Chapter 11: The Cursed Vase

Hajime has already left for his early shift at the factory, leaving the house to us and Naomi. Naomi is currently in what she calls a "redecorating phase", which basically means she is moving furniture around and making a lot of unnecessary noise while we try to sleep. She drags the heavy oak armchair across the hardwood floor, creating a screeching sound that vibrates right down to my whiskers. It sounds like a banshee dying in slow motion.

I am currently in my white cat form, curled up on the most comfortable cushion on the sofa. The morning sun is hitting my fur in just the right way, making me feel like a toasted marshmallow. Life is good. Life is simple. I close my eyes and drift into a light doze, dreaming of a world where tuna flows like a river and vacuum cleaners do not exist.

Then, the front door opens.

"I am home!" Naomi announces, her voice echoing through the hallway. "And look what I found at the antique market!"

The sudden noise shatters the peace. We all perk up instantly. Yoshi, who is draped over the top of the refrigerator like a black fur stole because he likes the vibration of the motor, opens one bright green eye. Inoe stops grooming her tail on the windowsill, her tongue pausing mid-lick. Kenuji looks up from where he is pretending to read a gardening magazine on the coffee table.

Naomi walks into the living room. She is holding something with both hands, straining slightly under the weight. Her face is beaming with pride, flushed from the heat outside. She sets the object down on the dining table with a heavy, ominous thud.

It is a vase.

But it is not just any vase. It is, without a doubt, the ugliest piece of ceramic I have ever seen in my five hundred years of life. And I have seen some terrible art in the Sengoku period. This thing is a muddy, brownish-green color, lumpy and misshapen, with two crooked handles that look like human ears. It has strange, swirling patterns carved into the clay that look disturbingly like screaming faces if you squint at them long enough.

"Isn't it amazing?" Naomi asks, stepping back to admire the monstrosity. "The seller said it is an authentic piece from the Edo period. He said it brings good luck and prosperity to the household. And I got it for such a bargain!"

We stare at the vase.

Silence fills the room. Even the dust motes seem to freeze in the air.

Then, the smell hits us.

It does not smell like old clay. It does not smell like dust or history. It smells like rotten eggs mixed with burning hair and old, wet basement. It is a spiritual stench so strong that I physically gag, making a little kack sound in my throat.

"It is hideous", Inoe projects her thoughts instantly into our collective mind, her mental voice dripping with disgust. "It clashes with everything. The curtains. The rug. My fur. It is an aesthetic crime".

"It is not just ugly", Kenuji adds, his ears flattening against his skull. He jumps down from the table and backs away slowly, his tail bristling. "Do you not feel that? The static? The sulfur? The air pressure just dropped ten hectopascals in this room".

"Yeah", Yoshi transmits from the fridge. "Naomi got scammed. That thing is not bringing good luck. It is radiating bad vibes. Like, really bad vibes. It feels like a stomach ache given physical form".

"It is a Cursed Vessel", Kenuji confirms, his psychic senses going into overdrive. "It was likely used to trap a minor spirit. A Gremlin or an Imp. I can hear scratching coming from inside the clay. Listen closely".

We all fall silent. I strain my ears, filtering out the hum of the refrigerator and the traffic outside.

Scritch. Scritch. Scritch.

It is faint, but it is undeniably there. The sound of something sharp clawing at the inside of the pottery. It is the sound of something that wants to get out.

"Great", Muji growls from under the sofa. "Naomi brought a demon into the house. Again. Remember the haunted doll she bought last year?"

"We do not speak of the doll", I shudder, my fur standing on end. "That thing tried to cut my whiskers while I was sleeping. I still have trust issues".

Naomi, completely oblivious to the fact that her new purchase is currently housing a creature of darkness, claps her hands together happily. "It just needs some flowers! I am going to go cut some lilies from the garden. They will look perfect in this".

She hums a happy little tune, grabs a pair of garden shears, and skips out to the backyard through the sliding glass door.

"Okay", Yoshi says, leaping down from the fridge and landing silently on the linoleum floor. "We have a window. Muji, break it".

"With pleasure", Muji says. He crawls out from under the sofa, his orange tabby tail twitching with anticipation. He jumps onto a chair, then onto the table. He approaches the vase, sniffing it cautiously.

"Wait!" Kenuji shouts telepathically. "Do not break it yet!"

But it is too late. Muji acts on instinct. He raises a paw. "Oops. Clumsy cat".

He swats the vase hard.

The vase does not move. It does not tip over. It does not even wobble.

It feels heavy. Impossibly heavy. Like it is bolted to the table with industrial screws.

Muji blinks, confused. He hits it again, harder this time. Thwack.

Nothing. It stands there, defiant.

