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You’d of thought Jamilla would of avoided guys after how Brian and his buddies picked on her. But when the seniors began spending weekends at the lake, Jamilla started watching the boys. Her body quivered as she evaluated each one as they played volleyball ... or swam ... or acted plain silly in the halls.
Brian noticed her interest and took to wearing a predatory expression as he watched her back. He bragged to his buddies about how he could call Jamilla to his side with a crook of his finger. He talked of meeting her behind the shop building where the kids went to make out in between the parked busses.
One day just before the senior picnic, Brian called out just as Jamilla left the cashier. “Okay who’s goin’ to make the sacrifice and give the two uglies their initiation into womanhood?” His buddies laughed, but I was too stunned to react.
Another boy said, “Let’s have contest. The loser gets ‘em both.”
Jamilla caught my eye with a smirk. “Wouldn’t they regret that.” Her smile promised pure evil.
The weather turned hot those last few days of school. For the senior picnic, one of the guys got an older brother to buy a keg from their pooled money. The girls provided the potluck. Everyone brought their favorite records for dancing. The whole senior class came, and the party continued long into the night. Even I was having a good time shuffling in time to the music with a couple town guys until I noticed Jamilla and Brian had disappeared.
My gut clenched, but I dithered. The group felt so safe, a haven of fun against the dark trees and hills surrounding the lake. But I feared Brian might hurt Jamilla or worse. Finally I grabbed a brick from a collapsed flume and stumbled into the forest.
The stands of pine and oak above the lake had me criss-crossing the mountainside. I pushed until the pain in my weak hip and leg flared and slowed me down. I found no sign of either of them. The brick in my hand grew heavier as the moon flittered through the clouds while I gimped above the lake.
A prayer pounded with the pulse in my ears. Let me find them in time. Let me find them in time.
A branch tripped me, and I rolled over the edge of the path and down the steep slope. Rocks hidden under the pine needles stabbed and scraped my bare legs as I skidded down. At the bottom of a draw, I lay panting. A wind whooshed through the trees, sending clouds over the moon, and the icy creeps down my spine.
Triumphant laughter rose from the darkness, and the temperature plunged as a bitter wind shook the trees. A high piercing shriek, like a caught rabbit, stabbed my soul. I sat, hugging my knees. The silence smothered the wind’s moans into a sigh.
A long time later, I felt movement among the trees. “Who’s there?” My voice wavered.
“Cassy Mae?” The question sort of sounded like Jamilla, but the lush voice didn’t.
“Jamilla? I was looking for you. You okay?”
Her voice sounded languorous, like someone who had eaten too much Thanksgiving dinner. “Never felt better!” Her satisfied chuckle sent me shaking harder.
The moon broke through the clouds. Jamilla stood above me. A faint smile teased her full lips. The skin caught the moonlight and glowed. Flickering flames, brighter than the moonlight, danced in her eyes. She held her hand out. Shivering, I scrabbled to my feet without her help and away from her. A nimbus of dark red flowed around her as black as the shadows under the trees.
“Where’s Brian?” I asked, surprised that she was alone.
“He ditched me. Isn’t that just like him?”
Jamilla glanced at the moon as her hand patted her pocket. “I’m heading home. Come home with me. Aunt can drive you home after you rest your poor leg.” The words felt like a command as her gaze bored into me.
My shudders made me feel foolish. She’d never tried to hurt me before. Only teased. “I was going to rescue you with my trusty brick.”
Smirking at my feeble weapon, she said, “Good thing I rescued myself, huh?” Her mouth twitched as she reached out. “You need to let me help you, Cassy.” Her eyes pulled at mine. “You feel so tired you’ll never make it to lake.”
I swiveled away, barely keeping my balance. As I plodded back towards the lake behind her, I noticed she walked with a swaying gait. I almost commented but stopped when she licked her full lips. My crawling skin told me to shut up, and for once, I listened to myself.
My scrapes ached, but Jamilla didn’t seem to mind my slow progress as I limped along the narrow path behind her. In fact, she appeared to enjoy herself. Jamilla kept trying to reach out to help me, but I dodged her grasping hand in spite of the pain the movement caused.
