Kat on a Hot Tin Airship (Kat Lightfoot Mysteries)

by Sam Stone

  ‘That won’t work,’ Isaac told him. ‘This is old evil and old evil needs old magic. I can help you but I need something in return.’

  Big Daddy had listened to Isaac’s proposal. The slave told him that he was a voodoo priest, that he could lift the curse, but it required a sacrifice on Big Daddy’s part.

  ‘I can’t justify killin’ someone to rid us of this thing,’ Big Daddy said.

  ‘This ain’t about death. It’s about freedom,’ said Isaac. ‘Our freedom. Big Daddy you always been a fair and jus’ masser. We have nothing to complain about. We have homes, we have food. You don’t condone beating or the abusing of our women folk. Otherwise, I’d more’n likely jus’ sit back and let this thing eat you alive. But we seen good in you and we all love Miss Cherie. She don’t deserve none of this badness in her life. But let me tell you this. If I could give you this magic I would. But magic don’t work unless you is prepared to pay a price that means something to you. A sacrifice.’

  ‘You want your freedom?’ Big Daddy had said. ‘That isn’t a sacrifice for me and I willingly give it you if you can do what you say.’

  ‘I want to be your employee, just like your white overseers are. Big Daddy, I’m happy to work for you until my body decays and gives out, but I wanna do this as a free man. But I also want freedom for everyone else on this plantation. That is a sacrifice I think be fitting.’

  Big Daddy took some time to think about this. He waited five years to finalise the agreement, even though in principle he had always agreed. He just had to take his time to do this thing, step by step. And by taking that long it proved how difficult it was for Big Daddy to let go of his possession of them all. After all it went against everything he was used to. During those years the drums played every night. The slaves feared the kishi and they wanted to keep their own pregnant women safe from its evil influence.

  Isaac explained that all of them sacrificed something dear to them in order for it to work. It didn’t matter, you see, how big or small the forfeit was, all that mattered was that the giving was hard, and heart-felt.

  The magic worked. Little by little it weakened Callon and protected the slaves as well as the white folks who lived in the house.

  But the demon still walked the halls of the Plantation at night and Big Momma, as she had now started to be called, saw him sometimes standing by the lake. He would beckon to her. Try to get her to come out to him. But she always resisted. And when she found herself pregnant with her second child, Big Daddy never left her side until the day Amelia was born.

  It was Amelia’s attempted murder that was the last straw for Big Daddy. That night he went to Isaac, a wad of papers in his hand, each containing the name of one of the slaves. He freed the entire plantation in one go, just like Isaac wanted him to and he swore an allegiance to always protect the land where they all lived from the Darkness that would try in many forms to take men’s souls.

  After that the rituals began. Some of which Big Momma was a part of, some of which she wasn’t, but always Big Daddy was there and he’d fall into a trance state which would allow him to channel the energy out up into the sky and then to send the light out into all the dark places for miles around. He was a conduit of sorts, because Isaac knew he had a pure soul.

  ‘I had to be present the night they took Orlando,’ Big Momma said. ‘The sacrifice had to come from me as well. And believe me there’s no bigger price to pay than a mother’s fear for her own children. Orlando was my child and a part of me. I loved him and I thought he was going to be the forfeit. And I was trying to come to terms with the idea that my son was gonna die even as they lay his terrified body on an altar.’

  Tears ran down Big Momma’s cheeks as she recalled that awful day. ‘But we couldn’t let Orlando be, no matter what the price. What if he tried to kill Amelia again, or even Maggie? It was too much of a risk.’

  ‘What did the ritual really do?’ I asked Isaac.

  ‘We did what we thought was best …’ the old servant said, bowing his head.

  He described a similar ritual to the one that I had witnessed earlier that day. This of course with Orlando as the focus, tied down – he said – for his own safety. But I could see why Big Momma would have been afraid. Under normal circumstances if I had come across this scenario I’d have been in there trying to save a boy I thought was in danger.

  ‘I saw Callon standing on the outskirts, looking in at me,’ Big Momma said. ‘He was trying to stop us, but Isaac’s magic has real power. Outside of that circle stood all the forces of evil and it couldn’t touch us while we remained inside.’

