Where the Devil Says Goodnight (Folk Lore 1)

“You’re too young to remember but bad things started happening overnight. The crops died, we had a flood, people and cattle died from rare illnesses. Things became so dire, we turned to the Whisperer Woman, your grandmother, for help. She convinced some of us that we needed to turn to the old ways and invite him back. So she created a lure to attract Chort to Dybukowo. In you,” Nowak said, pointing his finger at Emil.

Emil shook his head in disbelief and curled his fingers in his wet hair. “You just said that Chort wants Adam, not me!” Thoughts of Adam’s parents churned in his head. He remembered the story Adam had told him about his mother meeting a pregnant nun, about her conceiving on the trip to Bieszczady. He remembered the nun present in all the Kupala Night pictures until the one taken in the year Adam’s parents had visited Dybukowo.

His thoughts buzzed, sending nauseating vibrations down his body.

“Chort is trapped inside of Adam, but you are the intended vessel. It’s what your grandmother wanted. For you to be our protector. That’s why misfortune of the whole village focused on you. Her plan was for Chort to realize he’d left us in peril, so he’d come back fast, but he didn’t, and your situation took a turn for the worse. You couldn’t take it all on, so your grandmother gave her life to give birth to Jinx. He takes the brunt of the dark forces which would have killed you otherwise.”

Emil’s jaw dropped, and he glanced at Jinx’s black eyes. “Did you just say my grandmother gave birth to a horse?”

Nowak stepped closer. “What do you want me to say, Emil? It’s dark fucking magic, and we’re at the last stage of her plan. Chort has come back to the valley inside of Adam, but who he really wants is you, and tonight is the one night of the year when the world of spirits is close enough for the exchange to happen. You can’t leave.”

Emil laughed out loud. Of course. That was why Nowak had offered him the car, and Mrs. Golonko had wanted to hire him. Were they all a part of this insane scheme?

“Or what?”

Nowak exhaled. “He’ll die.”

Bile rose in Emil’s throat, and he took one more step to grab Nowak by the shoulders. “And you’re only telling me now?”

Nowak wouldn’t look into his eyes. “You will never be able to leave Dybukowo after this night, but you’ve been marked, and you can take Him on. He won’t consume all of you the way he would Father Adam.”

They—whoever ‘they’ were—had planned this all along. He wouldn’t have been surprised if someone from this cult had been the one to set his house on fire. “How long have you known this?” he whispered.

“I only found out last night, Emil. Your grandmother said the one who bears Chort inside him would come to the Devil’s Rock on the night before Forefathers’ Eve and give an offering of blood. Every year, we have someone waiting for him, and each time, it had been a disappointment. Until now. It’s been so many years we lost hope for Chort ever coming back. We thought—we thought the lure didn’t work, but maybe something had been holding him back, because he’s come for you at last.”

Emil was going to be sick. His life hadn’t been his own for years. He’d been watched, assessed, and condemned for failing at something he hadn’t known he was meant to do. Dybukowo would keep him as one of its own, because he couldn’t bear sacrificing Adam to be free of this valley. He should have listened to Grandma’s letter and left long ago.

Ice cold vapor filled his chest when he realized that maybe Adam’s affection hadn’t even been real. Maybe it had only been an expression of Chort’s need for the body he’d been meant to own, and had nothing to do with choice or love. But if all this had been caused by Grandma’s magic, then it was up to Emil to complete the cycle. Adam deserved to be free, just like he so desperately wished. He would go back to Warsaw, rid of the burden, and never have to look back.

Emil took a deep breath. “What do I need to do?”

Chapter 24 - Adam

Adam couldn’t believe he’d agreed to take yet another step away from the faith he’d held on to all his life. He was a priest, the last person who should be straying from God’s path, but the teachings he’d received when he was still young resonated at the back of his head, treacherously assuring him that the Church offered no way to deal with the danger to his body and soul.

God will not help you if you don’t put in the effort, was something he’d heard often during religious classes when he was still a boy. God would not help you get better if you didn’t seek help from a doctor. He wouldn’t pass an exam for you if you didn’t study. And as unorthodox as Mrs. Janina’s method seemed, maybe Adam couldn’t be helped if he didn’t try out all the options on offer?