AWOL? Yes(ish). Going without posting chapters? Of course not! This is the only thing that keeps me sane, haha. So mates, here ya go, nice and hot...
Voodoo
She ran.
Away from the baker. Away from the town. Away from Charles and Luckie.
Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man! The nursery rhyme ran randomly through her head. She didn’t know where it came from, nor did she care. All she did was keep moving, keep running, keep her mind from dwelling on this new information.
Charles had tried to run after her, but out of the corner of her eye, she had seen Luckie gently hold him back, muttering something in his ear. He had settled, but his face still held that worried look. She had burst through the back room, to the front of the shop, to the town, weaving through drunken hoards. Bart noticed her all by herself and tried to approach her again, but that invisible force pushed him back, much like it had Charles and Luckie. She didn’t even notice.
Finally, she had to stop. The town of Tortuga had disappeared far behind her, but the sounds of yelling still echoed after her.
Sarah Crestshot looked down at the small, dried bundle of straw still clenched in her hand. Her brow furrowed and her breathing quickened as the small face appeared again. Its demonic smile was odd, but not malicious. In fact, a strange feeling began to wash over her the longer she stared at it…
She quickly flung it into the leaves before the feeling completely took her over. It made her uncomfortable with its unfamiliarity. She looked down at her hands and saw them shaking. They clenched and unclenched to try and get rid of the tingling and the tremors left over by the doll, but it didn’t help either problem. She sunk to her knees on the damp forest floor and put her head in her hands. “What’s wrong with me?” she asked desperately into the twilight.
“The voodoo is in you,” a voice said from the bushes. Sarah gasped.
A woman walked out from the shadow of the trees. Her dress dragged upon the earth, causing the leaves to rustle and move. Sarah felt the violet eyes pierce her soul.
The woman approached slowly. “You have nothing to fear from it,” she spoke in a calm, slow voice. She knelt by Sarah’s side and held out the doll. “Just as it has nothing to fear from you.”
Sarah looked at her in wonder, yet did not take the doll. “How did you do that?” she asked quietly. “Everyone else was repelled by me.”
The violet eyed woman smiled. “The doll senses no ill will from Fabiola. It knows that I only wish to help.”
Sarah frowned, a small crease appearing between her eyes. “I don’t… understand,” she said slowly.
Fabiola held the doll in her hands, staring at it as she spoke. “Voodoo is more than vengeful spells and mystical chants, Sarah Crestshot.” Sarah started at the sound of her name, but the movement went unnoticed. “It is an entity, a being, that takes its place in those of the natural world. For some, they can learn it, and how to yield its power for their own. Others are merely chosen by it, and do not need the long trials of acquiring it.”
The violet gaze turned to her once more. “For reasons unknown, the voodoo has chosen you. Its power resides in you, ready and willing. This entity will bend to you.”
Sarah’s eyes widened and her hands shook some more. “Me?” she squeaked. Fabiola nodded solemnly.
“But why me?” she burst out, standing suddenly from the damp forest floor. “I never asked for this, never wanted this! I didn’t mean to be chosen! I’m just here to find my sister and bring her home. Give it to someone else, I don’t want this… this…”
“It is power, Sarah Crestshot,” Fabiola said. “Power the likes of which you have never seen, nor known. And because of this, it scares you where it should not. You have nothing to fear from the voodoo.”
“How do you know that?” Sarah shouted. “How do you know it won’t just absorb me and spit me back out? That it won’t drive me insane or make me explode? It’s not
normal!” Her voice echoed through the clearing, scaring a few seagulls from a nearby perch. She looked quite manic, with dirt on her white skirt where she had fallen to the ground and her dark hair coming free from its braid.
Fabiola suddenly turned sharp as she rose with Sarah. “Of course it is not normal. Look around you, Ms. Crestshot. You are not in London anymore. This is the Caribbean. Nothing fits your description of normal here.
“The voodoo will protect you,” she continued. “It is not here to cause you harm. Did you not notice how when you held that doll, it repelled what it believed to be threat? The moment your fingers came in contact with that doll, the voodoo within you found a channel to exert its power and make you aware of its presence. You know nothing of it, yet it worked in its crudest form; protection. Protection like a mother bird who sits on her eggs or a lethal snake that defends his home. IT is pure and raw and unfocused.”
“And wouldn’t that make it more dangers?” Sarah retaliated. “If it’s so raw, should that not be reason to fear it?”
“You are not
listening, girl!” Fabiola said in her loudest voice yet. “The voodoo does not just reside inside of you. It
is you. It has been there your entire life, yet has never had the correct means to reveal itself. To say that it is dangerous, that it will destroy you, is to say that you will destroy yourself! Yet it is no such thing! The voodoo is that primal thing within your soul, the acting without thought, the impulse, that has been leading you since birth and will be with you until the end of time.”
She tossed the doll back to Sarah, and as her hand clenched around it, she suddenly understood. Something flowed within her, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and she felt her focus fall on the doll. Whatever was in her reached out towards it, but did not stop there. She felt it in the air around her, in the ground underneath her feet, and so much else she did not know. There were no words to describe it. The voodoo just
was.
“I can see it in your face, Sarah Crestshot,” Fabiola whispered. “The dawn has come to you as the sun sets in the Caribbean Sea. You shall be fine now.” She turned her back and began walking back towards the town.
“Wait!” Sarah called, and Fabiola stopped, turning slightly. “How do I control it? There’s so much I don’t know…”
She saw a smile form on Fabiola’s profile. “But you do know. All you must do now is learn.” And she continued to walk away in the fading light.
Sarah just stood there in confusion. “I know, but I must learn?” she muttered. “Well what does that mean?” she shouted into the darkness. The forest gave no response.
Again she looked down at the doll. She felt the power within her revolve and focus around it. Rather than running from it this time, she embraced it, taking the power away from herself and directing it towards the doll. It glowed blue in her hands as it absorbed the voodoo, and the small, demonic face appeared once more.
A rustling in the bush caught her attention. She turned abruptly to it, and a skeleton popped out. Fear invaded her veins as it spoke. “Jolly Roger can always use a new witchdoctor for his army!” it growled menacingly. She glanced down at the doll, and the face had turned into a frown, as if it sensed the danger.
The skeleton charged at her with its small, rusted cutlass. Sarah thrust her hands forward in fear, the doll still in hand, and the skeleton was flung backwards into a tree. It crumpled onto the ground, but sprung back up quickly. Sarah glanced down in shock at her hands, but did not have much time for a reaction, as the skeleton began rushing her again. She felt the voodoo within her, and with startling clarity, she knew what to do.
The skeleton stopped suddenly, mere feet from her, frozen in midair. She gave a swooping motion with the doll, and the skeleton let out a tinny shriek as its bones began crumbling. It tried to struggle, but Sarah held it steady, and in just a moment, it was nothing more than a pile of dust. She was breathing heavily, but slowly, Sarah smiled.
Then a hand covered her mouth, and all she knew was darkness.
My apologies.
Many thanks to Luckie for letting me use her name and play with it a little!
So mates, I adore replies. In fact, thank you muchly for all the reviews left mates! I can't tell you how much I appreciate them. So that's all for this week mates. Thanks for reading!
-Kat Crestshot