by Megan Hart
Nobody would thank her for disrupting their alliance, that was for sure. She peeked at Tombi’s stern profile, took in his long, slightly hooked nose, pronounced jaws and cheekbones, and heavy brows. What was his role in this band of hunters?
“Your name’s unusual. What does it mean?” she asked abruptly, hoping to learn more about him.
“Ray of light.”
Annie snorted, and he raised a brow. “What?”
She couldn’t help but giggle. “You’re no ray of sunshine.”
He stared at her blankly before a rusty rumble of laughter escaped his mouth, as if it had been years since one last escaped. “At one time, my people worshiped the sun, so to be named after its ray is a great honor.”
“What about your friend Bo? Is that a good ole Southern name as in B-e-a-u, short for Beauregard?”
“No. It’s B-o, short for Bohpoli. That’s Choctaw for ‘thrower.’”
Would she ever hear Bo again? She shivered, remembering his plaintive pleas for help.
Although their movements were quiet and their voices low, they had attracted attention. A woman and three men solemnly filed out of the tent circle and stood in the center, awaiting their approach with unsmiling faces.
Holy hoodoo, this was going to be even tougher than she imagined.
Annie tugged the back of Tombi’s T-shirt, and he frowned down at her. “What?”
“Have you told them anything about me?”
“We tell each other everything.”
She groaned. “Terrific. Bet they can’t wait to meet me. I wish you hadn’t told them.”
“There should be no secrets among my hunters. No doubts or suspicions about the man—or woman—you have to depend on for your life.”
Her shoulders slumped. She couldn’t argue with his logic, although she resented the situation he’d put her in. They walked onward several minutes, not speaking.
Tombi abruptly halted and frowned her way. “You care so much what others think?”
“Of course I care.” She thought of all the times people had skirted around her in school hallways or outright laughed in her face. She’d watched from the sidelines in the purgatory that was high school, unsure which she craved more—the huddling conspiracy of a group of girlfriends to share secrets and fun times with, or some cute guy to take her to dinner and a movie and whisper sweet seductions in the back of a car. “Everyone cares.”
He shrugged. “Not me.”
Easy for him to say—with his looks he probably had any woman he wanted. And he had a tribe of like-minded friends and family. Why should he give any thought to what was so easily granted to him?
Annie reluctantly walked beside him, trying to emulate his mask of calm. They came to a halt six feet in front of the group.
“This is Annie Matthews.” Tombi gestured to the left with his hand. “This is Tallulah, Hanan and Chula.”
The silence roared in her, air compressing and as stifling as a sealed coffin. They formed a firewall of mistrust and resentment, shutting her out of their circle. Annie sucked in her breath at the glittering hostility in Tallulah’s obsidian eyes. Nearly as tall as her brother, she bore the same long face, chiseled features and strong chin. It shouldn’t have worked for a female, and while she wasn’t beautiful in a Miss America or girl-next-door kind of way, Tallulah was striking and commanded attention. Annie barely took in the stoic features of the other three men.
Tallulah put her hands on her hips. “Well?”
“W-well what?” Annie stammered. She glanced at Tombi in a silent plea for help.
“Go ahead,” Tallulah challenged. “I dare you to point a finger at any one of us. You don’t know—”
“Enough,” Tombi cut in.
The man next to her—Chula—lightly touched Tallulah’s forearm, and a whisper as tender as a lullaby brushed over Annie at the gesture.
“We already debated this last night and agreed to meet Annie. Let’s get this over with.” Hanan pinned Annie with a hard stare, and the whisper of sound vanished. “The sooner, the better.”
Annie swallowed hard at their collective stare. Talk about being on the spot.
“It’s not that easy. I have to be around you for a bit.” She cast another look at Tombi. “Can we all sit together by the fire?”
Tombi nodded, and she followed him to the middle of the pitched tents, the others following in silence behind them.
