Oggie nodded reluctantly before he grunted and dropped a fireball between his legs. “Just what I needed…my testicles were getting cold.”
Isabelle nodded, and we plunged into the gate, Mikah following close behind. I looked back just in time to see Oggie hurl a fireball at the door as a crowd of snarling vampires tried to break through.
We need to act fast, I told Isabelle. He’s good… but I don’t know how many of those things he can fend off… or for how long.
26
CHAINS OF JADE magica shot out from my fingertips as Isabelle cast some kind of binding spell against Kalfu, which with a slight juke he managed to evade. I forgot how exhilarating it felt when her magica coursed through my flesh. Still, I had to temper my emotions. It was easier to let Isabelle take over now that we’d resolved our differences, but if I resumed control, I’d still be basically powerless.
Another surge of power, and a root shot up from the ground as Isabelle willed it to entangle Kalfu’s ankle, forcing him into a faceplant on the ground. It was a cringe-worthy attack—almost forcing me to speak up. After all, this was Pauli’s body… but then again, we were in Guinee. I suppose if he got hurt, Isabelle could heal him here, too. Again, think calm, Annabelle… more CSPAN and less WrestleMania.
Kalfu’s black eyes turned a deep red.
His power is coming back! I shouted into Isabelle’s mind.
Baron Samedi, leaping from the portal, dove after him, his top hat flying off of his head. A black mist poured from the Baron’s fingers as he jammed his palm against Pauli’s skull.
Kalfu reached around and yanked at the tails of the Baron’s coat before planting his fangs into his neck.
Isabelle shot another burst of green energy at Kalfu, hurling him back to the ground. Black blood poured from a gaping wound just under the Baron’s jaw.
Isabelle approached the Baron, pushing our hand against his wound. His blood was sticky, like sap. Green power flowed from our hand and into the wound, but… nothing.
“I don’t understand,” Isabelle said.
“Your magic,” Kalfu huffed, “cannot heal my bite.”
“You can’t kill death!” Isabelle screamed.
“Maybe not,” Kalfu said. “But I don’t need him dead.”
Something sharp dug into my ankle, and the pain struck my whole body. Kalfu’s hand, Pauli’s well-manicured nails now converted into claws, dug into my flesh. The pain was too much. Isabelle’s magica rushed to the wound, but it was too late. As I screamed within our mind, I found that my scream poured from our lips…
“No!” I shouted, having taken back over our body… my energy sapped. Then I felt two sets of arms grab me from beneath my arms. Mikah pulled me away as Ashley shot a salt pellet into Kalfu’s hand, loosening his grip.
“We have to run,” Ashley shouted at Mikah. “Just get her back home.”
I fought off the pain and cried, “No! We have to stop him!”
Mikah ignored my cries, as Ashley continued throwing salt toward Kalfu. It wouldn’t hurt him, or even incapacitate him, but maybe it would slow him down. At least that’s what she seemed to be attempting to do. Slow him down, get me away from him before he could make an attempt to wrestle Isabelle’s power out of me.
You can still do this….
“I can’t,” I responded through tears. “We failed… the pain… I couldn’t help it.”
You don’t have my power, but you are in Guinee now. Even as Kalfu’s power returns, so does yours.
I took a deep breath… I had an idea. It was probably the shittiest idea I’d ever had, but it might just work.
I reached out with my mind as if I were going to summon my soul blade. A half second later, Beli’s screech rattled my ears.
The dragon dove after us, gripping my aching body with his talons as he shot back into the skies.
“Beli!” I screamed, trying to suppress the pain inside my skull. “Can you bring someone here… someone from Earth? Open a gate and bring them here?”
“I can,” he said.
“We have to act quickly,” I said as I looked down and saw Kalfu gradually stand to his feet, even as a pool of black blood formed under the Baron’s collapsed body.
I didn’t want to risk Kalfu hearing my idea. It was a long shot, and probably foolish, but I whispered it into Beli’s ear no less.
The dragon nodded and inhaled deeply before exhaling a blast of silver flames into thin air, about ten feet above where the Baron was writhing in pain.
