He bent at the waist, inhaling deeply like a man who’d just run a great distance. She rubbed his back to further comfort him.
As a group, we approached him slowly. “Henry, where’s Calista? Emma asked. “And Virginia?”
Henry looked at her as if he’d seen a ghost. He raised a hand to cover his mouth.
“Are Lukas and Palmer here?” I asked. “We need to help them.”
“They’re in there,” Henry answered, pointing to the house. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry”
Darla bent at the waist next to me, then stood up with a hand on her chest.
“Are you okay?” I asked, tapping Emma on the shoulder so she’d turn and look.
“I feel…”
Darla coughed violently.
“I feel fine. I’m fine. I’m better than fine.” Darla stuck the porcupine quills into her wrist, raised her hand, and discharged the arrows, a massive barrage of them, at point blank distance.
Directly into Josephine.
32 Emma
Josephine was knocked back by the force of the attack, her shredded body landing twenty feet from where she’d stood.
“It’s in Darla!” Henry shouted, shifting to full bird form and raking Darla with his talons just as she turned to fire at him.
Briar leapt into action, falling on Darla and placing both hands on Darla’s right arm, the one with the quills. The arm exploded, bone twisting and breaking under her assault. Darla howled in agony and thrashed as Henry pinned her in place.
“Help Josephine!” Briar screamed, and I sprinted toward my sister Belle, my hands seeking out her wounds. She looked how I imagined somebody who’d been hit with automatic weapons fire might look.
She smiled weakly as I worked on her. Bolstered by Dr. Ibis’s potion, I felt like I could take on the world. But Josephine was in bad shape, and doubt crept in.
“I’ve got that rascal!” Dr. Ibis cried out. “That houngan ain’t gonna bother anybody anymore.” He held up a small, crude clay figurine.
Henry shifted back to human and helped Briar to her feet. He bent and scooped Darla up in his arms, carrying her to me. Her face and chest were bleeding badly, having been shredded by Henry’s claws.
Briar knelt next to Darla and tried to repair the damage to her arm, mending the bones she’d broken.
“Do everything you can for them,” Dr. Ibis said. “Leave the lizards to me.”
Emboldened by Darla’s removal from the battlefield, the lizard-men had regrouped, and a dozen or more of them had emerged from the swamp and started toward us, hissing and gnashing their teeth.
Josephine’s wounds were closing, but not as quickly as I’d have liked. I had to split my attention, one hand on her and one on Darla, fighting to keep them both alive.
We watched as Dr. Ibis blinded two of the lizards with a cloud of smoke and whacked another with a small stick that seemed to pack the punch of a baseball bat.
It was clear, however, that sheer force of numbers would catch up with him. The lizards were large, aggressive, and relentless.
The lizards would get within striking distance, but when their claws slashed into what should have been Dr. Ibis, they hit only smoke, and he’d dance away, unharmed.
It seemed only a matter of time, however, until he was caught by one of their bloodthirsty strikes.
Henry ran toward the fight, shifting into eagle form as he went. Beating his impressive wings once, and then twice, he took flight. Rather than helping Dr. Ibis, however, he soared to the treetops, leaving us alone with two fallen sisters and a little old man fighting against monsters to protect us.
“What the fu-” Briar started, as Henry disappeared. “Coward!” She screamed and sprung to her feet.
She ran toward the battle, two lizards breaking off to face her.
I dug deep inside, beads of sweat forming on my brow, pouring every ounce of energy in my body into healing Josephine and Darla.
The cuts Henry had inflicted on Darla just wouldn’t stop bleeding.
“Save her,” whispered Josephine, taking my wrist in her hands and moving it to Darla’s face.
“I can save both of you!” I insisted, trying to replace my hand on the largest of Jo’s remaining holes.
“Maybe. But you can’t save all three of us,” Josephine said. “Tell Palmer I loved him more than anyone I’ve ever loved.”
“Three?” I asked desperately. “What thr-” I stopped when I realized Henry had returned. Carrying Calista.
