And then… burning flesh. They complete the tableau I saw in my vision, sans future Atti. As before, they’re eating; their party has become a cookout. Only now I see what it is they’re eating. I’m too stupefied to shudder.
All is quiet as they munch on their game. While they eat, they hum. It’s not music. They’re like cats purring. Sated.
Gradually they start to evaporate back into the atmosphere. I don’t know why they’re leaving. Perhaps they can’t be living things for long. The rainbow takes them away from me, wrapping them up like a present, and then they disappear. I try to stand, and I do it without much of a problem. I’m hurtin’ all over, but my energy seems to be restored.
Then I see him. Dimly in the firelight. He’s up and he’s walkin’. Staggerin’, limpin’, and bleedin’ from everywhere, but he’s walkin’! We look at each other, him with the only working eye he has right now, but he sees me. I know he sees me. I’m scared to death to draw attention to the fact that Clay’s walkin’ on his own in case any more white men have been hidin’ and are ready to reappear now that the haints are gone. So I start moving toward him slowly. And with my mind’s voice I tell him, I love you.
And he hears me! He says, I love you, too. Now I’m cryin’, and I have to run to him to nurse him back to health. To do whatever I can—
Thunder. Bouncing off the trees. Hanging in the air. I hear it before I see.
Clay falls to his knees, then slumps over. No movement. No breath. Still.
I run to him and turn him over. His eye is still open. I imagine I can still see the love in it.
But it’s all gone now.
A bullet has pierced his chest right in the middle. His heart. Clay lies dead in my arms.
A keening moan ripples through me and outside me. The haints. They know. They’re sorry. They made a mistake. They didn’t get the right one.
Virgil Hampton stands off to the side with a hunting rifle in his hand. He looks at the fire and the charred remains of his chums. He shakes his head in disgust.
He dares to open his mouth to me again.
“If you’d been a good girl, none a this woulda happened,” he calls. “No. You had to use your niggery devilment, didn’t ya? Now see what you did? I hate that word. You’ve reduced me to a common redneck.”
Red orange red orange no more purple no more green no more rainbows.
“Despite your attitude, I woulda given you everything. You really blew it, girl.”
When it starts, it sounds like a thousand harmless breezes, but the louder it gets, the clearer the sound. They’re chanting now. Chanting in rhythm. The same thing over and over, faster and faster. Happy-happy happy-happy happy-happy happy-happy…
“You know what’s ironic? Your boy was late. He ran up to your door all outta breath. Only to find you gone. They woulda got to him eventually. No doubt about it. But who knows what might’ve happened if you’d just waited a little bit longer? So the way I see it, what became of him? That’s on you too.”
Red orange red orange redorangeredorangeredorangeredorangered—
Happy-happy happy-happy happy-happy happy-happy happy-happy REDREDREDREDRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
“Evalene,” a haint screeches from somewhere in the clouds. “There is only one way. Jubilation comes from VENGEANCE.”
Miss Athena and Miss Indigo watch Evalene. The one white man left shot that poor boy like a lame horse.
It’s my fault, says Miss Indigo.
It’s HIS fault, says Miss Athena.
The man’s speaking to Evalene, and she turns her head and, at last, sees her mother and grandmother on the other side of the pond in the dark. Her eyes go flat, and she won’t communicate with them. Miss Athena and Miss Indigo summon what strength they have left and send it to Virgil. Miss Athena intends to stop him; Miss Indigo intends to rip him apart. Neither happens. It doesn’t work. Miss Indigo peers at her mother in fear.
Is it me? Cuz I haven’t used it in so long?
Miss Athena shakes her head. “It’s Evvie. She’s put up a wall to keep us out.”
Miss Athena tries to call on the haints again, but they can’t return. She tries to call Evvie once more. Evvie looks across the pond and shoots her response to Grammie Atti like a dagger.
Stop.
“We can’t help her anymore. Neither can you. The rest she must do alone,” an unseen haint explains. They’re invisible, but they’re still present, even if they can no longer intervene.
They all watch Evalene. Miss Indigo keeps jubin’ to no avail until she falls to the ground in exhaustion. Miss Athena wishes she didn’t have to see this next part. For her granddaughter’s sake. But she can’t abandon her now.
Gentle. I am gentle. I kiss Clay’s lips like so many times before. I lay him down on the ground. So softly. I stand.
“You’re lucky I can’t quite bring myself to do you in,” Virgil says. “You’re also lucky cuz I happen to know a lawyer or two. A few senators. If you learn to behave yourself, they might see to it that you don’t fry for what you’ve done to my friends.”
I walk. There is no reason to run now.
“Hey! Don’t you try anything else! I said I don’t wanna kill you, but I will if I have to,” he threatens as I get closer.
I stop about two feet in front of him. He’s not positioned where I need him, so I throw him to the proper spot.
“Goddamnit, girl!” He stumbles after a rough landing and readjusts the rifle, preppin’ to shoot me. I knock him down, belly up, on the bank, hold him down with my own natural weight, wrap my hands around his neck, and squeeze.
He struggles. He tries to talk, but
