by A. D. Koboah
Then I saw why the Negroes were so afraid of what was ahead. I was in time to see Luna snap the neck of a dog she had pulled off one of the Negroes with ease, even though it was almost as large as her. The man lay at her feet, his hand to the torn flesh of his throat, blood trickling through his fingers. A middle-aged white man with dirty blond hair stood a few feet away. He stood staring at Luna, fear and disbelief widening his eyes. A gun lay forgotten at his feet as he backed away from her.
She used her telekinetic power to hoist the white man into the air high above our heads, her laughter ringing out into the night, sending a cold wave of fear through me. He couldn’t scream but seemed to be choking on air as if he were underwater. Dark blood started oozing from his nose, eyes, ears and mouth.
“Luna!”
I raced to her but she continued to laugh as some of the Negroes dragged their fallen friend away, wanting to get as far away from this demon who had appeared in their midst. But they were not sure of where to run as the sound of dogs barking, and the shouts of their pursuers, could be heard all around us.
“Luna!” I grabbed her shoulder, trying to snap her out of the trance she appeared to be in, her face frozen in a bitter smile.
I battled against the mental hold she had on the man. She held on to him for a few seconds, and then relented. He fell to the ground where he lay gasping, blood still pouring from his face, his clothes now darkening with blood.
I went to him, shocked into inaction by his injuries.
“Avery! There’s no time!” Luna knelt and grabbed the arm of the man with the throat wound—who was no longer moving—and dragged others to her with her telekinetic powers.
She disappeared with about five of them, making the rest scream out in shock, the terrifying events too much for them to comprehend. Luna reappeared seconds later and picked up the youngest member of the group, a boy of about five. She dragged other members of the group to her in the same manner she had before.
“Leave him, Avery! There’s no time!”
She was right. The others, and their dogs, would be here in the next few seconds. The man in the group with the wound to his neck was probably already dead. I had to get the rest out of there, for their sake as much as for their pursuers’. If they caught up to the Negroes and did them injury, I wasn’t sure there would be anything I could do to prevent Luna from killing them all.
I raced to the small group as Luna disappeared with the others. I grabbed hold of those closest to me.
“Try and get a hold of me, all of you!” I ordered, compounding my words with a mental command so they obeyed.
Two dogs appeared through the trees a few yards away, their guttural barks resounding in my ears.
Not even sure I could take that many with me into the ether, I was galvanised into action by the desperate clasps of their hands on me as another white male burst through the trees, his gun levelled at me and the small group of Negroes. I glanced one last time at the white man choking on the blood spilling out of his mouth and nose. It had been a long time since I watched a man die.
“I am sorry,” I muttered.
I hurtled myself into the ether as one of the dogs lunged at us, the weight of so many people smothering me as the trees, the men, and the dogs disappeared.
I was flung out of the ether on my knees, well away from our pursuers. The others clinging to me were thrown to the ground. But thankfully they had all come through with me.
Luna was waiting, the little boy still in her arms. The others all stood a little apart from her in a frightened little huddle. Some had tears streaming down their faces. All were visibly shaken and petrified of us. The man whose throat had been ripped out by one of the dogs lay lifeless on the ground.
“Do not be afraid. We are here to help you,” I said.
Some nodded in response to my words, but they were all staring at Luna in fear. Only the little boy was unafraid of her and he had his arms tightly wrapped around her neck, his gaze blank in the meagre moonlight streaming through the trees.
“We’ll take you to a safe place. The...journey will be more comfortable if we take you in pairs,” I said. “We have to be quick.”
I held out my hands to two of them. After a few seconds, they took it, gripping it tightly. Luna held out her hand and after a long moment, a woman, the boy’s mother, reached for it.
“We’ll be back,” I said to the others, and we were gone.
Alba was in the dining room clearing the table. When we re-materialised out of thin air before her, she only appeared to be surprised at the fact that we were not alone.
“We found these four in the woods,” Luna said. “They were being chased by a group of whites. Get them downstairs and out of sight. They’ll need food, water—”
“I know what to do!” Alba snapped.
She gestured for them to follow her and headed toward the door.
Luna seemed reluctant to let go of the little boy. He still held on tight to her, but one hand had found the ugly charm that had been the focus of so much tension over the past few days. Luna’s face twisted with disgust when she saw his hand on the foul smelling charm. She took it out of his hand, ripped it off her neck and threw it to the ground. The boy’s mother stood before Luna, staring up at her with unease in her eyes. She reached for her son.
Reluctantly, she handed him to his mother and we left the dining room.
We returned to the mansion with the others and did what we could to make sure they were comfortable and hidden in the cellar. I noticed that Luna was sitting with the boy, speaking to him quietly. Perhaps because her son was so at ease in Luna’s presence, his mother appeared to lose some of her fear around her. We listened intently as they told their story.
