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“If you were truly able to practice magic, why would you give it up?”
“Black magic.” Jamaica wrapped her arms around herself and held on tight. “In Obeah, all de princes of hell are personified, Satan most of all.”
“Hell and Satan are Christian boogies.”
“Obeah, like voodoo, combines de religions of Africa with Christianity. They use de Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses as guides.”
“Wait a second.” Kris ticked off a finger with each word. “Genesis. Exodus. Leviticus. Numbers. Deuteronomy. That’s five.”
“Moses was considered de greatest magician in all of Egypt. A snake charmer. He parted de Red Sea.”
“With a little help from his friend.”
“Or his books of magic.”
“Seriously?” Kris had never heard this, and she’d heard a helluva lot.
“De Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses were left out of de Pentateuch, but dey exist and contain all de magic of Egypt. Did you know de Egyptian word for snake is ob?”
“Like ‘Obi.’”
“Life’s a circle,” Jamaica said.
In Kris’s opinion, life was a straight line, as long as you stayed on track, but she wasn’t going to derail the conversation by arguing the point. “Go back to how Moses wrote books of black magic.”
“Not black,” Jamaica corrected. “Not den. De black came later. When darkness fell.”
“What darkness?”
“Slavery.”
“Okay.” Kris could buy that. But not much more.
“De magic turned dark when evil ruled. De only way to fight such evil is with more evil.”
“Two wrongs do not make a right,” Kris said.
“Spend a few lifetimes in chains and see how right you feel.”
“You weren’t in chains.”
“De ones who blackened de magic were. I was just…” Her voice trailed off as she searched for a word.
Kris had no problem helping her. “A dumbass.”
Jamaica inclined her head. “I had been hurt. I felt powerless. I went searching for a way to change dat.” Her eyes sparked. “I found it.”
“What did you do?” Kris asked.
The woman lifted her chin. “T’ings I will never, ever say.”
“You left the cult?”
“I left Jamaica.” She looked away. “I had little choice.”
“Because?”
“Obeah is still illegal dere.”
