“There, you see?” Tom stood up and kissed Emma, leaving smudged handprints on her face where he stroked her cheeks. “Why do you worry so much? Let the professional take care of things.”

Emma murmured something I didn’t catch, because a billow of black powder shot out from the bowels of the hearth. It swelled around the invisible shield of my amulet, engulfing me in darkness. I watched the dust skim by my shield and grinned … it seemed a wildly inappropriate reaction to a Manifestation, but I couldn’t help it. Sometimes simple joys were all a girl had.

Somewhere in the cloud, Emma screamed in frustration and then both of them were coughing. I let the black cloud settle some before going out into the hall where the two of them stood, doing their best to wipe their faces with their dirty clothes.

This would be an easy amulet, but I was honestly more interested in the closet we’d passed on the way here. So, I pulled the door shut and said, “I recommend staying out of this room for the time being. We’ll have to make do without the extra fire for now.”

“Peggy won’t like that,” Emma said.

“Well, she’s welcome to become a debtera and cleanse it herself.”

Emma and Tom looked at each other, their slightly shocked faces breaking down into smiles. “I told you she was the right one,” Tom said, hugging Emma around the shoulders.

“All right, don’t boast about it,” said Emma, though she was grinning. “Come on, this soot is stinging my eyes.” And they headed down the hall, I assumed toward their room.

I waited until they turned the corner to go back to the closet. I looked at the closed door and listened. And there it was—a breath, like a whisper, from behind the door.

I opened the door and was greeted by spiderwebs. Not just a few cobwebs here and there, but an entire closetful of active webs, stretching from wall to wall, ceiling to shelf, shelf to broom … spiders living their lives on them as if this was where they belonged.

There were all kinds. Some with long spindly legs. Some smaller than my bitten-down fingernails. Some with red backs, some brown and furry. A few, I saw, glowed pale white from within the darkness.

I leaned into the doorway, the spiders and their webs shifting away from the invisible protective sphere my amulet provided. Some of the webs didn’t move. I snatched one from my face, shoving it to the side. This closet had been so rarely used, actual spiders had mingled with the Manifestation.

I stepped inside the dense cross-stitching of webs, stepping carefully. The real ones were easy to spot, since they were the ones undeterred by my amulet, and I shoved them out of the way easily until I made it to the center of the closet.