Dark Sacrifice (21 page)

“Like a rougarou? Vampires out to suck your blood, muwahahaa…” Her lilting voice shows she's not taking my fear seriously. But yeah, I could totally imagine something jumping out of the bushes to eat us.

My flesh ripples as the creature beneath my skin stretches, and I grit my teeth against the pain. With each step, my mind gets foggier. My thoughts come slower, and my fear grows deeper. The voices and drumming grow louder. Soon each beat pulses inside my body.

We leave the woods and step onto an open field dotted with ancient tombstones and decaying wooden crosses. In the middle of this cemetery, a large bonfire casts light on men and women dressed in white, swaying to the music of drums. Some kneel before a large stone covered in food, bottles, and candles. Ferdinand leads us through the dancers. The heat of the fire warms my skin. Thick smoke, pungent with herbs, curls through my nostrils to fill my lungs with each breath.

My muscles ripple as the snake stretches in its sleep, then awakens to the drums. I fall to my knees. Pain rolls my eye back. I try to fight, but I'm too weak or it's too strong. The alien awareness smashes through the mental walls I have built to hold it back until, with a hard thrust, I'm displaced—shoved deep into a corner of my mind to watch in horror.

I
lose track of Landry in the crowd.

People swarm around us when we enter the clearing. The noise of the drums, the singing and laughing, it overwhelms my senses. I'm not comfortable in large social situations. If Landry were with me, I could bear it, but not alone. If I could find a quiet corner to hide in, I'd be huddled there right now. Instead I have Ferdinand holding onto my arm as he drags me toward the altar and Magnolia. My aunt sees me and grins. Her face looks like carved oak, hard and wrinkled. She exudes power, every inch the queen with her high white turban and long cotton skirt.

Her aura ripples, visible in the firelight.

I want out of here.
As if the crowd reads my thoughts, they press closer, totally invading my personal space, and I cringe away from their groping hands, almost dancing in a circle to avoid their touch. My skin tingles, and goose bumps rise. I try to shove away my unease, but it only grows worse. Shimmers radiate like halos above their skin. Landry said ghosts shine. Half of the dancers are dressed in silver light.

Speaking of…where did Landry go?

Ferdinand grabs my arm when I turn back to find Landry.

“Let go!” I twist my arm, breaking free of Ferdinand's grip. Just because he's bigger, stronger, and has a penis doesn't mean he can force me to do what he wants.

He lifts his hands into the air, placating me with a smile. My breath catches. Damn, he's fine. Where in the world did Magnolia find him and Sophia? The perfect minions. Her sacrifices would willingly follow them to her altar without a second thought, magnetized by their beauty.

Oh crap, bad thought. I'm at her altar.

“Mala Jean Marie, you don't look like you're having fun yet.” Magnolia cackles.
Crazy old bat.
She hands me a wooden cup filled with thick red liquid. My nose scrunches at the coppery tang beneath the spice. “Drink.”

“I don't think so.”

“It's not poison. It'll help you relax.”

“I don't want to relax. If everyone else is relaxing, who'll drive us home? I'll be the designated driver tonight. I don't mind.” I push the drink away and step back. Hands keep me from running. I shrug away from Ferdinand. “Don't touch me.”

“I need your help tonight,
cher
. And you need mine. Don't you feel the spirits calling out to you?”

“Is that why my skin feels like it's creeping off my bones?” I glance around the area. In the middle of the circle, I see dark hair. Landry's surrounded by spirits, their hands trace over his body. He's oblivious to them, in his own world as he turns in a circle with his arms outstretched. Each step takes him closer and closer to the fire.

“Shit!” I step toward him, but I'm yanked back by my arm. “Damn it, Ferdinand. Let go.”

Magnolia snaps her fingers in front of my face, capturing my attention. “Landry's fine. Sophia will watch over him. She won't let the spirits suck him dry, though they want to. Oh my, yes. He's a tasty soul for those who have the palate for such things.” She waves to Ferdinand. In a quick motion, he lifts me over his shoulder.

I scream, slapping at his back. “Put me down! Magnolia, what's going on?”

Magnolia leans on her cane as she hobbles, leading us from the party. “Landry has his own curse to bear. I don't want what's inside him interfering with what we need to do tonight.”

I twist my head up so I can see her. “Do what? I promised I'd cooperate so you could teach me how to control my powers. You don't have to toss me around like a bag of bones. Landry understands. He won't interfere.”

“He will if he thinks you're in danger.”

