes.” She disappeared into her house, leaving the doors open for a crack, obviously not worried about who will take a step in. Somehow I knew uninvited guests would regret their decision immensely.

“Josh.” I placed my hand on his arm “Thank you.” I offered him and Alasie a small smile, trying to appear brave. Even though I was anything but. “I have to do this alone. If I don’t, I will never know.”

Alasie enveloped me in a tight hug her hands slightly shaking “Promise me you will be careful.”

“I will. I don’t think she will harm me.” I lied, sincerely hoping I was right.

I casted one last glance over my shoulder, right before I crossed the border between good and evil.

I stepped in a small, modest living room where a wood stove stood with a simmering pot standing on top of it. Beautiful aroma of rosemary filled my nostrils. I looked around, noticing there were numerous bouquets of dried herbs hanging everywhere. Where on earth was she able to get so many herbs in the middle of the snowy land? And there were pots with greenery so lush I could only stand and gawk.

A stack of books and little curious ornaments stood on every available surface – from small metallic elephants to beautifully carved wooden jewelry boxes.

My step wavered as I saw her standing in the corner of the room, staring at me with one of her unmoving stares.

“Why are you here, foolish child?” She spat, looking at me as if I was the stupidest thing she has ever encountered. And maybe she was right. “You should’ve been long gone by now. Yet you stayed … nothing but death and misery awaits you here.”

“You know exactly why I came here. How do you do that?” I stubbornly lifted my chin, gulping down the fear that raised in my stomach “Invade my thoughts?”

“Oh, but you already know the answer to that one, don’t you?” Her lips stretched into a grotesque smile, revealing her missing teeth “This is not the answer you seek.”

She was right, it wasn’t.

“I came here to ask for your help.”

“I cannot help you, child. I did what I could – I had warned you, you didn’t listen to me.” She rocked back and forth in her chair, her fragile hands resting on her lap.

“Please, how do I defeat him?” I begged her with my eyes, willing to do anything to stop this madness.

She stood, sighing “You can’t. He can’t be defeated. You cannot cross the veil between the death and living, therefore there is no way of harming him.”

“How about you?” I took a step closer, instantly regretting my decision as she defensively curled her lips, growling like a wild animal “Stay away from me wench! Or I will make sure you regret your audacity!”

My feet were suddenly cemented to the ground as I frantically tried to free myself “What are you doing? What is happening to me?” I cried out in disbelief.

She ignored my cries for help “You’re asking me to betray my own blood to save few hideous human beings? What for?”

My blood ran cold with her menacing tone. Alasie was right after all, she won’t help me “Don’t you want to do what is right?”

Her head fell backward and I heard the room fill with her bitter laughter “There can’t be good without evil, girl. I don’t have the power to go against Kalluk, nor I wish to bring his wrath upon myself.”

“You’re afraid of him,” I stated, hopelessness washing over me like a crashing wave.

“No. It’s not me who he wants, girl.”

“So you won’t help me?” My voice broke as I realized how desperately I counted on her.

“I am sorry.” For a second her face appeared full of pity and regret “You’re an innocent after all, but I cannot help you even if I wanted to. Besides, it’s already too late.”

I cleared my voice “What do you mean it’s too late?”

“He has already found you. You cannot outrun him.”

“So that’s it? I just…. die?” I hated the sobs that tore out of my throat, but I couldn’t help the dread that I felt.

“What if I leave right now? Pack my bags and run back to Russia?”

Her lips twitched “I am afraid you are too late. He would never let you leave. You cannot change your unfortunate fate for it’s already sealed.”

“At least give me an advice, anything will do,” I begged with desperation.

“His senses are flawless since he is a monster now. But once he was also a hunter and a tracker, keep that in mind. His sight is damaged, so he relies mostly on his smell and hearing. Don’t make fast movements and don’t usher a word.”

Was this woman really an evil witch the townspeople thought? Or was she just a broken old woman with a load too heavy to carry on her shoulders? Secrets so deep would bury me alive and yet she was there, rocking in her chair. Only her wrinkled face and worn out body indicated the cruelty of the life she had.

“Thank you,” I said honestly, grateful for any kind of help.

“Don’t thank me. There is no hope girl, no way out. Only a darkness, for the both of us.” She lifted her frail figure out of the chair, slowly limping away from me.

I felt how her steely grip released my legs from the invisible trap she created with her mind. I came here to find answers, only I felt even more devastated knowing I cannot escape my tragic fate.

I came to this quiet little town to find peace and freedom, but what I’ve found were horror and death instead.

And they were breathing down my neck.