“Sort of. Well, the first thing is that ol’ Drexel Kilgore shot and killed a huge black bear on his property yesterday. He then called the sheriff to come out and showed him the carcass. The sheriff came by the diner earlier today to tell your dad. Said he thought we would like to know the town is safe again from the beast that killed Barb and Tami. Apparently, ol’ Drexel’s been huntin’ for the monster ever since Tami passed.”
I stopped chewing on the chicken leg for a minute and contemplated telling Mom the reason for Mr. Kilgore’s quest wasn’t actually his idea but decided not to. I sort of felt bad, knowing an innocent creature of the woods had to die to keep my secret safe. “Huh, well that should quell the fears of the town.”
Mom gave me a strange look and continued. “Your dad also said Drexel came in today for lunch, joined by Mayor Ransford. Their topic of discussion was about the Cohestra plant and what to do about it. Apparently, Drexel put in an offer to buy it from Ms. Emma, and she accepted. And the mayor is fit to be tied about the purchase.”
I took a deep breath to suppress the pang of guilt in my heart at the mention of Ms. Emma. Though we hadn’t spoken since Dane’s funeral, since she’d basically gone into seclusion afterward, it didn’t surprise me she was going to sell the place. The entire town had been shocked when she produced Pops Witherspoon’s Last Will and Testament. It left everything he owned, including the Cohestra plant, to my Dane, and in the event of his death, to Ms. Emma. The old man had completely cut out his monstrous son. “I don’t understand. Why would that upset the mayor? Or anyone else? Drexel’s offer is a good thing. People will be able to go back to work.”
“At the mill, yes. But Drexel isn’t going to revive the water plant. He wants to tear down the entire structure and rebuild…expand the services of the mill. That’s it.”
I couldn’t stop the sarcasm from leaking into my voice. “And that decision is bad, why?”
“Sheryl, honey, we know it’s a good thing, but others don’t. The mayor thinks it will destroy the economy of the town, and a lot of people agree with him. After all, it’s been three months, and those who worked on the water side of the plant are antsy to get their regular paychecks back in their pockets. And, accordin’ to what your dad overheard durin’ the heated conversation between Drexel and the mayor, some of the townsfolk think it’s a cop-out, tryin’ to whitewash what happened there. Guess they think rebuildin’ the water plant will somehow erase the memories of the murders. They seem to believe goin’ back and workin’ on the same soil will lessen the pain, or somethin’ along those lines.”
I bristled. “They are wrong. Nothin’ will ever make it better. Period. Doesn’t matter whether they raze it to the ground or rebuild it to twice its original size, it won’t change the fact that innocent blood was shed there. Besides, the entire Delta region blossomed and boomed over the years from the production of crops, not the bottlin’ of water. That was only a recent development and one that’s caused nothin’ but heartache and pain. So the mayor and the other fools who believe like him can all just suck it up and be happy the mill will be up and runnin’ full steam soon. I guarantee you, Drexel won’t let one employee go. He’ll find a place for them. No mouths in Locasia will go hungry, at least not because of lack of work.”
Mom reached across the table and patted my hand with a reassuring touch. “Calm down, Sheryl. You don’t have to convince me. I’m on your side, remember?”
“I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to get so riled up. So if Ms. Emma took the deal, do you think she’ll be leavin’ town, too?”
“I don’t know, honey. She’s grievin’, which means she could change her mind at the drop of a hat. If I had to venture a guess, I’d put my money on her stayin’. After all, her roots are here, and her only child’s restin’ here. If it were me, I’d stay close, just to keep the good memories alive. But that’s just what I would do. It never bodes well when one tries to anticipate the reactions of others.”
I forced down the lump of tears in my throat. “I wish she’d talk to me. I have somethin’ I need to tell her. Do you think she’ll ever speak to me again?”
“When her heart has mended enough, she will. I’m sure seein’ your face will just make the pain of losin’ her son fresh again. I bet you once the final batch of debris is removed from Cohestra, and she never has to lay eyes on the spot where her son died, she’ll be receptive to a visit from you.”
“I can’t imagine why she’d stay. She’s had to endure a lot of whispers and tongue waggin’ for years now.”
