by Sara Clancy
“Shit,” he mumbled when they were almost finished.
Her stomach lurched at his sudden cuss and she spun around to face him. Louis was looking to Cordelia.
“We forgot the animal.”
Rene looked between them, “You need an animal? Like as a sacrifice?”
“Its cries of pain wake up the spirits,” Cordelia said. “It makes them pay attention.”
The rugged man didn’t attempt to keep the disgust from his face, “You torture animals?”
“Not for fun,” Cordelia snapped. “It’s a necessary part of the ceremony. And in normal rituals, we’ll honor the sacrificed animal by cooking it and sharing it as a meal.”
“I’m not sure I want to eat it.”
“You won’t have to,” Louis said. “For this ceremony, I just need to inflict pain on something, the bigger the better.”
“So we need an animal,” Rene shifted his attention to the windows. “Isn’t it just funny how we’re surrounded by swamps infested with critters but we can’t get any of them? We might be able to find a snake lurking around.”
“I’d prefer a gator,” Louis said.
Marigold fought the urge to clasp her wounded hand against her chest. She didn’t want to look weak as she said, “What about me?”
Rene’s eyes narrowed on her, “Do you have a volunteering obsession or something?”
“Marigold,” Cordelia said gently, “You can’t.”
“Well, not the killing part. But it’s the pain you need, right? Without it, this whole thing is just a twisted waste of time, right?”
Louis had become rigid and spoke in a dull tone she had never heard. “You can’t ask me to do that.”
Marigold bit her lips, her mind telling her to speak while her body cringed away from carrying on.
“When the demon’s inside of me,” she started slowly, “it will be able to use me to hurt people, right? Or run away so you can’t force it back out?”
Rene turned around, “I’m going to check again for rope.”
Marigold continued, “It would make sense to incapacitate me.”
“What are you thinking?” Cordelia asked in place of Louis.
He looked drained of color and he didn’t seem to blink.
“Break my legs.”
“What?” he snapped. “I can’t do that.”
“Don’t you do that for the rituals?” she challenged.
“I’m not a priest. I don’t run the ceremonies. I never actually had to do any of it.”
“Well, now you do,” Cordelia said. “The possession was your suggestion. This is what it takes.”
“I can’t,” he said softly.
“There’s no point of doing this if it doesn’t end up protecting anyone,” Marigold said. “I don’t want to hurt you. And I don’t want this thing stuck in me.”
“We have to make sure it doesn’t escape,” Cordelia agreed.
“Then you do it,” he snapped.
“You’re doing the spell, it has to be you.”
He turned to Marigold, his eyes begging, but she could only give him a reassuring smile. Squeezing his eyes shut he nodded sharply.
“We’ll find something big. Heavy. We’ll do it quickly.”
“Okay.” She managed to keep her smile even as her insides twisted and squirmed.
She wanted to take it back as Louis instructed her to lay down on the sheet. Her heart hammered and her palms began to sweat. The salt mingled with her cut, making it sting with a renewed ache. I guess I’ll need that tetanus shot, her mind babbled abruptly. She clenched her hands and let the smile tug on her lips. Picking a place on the ceiling, she fixed her eyes on it and refused to look anywhere else. Shadows shifted as the ground shook again. They had to hold onto the candles to keep them upright. Hot wax splashed across her arms but she didn’t move away. When the rattling stopped, she could hear something heavy being dragged towards her. To break your legs, her mind supplied. Or to lock you in after. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought past the lump forming in her throat. She didn’t want to see it.
Whatever it was, they dropped it close by her side. Vibrations rattled the floor and sunk into her skin. Her breath caught and she balled her hands despite the pain. There’s going to be a lot more than that. Panic surged in her chest, growing and burning. Eyes still closed she focused on her breathing, not allowing herself to think about what was about to happen, what the best outcome would be. Air slipped past the scars that lined her throat and expanded her lungs. She listened to the metal groaned as it tried to withstand the growing wind that bombarded the ship. Blood, hot and slick, seeped around through her fingers and dripped onto the sheet below her. All the peace she had managed to garnish disappeared when she heard Louis speak.