Seconds later Nico fell from the portal.
“What the fuck?” he said as he struggled to get his footing. “How did I…”
Mikah looked at him, terrified, as Beli returned me to the ground.
“Nico,” I said. “I need your help! Please tell me you still have your doll.”
“I do,” Nico said. “But I was wrong. I swear… I thought you were possessed by Kalfu. From day one, I thought you were the enemy. That’s why I was such an ass.”
“No time for that now,” I said. “Your doll harnesses the power of a Caplata, right?”
Nico nodded.
“Good,” I said. “I need you to use it to revive Baron Samedi. Control him… use him to exorcise Kalfu from Pauli’s body.”
Annabelle, no! Isabelle shouted. It will bring back the red Baron!
She was right, of course, but we had no choice. Not if we were going to stop Kalfu. Not if we had a shot at saving Pauli. And exorcising Kalfu… that’s what Nico had practiced before, only he thought he’d be exorcising the Loa from me.
Nico retrieved his doll from his pocket.
I stumbled through the grass, trying to distract Kalfu. I was banking on the fact that he’d go after me. He knew I was weak. He’d try to take Isabelle. We had to become bait, just long enough for Nico to act.
Nico uttered a chant in Creole, which activated the doll, a red energy flowing out of it and seizing onto the Baron’s weakened body, which quickly healed.
“Nico!” I screamed. The power he could harness in a doll was limited. He’d only have a few moments to act. “Do it now!”
Manipulating the doll, Nico sent the Baron after Kalfu. Kalfu didn’t see him. He was too busy trying to grab me…
Kalfu grabbed me by the hair, forcing me into his grip.
“Fuck!” I shouted. “Nico, now!”
Kalfu hesitated a moment before attempting to sink his fangs into my neck… when his grip suddenly loosened. Baron Samedi, his eyes red with dark magic, yanked Kalfu off of me and forced his hand, again, onto Kalfu’s skull. This time, the black power that flowed from the Baron’s hand made Kalfu go stiff. His black eyes faded, and Pauli’s returned.
“I can’t hold him much longer!” Nico shouted. “Is it done?”
The red Baron stared at me with a lust, a desire… but it was a lust for power. He wanted what Kalfu almost took.
Ashley dove on the Baron’s back, beating on him with her fist. The Baron slung his body around, sending her flying into the grass. I quickly looked to Beli. Do something, I thought.
Beli flew down and grabbed Ashley with his talons before blasting a barrage of flames his direction. The Baron dove out of the way, tucked and rolled, and ran for the gate that Aida-Wedo was holding open from the other side.
“Quick,” I shouted at Mikah. “If he gets through, he might be able to close it!”
Beli picked up on the cue and shot like a dart out of the skies, tossing Ashley into the gate and shrieking before he lashed at Baron Samedi with his tail, forcing the Loa to stumble.
I tried to run, but my energy was sapped. It felt like a herd of buffalo were running through my skull. I felt a soft touch, and to my surprise, Mikah managed to lift my whole body in his arms and took off running as hard as he could to the gate.
“Let me go, Mikah… You won’t make it if you’re carrying me.”
“I’m not letting either of you go.”
“I need to get to Pauli. Isabelle was supposed to heal…”
> “There’s no time! I can’t take you both.”
“Then take him!” I screamed, wiggling out of Mikah’s grip.
I couldn’t seem to get my legs under me, but I clawed my way toward Pauli. His body lay prostrate in the green grasses. I heaved with the last bit of energy I had and rolled him over.
He was alive… just barely.
“Isabelle! I need you to take over! To heal him!”
I can’t… not so soon after… You are going to have to do it.
“I can’t! I don’t have the power…”
You do have the power. You just need to grab it… feel it. It’s your fear that prevents you from accessing it.
My fear? It suddenly struck me, in the moment, that I wasn’t afraid anymore. I was scared, sure. Scared for Pauli. Scared that the Baron might make it through the gate before we did. Beli was doing a fine job keeping him occupied, though. I glanced in the Baron’s direction, and as he returned to his feet, a second tail lash courtesy of my soul dragon knocked his feet out from under him.