When we returned to the party, no one looked up. No one noticed that Brian didn’t return. The next day, rescue teams began searching the mountains for him. It took three days before the dogs found his body lodged between a couple boulders high up a steep embankment I wouldn’t dare climb. The sheriff’s people questioned all of us at the party, but neither they nor the coroner ever figured out what killed Brian. The only thing wrong with him was a missing eyetooth.
Mrs. Hendricks’ eyes were puffy the next day when she came into the shop, but GrammyJo had no herbs to soothe her grief. The family offered a huge reward for information on Brian’s death. I wondered, at night, if maybe I should tell people he went away with Jamilla, but no one else seemed to have noticed it. I decided not to call attention to myself.
Who would believe me? I had no proof.
Remembering Jamilla’s satisfied expression had my nerves jangling. I gave in and started wearing one of GrammyJo’s juju bags filled with herbs mixed with rose agate, amethyst, and jade beads.
Jamilla began to wear tighter clothes, showing off curves I didn’t know she had. Though the boys began to preen in front of her, none of them got a chance to date her. The Markem took her to Santo Francisco the last weekend before graduation.
That last week, Jamilla clung to me like a burr at school. Her cold eyes burned into me so hard I imagined blisters rising on my skin. Jamilla kept insisting we should go to the City to celebrate our graduation as she fiddled with the canine she now wore as a pendant. She had wrapped the root of the tooth with gold wire just like her aunt.
Jamilla grew more compelling as she urged me to join her in Santo Francisco. Insisted I could buy anything I wanted in the Union Square stores I wanted. I could feel her pushing against my brain. The Markem’s vanished companion haunted my dreams. When I told GrammyJo about my nightmares, she frowned with worry. She lit herb-scented candles at all the windows and sprinkled salt. For once I welcomed the juju. GrammyJo added a little square of parchment with numbers written in a square to the conjure bag I wore around my neck.
“Keep this on and out of sight. It’ll protect you if you pay attention.”
GrammyJo sounded as sour as ever. I cradled the little pouch in my palm, taking comfort from its soothing warmth.
The last class day of classes, Jamilla chattered about all the fun we would have in Santo Francisco at lunch. She dangled parties and shopping trips under my nose like lures, looking at me like a plate of crab legs and chips. Anger flashed in Jamilla’s eyes when I didn’t jump at the bait. Only made some noncommittal grunt. She persisted, though, painting pictures of all the neat things we could enjoy in the City.
“Why must you be so stupid, Cassy Mae?” Jamilla threw her hands in the air when the bell rang. “I’m offering you the opportunity of a lifetime.”
I just blinked like a cow, thankful the bell rang.
On the bus home, Jamilla continued tossing out lures as I crowded against the window. “Isn’t it great to be free for the summer?”
“Free of what?”
“Of school, of course. We can do whatever we want.”
“There’s still college to get through.”
“The best colleges are in the Bay Area. You could go to any one of them you wanted if you stayed with me. Wouldn’t you love to live in the City again? In the nice part of Santo Francisco this time.”
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��I’m helping GrammyJo around the shop this summer. She’s feeling poorly.”
“She won’t miss you for a weekend. We’re going down early Monday morning. Come with us. We’ll explore Fisherman’s Wharf. Stuff ourselves with the fresh crab. Go look at the Berkeley campus. Wouldn’t you love to go to Berkeley?”
My heart pounded in my throat. My head buzzed, searching for words of protection but I had none. “Trebridge’s closer. Besides, it’s too late to apply for scholarships.”
“That dumpy town? Come live with me in a real city. We could have ever so much fun together.” Jamilla babbled on, sounding completely unlike herself. “You can be my companion, and you won’t want for anything. Who needs a scholarship? We’ll pay everything, your tuition and all your books. You’ll live free with us.”
When I didn’t say anything, she added with a crow. “You could have your own room with a full-sized bed. No sharing. Wouldn’t you love that?”
Knowing she wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, I scooted around her to take the empty seat by the bus driver. “I plan to live in the dorms.”
Jamilla gave me a cat’s smile. “We’ll see about that.”
Noticing Jamilla Page 4