“We have to start now.”
Chapter 16
In theory, the plan sounded simple enough, at least for her. All Marigold really had to do was lay there. Lay there and endure, she told herself. Be still. Don’t make it harder for him. She didn’t know what would happen if Louis was unable to finish. She didn’t ask any questions beyond what they needed her to do. Details would only make it worse. Once it was inside of her, Cordelia would wrap her in the sheet she was laying on, Rene tied her up with everything he had found, and they would all hope that it would be enough to hold her until they could get help. Louis reasoned that there will be an opening, a period of time that it would take for the demon to adjust to her body. If they could get back to a cell service area they will be able to call Louis’ mother before it gained control.
The best case scenario was that, since no one had checked in, the voodoo priestess would already be on her way. It was an option that Louis desperately clung to. He kept telling her that once Ma was here, everything will be fine. That all they had to do was make the call and they will be able to start the exorcism within a few hours. He repeated the words over and over like if he just said them enough they would be true. Marigold doubted that a single person present believed him, but it was a nice lie, so no one argued with him.
Marigold took a deep breath, her eyes closed and her fingers shifted, “What do you think it’s going to be like? To have it in my flesh with me?”
“I’ve heard it’s different for everyone,” Louis said. “There’s no way to tell.”
“Do you think I’ll remember it when your mother gets it out of me?” she asked. “Or do you think it will be like waking up from a dream?”
“I’m hoping it’s going to be like coming out of surgery. You’ll hurt, but it won’t seem like any time has passed at all.”
She smiled and took a steadying breath, “I like that.” Tears were burning her eyes as her breath shuttered. “Promise you’ll be here when I wake up?”
“I promise.”
Stay still, she commanded herself as Louis began to speak in a language she hadn’t heard before. His voice dipped and rose like he was conducting a performance upon a stage. Lead filled her chest. Stay still. Metal scraped against metal as they moved the item into place. She ached to look. No good would come of seeing what was about to break her. You can do this. Stay still. Don’t look.
Louis’ voice became a bellow that raged over the hurricane wind outside. Metal scraped. She heard her bone crack an instant before her brain registered the pain. There wasn’t enough air in her lungs to scream as her back arched off of the floor. Her hands clutched at her right leg, protectively wrapping herself around it as tears burnt her eyes. Cordelia grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back down.
“We still have to do the other leg,” she whispered to Marigold.
Marigold ground her teeth against her pleas for them to stop. Agony pulsed through her leg, rushing to fill every inch of her being. She whined and clutched Cordelia’s arm as she forced herself to straighten.
“We’ll be quick,” she heard Cordelia promise in a whisper.
The windows shattered under the pressure of the wind. Glass shards rained down, sounding like hail as it hit the floor.
The wind rushed in through the empty space. She felt it whip her as the ghastly wail rang in her ears. You can’t stop now, she told herself firmly before she gave a single nod. She could barely hear Louis shout over the gale.
“Make sure you scream,” Cordelia whispered as the sound of scraping metal came once more.
It slammed down, shattering her left leg. Her body jerked as she screamed. Every slight shift of the rocking boat sent a new spasm of pain slicing through her body. She didn’t try to hold back her cries and sobs. The pressure was removed, replaced by hands that grabbed her legs and squeezed. Spit dribbled from her mouth as she cried. Her nails shredded the sheets as she writhed and trembled.
The wind howled, drowning out Louis’ words. Louis. She forced her eyes open but couldn’t see past her tears. Louis was moving, walking around her slowly as he continued to perform the ceremony. While she didn’t understand the words, she felt the power of them. The floor steadily grew hotter until it scorched her back. By the time Louis reached her head, her screams had broken into shattered sobs.