I returned my attention to Pauli and placed my hand on his forehead.
“What do I do?”
Imagine Pauli as you knew him. Imagine him well again. My magica, the magic of the Tree of Life, is not something you control. It is something you welcome. You just have to let it know what you want it to do.
With one hand still on his brow, I allowed my other hand to graze Pauli’s cheek. I thought about his joy, his humor, his dedication to his wardrobe. All the things that made Pauli, Pauli… all the things I would miss if I didn’t get him back. I imagined him full of life.
A tingle spread across my brow. I’d felt it before. Anytime I’d accessed Isabelle’s power. But this was something more. The feeling spread throughout my body. The throbbing in my skull faded. My strength returned. A green glow filled my eyes, illuminating Pauli’s face. The green magica coursed down my arms, through my fingertips, and into Pauli’s flesh.
Pauli gasped, his eyes wide open—his brown eyes. The blackness—Kalfu’s possession—was gone. Or, at least trapped. Sealed away, somewhere deep inside Pauli by magic.
“I’ve got you, Pauli,” I said.
“About time, bitch!” Pauli said as his voice cracked.
I laughed as tears fell down my cheeks. “Can you walk? We have to get out of here before the Baron makes it to the gate.”
“Honey! Don’t worry about me. Go deal with the Baron. You’re a badass! Show it!”
I nodded and sprang to my feet. I was surprised how much Isabelle’s magica—our magica—had reinvigorated me.
I glanced at Pauli, who suddenly cast a rainbow from his fingertips—he couldn’t walk, but apparently he could transport. His figure disappeared as his bow shot through the gateway back home. I turned, again, to see the red Baron’s eyes turn to flames as he jumped over Beli’s attempt at another leg swipe. I charged after him, imagining him stopped, restrained. The green glow returned to my brow and filled my eyes.
Baron Samedi stopped in his tracks, raising his hand. “Stop, not again!”
Not again? I didn’t have time to ponder his words or what they meant. All I could be sure of was that I couldn’t allow him back through the gate. Two roots shot up from the ground, aglow with the same green magica that coursed through me. The roots secured his legs and wrapped themselves around his torso.
I looked back to the gate. Aida-Wedo still had it open, but there was no telling how much time I had. I could almost feel the roots that squeezed the Baron’s body. I took off running toward the gate. Then I felt something like a snap… another magic. Something darker. I looked over my shoulder, and the Baron’s whole body was coursing with red energies.
Run, Annabelle!
I turned to run. But I knew I couldn’t outrun whatever magic he was about to shoot my direction. I needed to try to defend myself… somehow. I tried to evoke another spell, I tried to imagine a shield around my body. Something… anything…
But the Baron extended his hand, a ball of magic forming on his fingertips. Then, his body snapped backward. A loud snap—maybe his bones.
Nico walked up from behind, holding the doll he’d made in class, which he’d just bent backward. Nico twisted the head, and the Baron’s head snapped with it, the red magic that had filled his body fading into nothing.
“Nico! Come on, we have to get back!”
“You go,” Nico said. “I’ll be right behind you. This won’t stop him for long.”
“I don’t understand. The doll… it was the Caplata’s essence. It should be hurting her, not him!”
Nico shook his head. “It was…”
“But in dollcraft, fashioning a Loa… it’s—”
“Forbidden?”
“I was going to say impossible.”
Nico shook his head. “Not when you have that Loa’s aspect. It’s a part of him.”
I nodded.
“Just go, get back. I need to make sure he can’t follow us. I’ll be right behind you.”
I grinned at him for a half second, probably the first time I’d ever looked at him with anything other than disgust. But he’d done it. He redeemed himself. I took off running to the gateway. I turned once more before jumping in, and I saw Nico rip one of the legs off of his doll as the Baron writhed in pain. I plunged my body through the gate.
I hit the floor of the slave quarters a few moments later. Oggie stood there, looking triumphant amidst a pile of dismembered undead. Mikah and Ashley lunged after me, expecting group hugs.