"It is stuck", Muji says, frowning. He pushes it with his shoulder. He digs his claws into the tablecloth and shoves with all his might. The vase sits there, mocking him.

Suddenly, a crack appears on the surface of the vase. Not a break, but a mouth. A literal mouth forms in the clay, jagged and dark like a fissure in the earth.

"Touch me again, furball, and I will shave you bald", a raspy voice hisses from the vase.

Muji jumps back about three feet in the air, his tail fluffing up to three times its normal size. "It talks!"

"It is awake", Kenuji says, his fur puffing up until he looks like a grey storm cloud. "The seal is weakening. We cannot just break the physical vessel. If we do, the spirit will be released without a binding. It will possess the first thing it sees. Which will probably be the toaster. Or worse, the vacuum cleaner".

"Naomi is coming back", Inoe warns, looking out the window. "Abort mission! Act cute!"

We scramble. Muji jumps off the table and pretends to chase a dust bunny. Yoshi flops onto the floor and rolls over. I curl back up on my cushion and feign sleep.

Naomi walks back in, holding a bunch of white lilies. "Here we go! Oh, Tiger, get down from the chair. You know you aren't allowed on the table".

She arranges the flowers in the vase. The moment the stems touch the inside of the pot, the water in the vase hisses like acid. The lilies turn brown instantly. They wilt, drooping over the side of the vase like dead spiders.

Naomi frowns, tilting her head. "Huh. That is weird. Maybe the water was too hot? Or maybe these flowers were already old?"

She sighs and pulls the dead flowers out. "I will just go take a shower and try again later. I need to wash the garden dirt off anyway".

She tosses the dead flowers in the trash and heads for the bathroom.

"Be good, kitties!" she calls out.

We wait. We hear the bathroom door click shut. We hear the shower turn on. The moment the water starts running, we move.

"Okay", Yoshi says. "Showtime".

The air in the living room shimmers. We focus our energy.

Poof.

Smoke fills the room. When it clears, five humans are standing there.

Yoshi is cracking his knuckles, looking very menacing in his black leather jacket and ripped jeans. "Alright, ugly pot. Let's see what you really are".

He walks up to the table. He leans down, staring eye-to-level with the vase. "Hey. Wake up. Rent is due".

The jagged mouth on the vase opens again. Two yellow eyes appear above it in the clay, glowing with malice.

"Go away, human", the vase sneers. "Or I will curse your bloodline. Your children will be born with taste buds on their feet".

"That is a weirdly specific curse", I say, wrinkling my nose. I am smoothing down my white dress. "Also, very rude".

"It is a Filth Imp", Kenuji analyzes, adjusting his glasses. He walks around the table, inspecting the vase from all angles. "They feed on chaos and minor misfortunes. It is sticking the vase to the table with spiritual glue. We need to extract it".

"Can I punch it?" Muji asks. He is shirtless, as usual, and flexing his hands. "I really want to punch it".

"If you punch it, it might explode", Kenuji says. "And the shrapnel would be cursed. We need to draw it out".

"Leave it to me", Inoe says. She flips her multi-colored hair and steps forward. "Hey, little guy".

The eyes on the vase shift to look at her. "What do you want, girlie?"

Inoe smiles. It is a sweet smile, but her eyes are dangerous. "You are trapped in there. It must be cramped. It must be smelly. Don't you want to come out and play?"

"I want to eat your liver", the vase replies sullenly.

"My liver is very tough", Inoe says pleasantly. "But we have pudding in the fridge. And fresh fish. And if you come out, we might let you leave in one piece".

The vase pauses. The eyes widen slightly. "Pudding?"

"Custard pudding", Inoe lies smoothly. "Very sweet. Very creamy".

The clay ripples. The mouth widens. "I... I like pudding".

"Come on out", Inoe coaxes, beckoning with her finger. "It is right here".

A puff of black smoke shoots out of the top of the vase. It swirls in the air above the table, coalescing into a small, grotesque creature. It looks like a goblin the size of a cat, with grey skin, large ears, and sharp yellow teeth. It is drooling.

"Where is the pudding?" the Imp demands, looking around wildly.

"Liar!" the Imp screeches when it sees the empty table. "You lied to me!"

"Yeah, I do that", Inoe shrugs. "Yoshi, now!"

Yoshi slams his hands onto the floor. "Geomancer Arts: Stone Cage!"

Tiny pillars of stone shoot up from the surface of the dining table, forming a circle around the Imp.

The Imp hisses and leaps over the stone bars with surprising agility. It lands on the floor and scuttles under the sofa.

"It is fast!" Muji yells. "Get it!"

The chase is on.

The Imp is a chaotic little monster. It runs across the floor, knocking over a stack of magazines. It jumps onto the curtains and climbs up, leaving dirty grey footprints on the fabric.

