He eyeballed me, waiting for me to spill the beans.

  “My family’s in hot water. Can you lend a hand?”

  I was on pins and needles.

  Moli flashed a gentle smile and out of the blue, pulled me into a hug.

  This time, I didn’t wriggle away.

  He patted my back softly, his voice a whisper in my ear,

  “Close your peepers, catch some z’s, and when you wake up, everything’ll be hunky-dory...”

  I’d been so worried I didn’t feel like snoozing.

  But the second he opened his mouth, my eyelids got as heavy as lead.

  Before I knew it, I was out like a light.

  Right before I zonked out completely, I caught a few words loud and clear:

  “I’ll wait for you.”

  I wanted to grill him about what he meant.

  If he could track me down whenever, why’d he need to wait?

  And where was this waiting spot?

  A million questions swirled in my head, but before I could blurt one out, it was lights out.

  I must’ve only caught a catnap.

  Later, I was roused by a racket of footsteps.

  I pried my eyes open, groggy as heck, and saw Anbay with his noggin all bandaged up.

  “She’s awake! Dad! Mom! Sis is up!”

  My parents were back?!

  I struggled to sit upright.

  My parents hustled over, crowding around me.

  “Anna, feeling better?”

  Mom asked, worry lines creasing her forehead.

  Everything seemed peachy-keen, like nothing had gone down.

  I was befuddled.

  How’d they make it back?

  And not just them—wasn’t Anbay buried under the dirt with me?

  How’d he skedaddle?

  Seeing my puzzled expression, Mom filled me in.

  “Our whole fam got food poisoning.”

  Food poisoning? Dad chimed in,

  “The tea leaves Grandpa left behind had gone bad. We all got poisoned and started seeing things.”

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  “Your mom and I keeled over at the village entrance and were lucky to get hauled back. Poor Anbay conked his head on a rock when he fell.”

  The more I listened, the more confused I got.

  “Then, what about Grandpa? Where’s his body?!”

  My parents traded quizzical looks.

  “What’re you yapping about? Grandpa’s resting easy in his coffin. Anna, respect the dead. Even if he doted on you, don’t go spouting nonsense.”

  I was flabbergasted. Impossible.

  What the heck was going on?!

  Weren’t we haunted by the blind man’s wife?

  And Grandpa.2, where’d he vanish to?

  “Maybe you oughta step out first. I’ll stay with Anna. She just woke up, too many people in the room’ll make her antsy,” Anbay suggested.

  My parents split.

  I grabbed Anbay, “You remember, right?!”

  I flailed my hands around like a crazy person.

  “There was a hand yanking my foot! And your head, it was Grandpa.2!”

  Anbay slapped his hand over my mouth.

  “Shh! If I’d said that earlier, Mom and Dad would’ve dragged me to the hospital. You remember, it wasn’t a dream, right?!”

  We locked eyes. Yep. It wasn’t a dream.

  Some heavy-duty mojo had yanked the rug out from under us and reset everything.

  Only Anbay and I remembered the wild ride.

  But... was it really not a hallucination?

  The whole thing was so bonkers I started doubting my own sanity.

  Anbay mulled it over for a sec.

  “Real or not, we’ll suss it out if we poke around.”

  He led me to Grandpa.2’s pad.

  It was dead quiet, the door ajar a smidge.

  Anbay gave my shoulder a squeeze, signaling me to keep my cool, and nudged the door open.

  Before I could set foot inside, I froze up. In broad daylight, even with the sun blazing, cold sweat dribbled down my back.

  In the courtyard sat a coffin.

  Having a coffin wasn’t a biggie—most families with old-timers had one or two lying around.

  But what sent shivers down my spine wasn’t the coffin.

  It was the woman grinning like a Cheshire cat beside it.

  The blind man’s wife, decked out in a bright red wedding gown, was perched on the coffin.

  Her peeled-off face had been slapped back on all wonky, making her look like a Picasso painting.

  Yet, she was definitely smiling.

  Anbay couldn’t see the woman.

  Sensing my jitters, he clamped down on my hand tighter.

  “What do you see?”

  I nodded, my neck so stiff it could’ve snapped.

  Now I was dead certain.

  Everything that went down was the real McCoy.

  “So, this old coot got what was coming to him and kicked the bucket?”

  Without warning, Anbay made a beeline for the coffin.

  I yanked him back in a hurry.

  As I tugged, I peeked into the coffin.

  Grandpa.2 was barely breathing, his face swathed in a black fog.

  He was on his last legs.

  I didn’t look any further.

  I sure as heck didn’t want to save him.

  Thinking of the dirty deeds he’d pulled, I wouldn’t lift a finger to speed up his demise.

  Anbay spat at him and hauled me away.

  We’d only taken a few steps when a weak, warped laugh echoed from behind.

  It was Grandpa.2 laughing.

  His voice, so shriveled up it was barely recognizable, hollered out Grandpa’s name, dripping with resentment.

  “Brother, my dear brother, you always hogged the spotlight. But in the end, you couldn’t even save your granddaughter!”

  Anbay halted. “Old man, cut the crap!”

  “Crap, huh? Haha, crap...”

  Grandpa.2’s voice got weaker but nastier.

  “Your daughter’s soul is nearly in tatters... Without finding her soul, even the gods can’t save her!”

  “Haha... hahaha... Good, dying with a girl as company, good.”

  Anbay’s blood boiled.

  His veins bulged like garden hoses. Ignoring that Grandpa.2 was on death’s door, he wanted to punt his coffin.

  After a lot of cajoling, I managed to drag him away.

  By evening, word spread that Grandpa.2 had croaked.

  Villagers said a murder of crows circled his house, tipping someone off to check.

  Lo and behold, they found him dead in the coffin.

  “Good riddance,”

  Anbay grumbled, handing me a slice of watermelon.

  “Deserves to die for hexing Anna.”

  Anbay was always upfront about his likes and dislikes.

  If Mom and Dad hadn’t held him back, he might’ve even cut a rug on Grandpa.2’s grave.

  “Forget it. He’s gone now,” I soothed him.

  Biting into the watermelon, I let out a sigh of relief.

  At first, I thought our family was doomed.

  But now, being able to huddle up and chow down on watermelon was a godsend.

  However, something about the watermelon tasted off.

  Another bite confirmed its funky, gooey texture and a strange metallic tang.

  I looked up to ask Mom if the watermelon was rotten when I saw her face drain of color.

  Anbay chucked his watermelon and bolted over to steady me.

  Before I could figure out what was going down, a warm gush flooded my nasal cavity.