Blood Marriage

Twenty-One: In Which Plans Go Wrong

It was not often that Granny screamed.

Thus, when Ellie heard a very identifiable shriek ring through the house, she dropped the book she was reading upstairs and clambered down to the kitchen as quickly as possible. Granny had the itch to cook today, and when Granny wanted to do something, it was best to just let her do it.

Granny also kept things particularly spick and span around the house, insisting on cleanliness and a sanitary brewing environment wherever possible— and that extended to potions of a witchy nature, perfectly mundane medicinal brews, and any food cooking on the stove.

That was why it was particularly surprising to see a mud-covered ball of fur squeaking and hissing insistently at Granny, tracking dirt all over the floorboards with its little paws as it paced in circles.

"Why is there a possum in my kitchen?!" Granny shrieked. "Y'all know what happened with the damn raccoon, and we are not havin' a repeat of that day!"

No one on God's green earth would want a repeat of that day.

Luckily, Ellie was fairly certain

"Missy, calm down," she said.

The possum stopped chittering and sat still. Granny just stared.

"You speak animal? When'd ya learn that?" She looked back and forth between Ellie and the possum, squinting. It would have been comical if Ellie wasn't a little worried about why the animal was here in the first place.

"It's Alice's possum, Granny," Ellie said pointedly, picking up the furry little creature... and holding it as far away from her as she could. "Whooo, and you need a bath, don't ya?"

Missy was absolutely covered in sludge. Leaves and twigs stuck to the top of the sticky, foul-smelling layer, making her look a little more like a bush than an animal It almost seemed like the mud had been ground into her furry coat, as though she'd purposefully—

Ah.

Alice must have done it, Ellie realized. It would help disguise Missy's natural scent as she traveled through the woods on the way here. That was good thinking, but... it also made her wonder who or what could have followed along behind. It could be nothing, of course, but why send Missy without anyone else, especially when Alice knew none of them possessed animal speak?

As Ellie sat the little creature down in the sink, she noticed a chunk of something rolled up and tied to Missy's neck on a now stained length of ribbon. It was in one piece, though, and it looked readable.

"You read the note. I'll wash the critter," Ellie said, handing the paper to Granny. The older woman held the equally sludge-covered paper with two fingers, nose wrinkling unpleasantly, but she didn't complain.

Missy the possum was surprisingly well-behaved during her bath. In fact, it seemed as if she liked being scrubbed down clean, which was almost a little comical. The sludge came off easily with a little soap, but Ellie was more concerned about he contents of the note Missy brought with her, checking over her shoulder as she worked to watch Granny's facial expressions as she read.

Her face was, unfortunately, almost unreadable. The old woman had a poker face when she wanted to, and this was absolutely one of those times. It only made Ellie more anxious, though.

"Shit," Granny hissed, sighing.

"What? How bad is it?" Ellie briefly turned away from Missy to look over her shoulder. The grave expression on Granny's face did not fill her with warm and fuzzy feelings.

Harper and Willow burst through the front door before Granny could answer, both looking around in a panic.

"What's happening? I heard a scream," Willow said, blinking furiously.