The Hoodoo Apprentice: Allure Part 30

From the corner of my eye, I notice the boo hag's cage is untouched by the creeping vines. Thankfully, the bloodred creature is still writhing on the ground, obsessed with counting the broom straws and completely oblivious to what's going on.

Sabina's laugh roars across the graveyard. "I'll teach you not to mess with what doesn't belong to you! Only after you've experienced loss will you understand the virtue of revenge."

Reflex kicks in and I lunge for Cooper. Just as I pry at the vines fastening his arms, new lines of creeping foliage wrap around my chest and shoulders, then drag me back and away from him. I resist, but the vines grip tighter and pull me down to the ground. My heartbeat pounds in my ears as I frantically yank at the paralyzing vine, but more leggy trails shoot up from the soil to fasten my biceps to my sides. At least my forearms are still free.

Jack whimpers, his voice a m.u.f.fled grunt. Straining against my binds, I peer over my shoulder. He's also trapped on the ground, completely ensnared by the kudzu, which is even wrapped around his mouth and forehead. Only his pale blue eyes s.h.i.+ne through the green leaves.

Fury churns in my gut. With nothing left to lose, I narrow my gaze at Sabina. "Stop this! You worked those spells hundreds of years ago but those charms are broken now. It's over. You need to move on."

She vanishes.

My heart hammers against my ribs as my eyes dart around, wondering if she's actually gone.

Besides the pulse in my ears, the only sound comes from the night creatures beyond the trees and Cooper and Jack's ragged breath.

Maybe all it took was a stern talking to. Could it really have been that easy?

Just as I begin to hope, Sabina reappears, crouched in the kudzu, her face mere inches from mine. "Oh, it's over all right. But not for me," she growls, then chants more foreign words before dropping her jaw wide.

Black mist flows out of her mouth. I hold my breath as it curls around my head, then zips around the clearing. Sabina floats up and away from me, pointing a stocky finger toward the water. The cloud obeys her command and shoots out over the salt marsh. There, I can just make out the black mist spinning, gaining velocity until it creates a tall, thin tornado. Sabina's hand stretches wide and she drags the dark funnel cloud back to the clearing, and aims it directly at the boo-hag cell.

"No!" I scream, antic.i.p.ating her next move. I strain to sit up.

Sabina laughs. "Foolish little girl, listening to those who have led you astray. So much wasted potential. Despite what the doctress has told you, hate is the most powerful emotion." She shakes her turbaned head. "Love will not save you tonight when you and your friends are slain by an ordinary boo hag." Hitching her brow at the kudzu, the vines tighten and constrict my chest, making it hard to breathe.

She snaps her fingers, unleas.h.i.+ng the tornado. It careens toward the mullein posts. Mesmerized by the straw strands in the broom, the boo hag pays no mind to the advancing freak weather phenomenon. Under Sabina's guidance, the tornado skirts around the cell's perimeter, ripping each reedy bundle from the ground, then launching them high into the air and into the surrounding forest. After the last post is knocked out, the funnel cloud dips just far enough inside the cell to s.n.a.t.c.h the broom from the boo hag's grip and suck it up into its vortex. The tornado whirls back across the clearing, jumps the bank, and dissipates over the marsh, dumping the broom in the water.

Free from its counting fixation, the boo hag springs to its feet and shakes its head as if to clear itself from a trance. It trains is s.h.i.+ny, lidless eyes on me, and then snaps its rectangular head toward Cooper. "You are mine!" It recoils its long, spindly legs, readying to pounce.

Sabina snarls. "No! Take the girl first. After she's gone, you can take your time with the others. I've already wrapped them up for you."

"Yes, Sabina." In one giant leap, the boo hag springs toward me and straddles my bundled body. "Pesky child. Why did you have to be so feisty? It didn't have to end this way. We could have done so much together." It readies to squat on my chest to ride me and suck out my life force.

Cooper jumps in the air, waving his arms. "Hey, meathead! Don't waste your time on her. I'm what you really want. You know you need a new body. Especially after we covered your old one with salt."

The boo hag jerks toward Cooper. Its lizard-like tongue licks its thin lips. Clenching its three-fingered hands, its gaze hops between me and Cooper, as if it can't decide who to feast on next.

"Don't let him distract you. Destroy the girl!" Sabina commands. "Now! While you have the upper hand."