Mom dismissed my words with a twitch of her hand. “Honey, we could be livin’ in paradise and people would still find things in the lives of others to spread gossip about. But this, well, it’s a lot to absorb. Even though the whole truth isn’t known, what people have been led to believe is so shockin’, it will never really leave their minds. I mean, the printin’ press couldn’t spit out the news articles fast enough when the investigation concluded. This town ain’t seen this much sorrow in decades. Ol’ Pops Witherspoon dies. Then his son, who skedaddled out of town years ago when he knocked up a colored gal, shows back up, then flies into a killin’ rage when he realizes he’s been left high and dry in his estranged father’s will and owns nothin’. Tried to get his grubby paws on what he thought was his inheritance by goin’ after his own son, and you and Meemaw gettin’ caught in the middle durin’ your nightly run. And ol’ Drexel, out and about with his shotgun, searchin’ for the hairy beast responsible for killin’ his kin, happens by and shoots a Witherspoon. Lord-a-mercy, the story was so intense the national news even picked it up. I swear, Mississippi ain’t never in the news for anythin’ good. I just wish we could tell them…”
Mom stopped when her voice cracked. Fresh pain and sorrow made my stomach lurch as the chicken tried to digest. This time, it was my hand that reached out for her. “I’m so sorry about Meemaw. I tried…I was too late.”
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back before they spilled down her cheeks. “Sheryl, we’ve already been over this. You did everythin’ you could to save them, even gettin’ to ol’ Drexel as backup. You were smart enough to know you couldn’t handle the situation alone, and I think your instincts knew what the outcome would be the second you realized that monster took them. As much as I miss her, and as much as you pine for Dane, you did what Papa Joe and the Lord entrusted you to do, which was keep the location of the Tree of Living Waters safe. You place the blame for the deaths of your friends and our loved ones right where it belongs. On the head of that hairy beast.”
I let out my pain in a low growl and saw her flinch just a fraction. “He doesn’t have a head anymore. I crushed it after I ripped his throat out.”
Mom took a deep breath and leaned back against the chair. Though we had danced around the subject and I’d told her and Dad the basics of what happened at the plant, I had yet to tell either of them everything. Movement in my stomach convinced me it was time. “I’m ready to answer your questions if you’re prepared to hear the answers.”
It took a few seconds for her to formulate a response. I wondered if she was sending up a silent prayer to the Lord for strength to withstand what my answers would be. Finally, her jaw relaxed and she sat up a bit straighter. “I’m ready. Okay, so this is probably goin’ to sound silly, but, um, how are you supposed to protect the Tree if you don’t change into your other form? I mean, I don’t think you have changed since that night, right? After all your injuries, you can still skin-walk, can’t you?”
I almost laughed, thinking she was teasing me, until I noticed the look of real concern behind her eyes. “It’s not that I can’t change. I just don’t need to right now. I’m givin’ my body a chance to heal… among other things. Don’t worry though. The location of the Tree is safe. Promise.”
Taken aback, she queried, “How can you be so sure it’s safe? What if Hattak’katos had other children and they have the same sick, twisted desire to find the spot?”
I softened my voice t
o try to calm her fears. “Mom, he had no other children.”
Mom threw her arms up in exasperation. “How do you know that, Sheryl? He lived out of state for years! He could have sired an entire herd!”
I suppressed a chuckle at her use of the word herd. “But he didn’t. You see, we do have some ingrained rules, edicts if you will, that can’t be broken, no matter how much we want to break them. One of them is we only have one mate during our time here—never again for the rest of our lives. The desires or urges to be with another never happen, and even if they did, we couldn’t do anythin’. Certain body parts wouldn’t, um, function. When Dane IV met Emma Carter, they were mated, and that is a one-time only event. Same with Papa Joe and Nana. Papa Joe called it a safety valve. Something God put in place to ensure only one person would be born in each lineage to be able to shift. Besides, when I touched Hattak’katos’s skin when he was in human form, I was able to, hmm, how should I put it? I couldn’t exactly read his mind, but I absorbed his thoughts and memories. I knew the second my paws connected with his flesh Dane was his only offspring.”