“Wait!” I shouted. “Nico is still in there!”
A look of shock fell on Maman Brigitte’s face. “Nico? How did he get… And the Baron… we have to bring back the Baron!”
“No! It’s the red Baron now!” I shouted.
“I don’t care!” Brigitte shouted, casting whatever magic Erzulie had given her into the gateway… something to draw him in.
“Not going to happen,” Oggie said. “Aida-Wedo, do it now!”
“No, Nico is still…”
But it was too late. The gateway was closed.
27
“ANY WORD ON when classes will start up again?” I asked as I ushered Mikah into the foyer of our home and toward our living room couches.
“Nothing yet,” Mikah said, taking a seat on my grandmother’s rocker. “Marie Laveau is taking over the school.”
“Your shitting me,” I said. “The Queen of Vilokan… of all Voodoo… is going to take over the school?”
Mikah shrugged. “That’s the rumor. I think it’s just temporary. A permanent headmaster can’t be appointed until everything has been investigated.”
“What about College Samedi?”
“Oggie wants Brigitte removed. Aida-Wedo agrees that she should be banished. The whole college is suspended until the green Baron can be brought safely back. But right now they’re deadlocked. Erzulie supports her, and of course Maman Brigitte wouldn’t vote against herself. Everything depends on Sogbo, whenever he returns. God knows where he went.”
“Doesn’t Laveau have authority to step in and get rid of Brigitte?”
“Probably, but from what I can gather, she hasn’t made up her mind. At this point it’s all he said, she said. She isn’t sure if Oggie has other motives.”
“Other motives? Why the hell would he want Brigitte expelled if there wasn’t a good reason?”
“Laveau suspects a power play, that Oggie is trying to take over as headmaster in Legba’s absence.”
“That’s ridiculous! You’d think a student goes missing—one of Maman Brigitte’s initiates—she’d be the one under suspicion.”
“Speaking of Nico… any luck tracking him down?”
I shook my head. “Isabelle and I have spent hours cutting gates with my soul blade, wandering around Guinee, consulting with the Dryad, flying around with Beli. No one knows anything. Both he and the Baron… it’s like they just disappeared.”
“Maybe if we can talk Pauli into holding a gate for us, we cou
ld all go looking,” Mikah said.
“Yeah, good luck with that.”
“He still depressed?”
I nodded. “Not himself at all. Tried visiting him just last week.”
“Well, he does have a nasty Loa trapped inside of him, and trust me, having Kalfu inside of you…”
“Makes you feel dirty,” Ashley interjected.
Mikah nodded. “That’s one way to put it.”
“I think he’ll come around eventually. He can’t stay in his mom’s basement forever. Isabelle thinks once school starts again, it will be good for him.”
Mikah nodded. “Speaking of that… you still planning on joining us, Ashley?”
Ashley turned and looked at Roger. He’d barely left her side since we returned, and their constant cuddling was getting mildly annoying. “I don’t really want to…”
“But I told her it would be a good idea,” Roger said. “She’s learned everything she can from me. She’s a great Shaman.”
“Shaperson,” I interrupted.
Roger sighed. “Sha-whatever. Anyway, she has Erzulie’s aspect whether she likes it or not. One of the first rules of any magical discipline is that one must be at peace with one’s own self. Until she explores it, learns what this aspect gives her and how to control it, she’ll always be a little lost.”
I grinned widely at Mikah. “Not to mention, she’s going to be mentored by Ellie…”
“Holy shit,” Mikah laughed. “I hadn’t thought of that. I’d pay good money to see that play out.”
“I know, right?” I stood up and straightened my shirt. “I suppose I should go get ready. Where are you guys going tonight?”
“I can’t tell you,” Mikah said. “It’s a surprise, and if I tell you, Isabelle will hear.”
I laughed. “You realize I’ll be chaperoning the whole time. You watch yourself, mister!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mikah said, chuckling nervously. He couldn’t tell if I was joking or not—and that was my intention.
“Well, I can tell you she’s excited… hasn’t stopped talking about it all week.”
Gates of Eden: Starter Library Page 72
