“Step back from her!” Vanessa shouted as the black smoke filtered into the air like smoke from a chimney, hugging the ceiling as it began to spread. Namir grabbed my arm and yanked me back while Trevor rushed to stabilize Poette. The last thing I could hear was my mother shouting my name, and another man bursting into the house. It was the same man I met in the house last year. Maggie’s father tried to appear neutral, but the moment Himora unintentionally began speaking about his past? How he was in on everything from the start, and targeting Poette Davis, all hell broke loose.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU REGGIE!” She shrieked. I broke free from Namir just as my mother picked up a lamp from the end table to fling at him. “YOU SICK BASTARD! YOU’VE BEEN PLAYING HOUSE WITH ME THIS ENTIRE TIME!”
“SHE’S STILL MY DAUGHTER!” He argued. “I don’t care how you feel about what I did and how I came into your life! That changes nothing about my feelings for Maggie!”
Vanessa Dubois’s hands were raised as the thick cloud of black mass wavered against the ceiling, shifting into the shape of a laughing face with missing teeth. She stood on the coffee table, screaming at it with a thick Geechee accent while I tried to pull my mother off of the man. Once I saw her teeth showing, I gripped her neck, sinking my nails into her skin with my own fangs showing as the man suddenly shriveled into a black feline. Slipping beneath our feet, he scurried off through the back door.
“REGGIE?!” She cried before looking up, horrified at the sight of the face silently laughing. Poette looked like death as her eyes remained stuck towards the ceiling. “WHAT IS THIS?!”
“A very powerful dark spell that’s been holding on to your mother since she was very young!” Vanessa shouted. “Trevor, the jar! Himora, read the notes I left! Read it out loud! Now!”
“Spirits that do not belong, I command you to leave this body,” Himora read with a straight-laced tone. “I close every doorway to darkness and seal this body in protection.”
The black face pulled from the ceiling, reaching down towards Poette with a sinister laugh as Vanessa tossed her hands back before pushing forward.
“This spell doesn’t seem to be effective,” Himora said out loud. “The words don’t line up–––”
“Himora! JUST READ IT!” Trevor shouted.
“I will not read something that does not make sense. This spell is useless–––”
“Yuh can’t claim her soul anymore! Let her be in peace!” Vanessa angrily shouted. “Dis body shut to wickedness! De gate close ta yuh now, Lettie! Go now!” She looked over her shoulder just as the corners of the ceiling began to set a blaze. “Everybody but Himora, get out now! She’s trying to burn this house down with everybody in it! GET OUT! NOW!”
The distorted laughter of the black face pulled and twisted from the ceiling when I felt Namir grab my arm, yank me with a hard pull towards the nearest door. He banged on it three times, shoved it open with his shoulders and pushed my body through first until we fell through his closet door in his dark office. I caught myself just before falling on Namir who would undoubtedly shove me off. He was coughing while stumbling to his feet as he reached for his sofa to steady and balance himself. I looked back at the stuffed closet door filled with sports equipment, boxes of uniforms and sneakers along with stacks of folders and paperwork.
“She’s about to die.” Namir let out as he dropped down on the couch with an exasperated sigh. “She’s about to die…” He leaned over the couch as he gripped his head. “I don’t know how to even tell Maggie all of this. I feel like I shouldn’t have been there in the first place–––”
The door to his office suddenly burst open as Namir shot up with me not even bothering to hide at this point. If it’s my time to get arrested for being who I am, then so be it.
“Oh thank God!”
My eyes burst open at the familiar voice. Seeing Birdie Jones rush in with a hesitant siren walking nervously behind her, picking anxiously at her nails. She was one of Maggie’s friends. I recognized the faded scars and vaguely remember her being at the house before everything went down.
“You’re already back–––Bellamy?!” Birdie shrieked with her arms reaching for me. “You…”
Her words fell silent as she read everything about me just from my eyes. She wrapped her arms around me to hold.
“What are you doing here?” Namir asked as he sat back down.
“I ran into Asha on the way here…” turning to look back at Maggie’s friend. “We had an interesting conversation, and I figured it would be useful for you, so we intended to leave a note under your door until I heard your voice. I didn’t expect either of you to be here so…quickly.” She turned to look at me with a gentle smile. “Are you okay, my love?”
I nodded, feeling spoiled as she reached to smear any stained blood away from my eyes. She was all I needed. Maybe a drop or taste of Himora Clarke to settle my curiosity but Birdie was all I needed in the foreseeable future.
“What was this conversation?” Namir asked as he stood up to walk to his desk. “At this point, my focus is turning towards finding my Maggie. I don’t care about this job. I don’t care about any of this other shit but her–––”
“She’s on her way back,” Asha blurted out before nervously retreating behind Birdie. She wasn’t the same siren I met last year that had a mouth and attitude. Yet, something about Namir made her nervous. “I know I’m probably the last person you want to hear from but I…I saw her. At least I think I did. I saw her in the water. She…”
Namir’s gaze pierced through her like a dog tracking its prey. He only had eyes for her and as the rest of the office fell silent, Birdie coaxed her to keep talking.
“Maggie said she’s on her way and she wanted me to let you know she’s okay.”
I looked at Namir. His nose tweaked, nostrils throbbing as he picked his chin up to smell the air. His hardened gaze suddenlysoftened with his shoulders falling from its defensive hold which meant he caught something.
“I can smell her on you,” he said, voice barely above a whisper. Birdie smiled as she rubbed Asha’s arm to comfort her. “Did she say where she is?”
“No. I…She just kept screaming my name for my attention and said she’s coming. This was all underwater…at the dome.. Maybe it was some sort of illusion, but it felt real.”
“Yeah so before you do something stupid,” I added as Namir cut his eyes at me. “Think about your next move, especially knowing what you now know about yourself.”