Confusion spread across Mom’s face as she tried to understand my words. “Well, what a relief that there won’t be others for you to fight! But wait. Are you sayin’ that me…or Meemaw…could have been?”
“If things would have happened differently with Hattak’katos, yes. Either of you could have been the one to skin-walk. The ability is inside you, but the essence of Nahu’ala was never transferred to you to complete the bond and the change.”
Mom shook her head like she was trying to remove her perplexed thoughts. “Help me out here. Dane Witherspoon the fourth was Hattak’katos, right?”
“Yes, but not until he mated with Ms. Emma. Before then, his grandfather, Dane II, was. And before him, Dane Witherspoon.”
“Wait, Pops Witherspoon wasn’t ever Hattak’katos?”
“No. The power skipped him, just like it did with you and Meemaw. When Hattak’katos still resided in Dane II, he stayed until his grandson hit puberty. He sensed the evil in his heart and left the old body for Dane IV. Pops was well aware of the family’s lineage and feared his own son when he sensed the transformation happened. He was afraid the hunger for power and the greedy soul of his child would be too hard to control, so he sent him away. It was just an added bonus it happened near the same time Ms. Emma turned up pregnant. Of course, Hattak’katos agreed to leave for other reasons…not because his father ordered him to split town. He left because he wanted to work on gettin’ all the land. He knew the Kilgore clan would never sell it to him, so he finished high school and college in Chicago and took a job in Washington, D.C. He was workin’ on a deal for the government to take over Drexel Kilgore’s land. It would have given him free access to Caney Creek and no one would have batted an eye if he came down here to head up the farm.”
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t Papa Joe just kill Dane II, when he had the chance? The old geezer lived a long time!”
“Papa Joe was just followin’ another guideline. No blood can be shed unless the Tree was in danger. Even though Papa Joe knew Dane II, embodied the soul of Hattak’katos, he wasn’t allowed to harm him. He wasn’t actively confrontin’ Papa Joe to force him to reveal the location. Hattak’katos was the weaker of the two. His powers and abilities weren’t as strong as Nahu’ala’s. So like all evil vermin, he used trickery and deceit to get what he wanted. His plan was to stay put in Locasia County and keep searchin’ on his own for the location by buyin’ up all the muddy land in the Delta. That’s why the family started the water bottlin’ business at the plant. It was a sham company, set up to give the clan a reason to purchase the swampy land.”
“Pardon me for my mouth hangin’ agape, but all of this is so hard to put together.”
“I know, Mom. It’s hard for me too. I mean, when I think about him waitin’ in the shadows, knowin’ Papa Joe’s body was old and Nahu’ala would need to transfer his power to me, I feel sick to my stomach. That’s why he tried to get to me the night Nahu’ala saved me when I was nine. His visit that night was twofold. If Hattak’katos could turn me to his side, he could find the location. After all, I was just a small child. He thought I could be easily manipulated. If that didn’t work, he planned on killin’ me because he knew the lineage ended with me. If I was dead, he would be free to search the Delta without worry, and then simply pass on to either my Dane—or his offspring—when he felt the need for a newer body.”
Mom bristled. “Well, that ol’ hairy creature thought wrong! He had no clue how strong us Kovlin women are!”
This time, I did chuckle. “Estrogen always trumps testosterone.”
“Ain’t that the truth! No man, not even one with fangs, claws, and fur, can stand up to a pissed off woman!”
For a few blessed minutes, we laughed. Hard. The bright afternoon sun showered my bedroom with its golden rays. The beams licked across my mother’s headful of newly gray hair, making it look like a white halo encircled her head. Hearing her sweet laughter inside the four walls of my bedroom reminded me of my childhood, and a twinge of sadness swept through me. Life at the Newcomb house would never, ever be the same.
Mom’s giggles trailed away, and a shadow of concern spread across her face. “So if I am undertandin’ all this right, since your enemy is dead and his bloodline has ended, then you won’t ever need to change again, right?” As she spoke, she became more animated. “Yeah, you can go on and live a normal life, Sheryl! Finish high school…go to college like you planned! I know you said you couldn’t be with another again, which means your Dad and I won’t be grandparents, but that’s okay! There isn’t anythin’ holdin’ you, or any of us, here now. Right?”