  ‘It’s light,’ I said and they all looked at me surprised that I understood it. ‘Light always disperses the dark. It’s the one thing the Darkness really fears.’

  ‘Yes, Miss Kat,’ said Isaac, ‘but we didn’t count on Callon outwitting us.’

  Big Momma shook her head as though she wanted Isaac to stop telling his story but he continued on as though the burden he had been carrying all these years could finally be relieved.

  ‘Callon brought Miss Amelia and Miss Maggie out of the house and down to the circle. As we began to separate the demon side from Orlando, planning to trap it in the world that only the dead can live, Miss Amelia began to cry.

  ‘Well, Big Momma was all ready to run out there to save her little girls, but I knowed it was a demon trick. I had both those little ’uns tucked away safe being guarded by someone I trusted and hidden by a circle of protection. Those things that looked like them were something he’d brought out from hell to fool us with.’

  Big Momma was sobbing openly now as she recalled what must have been the most traumatic night of her life.

  ‘We were safe, Orlando was safe,’ Isaac continued, ‘and I knew the girls were too. But Big Momma took it bad. We had to hold her down, and while I was distracted, trying to make sure she did all she was supposed to or the magic wouldn’t work, Orlando wriggled his way free of the bonds that held him down. He was half-way across the clearing to Callon when we realised.

  ‘Several of the congregation ran after the boy. All the time I’m yelling that they ain’t to break the circle, no matter what. I didn’t want those demon children getting in there, there was no saying what might o’ happened.

  ‘Orlando reached the edge though, and the thing that I’d most hoped for happened. His demon side couldn’t cross over. He couldn’t leave no matter how much that kishi reached for him.

  ‘The demon began to consume the things that looked like Miss Amelia and Miss Maggie. Biting chunks out of their small arms just like they was fruit he’d picked off a tree. Big Momma began a yellin’ an’ a cryin’ She was losing her mind but I needed her to stay focused. To help us take the bad right out of the boy. I slapped her face, made her kneel before the altar, as some of the group caught hold of Orlando and brought him back where we needed him. “You got to listen now,” I say to Big Momma, all quiet like to keep her calm. “This be your sacrifice. You have to let the girls go, if you wanna save Orlando. And believe me his human side don’ deserve to be tied to that thing its whole life.”

  ‘Big Momma fell into a shocked stillness, but I took this as her acceptance of the potential sacrifice. She didn’t know that I’d have never risked the life of those two girls, not for all the world, and so her heart pain was real and so was her love for Orlando. She was torn apart by the choice she was having to make. But it was what the magic needed to work.

  ‘The time was getting on, we only had a small slot when the midday sun was at its strongest, and so I began the ritual.’

  Isaac described how the spell they cast could separate evil from a man’s soul, and how they used this on the boy to remove the demon side of his nature.

  ‘Afterwards Orlando was unhurt,’ Isaac said, ‘and now he was a good child. An angel. He was so perfect that even Big Momma and Big Daddy could done bring him completely into their family.’

  ‘But his eyes …’ Big Momma said.

  ‘His eyes
didn’t change. Not like Big Daddy’s had done. This ain’t no science an’ I can’t predict or control the result like I’d want to,’ Isaac said. ‘Big Daddy, he still couldn’t love the boy the same. But Big Momma, she always loved him, demon side an’ all.’

  ‘I assume that wasn’t the end of it of course?’ I said. ‘Callon was still there.’

  Isaac shook his head. ‘No. The demon jus’ dis’pear’d as well. We was alert for a long time but after that the sightings jus’ dried up.

  ‘Then, as Miss Maggie grew, Nanny Simone reported that the little girl was “seeing” things and having strange dreams and the like. I persuaded Simone to convince her it was all imagination, and also to plant the idea that Miss Maggie wasn’t to look directly at any wayward spirit she thought she saw. Simone told her tales about her poor mad Aunt Alice and it proved to be enough for quite some time. The girl refused to recognize Callon. You see when they knows you see them, they gains power.’

  ‘But I was aware he was there,’ Maggie said. ‘I didn’t know who it was. But I always could feel him nearby.’