In the center was a stack of firewood coated in ash. Colorful wool blankets were spread in a circle around the campfire. They each went to a blanket and sat, except Tombi. “You can have my blanket,” he said, pointing to one. “I’ll stand.”
She sank down and crossed her feet beneath her. Annie tried to relax and open her senses, but it was difficult as the others stared at her expectantly. As if she was some kind of circus performer. She closed her eyes, more to shut out their stares than out of necessity.
The unnatural quiet unnerved her. How did they do it? They each had some type of guard up, some way of blocking their music. Her palms gripped her knees. Very well. She’d try to wait them out, see if any sound escaped.
The vibrations of a deep rumbling laugh iced down her spine. Witch. The word was an accusation, underlain with mirth. Be gone, little girl.
Annie opened her eyes and met their curious, blank stares. “Did you hear that laugh? That voice?”
No one spoke.
Tombi uncrossed his arms and sat beside her on the blanket. “What did you hear?”
She bit her lip. Had the laugh and the words come from one of the hunters, or was there something else out there? Something just beyond the ring of trees and the safety of the fire where shadows lengthened and danced?
Annie shook her head slightly and closed her eyes again. Silence blanketed her as thick and unrelenting as a stone wall. It was hopeless. Nothing else was coming through that wall.
She opened her eyes. “I don’t know how y’all do it, but I’m impressed.”
“Do what?” Chula asked.
“Close off your energy.” Annie turned to Tombi. “Isn’t that how you described it? Keeping everything closed in?”
Tallulah made an impatient tsk sound. “Why did you tell this girl our secrets? For all we know, she could be one of them.”
“One of who?” Annie asked.
“Don’t act so innocent,” Tallulah snapped. “If there’s someone controlled by the dark side, my guess is that it’s you.”
Annie rose to her feet and took in their hostile stares. “I didn’t have to tell Tombi what I heard last night. I didn’t ask Bo to seek me out. And I certainly don’t have to take your attitude.”
She stalked off. Screw them. She’d tried. Not her fault if they had some special power to resist her hearing.
Dry grass crunched in the parched soil behind her. Tombi stepped to her side and walked, matching her pace.
“I’m not going back there,” she spat, “so don’t try to talk me into it.”
He said nothing but walked in front of her as they reentered the narrow path. He held back branches to keep them from slapping her in the face. A snapping, crackling sound simmered in the air swirling around him, like dry brush catching fire.
“You’re angry with me,” Annie said. “I really did try. But your sister...” She tried to collect her temper. She still needed his help and insulting Tallulah wouldn’t serve her cause. “You are going to help me. Right?”
* * *
She looked desperate, but Tombi hardened his heart. He wasn’t about to give up. Not as long as Bo was trapped and not as long as Nalusa and the other shadow spirits grew and trespassed the ancient boundaries.
“Eventually,” he promised. “What did you hear back there?”
“Nothing that can help you.”
T
ombi stopped in his tracks and folded his arms against his chest. “Might as well spit it out. I’ll be out in these woods through the night anyhow.”
“Do you live out here all the time?”
“Only one week out of the month, around the full moon.”
Her dark eyes widened. “We believe in the power of the full moon, too.”
“We?”
“My grandmother and I.” She swallowed. “And others like us.”
“Other witches?”
“Why must you put labels on people?” she countered. “We’re known by many names, and we all have different practices—root workers, healers, pagans and, okay, witches.”
“Do they all hear as you do?”
Her full lips twisted in a scowl. “No. I’m the lucky one.”
Tombi shook off his fascination with Annie and her kind. “You neatly skirted my question. What did you hear back there?”
She sighed, realizing he would interrogate until she answered his question. “A laugh. Not a funny one, but the laugh of the evil or crazy or demented. And then...the voice called me a witch and told me to go away.”
Tombi considered her words. He hated knowing Nalusa knew of Annie and her gift and their connection, but Nalusa must be worried to warn her off. That was, if Annie wasn’t in league with him to start with.