The boo hag snaps its attention back to me. "But you promised I could have her to myself. At least for a little while."

Sabina's eyes fill with rage. "Forget what I said before. I've given you three hundred years of Beaumont men to inhabit, a ruby to help control your possessions, and permitted you to acquire great wealth. You owe me this."

The boo hag nods and sit on my chest, then opens its great jaw.

"Get off her!" Cooper yells, straining at his binds. His face turns cherry red and his biceps flex as he wrenches his arms and pulls against his restraints. With a gutteral shout, he yanks hard and rips the vines from the soil, then jerks up on his legs and tears them free. If his skin was green, I'd swear he was the Hulk. After tugging the kudzu loose from his forearms, Cooper lunges after the boo hag, cras.h.i.+ng into the creature with his shoulder and shoving it off me. They land on the ground and wrestle, each trying to get the upper hand on the other.

I scream. Cooper's put himself within the boo hag's grasp, which is exactly what I've been trying to avoid.

The boo hag struggles to pin Cooper down, but each time it manages to get him on his back, Cooper slips out from under its wet, fleshy skin. The boo hag extends its lanky arm, hooks Cooper's chest, and slams him to the ground. But Cooper thrusts his knee and rams it into the boo hag's crotch. The monster howls and swipes its fingers at Cooper's face, but just as it's about to make contact, Cooper leans back, exposing his chest. The boo hag's suction-cupped middle finger s.n.a.t.c.hes hold of Cooper's mojo bag.

Cooper's eyelids stretch wide.

"What's this?" the boo hag hisses, then laughs. It must realize it's gotten hold of something powerful. It wraps its two remaining fingers around the chord, tugs, and snaps it off Cooper's neck.

My heart and stomach clench at the same time. "No!" I try to scream but my lungs are wrapped too tight to generate much sound. Instead I stare helpless as the boo hag cackles while it swings the dangling gris-gris from his fleshy finger. That mojo was the only thing standing between Cooper and black magic. With Jack and I trussed up like Thanksgiving turkeys, he's on his own.

I glance up at the sky and the quiet, but still twinkling, lights. Maybe he's not alone after all.

The boo hag lunges for Cooper and wraps its strange, misshapen hands around his neck. "Finally! You're mine." It extends its jaw, readying to suck Cooper's life force from his body.

Cooper screams as his face forms the perfect picture of horror.

"Clarissa, please help." I whisper, directing my thoughts and what little breath I have toward the s.h.i.+mmering iridescence hanging above the clearing. I'm not sure if my energy is leeching from my body to power my desire, but I'm thinking hard and giving it my all.

The spirit orbs snap back to life, brightening and pulsing with crackling energy.

The boo hag cringes and shades its bulging eyes from the blazing light. Cooper drops to the ground, writhing.

Sabina's face darkens. She thrusts her hand up again, and blasts another wind bomb in the spirits' direction. Just as before, it crashes into them, strewing them around the cemetery.

The boo hag heaves its mucusy lungs for air.

"Resist Sabina. Don't let her win. For Cooper's sake," I say, nearly breathless, hoping Clarissa and the other Beaumont spirits can hear me. I concentrate, sapping my strength to send my intention up to the lights and beyond, into the universe to reach all that's good and powerful.

The disparate spirits merge together and begin to spin, forming a giant pinwheel in the sky. As they rotate, their light brightens and intensifies, and the whirling speeds so fast, they almost look like a brilliant, solid-yellow object.

The boo hag shrieks and crumples to the vine-covered soil.

My palm itches, then burns, as sure a sign from my spirit guide as I've ever received. Responding to her plea, I reach out my forearm as far as the binding vines will allow, then spread open my now-throbbing palm toward the sky.

The center of the spirit pinwheel sinks down and stretches toward me, aiming directly for my flesh. The yellow energy shoots directly into my hand and straight up my arm, into my chest, then pumps through my body. It's invigorating. Effervescent. Revitalizing. My organs thrum with pulsating vibrancy. I haven't felt this good since, well, ever. If I could get free of this clingy kudzu, I could probably run two Lowcountry marathons. In my flip-flops.

The power builds within me, buzzing and vibrating as it recharges my batteries and restocks my reserves. My pulse gallops as the yellow light continues to flow, filling me to the brim and then some, until I feel as if I'm might just explode.

I clench my fist tight, cutting off the energy flow. The energy beam retracts back up to the whirling spirit canopy above us.