  ‘Then she got a fright one night. That thing decided to force her to look at him. But he weren’t no handsome man, no more, that reach the heart of some poor weak-minded female. Something we’d taken from Orlando had also been pulled from him too. He was powerless unless he got another girl with his chile.

  ‘We knowed he was coming after Miss Maggie after that though, and now she wed … he’s after attaching himself to any baby that might spring up in her belly. Just as he did with Big Momma.’

  ‘Well, there’s not much chance of that at the moment,’ Maggie said. She glanced over at Henry who had remained quiet all the time but had been listening intently to the whole story.

  ‘Maggie, this thing isn’t going to get you,’ Henry said. ‘You’re my wife and I’ve sworn to protect you. Now I know the whole story, the strange things I’ve seen around here make sense.’

  ‘I’d never betray you, Henry. But you see now why it was so difficult to explain?’

  He took her hand and I suddenly knew that their relationship, now that the truth was told, was going to survive this.

  ‘Today, when I took part in one of Isaac’s rituals,’ Maggie said to me. ‘I was trying to make sure our future children would be safe.’

  ‘I know,’ I said. ‘One thing that does confuse me though Isaac. How come this thing didn’t seduce Maggie? And why has Amelia remained safe so far? I assume that all of her children are … human?’

  ‘After she saw the thing, I had Maggie sent away to a boarding school in South Carolina,’ said Big Momma. ‘I couldn’t risk him messing with either of the girls and so when Amelia was old enough, she was sent also. Even so, Callon seems to have a dislike for Amelia and as far as we know has never attempted to interfere with her.’

  ‘Plus,’ said Isaac. ‘Miss Maggie shared a womb with his chile’. She be more receptive than most to the demon. She always been sweet-natured, but strong. She ain’t tainted by it, but she be close to it. If you get my meaning? Whereas Miss Amelia don’t have a spiritual bone in her body.’

  ‘And,’ said Big Momma. ‘Big Daddy and I never allowed Maggie and Amelia to come home for long periods during those years. When they did they always slept in the same room as one of the servants. We even used to travel over and collect them during the break times. Taking trips and family holidays away from the Plantation. When Maggie finally came home for good though, we felt Callon sniffing around again.

  ‘Although we didn’t wholly approve of the wedding, when Maggie eloped with Henry we realised it was something of a mixed blessing. Parents always want their children to stay home and although it made me real sad, I wanted the girls to be happy and settled away from here.’

  There was a pause and we all sat quietly, thinking over what had been revealed.

  ‘This is quite a story,’ I said eventually. ‘I need to share with my colleagues as soon as possible. Does anyone know where Pepper and Martin have gone? I’ve been looking around for them all day.’

  ‘Why I thought you knew,’ Big Momma said surprised. ‘Mr Crewe and Mr Pepper took your Momma and Miss Sally to the train today to send them home. I must admit I encouraged it. I was worried about Miss Sally’s safety all the time. In fact I think that all the young women should leave, you and Maggie too, as soon as possible until we figure out what to do here.’

  ‘I can’t do that, Big Momma. I have to see this through. Somehow we are going to destroy this creature for good. You see, this is my job. I do this kind of thing all the time.’

  Isaac smiled at me across the table. ‘You see, Big Momma, I tol’ you she was the one.’

  At that moment a horse-drawn carriage clattered up the drive, and Pepper and Martin disembarked. I waved to them.

  ‘Thank goodness!’ I said. Then I turned back to the others still sitting at the table. ‘I will find you all later. Until then we still have another mystery to solve, and I know it is somehow linked, I just don’t know yet how much.’

  I stood and headed over to meet Pepper and Martin, leaving Big Momma, Henry, Maggie and Isaac staring after me.

  18

  After explaining the lengthy story to Pepper and Martin, and hearing how they had persuaded Mother to take Sally home – for which I was very grateful – we returned once more to the landing in the left wing of the house. There was still one big hole left in this mystery that needed to be filled. Where had Callon come from in the first place? Why had he chosen Pollitt Plantation to victimise? And why didn’t he leave now that the family and the slaves were aware of him? After all, wouldn’t it be easier for him to trick some other poor unsuspecting family into allowing him into their homes?