“So, just like that, you’re giving up?”
She winced at the sharp edge of his tone. “The attitude of your sister and your friends didn’t make me want to stay and try harder.”
He grew hot thinking of Tallulah’s antagonism. Annie didn’t deserve to be treated that way. Even if he had his own suspicions, nothing would be gained by hostility.
“They can’t help but be suspicious of strangers. Time and again, Nalusa has gained a foothold over people, even if only temporarily. Made them say and do things they wouldn’t normally do.”
Annie lifted her chin. “I can assure you that I’m in complete command of my own thoughts and actions.”
“I’ll help you, but you have to help me, too.”
“Can’t you just say some words and cure me?”
“Nothing’s that easy. It’s a process. It takes time to learn to control your energy.”
“You say you don’t trust me. That goes two ways. I think you’re dragging out everything to suit your own purposes.”
“You’ve barely spent five minutes among us. You’ll have to gain their trust.”
“Or catch them unawares,” she muttered.
“That would be hard to do. Our hearing may not be as sharp as yours. But we can sense energy before it senses us.”
“You have to sleep sometime.”
Of course. He should have realized. Tombi laid a hand on her thin shoulder, noticing his palm engulfed the side of her neck and curve of her shoulder. “Come meet us tonight. Hunt with us and spend the night.”
Her eyebrows drew up. “Spend the night with you in your tent?”
An image of Annie, naked and curled up beside him, flushed his body with desire. “I can spring for a new tent and sleeping bag,” he said past the dryness at the back of his throat.
“I’ll think—” She came to a dead halt and tilted her head to the side, listening to a faint sound.
“Wh—”
She raised a finger to her lips to silence him. Her forehead wrinkled, and her eyes grew distant. Suddenly, Annie grabbed his arm and looked around wildly. “Let’s run!”
And then he sensed it, too. Dread enveloped him like a heavy blanket. The metallic scent of blood and a whisper of decay could alone mean only one thing. Nalusa was near.
Very near. Within striking range.
Not now. Not with Annie so close. “Go without me,” he urged.
She stood still, as if paralyzed, staring at him with brown eyes full of fear. “But what about you?”
“I can take care of myself.” He drew out the dagger from his side. “Go!”
She hesitated.
A rustling whipped through the underbrush, unnaturally loud, drowning out birds and insects and the rumble of the sea. A sibilant hiss sent a tingle across the skin of his back and arms. Another second and Nalusa would be upon them. Tombi looked over his shoulder and pointed at Annie with his dagger. “I said, go!”
Her dark eyes were like a well of smooth, black water. And in those pupils Tombi saw a triangular head arise, a long forked tongue slithering from its mouth. The snake’s copper eyes appeared to hold Annie entranced. The Medusa of the bayou.
If Bo were still alive and with him, he’d throw a dagger accurate enough to strike the snake in between the eyes. Tombi didn’t trust his aim to be as accurate. He needed to be a little closer. He slowly turned to directly face Nalusa, his body a shield to protect Annie behind him. Nalusa coiled his long snake form in upon itself, his muscles rippling beneath the gray-and-brown patchwork of scales.
The striking position. His tail rose up with its rings of rattles and shook. The sound was as loud as a tumbling steel barrel full of iron pellets.
Tombi deliberately stepped toward Nalusa, every nerve flooded with adrenaline. Warring instincts battled inside. His muscles twitched to take action, to strike the enemy, yet his mind urged caution. One miscalculation and his tribe would be further reduced and without its leader.
They were within a few feet of one another. Striking distance. Tombi willed Annie to leave, but he sensed her presence behind him.
Why hadn’t she run? His jaw tightened. It could be the two were in league together. She drew him to just the right place at the right time. Tombi shrugged off the disquieting notion, trying to stay focused. If he lived, he would have his answer. If he didn’t...the other hunters would guess at her treachery and the trap she had plotted.