The second her words left her mouth, I felt the movement in my stomach again. This time, it was a hard, jarring poke. On instinct, my hand went to my stomach and gave it a gentle pat.
I had to tell her.
“My duty holds me here, Mom. You and Dad don’t have to stay just because of me. I know you two have talked about retirin’ and movin’ down to Florida. Families are spread out far and wide these days, and there is no reason why we should be any different. But I’m bound to remain in Locasia.”
Mom’s face fell. She looked crushed. “Why, Sheryl? If the danger is gone, why must you stay?”
“As I said earlier, I absorbed the thoughts and memories of Hattak’katos right before I killed him. Believe it or not, he knew somethin’ even I didn’t know until I touched him. It was the reason he killed my Dane, and what will keep me bound to the Mississippi Delta until the day I die.”
Mom swallowed hard, her voice cracked with pain when she spoke. “What…what did you see?”
I couldn’t bring the words up from my throat. Instead, I rose and moved over in front of my petrified mother, knelt down, and took her shaking hands and placed them on my stomach. I saw her flinch in shock when she felt the movement. Her eyes bulged and tears sprang out and raced down her cheeks as full clarity set in. Her shoulders jerked as silent sobs wracked her body. She took her hands away and pulled my head to her lap and began stroking my hair, her body slowly rocking me back and forth just as she did when I was a child.
For a few minutes, we clung to each other like we were both the other’s life vest before we drowned from the tidal waves of what the news meant. I ended our embrace when I heard Dad’s truck a few blocks away. “Dad’s almost home. Better pull ourselves together before we tell him he’s goin’ to be a grandpa.”
Mom wiped her tear-stained face on her shirt. She stood up and tried to press out the wrinkles in it with her hands. “I just have one more question. Do I have time to ask?”
“Yes, about two minutes.”
“Why, if Hattak’katos knew you were pregnant with Dane’s child, did he kill Dane?”
I let out a deep, painful sigh and rubbed my belly. “Because only one heir can be in the lineage at a time. My Dane was the next in line. Now, he isn’t.”
“I don’t understan
d.”
“It means, our child carries both lines. Which means he or she could turn either way. This…has never happened before. Ever. Hattak’katos saw an opening to gain access through me, and he took it.”
“That’s why you are writin’ all this down, right?! For your child! To make sure they understand where they came from…and why!”
I nodded in agreement. “I’m just like every other mother from the dawn of time. Waitin’ for their little one to arrive and hopin’ and prayin’ they raise them right so they’ll make the right choices and decisions when grown. I won’t let Hattak’katos win. I won’t. His evil spirit won’t inhabit our child.”
Hot, fresh tears rolled down my cheeks at the thought. I expected my mother’s reaction to be the same, but to my surprise, it wasn’t. She straightened her shoulders, stood ramrod straight, placed her right hand on my belly, and locked her vibrant blue eyes with my own. “The Kovlin women are strong, and we don’t back down from a challenge…or run away in fear. There is much love between us all, and by the grace of God above, we will stand by your side and help you teach the truth to our grandchild. We won’t let the wrong choice be made.”
I sputtered, “Mom, we haven’t even told Dad yet. Aren’t you puttin’ words into his mouth? What if he doesn’t share your opinion?”
Mom looped her arm in mine and ushered me toward the bedroom door as we heard Dad pull up in the driveway. She smiled at me and gave me a conspiratorial wink. “He doesn’t stand a chance between the two of us. Besides, after we tell Ms. Emma she is goin’ to be a grandma, it will be three against one. Ain’t no man in the world ever stood a shot against those odds.” We both laughed as we made our way down the stairs. Just as the door opened and Dad tromped in, Mom whispered, “So…got any names picked out yet?”
I thought back to when I sat in Drexel Kilgore’s living room, reaching into his mind to inform him he would make a trip to the Cohestra plant ten minutes after I left, shotgun in tow, and to shoot the black beast when he had a clean shot. The last instruction I gave him was to say the name Talulah if he noticed I was struggling to survive. The name of my spirit mother was a strong force and kept me in this world.
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