"My curtains! Naomi loves those curtains!" I shout. "Divine Light: Bind!"

I shoot a bolt of golden light from my finger. It misses the Imp by an inch and scorches a small hole in the fabric.

"Oops", I wince.

"Stop shooting inside the house!" Kenuji hisses. He tries to grab the Imp with his telekinesis, but the creature is slippery. It bounces off the walls like a rubber ball.

It jumps onto the TV stand. It grabs the remote control and throws it at Yoshi's head. Yoshi dodges, ducking behind the armchair.

"You little pest", Yoshi growls. He lunges for it, but grabs only air.

The Imp jumps onto the ceiling fan. It clings to the blades, spinning around and around, cackling maniacally. "You cannot catch me! I am the Lord of Mild Inconvenience! I will hide all your left socks! I will make your toast land butter-side down forever! I will make sure your phone charger only works at a specific angle!"

"He is annoying", Muji says. He jumps onto the coffee table, then launches himself into the air. He grabs the ceiling fan blade.

Crunch.

The fan stops. The motor groans and sparks. Muji hangs from the bent blade, looking at the Imp.

"Hi", Muji says.

The Imp's eyes go wide. "Uh oh".

Muji flicks the Imp off the fan. The creature goes flying across the room.

"I got it!" Yoshi shouts. He opens a small portal in the floor - a shadow trap.

The Imp falls toward the trap. But at the last second, it grabs onto the edge of the antique vase that is still sitting on the table.

"I am taking this with me!" the Imp screams, digging its claws into the ceramic handles.

"No!" I yell.

The Imp loses its grip. It falls into Yoshi's shadow trap. The trap snaps shut, sealing the spirit away into the void where Yoshi keeps his captured demons until we can purify them properly.

But the damage is done. The Imp's final kick knocked the vase.

It tips.

It falls.

It happens in slow motion. We all watch, frozen. The ugly, cursed, expensive antique vase tumbles off the edge of the table.

CRASH.

It hits the hardwood floor and shatters into a million jagged pieces. Dust rises into the air.

Silence falls over the room again.

We look at the mess. We look at the bent ceiling fan. We look at the scorched curtain. We look at the magazines scattered everywhere.

"Naomi is going to kill us", Inoe whispers.

"Quick", Kenuji snaps. "Clean up. Transform. Now".

We move at super speed. Yoshi fixes the fan blade with a bit of metal-bending magic - it is not perfect, but it spins. I use a tiny bit of healing light to repair the weave of the curtain - the scorch mark fades to a faint yellow stain. Muji shoves the magazines back into a pile.

Then, we hear the bathroom door unlock.

"Poof!" Yoshi whispers.

We transform.

Naomi walks into the living room, towel-drying her hair. She is humming. She looks fresh and happy.

Then she stops.

She sees the pile of ceramic shards on the floor. She sees Muji sitting right in the middle of the wreckage, looking innocent and licking his paw.

"Oh no!" Naomi gasps. She drops her towel and runs over. "My vase!"

She falls to her knees, picking up a shard. "It is destroyed! It is completely broken!"

We all hang our heads. I let out a sad little meow.

Naomi looks at Muji. Muji looks at Naomi. He blinks his big, amber eyes. He reaches out a paw and touches her hand gently.

"Oh, Tiger", Naomi sighs, her anger melting away instantly. "Did you knock it over? Were you playing?"

She scoops him up and hugs him tight. "I am just glad you did not cut your paws on the sharp edges. It was just a vase. A very... expensive... vase".

She sniffles a little. "Maybe it was bad luck after all. It did smell kind of funny".

She stands up, holding Muji. "It is okay. I will clean this up. You guys are safe. That is all that matters".

She kisses Muji's head.

I look at Yoshi. He is perched on the sofa.

"She is too good for us", Yoshi transmits.

"We do not deserve her", Inoe agrees.

"I still want pudding", Muji thinks, purring loudly as Naomi holds him.

We watch as she gets the broom and dustpan. The curse is gone. The spirit is trapped. The ugly vase is history.

And honestly? The room looks much better without it.

"Hey", Kenuji projects, looking at the spot on the table where the vase used to be. "Did anyone else notice that the table has claw marks on it?"

"Shh", I say. "If we do not look at it, it does not exist".

Naomi finishes sweeping. She pets us all one by one, then goes to the kitchen to make tea.

"You know", Yoshi says, stretching out his black paws. "Being a cat is stressful. I need a nap".

"You slept for eighteen hours yesterday", I remind him.

"Exactly", Yoshi yawns. "I have a reputation to uphold".

We settle back into our spots. The house is quiet again. The sunbeam has moved, but I find a new one. I close my eyes.

Just another Tuesday saved by the Siblings.