Buoyed by my newfound vitality, I wrench against the vines, prying a few loose enough from the soil to pull myself into a quasi-sitting position. The tightest of the coils breaks loose, allowing me to breathe, though I'm still so ensnared, there's little chance of getting out of this without a hacksaw.

Sabina spies the fallen boo hag. "Get up! You can't quit now." She flicks her fingers and shoots a black cloud toward the crumpled creature. The shadowy mist hovers over the boo hag, giving it cover from the blinding spirits overhead.

The boo hag leaps to its feet and pivots its long, lanky legs toward Cooper, who is crawling, along the ground, attempting to escape its clutches.

"No! End the girl." Sabina's gravely voice booms.

The boo hag hisses. "End her yourself. I must have that body." It pounces after Cooper, who somehow manages to sprint ahead and just slip out of its grasp.

Cooper races toward the bank. "Hey, Emma, the mars.h.!.+" He points to the salty body of water beyond as he darts and dodges around, keeping the boo hag at bay.

He's a genius.

Envisioning the red and white beads on my collier, I clear my mind and open my mouth, hoping the right words fall out.

"Ancient mineral in the water, Avenge the Beaumont sons and daughters.

End that which stole limb and life Creating so much pain and strife.

Envelop the evil in your tide To make things right with all who died."

Pointing my open palm toward the marsh, I concentrate on the cool, blue-green liquid that's laden with salt, the boo hag's only nemesis aside from the sun. Instantly, I feel a connection to the water and all the life forms in it. It's as if my energy flows into them and theirs into mine. We are one. I sense the throb of their collective pulse as easily as I feel mine ping against my temple.

As I force my hand forward, the water ebbs, receding from the reedy sh.o.r.eline. As the marsh retreats, its power and strength coils like a spring waiting to be let loose. Even from here, half lying on the ground in the cemetery above the marsh, I can tell the tide has withdrawn at least halfway to where the water normally is. I raise my forearm as far as it will go, lifting the pent-up water in a ma.s.sive curling wave, then drag it toward the bank.

I can't make the boo hag go into the water, but it looks like I can bring the water to the boo hag.

Sabina's floating form hovers above me, her face drawn and filled with a mixture of surprise and distain. "Your magic is stronger than I realized."

I focus on the tidal wave I'm trying to build and attempt to ignore her. But it's nearly impossible because she looms before me, blocking my view.

"There are others in the Lowcountry with power just as strong who will help me seek my revenge. This is not over. We will meet again. And when we do, any happiness you have, I will crush it, along with those you carry in your heart so that you may know the pain I've endured for nearly three hundred years. Then perhaps, you will understand why I must have my revenge. If you manage to escape the boo hag and save your friends," she taunts then floats up into the air, tosses her turbaned head back, and laughs before dematerializing, this time, hopefully for good.

I spy Cooper das.h.i.+ng around the bank, keeping just out of the boo hag's reach. It's so intent on catching him and draining his life force, it doesn't notice the salty death trap looming just over its shoulder.

"Cooper, now!" I yell, hoping he realizes what to do.

"Got it." He calls, then pivots and changes course. Rather than running from the creature, he tucks his shoulder and heads straight for it, barreling into its slimy, crimson gut.

Caught off guard, the boo hag launches off the bank and flies into the waiting wall of water. It shrieks as it crashes into the salt-infused, captured wave. Sparks fly and its gangly limbs flail as the liquid consumes it. Its rectangular head bobs up over the surface, howling as its red flesh melts and oozes with chunky, black sludge. Steam floats off what's left of the dying boo hag as its flesh cooks, turning an ashy gray.

Overwhelmed, I exhale a breath I didn't realize I was holding and blink to make sure I didn't just imagine all this. Nope, there's still a wall of water looming over the bank, pieces of the boo hag are bobbing on the surface, and Cooper's safe. At last.

Cooper throws his arms in the air and shouts in victory. He spins around to face me, his picture perfect smile wide across his face. "We did it, Emma! We did it!" He howls with joy, then curls his hand in a colossal fist pump.

Happiness floods my chest as a sense of security and accomplishment sets in. We did do it. Together. The Beaumonts are finally free. Amazing! Giddy, I clench my own hand into a ball and send him my own fist pump.

Only it's the worst thing possible because I completely forgot that my hand was holding back the wall of water, and that simple gesture is enough to release the flood, releasing its pent-up power on Cooper and the rest of the cemetery.

