That night, the moon in the sky looked like a dim torch, illuminating the silent residential area. In her house, Tenuksia stood in her dark kitchen with a bucket full of large frogs on the table. The frogs jumped restlessly inside the bucket, making small sounds that echoed off the walls of her home.
"Now, it's time to begin the ritual," Tenuksia whispered, her eyes gleaming with the light of vengeance. She lifted the bucket onto an altar adorned with black candles, wilted champaka flowers, and a suspicious-looking bundle of hair. Gaja and Melanko had long been asleep, but Tenuksia didn’t need their help. This night was hers, just like the nights before.
She began the ritual by lighting the black candles and sprinkling enchanted water onto the writhing frogs. Her hands clenched a handful of coarse salt, which she scattered around the table, forming a circle.
With a raspy and deep voice, she began to chant:
"Oh, spirits of earth, fire, and water,
Flow through blood and untamed breath,
Make these frogs my dark messengers,
Carry my magic to every house, one by one, I possess."
The frogs in the bucket suddenly stopped moving, their bodies stiff as if frozen. Tenuksia smirked coldly, picking up each frog and coating them with black powder from a small container. The powder emitted a foul stench that spread throughout the house. She then placed the frogs into an oven to dry them.
"How wonderful—modern and fast. No need to wait 30 days of summer to dry you all… One dried frog for every house," she said while counting the now-dried frogs. There were twenty-nine in total, enough for every house in the neighbourhood. "They have no idea what's coming for them."
After enchanting each dried frog, Tenuksia placed them all into a large woven basket. She waited until the clock struck 3:15 AM before carefully stepping out of her house. The night sky was still dark, and she was sure no one would be awake at this hour.
Si Kelabu, Marlina’s cat, who often wandered at night, sat on a tree branch near Tenuksia’s fence. Its eyes gleamed in the darkness, watching her movements. Buyung, the bird that lived on Tenuksia’s roof, also observed from its perch, though it showed no reaction.
One by one, Tenuksia placed a dried frog in front of each house’s gate. She made sure no one saw her, moving with utmost caution. Each time she placed a frog, she whispered her final incantation:
"With the whisper of the midnight wind, bring misfortune,
At this doorstep, I bind my wrath,
No peace, no safety,
Until my will is fulfilled."
She completed her task before dawn. Satisfied, she returned home and cleaned up the remnants of the ritual. There was still a bucket with live frogs. Tenuksia looked toward the large pot already boiling on the stove. She picked up a live frog and dropped it into the pot, smirking.
"We wouldn’t want to waste anything, would we?" she said, stirring the pot with a wooden ladle.
As the sun rose, the once-quiet neighbourhood began to stir with morning activities. Marlina opened her door to collect the newspaper, but her eyes landed on something near the gate. A dried frog, with bulging eyes and a stiff body, lay there.
"Merilton!" Marlina called out to her husband, her voice panicked. Merilton quickly stepped outside and saw what she was pointing at.
"What is this? Why is there a dried frog here?" he asked, confused.
"I don't know. But I don’t think this is normal. Do you think this has something to do with Tenuksia?" Marlina asked, glancing toward their neighbour’s house.
Merilton didn’t get a chance to answer before their doorbell rang. Marlina opened the door to find a young boy standing there with a small basket. He handed her a package.
"This is from house number one. They said it's a meal for all the neighbours," the boy said before moving on to deliver more packages to other houses.
Marlina brought the package to the kitchen and unwrapped it. Inside was a dark coloured soup with a strong herbal aroma. She frowned. "What is this? What kind of soup is this?"
Merilton sniffed it and said, "It smells strange. Do you think we should eat it?"
"I'm not sure. I haven’t felt right since we moved here. Too many strange things keep happening. Orena’s cake, this dried frog, and now this soup? Is this fate or just coincidence?"
Si Kelabu jumped onto the table and sniffed the soup. Suddenly, the cat let out a low growl before leaping off and hiding under the sofa. Marlina and Merilton exchanged glances, then turned their eyes back to the opened soup container. Marlina picked up the package and emptied it into the drain behind their house.
In her home, Tenuksia smiled as she looked out of her window. She could feel her magic taking hold. With every dried frog and every spoonful of soup her neighbours consumed, she moved closer to her goal.
"Welcome to my game," she whispered, her fingers tracing a small jar filled with black powder—the secret ingredient of her spell.
Standing at her window, she gazed at the neighbourhood, which was slowly becoming her altar. Her smile widened. "Every house has its own story, and I am the director," she murmured, caressing the jar of black powder on her table. She imagined the confused and anxious faces of her neighbours, trapped in her magic.
"No one can escape. They are merely pawns in my game, and I won’t stop until they surrender all their wealth to me."
The candlelight flickered, casting eerie shadows across her face, enhancing the image of a true sorceress.