Calista had no color, and she was as limp as freshly-cooked spaghetti. The punctures through her shoulders, where Henry had clamped down, were so large I could see the grass she lay one through them.
I put both my hands on Calista, renewing my energy surge, just as Josephine began to drag herself away from me. She was forcing my hand, removing herself from the equation. I wept bitterly, trying to bring Calista back from the brink.
I was barely aware that Henry had flown into battle, shredding the few lizards Briar had left alive.
As Calista’s shoulders stitched themselves back together, her eyelids fluttered open. She coughed violently and spit blood. Her eyes rolled back as she groaned and lost consciousness.
Dr. Ibis rushed to my side, and Briar to Josephine’s.
Henry remained in eagle form, circling overhead to assess and neutralize any threats.
Dr. Ibis examined Darla and looked at Calista. He looked terrified.
“Emma, you’re stronger than you think, child. You can do this.” He scraped up a handful of the moist earth and mixed it with an orange powder he had folded in wax paper. He began finger painting the mixture onto Darla’s wounds.
“She’s stable enough. Calista is in terrible trouble. Bring her back. Fight, Emma.”
I could feel Calista’s life in my hands. It was a small, flickering light. With every breath, I blew on the cinders, the embers, and willed the flame to burn brightly again.
Slowly, color began to return to Calista’s perfect face.
A few yards away, Briar held Josephine in her arms. He was the color of snow.
33 Briar
I cradled Josephine, who never stopped smiling. The sweet, innocent smile of a child. She nuzzled into me, tears in her eyes, but her smile intact.
“There’s no pain, Briar,” she whispered. “No pain at all. I’m just so cold. It’s so very cold.”
I hugged her as tightly as I’d ever hugged anyone. I fought back my own tears, barely able to choke out my own words.
“I have you, Jo, I’ll never let you go. You’re okay. You’re fine. I love you so much. Palmer loves you. Everything’s going to be okay, I promise.”
I looked over my shoulder for my twin, knowing that if anybody could save Josephine, it would be Emma.
Emma was laser-focused on Calista. Part of me wanted to smack Emma and bring her to her senses. If she could only save one of them, it was Josephine who deserved to live. Josephine was everything good. Calista, for all her immense power, had never done anything to help anyone. It was Josephine’s entire reason for existing.
Josephine made one final, small sound, half-gasp, half-laugh, and she was gone. Her pale eyes stared up at me in frozen wonder. I gently closed them and clutched her to my chest. I wept.
Dr. Ibis reached me first, his raspy cry rattling in his chest.
“No. Oh no. Not sweet, sweet Josephine,” he wailed.
Emma and Calista joined us directly, both crawling due to their sheer exhaustion.
My twin cradled Josephine’s face in her hands and willed her to live, but it was too late.
Josephine Berkshire had crossed the water.
34 Emma
When the immediate shock wore off, Calista was first to speak.
“What. The. Hell. Happened?” She hissed with a blood-chilling rage.
“A houngan had hold of Mr. Henry,” Dr. Ibis recounted. “That’s why he attacked you. Josephine freed him, but it got inside Ms. Darla, and in its anger at being forced out, it made
her kill Darla.
“Where is the houngan now?” Calista asked.
“I trapped it here,” Dr. Ibis explained, producing the small clay figurine. “But he’s fighting something fierce trying to escape. I can only hold him so long.”
“Not a problem,” Calista insisted, and she closed her fist in the air, resulting in the figurine being reduced to so much dust.
“Did that kill him? The houngan?” I asked.
“No,” Calista replied. “But he’s inside me now, and he’s powerless. He puts a bad taste in my mouth, but it only reminds me that I need to find him and kill him to get rid of it. And to get revenge.
Henry landed nearby and joined us solemnly. “Palmer and Lukas are inside the house. I can show you. No one else is here. I’m so terribly sorry for the price you’ve had to pay today for my weakness. So sorry.”
“Show us where they are, then get Darla back to her people. The Congaree Nation, near Columbia. They’ll bring her the rest of the way back.”