My heart skips a beat. “Oh, hell…”

Magnolia's footsteps stop. I try to wriggle to the side to see around Ferdinand, but he's too damn wide. He grabs my waist and heaves. One minute I'm dangling over his shoulder and the next, flying through the air. I land on my feet but stumble over a rock. I topple backward, falling on top of a pile of loose dirt. All the air shoots out of my lungs. I roll off the dirt pile, whimpering.

Oh crap!
Falling again.

This time I land on something soft and squishy, but the back of my head bounces off something hard. A gaseous smell of decay puffs upward, and I gag. Darkness covers my vision. Pain flares, rolling outward to fill every inch of my body. When I open my eyes, I see walls of earth on either side, opening up to a star-filled sky. Magnolia and Ferdinand stare down at me.

“Get out of the grave, Mala Jean.” Mama whispers the plaintive warning in my ear. “This is bad juju. You've got to get out of here.”

I jerk upright, spinning around, but I don't see her. Only the corpse I landed on. The wet, black, viscous stuff on my arms and coating my dress came from inside the body—rotting, decomposing flesh sticks to my skin and won't brush off. I stagger back, falling against the dirt wall. My throat burns from my screams. Hands grab me beneath the arms and lift. When my feet touch the ground, I fall away from Ferdinand, scrambling as far from the grave as I can on shaking legs.

Cold fingers press into my skin. “Mala, run.” Mama's fear kicks mine up to officially freaking-out level.

Magnolia kneels by the grave. “Well, that's not good. You done broke the girl's head. How am I supposed to raise this child when you done smashed her up so bad?”

I'm frantically wiping the girl's stinking, gooey insides off on the thick grass. It takes a few seconds to realize Magnolia asked me a question. Another few to remember how to answer her. Fury shoots through me, and I quiver with the desire to punch someone.

I ball up my fists so I don't do something stupid.

“You're crazy! Raise her up? Raise…she's dead. For a long time. Oh God…I feel sick.” This is so much worse than touching Lainey Prince, at least she wasn't rotting. Or covered with maggots.
Are maggots eating me too?
I roll onto my knees as my stomach launches itself up my throat. The lobster etouffee I ate for lunch covers the ground in a mushy pile and sticks in my throat as I gag. The smell of the body mingles with the smell of my lunch, and I vomit again.

Magnolia goes to her satchel and pulls out a small leather bag. “I took this girl's parents' money and made them promises. Said I'd give them their child back. Didn't guarantee what condition she'd be in.” She shrugs her narrow shoulders but doesn't stop riffling through the satchel during her instruction. “Magic can work miracles. You've seen my Etienne. He was dead almost half a year before I brought him back. This girl's not gone so long. The trick is stitching her soul back inside. Some want to return to the land of the living. Others prefer to stay on the other side. Together we can draw her from wherever she's hiding and stuff her back in her body where she belongs.”

Magnolia believes what she's saying. That's the scary part. Before I would've doubted stitching souls were even possible. Now? Not so much. Nor is my belief, or lack of, what matters.

No, what's important is I swore not to dabble in dark magic. Raising the dead has to be the darkest.

“Hell, no. This is wrong. Etienne is wrong, Magnolia.” I crawl backward, but Ferdinand steps into my path. His long legs stretch higher than the walls of the grave. He grabs the back of my dress and lifts me to my feet. Pain from my bruises makes me whimper in protest. My legs wobble, not ready to hold my weight, but I stiffen my knees. “I won't help you.”

“You've already helped,
cher
.”

Magnolia points her finger. A flicker of silvery light shines over the grave. It's hard to make out what it is. I focus on it. Is this the girl in the casket? Why isn't she corporeal like the other ghosts that haunt me?

“Because the other spirits haven't passed over to the other side,” Magnolia says.

Witch read my mind again.

“Look hard, Mala. Do you see her now?”

I squint, trying to pick out individual features. Her head comes into focus first. Thick, tight curls twist around her ears. Eyes, sorrowful pits in her skull, sit above flaring nostrils. Her mouth stretches wide in a silent scream that sends an echoing shiver down my spine. She claws at her face with long fingernails, writhing in the air, a twisting, shimmering flicker.

It hurts to watch. Her pain transmits itself into me, and I crumble. Only Ferdinand's hands keep me from toppling headfirst back into the grave. But from this bent-over position, I can see inside the casket. Wooden torches have been stuck into the earthen walls. Candles flare to life, casting light over the body.

The spirit hovers over the body.