Two of the males in the group owned a small but successful goods store in one of the towns nearby. For the last few months, they had come under pressure from some of the local whites to close the store. They resisted. When they received warning from an old white lady that a group of armed whites were headed to their homes, they fled into the woods where their pursuers soon caught up with them. That was when Luna materialised in their midst.
We spent time with each one, modifying their memories of what they had seen. Then we made arrangements for them to leave Louisiana at dawn. The small goods store at the centre of this was lost now, and with one man dead, it was decided they should leave the area and start again elsewhere.
So we did not get a chance to speak to the Morrisons until well past midnight when they entered the drawing room to tell us everyone was settled for the night. They were clearly exhausted, but they seemed pleased, and I would go so far as to say that Celesta was exhilarated and kept beaming at Luna.
We waited, expecting them to say something about what they had seen us do, but they were quiet. Luna eventually broke the silence.
“You all know what we are now. If you breathe a word of what you saw us do tonight to anybody, you won’t live past sundown.”
I sighed. “What Luna means is that—”
“I mean what I said. They’re not to breathe a word about what we are to anybody. Do you understand?”
There was a long silence before Samuel spoke.
“Miss Luna, we don’t know what you is. Nobody knows what you is. All we knows is that you’s been good to us and we would die protecting the two of you. We has our differences with you from time to time, but if you’s gots to threaten us like this, then you don’t know nothin’ about what kind of folks we is.”
For once Luna was silent and, I may say, even a little bit ashamed of herself.
“Goodnight, Miss Luna, Mr Avery,” he said and they left the room.
Even Celesta, who rarely took anyone’s side against Luna, would not meet her gaze and stared ahead, her face stony as they left the room.
I have to say it was extremely satisfying seeing Luna so effectively given a dressing down by Samuel. She was quiet over the next few days, and even managed to be incredibly civil, and even complimentary, to
Alba. And the fact that Alba did not wield the little advantage it gave her showed the extent to which Luna had wounded them with that unnecessary threat. It was a few days before they all stopped being angry with her.
Although the group of Negroes were gone the following morning, a certain peace seemed to settle over Celesta after that episode and the part she played in helping them. And step by step, she came alive. She was never entirely at ease when I was around, but it seemed she had come to trust me. And perhaps, she came to trust life because she blossomed, and seemed to give life and joy a chance again. That was the most rewarding thing about having them with us, the change we saw in her and how the group of Negroes had played a part in helping to give her back her life.
One night she turned to all of us, a smile on her lips.
“I wants to be a teacher,” she said.
Her mother greeted this news by rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Her father merely nodded his approval, but there was intense sadness in his eyes.
“You’ll make a fantastic teacher,” Luna said with tears in her eyes. I nodded in approval.
That night in the woods was the first time I had seen Luna kill. I was shocked by the brutality of the man’s death, but I did not speak to her of it. One single kill did not compare to the field full of murdered slaves. The group of Negroes, and the white man she murdered, were never mentioned again.
Chapter 30
I only became aware of the unrest in town through Samuel and Alba. For the last couple of days, Samuel had appeared troubled, although he took great pains to appear his usual cheerful self around Luna and myself. And one evening I noticed he had a cut to the side of his head. When I asked him about it, his reply had been offhand.
“Oh, I wasn’t looking where I’s going is all, Mr Avery.”
I thought no more of it. The following morning he said he was going into town that day and, as was his custom, asked if there was anything in particular we wanted him to buy. His hand kept coming up to the cut on the side of his head and Alba, who was in the room, stopped what she was doing to listen.
I told him we did not need anything and he left to make his usual journey to town. But what made me aware all was not well was a single look that passed between him and his wife. She had not taken her eyes off of him the minute he announced he was going into town, and as he moved out of the room, he gave her a small nod, one that was meant to reassure. But I could see she was anything but reassured, and it served to make me curious enough to follow him.
I stayed out of sight and monitored his movements through the eyes of others. He seemed on edge, tense and was constantly looking over his shoulder. He finished his business quickly and wasted no time heading back home. I was just about to return to the mansion when the trouble he was expecting found him.
Two white men on horses were waiting for him, blocking the small dirt road. Samuel slowed to a stop. They appeared to be sharecroppers, many of whom were experiencing financial hardship as the crops had been particularly bad that year.
“Morning, Samuel,” the largest one drawled, getting off of his horse. “Why don’t you get down so we can have a little talk?”
“Mr Fortier, I got no quarrel with you and your brother. My boss be waiting on me to get home with these supplies. So just let me be on my way. I ain’t got no quarrel with you.”
“Everybody knows that boss of yours is never even there. And we don’t like how you niggers has that big old house all to yourself. Must be why you carrying some airs these days with them fancy clothes, thinking you too big to get down off that cart and have a little talk with us.”
His brother, a short thick set man with sandy-coloured hair had dismounted by then.
“Please, Mr Fortier. Please. Just let me go on home. I—”
Samuel was cut off when the man pulled him off the cart and onto the floor. He directed a vicious kick to Samuel’s chest as his brother came around to Samuel’s other side, a thick piece of wood in his hand.