  ‘What we know so far,’ Martin summarised, ‘is that Callon couldn’t enter the house at all until the family invited him to stay here.’

  ‘That’s right,’ I said. ‘After that he seemed to be able to go wherever he pleased.’

  ‘There’s some link with the house, the land, and I think this room you’ve seen Dando in. Who, we can guess, is probably the demon half of Orlando, trapped in some form of hell that takes the shape of the room,’ Martin said.

  ‘Even so, Big Momma insists there was never an extra room down here,’ Pepper said. ‘Yet you’re drawn there constantly, Kat. Perhaps Pollitt Plantation has history, maybe one of Big Daddy’s ancestors hid a room behind this wall.’

  ‘How do you come to that conclusion?’ I asked.

  ‘Because while we were driving back from New Orleans I studied the layout of the house. From the road I could see that the left wing had 12 windows all along the second floor. When we got here, I counted 11 windows and 11 doors that open onto the balcony on the right wing. I also noticed that there is a whole room’s length on the end of the house that has neither window nor door.’

  It was true that the length of the landing extended beyond the final door – Pepper’s room – all the way to the end. There could and should be a room there. But I was certain that Big Momma didn’t know about it if there was. Perhaps Big Daddy did though.

  ‘No time to ask him,’ Martin said as he removed a saw and a hammer from the large bag he was carrying. ‘I’m going to knock a hole through this wall and find out what’s hidden here. Pepper, I’ll need you to block anyone who tries to stop me.’

  ‘I’m not sure that we should do this without permission,’ I said.

  Martin frowned. ‘Do you think it’s likely that we will be given permission?’

  I thought for a moment then shook my head. ‘No. I think they will probably ask us to leave.’

  ‘Then … we have nothing to lose by being brutal,’ said Martin. ‘It’s all for their own good anyway.’

  I wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea of the destruction, but I did agree with his sentiment at least, that this was for the greater good.

  I was surprised to see him using such basic tools, until I noticed a SunPan on the top of the saw. I was soon to learn
that the saw had a line of laser light that poured from the tip and out along the jagged edges, that otherwise appeared to be completely normal. Martin walked along the wall, tapping gently with the handle of the hammer. The walls all seemed solid until he was halfway along and the tone of the tap changed. He glanced over his shoulder at me, then swung the hammer as hard as he could against what he believed to be the concealed entrance.

  As he worked, I went back to my room and changed back into my dry breeches. This time I added my weapons belt, from which hung my clockwork crossbow: a reliable weapon because it only needed winding up to be fully operational; a round-barrel cartridge that contained a selection of silver tipped arrows that would load and fire from the crossbow in rapid succession; my Perkins-Armley, ready loaded with darts and at the last moment I placed the silver and diamond-shard knife in the sheath in my boot, finishing my ensemble.

  By the time I returned to the landing I found that the hammering and sawing had drawn some of the household staff. One of the servants, on seeing what we were doing, rushed away to tell Big Daddy. Within a few moments Big Daddy came bounding up the stairs.

  ‘What the devil’s going on up here?’

  Martin ignored him and swung the hammer as hard as he could. The smash echoed down the landing with a hollow thump and I knew he was almost through to the secret room.

  ‘Stop it!’ Big Daddy cried.

  Isaac and Big Momma hurried upstairs to see what all the commotion was.

  ‘What’s happening?’ asked Big Momma when she saw the mess. Her eyes swept over my outfit and weapons and she took a step back as though the sight of me was intimidating, which I suppose it must have been.

  Martin was now using the laser saw, and it was burning a door-shaped hole in the wall. Realising that yelling was not doing any good, Big Daddy tried to snatch the tool from Martin’s hand, but Pepper blocked him as he had promised he would.

  He spun the big man around using his considerable weight to propel him back down the corridor. It was somewhat comedic but I didn’t laugh because Big Momma and Isaac took it all so seriously. As Big Daddy stumbled into the wall opposite he went into a rage like none of us had ever seen. It took Isaac and two of the other male servants to hold him back.