“Men like rats, take your true shape, and scurry away in fearful escape.” I say the sentence once, and my friends join me for a second and third rendition. Luna, James, Jeanna, and I speak in unison. Spices swirl from my apron and from the ground where they previously landed. The particles floating in the air and following the men. The air sparks with electrical charge.
The men run, run hard, attempting to clear the cemetery. But they cannot out race the magick. Men dash from our sight, turn to rats, disappearing amongst the cement gravestones.
Luna jets across the distance and wraps her support around her mom. James and Jeanna jump into a hug.
The bokor and his men are a threat no more. Now, to get my sister back in control of her own body.
Chapter Thirty-One
“You cannot force me out,” the ancestor within Miri says, and with a mere forward thrust, shoves both my mom and grandma away. They stumble and lose their balance. My mom hits the ground. I race forward and grab my grandma’s elbow, slide in the mud, manage to hold her upright.
“I know what to do,” I whisper and open my palm, revealing the beads blessed for Miri. “Each one has been blessed for Miri, her marriage to Phillip, and the baby in her belly. At least one of those things has to reach her, cause her to fight against the ancestor’s control.”
“Worth a try,” Grandma replies. “The power of your blessed magick and the combined strength of family.”
“Nothing outweighs the vitality of love and family,” my mom says, stepping to our side.
I stare at her and think about all the time lost when she was under Caleb’s thumb. If her love for family had been strong enough, then by her reasoning, shouldn’t she have been able to avoid Caleb’s cursed control?
My lips pucker and twist, and my gaze shifts to Miri. She’s walking away. Without a word, she’s leaving us in the muddy, wet, cemetery.
“Miri,” I call after her.
She stops, turns back, and I move to meet her. Grandma and Mom keep pace at my side.
“You are family,” I say. “Whether you’re my sister or this Elean person.”
“Eleanora.” She crosses her arms. “What’s your point.”
“There’s strength in our family. Blood is blood, and with our blood comes love.”
Her shoulders soften, droop a smidgen.
“So, if you are to remain with us…” I continue to move closer. “Will you be following through with your nuptials in two days?”
Her brow presses and eyes narrow.
“Because, if you do, I have a special gift I created just for you.” I step up to her and take her hand. She is reluctant and tugs back a fraction, before allowing me to uncurl her hand.
I drop my palm over hers, the blessed beads between us, pressed to our skin. Grandma and Mom clasp their hold over mine and Miri’s. The string of beads between our hold warms, begin to burn.
“What are you doing?” She attempts to pull away, but the three of us hold her steady.
“It is neither time nor force that brings you strength,” Grandma says to Miri. “So much as heart. My dear granddaughter, you have far more heart than our ancestor Eleanora.”
Miri shakes her head, leans away. “Stop,” she says with a hint of a growl.
“Please Miri, fight her,” Mom pleads. “Don’t let her succeed where Caleb failed. You are better than that.”
Miri erupts with wicked laughter. “I see through you, Edith,” the ancestor says. “You brought the destruction of Caleb into Miri’s life after you successfully ripped her father out.”
“What?” My gaze snaps to my mom. “What is she talking about?”
Grandma’s gaze flickers to the ground, hinting she knows exactly what is being insinuated.
“You know what?” I shake my head. “Later.” I tighten my hold on Miri and the beads. Their warmth radiates through my skin and tingles along my muscles, my veins. “I know you are in there, sister. I need you to fight, for me, for you, for Phillip, and the baby.” Miri blinks and for a moment, I recognize the individual behind her eyes.
Miri’s face pales and her lower lip trembles. “She’s too strong.”
“Then we shall bear the burden with you,” Grandma says. “The three of us, blood…”
“Four,” Mom corrects.
Miri laughs. “You are not of my blood. Your power is meaningless here.”
“Four.” I straighten my shoulders and raise my head.
Miri’s face pinches and her expression falters.
“Together, the four of us will take a portion of Eleanora’s essence, leaving less of a weight on Miri or any of us, for that matter. And divided, Eleanora’s power will be compromised, manageable, extractable. Together, the four of us shall kick her out.”
“Seven of us,” Luna says. Luna, James, and Jeanna lay their hands on our backs, adding their strength and power to that of my family’s.
“No.” Miri wiggles, tries to break free.
Magickal energy swells around us, thickening, widening, intensifying. Our will sparks and stabs, pulls portions of my ancestor’s influence free from my sister. Eleanora is fractured, torn into pieces, and I eagerly drag my portion of history within myself, then push it through my crown, into the cold world beyond.
Spices dance in the air around us, collecting against the remnants of my ancestor’s soul. Targeting and stifling her power. Miri screams. The rest of us huff and grunt and expel. The night sky alites with the purple hue of the ancestor’s escaping energy.
Miri collapses. Bastian jumps into the circle and sucks away any lingering influences.
“Good kitty.” I rub his head, then, taking note of the bokor’s cell phone discarded nearby, pick it up and call my brother’s new phone. “Can you make some excuse,” I ask. “And come and get us at the cemetery?”
It’s suggested that I return our group back to Grandma’s house the same way I transported us to the graveyard. Only, it was the ancestor’s magick that relocated us. My memories merely provided the suggestion. I don’t yet understand how to