“Now what I tell you uppity niggers about getting too big for your boots?” his brother said as Samuel cowered on the floor with his arm up over his face. “I’m gonna teach you that when I tell you to do something, you do it!”
He raised the piece of wood.
I caught his wrist before he could bring it down on Samuel. He gave a start, clearly wondering where on earth I had come from. I shoved him back and he collided with the cart. I got some degree of satisfaction from seeing him wince in pain from the collision.
“What is the meaning of this?” I turned to the first man.
Samuel lowered his arm in disbelief when he heard my voice, relief flooding his frightened eyes.
The two men were silent, mistrust and hatred in their eyes that had nothing to do with suspicions regarding what Luna and I were, as I helped Samuel to his feet. No. That hatred was about the civility I was showing to Samuel and their hatred of nigger-loving white folks like me.
“I asked you a question. Why did you attack my man?”
I was much angrier than I expected I would be, and it was only memories of the slaughter of three similar men on that long hot night in Mississippi, that prevented me from teaching them a lesson.
The sandy-haired one smiled, a smile that only emphasised the mean glint in his eyes.
“It was just a misunderstanding. Ain’t that right, boy?” He cuffed Samuel around the head roughly in what was supposed to be a playful gesture.
“You make sure there are no more misunderstandings and that everyone knows if they trouble anyone in my household, they will have to answer to me.”
The smile disappeared and he sneered openly, looking like what he was, a weak little bully. They moved away and back to their horses. As they mounted, they regarded Samuel with open hatred, the matter clearly not closed as far as they were concerned.
It would be, but I let them go as I had seen their thoughts and what I gleaned brought a fresh wave of anger. As I watched them depart I realised I would have to do something I had never done before.
“What happened?” I snapped when I got beside Samuel in the cart and we moved off, my mind still on those men and what I had discovered.
“Oh, it be nothing, Mr Avery.” His hands were shaking. “Most people in town just been riled up lately ‘cause some white mens got killed not too far from here. It be making people in this town pretty upset and quick to fly off the handle over nothing. It’ll blow over like it always does, sooner or later, Mr Avery. It ain’t nothing to worry about.”
“Well, until then, stay away from town. Either Luna or I will see to whatever needs to be done in town.”
His eyes had widened when I mentioned Luna going into town in his place.
“Oh, no, Mr Avery,” he said quickly. “Hiding just be making things worse. Them boys know now to leave me be. That Bernard Fortier sho’ got a fright when you showed up.” He managed a shaky chuckle. “Thank you, Mr Avery.”
I told Luna what I saw in the minds of those men the moment I returned.
“They’re planning revenge attacks? Over the deaths of those men who were chasing that group we helped?” she asked, outwardly calm. But intense fury raged beneath the surface.
For once her anger did not make me ill at ease, for it was extremely close to what I felt. And in my anger I completely missed what Samuel had omitted, that the dead white men at the centre of the unrest were the same group who had attacked the Negroes we rescued.
“Yes. Tonight.”
We were silent. I eventually came to sit before her and took her hands in mine.
“I can no longer stand by and do nothing, Luna.”
“Avery, if we openly—”
“Luna, for years I observed the evil all around me and only intervened occasionally, in little ways. If I had actively tried to put a stop to what I saw around me, I could have prevented what they did to you. I—”
She shot to her feet and moved to the window, her back to me. “Avery, this isn’t about what Master Henry and h
is son did.”
“But it is. I have ignored too much for too long. I want us to stand up to them tonight and let them know they cannot continue to abuse Negroes so long as we are in their midst.”
She was silent for the longest moment, then came and sat opposite me. She kissed me lightly on the cheek.
“All right. We make a stand. Tonight.”
***
I did not sleep at all that day. First of all, I asked Samuel to board up the windows of the mansion.
“Is something going on, Mr Avery?”
I shook my head, leaving him looking bewildered as I left him and went back into town to find out as much as I could about what they were planning. I returned to the mansion extremely unhappy. The scale of the attacks was much larger than I had expected and there were people from neighbouring areas arriving to join them. This took away an option I had considered, that we manipulate them mentally and either make them forget their plans or make them believe they had changed their minds. But with this many people involved, and such high emotions behind it, mental control would be extremely unreliable. The most I could do was plant a hidden command in the minds of those Negroes I came across during my brief visit to town, telling them to make their way to the mansion that evening, and that they should all try and be off the streets long before the sun set.
Luna was quiet for most of that day, her mind closed to me, as had increasingly become the norm over the past few years. The Morrisons did what we told them without question, and I realised how much they had come to trust us. They gathered food and water and took them to the cellar. When people began arriving that evening, they still did not ask any questions, just made sure everyone was comfortable as could be in the cellar.
When it grew dark, we waited for another hour to see if anyone else would arrive, then we boarded up the doors leading into the mansion.
I stared at Luna for a long moment. “Do you think they will be safe?”
