Content warning: none apply

You committed thirteen taboos in a row as if begging for a lifetime of bad luck. The usuals everyone knows about, of course. Mirror. Umbrella. Ladder. Even some superstitions unfamiliar to you. Horseshoe. Scissors. Moonlit water.

Then you just sat. Waiting.

I squinted, guessing at your game. You’d done your research, but to what end?

You hadn’t quite committed thirteen taboos, though. So not enough for me to snatch you up. That thirteenth itched at me.

Finally, I appeared before you.

“Lady Doom,” you said, “come to take me away?”

“No.” I sighed. “Black cats don’t count. They’re not unlucky.”

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