Red Rabbit

by Alex Grecian

“Elvira Bender’s husband made a pact with the Devil to keep us alive through our first winter here,” Hiram said. “The first sacrifice—”

She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. A moment later, the child emerged from the woods behind the rooming house. She walked to the coach and climbed in, and Rose climbed in after her.

He found his tinderbox and stuffed his handkerchief in the hollowed-out skull of Nestor Quivira.

And then Rabbit appeared from the darkness. He hadn’t seen her approach, but she was suddenly by his side. She reached up and put her small hand on his elbow.

“How are you, Mr Frog?” he said. “That was strange and scary, wasn’t it?”

Down in the valley, the valley so low, Hang your head over, hear the wind blow. Hear the wind blow, dear, hear the wind blow, Hang your head over, hear the wind blow. Writing this letter, containing three lines. Answer my question, will you be mine? Will you be mine, dear, will you be mine? Answer my question, will you be mine? Write me a letter, send it by mail. Send it in care of the Birmingham jail, Birmingham jail, dear, Birmingham jail, Send it in care of the Birmingham jail. Roses love sunshine, violets love dew, Angels in Heaven know I love you, Know I love you, dear, know I love you, Angels in Heaven know I love you.

It pleased Sadie that even the ugliest things could be made beautiful with a little work.

She didn’t like the smell of it at all: sulfur, and copper, and toad venom. It wore a human skin, but she wasn’t fooled. If the creature had come to kill her, she wasn’t sure she could stop it. She felt a twinge of panic and forced herself to focus on the task at hand.

John opened the door, then jumped back and held his breath as a black bear lumbered past the shop. It stopped for a moment and gazed at John before moving on.

“Say, I’m being rude,” he said. “My name’s Gamble. Call me Charlie. I’m in need of some new clothes.”

He had no interest in the two cowboys, the Mexican boy, nor the woman with arsenic in her veins.

“I had worshippers then, and I did many terrible deeds, Mr Cassidy. I laid with beautiful women and they gave birth to horrors. I laid with beautiful men and planted the seeds of war. A king displeased me, and I marched against him. I conjured a plague of insects that consumed his army. I took his harem for myself, and I ate the children of his courtiers. There are still statues of me, you know, buried under stones deep in the sand, put there to ward off death and bad luck. Oh, I miss those days, Mr Cassidy. So few people pay me the proper respect now.”

“I am dead,” Benito said. “Not yet,” Jacob said. “I can finish you, if you like. It would be a mercy.” “No,” Benito said. “Thank you, but I believe I will lie here and look at the sky. It’s very clear and bright today.”

“Why did you bring us here?” she said to Rabbit.

“No need to be afraid,” the man said. “Name’s Rigby,

In her panic she presented herself to Old Tom as a boy.

She sensed a kindly soul lingering near a sycamore tree, so she snuck a quantity of origanum dictamnus from Tom’s saddlebag and severed the bond between Joe Mullins’s spirit and his body.

Rabbit heard strange music long before they reached the crooked woods. It would have been wiser to go around, but the others decided to go straight through. Rabbit used her small magics to keep them all together and did what she could to mute the influence of the trees.

She was mildly surprised when Rose came after her, and even more surprised when she recognized the girl under the skin of the hare. At that moment Rabbit knew Rose had a little bit of magic in her, too, though she was unaware of it.

“Hello, Grandfather,” she said. “Will you take me the rest of the way now?”

“That hits the spot. Now, I hope you can help me. I’ve come to take my daughter home. Her name is Rose Mullins.”

“You’re a guest in my home,” she said. “Call me Sadie.”

“There aren’t many prospects for a woman around here. It’s mostly whores, wives, and schoolteachers. You’re no whore.”

“I’m looking for a woman who might be traveling with a girl. Her name’s Rose.” “Rose?” Mrs Bradshaw said. “It wouldn’t be Rose Mullins, would it?” “She calls herself Nettles now.” “That’s my daughter.”

Moses drew his revolver and took aim.

The man fired again and Charlie’s head exploded in a fountain of gore. The old man fell to the ground, and Bill realized he could move on his own.

The black toad was perched on his chin. Bill watched, wide-eyed and frozen, as the toad crawled up and into his mouth.

This fucking frog...

“Find a different name for that dog!”

“The toads,” she yelled. “You have to kill the toads!”

All my homies hate the toads

She watched as the wet black toad hopped up the boy’s arm, over his chin, and into his mouth.

THESE FUCKING TOADS!!!!!!!!

never knew I had a daughter,” she said. Rabbit scratched the puppy behind her ears and said nothing. “No,” Sadie said. “That’s not entirely true. I don’t remember anything from before. I woke up on the riverbank and a doctor told me I had carried a child. I just never…” She trailed off and was silent for a long moment.

Moses Burke had come to say goodbye to Rose and Rabbit. “I have a puppy now,” Rabbit told him. “She has to ride in a cage with the bags.”

“Be safe, Mr Burke,” Rose said. She kissed his cheek and he turned away. “Always was.”

shaking and crying rn

“I have a farmhouse down south,” he said. “It’s not much, but I like it pretty well.” Willie grinned at him and hopped up. Joe found the essence of dittany in his pocket and said the words Sadie Grace had taught him, then Willie left his body behind and they walked away together.

After some time, they came across Tom Goggins sitting on the stump of a dead tree.

“Oh, that’s fine,” Tom said. “I’ve got plenty to do here. It’s a big land, and someone’s got to watch out for toads.” “There’s no better man for the job,” Joe said.

“I heard seven’s a pretty lucky number,” he said. “It’ll do for now,” Madelyne said.

Screaming and crying