Cooper must realize what's about to happen because his face falls slack and his eyes stretch wide. "Emma-" He begins, but the salt marsh crashes down on him and slams the rest of the graveyard.

"Take a breath, Jack!" I manage just as the water gushes over me, lifting me off the ground, but the vines hold tight and keep me in place. The wave finally crests, then recedes after dousing the fire and splas.h.i.+ng all the burning artifacts.

The spirit lights dim and slowly s.h.i.+mmer to earth, then wiggle back into their graves.

Gasping, I look for Jack to make sure he's okay.

His pale blue eyes lock on mine. "Mmmm!" His mouth is still covered by vines.

"I'll get you out as soon as I can," I call, then strain my neck to peer over the bank to the salt marsh for Cooper. I don't see anything but a lot of frothy salt water seeking its equilibrium in the normally calm marsh.

With each pa.s.sing second, my heart races faster. After all we've been through to save him, I might have accidentally drowned Cooper because I foolishly forgot what the heck I was doing.

After a long minute without any sign of him, I'm trembling, and my heart has dropped to somewhere around my knees. I'm sure he's dead and gone thanks to my incompetence. Tears stream down my cheeks as I tear at the kudzu that's wrapped around my body. But since only my forearms are free, it's nearly impossible to break the thick, knotted vines.

A splas.h.i.+ng sound cuts the nearly silent night. My heart skips a beat as I peer into the darkness. There are only a handful of spirit lights still hovering in the sky so it's difficult to tell shadows from real objects.

More splas.h.i.+ng. A hand slaps against the surface, followed by the steady beats of kicking feet. It's Cooper's freestyle. I'd know it anywhere.

"He's alive!" I yell to Jack whose eyelids close with relief.

Another long minute later, Cooper hauls himself out of the water, then slogs up the side of the bank.

"Cooper!" I yell, unable to contain myself. I've never been so happy to see him in all my life.

His chest rises and falls as he drags himself across the graveyard. Despite his panting, he grins. "I'm okay. That wave pulled me halfway to St. Helena Island Sound. Wasn't really expecting that."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to drop the water on you."

Staggering toward me, he waves away my concern. "Nah, I needed the exercise." Then he stoops to where the fire was and digs through the artifacts that were scattered by the wave. He picks up the pirate's dagger, then heads straight for me. "Let's cut you loose."

I shake my head. "No, get Jack first. At least I can move a little. Him, not so much."

Cooper glances at Jack and laughs. "You do look pretty funny, bro."

"Mmmm." Jack glowers.

Cooper crosses his arms. "Are you seriously going to back talk me now? After everything I just went through? And before I free you?"

Jack growls.

"Fine." Cooper chuckles then stoops to cut him loose.

"Thanks, dude," Jack says when he's finally liberated and Cooper helps him to his feet. He stretches his arms up over his head. "That was the craziest thing I've ever seen."

Cooper scoffs. "I think I've had my fill of crazy this summer. What do you think Emma?" He smiles as he crouches next to me and cuts the vines. Amazingly, the knife is pristine, not even scorched. But that's not nearly as amazing as the fact that Cooper is here, next to me, alive and not possessed by a hideous monster. If my biceps weren't still tied to my side, I'd throw my arms around him and weep with joy.

I laugh as my cheeks burn from smiling so wide. "Every time I think it can't possibly get any weirder, somehow it does." Luckily for me, the summer's nearly at its end. Soon I'll be back in DC, safe and sound, and hopefully out of Sabina's vengeful reach.

When the last of the kudzu is cut away, Cooper stands and extends his hand to me. I slip my fingers into his broad palm and he pulls me to my feet.

His strong arms clasp me, tugging me tight to his soaking wet body. He stinks like the marsh, but that hardly matters. I'll take dead fish over boo-hag funk any day.

"Happy birthday, Cooper." I squeeze him tight, grasping the hard muscles in his back as my heart swells with happiness.

"Thank you, Emmaline. For saving my soul. For killing the boo hag and freeing my family. For everything," he whispers, his breath warm against my neck.

"I couldn't have done it without you guys. All I did was say a few words. You're the one who fought off the boo hag and pushed it into the water. I couldn't have done that."

He pulls back just enough to lay his fingers beneath my chin and gently tilt my head to meet his gaze. "No. It was you. It's always been you."