The hands squeezed again, forcing another scream from her raw throat. Her eyes bulged, and her neck strained, and it took everything she had to keep still. The sheets twisted around her hands as she struggled. The doors quaked as something solid slammed into them. The knocking grew louder, harder, mixing with the wail of the wind and Louis’ continued commands.
Louis knelt down next to her. His hand pressed against Marigold’s forehead. Blinking past the agony that consumed her, the unshed tears blurred her vision, she caught sight of her. His fingers trembled against her skin. He met her eyes and his voice began to crack. It terrified her to close her eyes, to lose the limited connection, but she forced herself to do so. He needed her too.
“It’s okay,” Marigold whispered to him. “I’m okay. Keep going.”
She heard him suck in a rattling breath and his words become stronger. Stay still, she told herself. He won’t get through this if you don’t. She swallowed thickly and kept her eyes sealed tight. The hands on her shins had never left, but they had stilled. Now they began to squeeze and twist her legs, grinding the fractured bones against each other. Marigold’s body tried to lurch up, physically forcing her screams out of her, but Louis’s had kept her head against the floor, holding her in place.
The doors rattled violently. The scent of the blown out candles swirled around her. The cold wind snapped the sheet sharply against her as the floor continued to heat. Sweat began to pool along her back. Through the tears in the sheet, she could feel the floorboards splinter and crack like an inferno lay below her. It began to burn her skin. She flinched her hands away from the gaps but the sheet offered her little protection.
Louis’ hand shifted. His fingers balled in her hair and yanked her head back, exposing the long column of her throat. She felt the sharp edge of the meat cleaver press against the swelled scar across her throat. A new terror rushed through her. Stay still. Stay still. It felt like the scar was splitting open with the strain. Her fingers clawed at the sheet but she managed to keep her shoulders and head in place. With each breath, she was sure the blade would sink into her skin. The blade lifted and she tumbled into a fit of sobs.
The cool slip of metal pressed against her sternum. She held her breath but it pushed harder against her anyway. The thin layer of her shirt offered little protection. Once again it lifted. Louis’ palm against her forehead faded away, only to be replaced by the blade. Blood swelled around the meat cleaver that sliced into her skin. It pooled and trailed down into her hair. She could almost hear each drop sizzle as it hit the sweltering floor. Her nose was filled with the stench of smoke and raw meat. Stay still. Stay still.
Cordelia screamed as Marigold felt the first flickers of flame licking at her wrist. She pulled away before she could stop herself, the jolt forcing the blade deeper into her skin. Blood gushed forward from the new wound as Cordelia fought to pat out the small flames that now littered the sheet.
Stay still.
The doors burst open with a thunderous crack that shook the room.
Stay still.
Hands, as cold as ice with each finger tipped with a talon, grabbed her ankles and yanked. Marigold pushed her head up, not feeling the pain as the knife ripped her skin again. A black mass hovered over her feet. It was as formless as smog but thick enough that she couldn’t see through it. She couldn’t breathe; her head and lungs screaming in protest. The shadow lifted its head. Gaping holes stood in the place of eyes but she could feel its gaze upon her. A smile split its head in two, exposing rows of rotten fangs.
Marigold screamed and tried to wrench herself free. But the creature held tight. Her jerked movements twisted her broken legs, grinding the bones together, and she released a scream that shattered her at her core. Hands climbed up her body, the claws sinking deep into her flesh. The floor boiled against her back. The weight of the shadow pressed her down.
Mine. The single word hit her ears even as it rolled in her mind. She thrashed and strained but she couldn’t dislodge the weight, the claws. Sobs wracked her. She wanted to run. You can’t do this. You’re not strong enough. The words were within her skull but she could no longer tell if the thought was her own.
Mine. Its rancid breath ghosted over her neck. Its weight against her knees created constant waves of agony. She tried to stay still. It only hurt more when she moved. But she couldn’t stop herself from screaming, from crying.