“It hurts her to be so close but not inside, Mala.” Magnolia sprinkles a handful of powder over the body, then takes my hand. Her skin feels oily to the touch. No matter how hard I pull, she won't let me go. “Stop fighting me.”

“Never.”

“How long are you gonna act the child and let this girl suffer? She didn't deserve to die so young. The man who killed her should've known better than to drink and drive. He didn't even apologize to the family or go to the memorial service. He sat in a bar and drank until he passed out the day this girl was buried.”

“He should be in jail.”

“Yes, but he's not. Hit and run. He's getting away with murder.”

“That's not right.” The girl stands in the air over her body. She's fully corporeal now. I can see her like I can any live person. She's a lot younger than I am. Maybe twelve. Too young to die. I frown at Magnolia. “If it was a hit and run, how do you know all of this?”

Magnolia shrugs. “Same way you'd know if you'd stop fighting your gifts. This girl's death was an imbalance. A black stain on the universe. She deserves to grow up and have babies. She won't now unless we give her a second chance. You want her to have that chance, don't you?”

This isn't right, but I'm not sure why. Magnolia's words twist and weave their way into my head. I try to follow the course they're taking. The girl stretches out her hand, and I reach for it. Her life flashes between us. In an instant, I see her birth, her life, and…the horror of her…of Lily's death.

The car sped toward her. Lily froze, knowing she didn't have time to get out of its path. Her eyes closed. The sudden shock of pain opened them when her head smashed against the windshield. She rolled across the hood and crashed onto the asphalt. I clutch my chest against the double agony of betrayal that Lily felt while lying in the road, bleeding and begging for help, only to have the man drive over her one last time to make sure she was dead.

Darkness consumed her spirit…like it took Landry.

So much fear.

“Oh my God, the bastard murdered her. It wasn't an accident. He could've called for help, but he didn't. He ran her over again.”

“He did, didn't he? A man like that deserves to die. Not this girl.”

“Yes.”

“Put her back into her body, Mala.”

I shake my head.
Why can't I think?
“I don't know how.”

Magnolia squeezes my hand. “Focus on the hate you feel for the man. Pull on it and use the energy to push Lily back into her body.”

My hate feels tangible. Like I could suck on it like a lollipop. It rolls around in my mouth, leaving a bitter aftertaste. This girl deserves to live. I can give her another chance. My hand in Magnolia's grip tingles. The air crackles with lightning strikes. The sparks bring the sharp scent of ozone. Magnolia shifts the hate-funneled energy from herself to me, and I push it back. Back and forth. We draw it out, spinning it like a yarn ball. Only I won't be knitting a sweater. I'm stitching a soul.

The pit of my stomach clenches as I shove Lily toward her body. She screams, confused, but it's for the best. She'll get another chance to go to prom, to learn how to drive, to get a boyfriend and have kids of her own someday. She'll be alive.

She'll thank me.

I'm not sure when I blacked out, but I wake up in Ferdinand's arms. He has me cradled against his chest like I'm an infant. The warmth of the fire and the beats of the drums almost lull me back into unconsciousness. My body feels heavy. I can barely hold my head upright. “Did it work?”

The chuckle rumbles deep in Ferdinand's chest. It tickles. “The girl will be reunited with her parents after she recovers. Justice has been served. Her murderer has taken her place in the afterlife.”

The hiss hurts my bruised ribs. “What?”

“Everything is balanced. For life to be restored, it must also be taken.”

I shove forward. Ferdinand drops my legs, holding on to my arms so I don't do a complete face-plant. I yank free of his grasp, breathing hard. My mind turns his words over. Did he say what I think he said?

Ferdinand moves toward me, and I take a quick step out of reach. “Is there a problem?” he asks in his honey-gold accent.

I shiver, rubbing my arms. “Hell, yes! What do you mean by balance? Are you telling me the guy who ran over that girl's dead now? As in, by raising her from the dead, I killed him?”

“He exchanged places with her.”

I swallow hard. “How?”

“I don't know. The universe decides.”

“So this could be complete bullshit. You have no idea.” I scrub my face.
No, no. Ridiculous. I'm getting played.
“Where's Magnolia?”

“She and Etienne have taken the girl to recuperate where prying eyes won't see.”

Convenient. I don't want to think about this anymore. I did not kill that guy. No way, I'm not a murderer. Or a pawn of the universe used to right an injustice with…magic.

I can barely hold myself upright. My muscles ache, like I've been working out too long. Ferdinand reaches for me again, but I shove him away. As hot as he is, the idea of his touch makes my stomach churn. “I don't believe you.”