“If it will help, I’ll fly her around the entire globe, Calista,” Henry replied. “But I can get her to Columbia, absolutely.”
“What was the plan?” Briar asked Henry. “You were supposed to ambush us, but after that, what? Where’s Ezekiel?”
I’m supposed to meet him at Angel Oak tomorrow afternoon. Along with any of you who survived this attack. The great eclipse is coming, and with all that magic on this plane he intends to use Angel Oak as a conduit for all that energy and take it for himself. He’ll have Aleta and Virginia with him, he’ll take their power as well. Mine was going to be forfeit as well. The houngan had his claws in deep. Anyone who can access The Spectral should steer well clear of Angel Oak tomorrow, lest he strip all your gifts.
“But I know all the angels in heaven and demons in hell won’t keep you lot from trying to stop him.
Briar extended placed her hand on top of Josephine’s and stretched them both out into the midst of us. I got her meaning and placed my hand atop hers. Dr. Ibis added his, and ultimately Calista joined us.
“We will stop him,” Briar said.
“No, we’ll kill him,” Calista corrected.
A terrible wind whipped through the trees and shook the very ground we sat on.
Henry led Dr. Ibis inside the house, where they freed Lukas and Palmer from a cell in the basement that had once been used to house and torture unruly slaves.
They staggered out into the sunlight, blinking and rubbing their eyes.
Upon seeing Briar, Lukas broke into a run, lifting her and swinging her around. His smile could have powered every light on King Street for a week.
He went to kiss her, noticed she wasn’t smiling, and he looked confused.
Palmer stopped short as he realized why everyone was so somber.
“I’m so sorry, Palmer. We couldn’t…” I had no more words.
Palmer started toward Josephine’s body, stopped, mouthed the word “No,” repeatedly, and dropped to his knees. Lukas and Briar went to him, holding him as he sobbed violently.
“This. Place. Is. Over.” Calista hissed, and our attention was drawn to a loud rumble.
The barns and outbuildings went first, collapsing in on themselves and not stopping until they’d been swallowed up by the earth.
The main house took longer, windows shattering one by one and cracks appearing on the façade before the entire structure imploded, the roof caving in like a stone whirlpool. The walls went next, crashing into one another and driving everything down into the basement. It sunk deeper and deeper down until the remaining crater filled in slowly with muddy swamp water.
Where minutes before a 300-year-old house had stood, now remained only a murky pond. Stoneberry Plantation had been erased.
“Damn, Calista,” Briar remarked.
Once Calista’s work was through, Palmer rose and walked to Josephine, scooping her up in his arms. He tucked a stray strand of her blonde hair behind her ear and he tenderly kissed her face.
“All she kept asking us was to tell you how much she loved you, Palmer,” I said.
Palmer bit his bottom lip and choked down his sobs. “Why couldn’t you save her, Emma?”
I looked at Calista, then Palmer. “I could have. I almost had her around the bend. But Calista and Darla were mortally wounded as well. I tried. I tried so…” I collapsed amid a new wave of crushing sadness.
Briar knelt by me. “She did everything in her power. Josephine sacrificed herself to save Calista and Darla.”
Calista gasped. It hadn’t occurred to her that she was alive due to Josephine’s last, selfless act.
I composed myself enough to act, standing up and moving close to Calista, who let me take her hand.
“Henry brought you to me, all but dead. You had no color. Barely a pulse. I was busy with Darla and Josephine, neither of them was out of the woods yet. Josephine told me to save you, and she dragged herself away to ensure I’d do it.
“By the time I finished with you and Darla, it was too late for Jo.”
Palmer shook as he held Josephine tightly.
Calista leaned into me, and I had to support her weight lest she collapse.
Dr. Ibis gave Henry final instructions, and he took off into the air carrying Darla, bound for Columbia at top speed.
Darkness was beginning to fall in the forest.
“I’m taking us home. I don’t care who sees,” Calista announced.