“Stay still,” she couldn’t hear her voice over the howl of the wind.
Forcing her eyes open she looked back, desperately searching for Louis. He knelt behind her head, still chanting, the blade of his knife dipped in her blood. He wouldn’t look at her but instead stared at a spot on the floor with unwavering intensity. Each word cost him, made him shake and sweat. Tears clung to his lashes.
Look at me, she begged him silently. See me. She needed to know he was there with her. Needed to know that she wasn’t alone. But he kept his eyes fixed away from her. It was impossible to hear anything over the wind but he still flinched at her every scream. Look at me. Stay with me. It felt like her throat was bleeding and she choked on it. The skin of her back boiled while the touch of the demon felt like the burn of dry ice. The demon’s voice slithered in her head, a whisper heard over the chaos that existed beyond her skin.
I see you. She squeezed her eyes shut but could not do anything to drown out the noise. Unseen claws pressed against her lips. They shredded her tender skin as they forced themselves into her mouth. Blood spewed across her tongue as the clawed fingers forced her mouth open. Her jaw ached and her skin stretched to the point of splitting. Putrid sludge poured into her mouth, filling every inch before it began to slide down her throat.
The scar of her neck burned as her spine cracked and bowed, leaving her tittering on the tips of her toes and the crown of her head. The sheets bunched under her hands as she tried to find something to hold onto, something to steady herself. The shadow clawed down her throat, past her lungs and deeper into her stomach. She could feel it hollowing her out to make room. The pain was beyond anything that her legs had created. Marigold gagged, helplessly trying to wrench the creature from her, but it was no use. It only burrowed deeper. Her lungs burned as she shook with the pain. She could only sob and choke.
Cordelia was by her side, her hands trying to force her back down. Marigold heard someone screaming but couldn’t understand the words. Rene hovered on the edge of her vision, his face twisted with shock as he watched Marigold struggle, but she couldn’t see Louis. Then the blanket moved. One side at a time was thrown over her head. The material bunched and bulked as it covered the demon slithering down her throat. More chaos and screams. Heavy strips of cord fell across her. They were trying to pull her down but it was no use. Her toes brushed against the floorboards before she rose into the air. Her hair fell in mattered tendrils, swaying in the last gasps of the breeze as she floated a few feet off the ground.
The last of the shadow scramb
led inside and released her airway. Her lungs sucked in a deep breath, her spine bowing more under the force until she was almost folded in two. Her eyes widened but she couldn’t see anything beyond the stained and tattered sheet that hung over her, the ends snapping in the swirling breeze. The strips around her tightened and tugged but did nothing.
Mine.
Light burst behind her eyes, her body snapped, and gravity once again claimed her. With a broken gasp, she began to fall.
Chapter 17
Louis’ knees gave out and he collapsed to the floor, sweat cooling against his skin. He couldn’t look away from the bundle of sheets that covered the now limp form of Marigold. The only movement was the soft rise and fall that signified that she was breathing. Her blood began to seep into the sheet, looking black in the orange-tinged light. The stench of burnt flesh and smoke filled the room and the quiet night was slowly claimed by the chatter of frogs and insects. Louis watched as Rene and Cordelia hurriedly tied up Marigold with the odd pieces of cord and wire that they had been able to find. The sheet pulled tighter around her slight form. It looked like they were wrapping up a corpse. Rene began to tighten the sheet into place around her neck and Louis scrambled forward.
“Don’t. She won’t be able to breathe.”
“She also won’t be able to bite us,” Rene said dismissively.
Louis grabbed Rene’s wrist and yanked him back, “I said don’t!”
Louis’ grip was as strong as iron even as his arms trembled. He didn’t look away from Rene’s defiant glare.
“Louis,” Cordelia snapped. “We need to go.”
“He’s going to kill her,” Louis said.
Rene yanked his arm out of Louis’ grip and growled.