But no matter. The death match was on. He had to kill this monster before Nalusa crept past his boundaries, past the deep swamp where his ancestors had bound him many years ago. Hurricane Katrina had unleashed something; her destruction and the resulting chaos in the Deep South had made it possible for Nalusa to escape his chains and increase his power.
Now he seemed ready to inflict his evil upon the world.
Now he must die.
Tombi lunged forward, aiming for the eyes. His dagger sank into the thick, muscular skin of the snake, under its throat. It was as if he could feel the pain in his own body. A bolt of agony exploded a few inches under his collarbone, a needle sharpness that quickly radiated toward his chest, as if he’d been injected with poison.
Bitten. He’d been bitten. Moaning rent the space between man and beast, and Tombi couldn’t say if it was his own or Nalusa’s. Blood poured from the snake’s throat where Tombi’s silver dagger had sunk in deep. Its black tongue whipped out, ready to strike again.
Tiny white grains and bits of dirt rained down on Nalusa’s coiled body, and he jerked backward, eyes fixed somewhere past Tombi’s shoulder. What was happening?
Tombi took advantage of the distraction and scrambled to his knees, but pain exploded everywhere, and his vision filled with tiny black dots. His limbs felt numb and paralyzed, and with every breath the pain spread farther, deeper. He collapsed on the hard ground. I’m joining you, Bo.
The image of his parents arose as he last saw them. His father whittling his latest sculpture, his mom shucking corn. All that work, and the sculpture was taken out by the tide, by that bitch of a hurricane, Katrina.
I tried. I failed. You win, Nalusa. He could do no more.
* * *
Annie ran across the field to their cottage. Ran until her lungs burned and her chest heaved like fireplace billows. And still there wasn’t enough oxygen to fuel her body’s race against time. Don’t die don’t die please don’t die. She’d flung the salt and consecrated earth from her mojo bag at the attacker, but it may have been too
little, too late.
Tombi’s unconscious body, sprawled in the red clay dirt, was as clear to her as the door to the cottage. She couldn’t, wouldn’t think of that—thing, not a snake and not a man. The snake form had dissolved into a thin, tall column of a creature howling with pain. Tombi’s dagger had dislodged, and the creature retreated to the darkness of the woods from which it had come.
But not Tombi. She’d felt his pulse, saw the slight rise and fall of his chest. So fragile.
The door opened, and Grandma Tia descended the steps, carrying the large straw bag that held her roots and herbs for her healing home visitations.
“Hurry.” Annie tried to scream, but her voice was only a puff, as light as dandelion seeds that scattered in the briny breeze.
Tia hustled over with a speed and agility Annie hadn’t observed in her for years.
“Where is he?” she asked without preamble.
Annie hastily removed the shoulder strap from her grandma’s bag and hoisted it over her own shoulders. “This way. He’s been bitten, Grandma.” She felt six years old again and seeking her grandma’s comfort after other kids made fun of her. She still needed her assurance and knowledge, wanted her grandma to tell her everything was going to be okay.
“Ole devil snake got ’em, eh?” They were only midway through the field, but Tia’s breathing was already labored.
“Your heart,” Annie said, drawing burning air into oxygen-starved lungs. She laid a hand on Tia’s shoulder. “Tell me what to do, and you can stay here.”
“Ain’t goin’ be that easy,” Tia huffed. “Gonna take both of us to set this right.” She nodded at the trail. “Best keep on. Sooner I start workin’, better chance he lives.”
They hurried on, and Annie resumed her frantic litany. Don’t die don’t die don’t die.
There. His body lay in the same spot. Annie laid his head in her lap and swept his long hair out of his eyes. Only a supernatural force could have felled such a strong man. Such a warrior. His bronze skin stretched tightly across lean, compact muscles. She wondered what had drawn him into this fight with evil, what ancient curse haunted him and his people.