“What home?” Briar asked. “Where can we go?” The boys looked confused, so Briar filled them in on the destruction at the Embers Mansion and the fact that it was evidently wide-open and vulnerable to paranormal attack.
“I need to get home and make preparations if we’re doing battle with Ezekiel tomorrow,” Dr. Ibis said. You’re all welcome to join me, but Calista, I know you can’t visit Frogmore, damn that hex Marie Dixon put on you.”
“Never mind Frogmore,” Calista said. “You need to be alone to work on your roots anyway. We’ll be at the Wentworth tonight.”
“The Went-what?” Briar asked. “It’s like $500 a night, isn’t it?”
“For one room,” Calista replied. “We’ll need several. The concierge there is smitten with me. We’ll have rooms, clothes, everything we need.”
“Ms. Josephine will come with me if there are no objections. I’d like to prepare her for her journey,” asked Dr. Ibis.
“I’d like to stay with her,” Palmer said quietly. “Please.”
“You’re a young man of high moral fiber,” said Dr. Ibis. “And I’ll see you and Lukas both swim again if it’s the last thing I do.”
Satisfied with our arrangements, Calista lifted our group into the air and we left the Francis Marion National Forest, bloodied, but not bowed.
35 Briar
True to her word, and despite Charleston being packed to the gills with tourists in town for the “Eclipse of the Millennium,” Calista had us in suites at The Wentworth that evening. At the mention of “Calista Embers,” the red carpet was rolled right out.
The concierge, Phillip, sent his staff of personal shoppers out to purchase new clothing for us at the most exclusive boutiques on King Street, and we ate room service meals fit for royalty. Well, three of us did, anyway. Calista probably ate her typical meal of three green beans and four peas.
She stayed in the penthouse suite, while Lukas, Emma, and I shared a “junior” suite. Three times the size of my pre-Belle’s apartment.
We felt shame enjoying our accommodations so much in the wake of Josephine’s sacrifice, but as there was every chance we’d soon be joining her, we decided to live it up.
Darla’s daughter called Calista that evening to inform her that her mother had arrived safely at home and was receiving the best treatment from the best medicine man the Congaree had to offer. She’d make a full recovery.
I shared a California King bed with Lukas, and despite all the room, we wound up tangled up together with both our heads on my pillow. It felt good and safe to be held in his str
ong arms.
The next morning, Calista invited us up to her room to eat breakfast. Her view was spectacular, as was the food.
Emma set down her fork, with half an omelet remaining on her plate. “I’m stuffed. Can’t eat another bite. Nobody tell Chantelle, but that was the best omelet ever.”
“Your secret’s safe with me,” I assured her. I had no trouble finishing my entire omelet, and I shared her assessment.
Calista had finished her fruit plate and bacon, her one weakness, and was finally ready to talk. It was obvious all morning that she had something on her mind.
“Josephine came to see me last night,” she announced, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
“Me, too,” Emma concurred.
“What do you two mean? I asked.
“I mean, I was asleep when I felt someone sit down on my bed. It was Jo,” Calista explained. “She told me she missed me and she loved me and whenever I felt sad or scared or nervous to think of her and it would all go away.”
“Stop it,” protested Emma.
Calista shot her a look.
“I had the exact same dream,” Emma shared. “I mean exactly the same. And I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“Briar?” Calista queried.
“No. Nothing at all,” I confessed sadly.
“That sounds like Josephine,” Emma answered. “The last thing she’d want to do would b to interrupt anyone’s good time, and I’m guessing sharing a bed with Lukas didn’t suck, right?”
I had a blushing contest with Lukas, which I think he won.
We spent the morning reminiscing over Josephine, before piling into one of The Wentworth’s town cars, which Calista arranged to have use of for the day.
Charleston was the last city on the eastern seaboard in the “path of totality” for the eclipse, set to arrive mid-afternoon. Until becoming a Belle, I had no idea that such an event had any supernatural ramifications, but evidently eclipses and similar astronomical events open access to all sorts of spiritual and magical energy and are major events on the paranormal calendar.
Carolina Conjuring Page 16