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Chapter 10 Escape

Bri

I sat in the passenger’s seat as Zoey drove me beyond the city going west. She would drop me off somewhere remote and I would continue on foot the rest of the way, to where I was not entirely sure. Leaving seemed to rip a small hole in my chest. Zoey eyed me as I sat with my head pressed against the window. “Anything happens you call me, I will come get you. I mean it Bri no acts of valor,” she scolded.

If only she knew the gravity of what I planned to do when I returned. There was no valor, just karma seeped in rage. “Thank you, Zoey. Thank you for every moment of your friendship.” I implored as she pulled up to the gas station next to an RV park somewhere between Houma and Morgan City.

She unbuckled, as did I. I reached across the distance and wrapped my arms around her. I was casting my gift out, ensuring no one was lying in wait, following me or would follow her. “You keep your fine ass safe for me ok?” Zoey insisted. I chuckled through my tears. “I'll be fine Zoey I promise,” I reassured. We rocked like that for a moment, unwilling to let go. When we did finally pull back, our eyes met, still close oh so close to each other.

With Zoey, I was always safe. She studied me, my eyes, my face, my lips. Her stare was intense as if memorizing me. She pushed a strand of flyaway hair behind my ear as she leaned in and her full, brown lips softly brushed mine. I returned the soft brush gently before I pulled myself away. It was a strange kind of intimacy, not romantic or sexual, purely appreciative, and cherishing our relationship which was deeper than friendship. I would murder for this girl, I had nearly murdered myself to ensure her protection. She was like a sister yet also like an unknowing spiritual follower.

Maggie said they flocked to me, these humans, so close to what we were but not. Maybe some primordial aspect in them sensed my power. It would be here in this little podunk place where I would cloak it from them and become untraceable as I made my way through the terrain of the cajun bayou to disappear until I was ready to return and destroy them.

Her head was slightly cocked as our emotions mingled in the little rental car purchased under a different name. “Whoever has made you run away I hope they get what's coming to them,” she said, as we both returned to our seats. That brought a cunning grin to my face. “Oh Zoe, I’m not running, I’m just biding my time,” I said, reaching for the door handle.” She grinned back, “That’s my girl! Go get 'em!” She said, hand on the shifter, ready to make a long winding trek around the state and back to New Orleans. “This is not goodbye,” I said “Stay safe mon ami, (my friend)” I told her as I pulled my hood up and grabbed my two bags pushing the door open. Maggie had packed me some special treats and a bag of something she called ‘the best shit ever.’ I hefted them onto my shoulders and turned my back on Zoey disappearing behind the building as I became the night.

The ground was flat and there was little cover near the road as I made my way south, shrinking behind houses until I found a place sheltered near the water so I could craft the spell that would cloak me. I settled on the damp ground pulling out a necklace I had purchased from an occult shop. It was clear quartz crystal and just calling for a purpose, my purpose. I held it in my palms casting my energy out; willing the light and the darkness within me to spread across each other's tendrils mingling, caressing, joining. Picking up a stick I drew a circle around me in the soft mud, I’d be filthy after this but safe. I had pulled on some leggings under the dress and swapped my flats for sneakers once I got to the building where I met Zoey. Better to protect me from the mosquitos out here in the swamps and bayou. Taking a handful of the salt I had stolen from the kitchen and blessed yesterday, I then traced that circle, “I place a circle of protection around myself to protect this task and ensure no corruption may pass into this spell. Any attempts upon it will be known to me." It was a clause in the spell to keep Draven out. He liked to unravel people's spells and turn them against them.

My voice steady, I called the quarters, “I call the guardians of the east to aid me in the task at hand,” I sprinkled earth over the pendant and chain, and the ground trembled slightly. “I call the guardians of the south to aid me with this task at hand.” My hand dipped into the stagnant water and dribbled it over the necklace. The unmoving water suddenly lapped. I shivered at the feel of the two elements answering the call. “I call the guardians of the west to aid me with the task at hand,” a breeze picked up out of the west washing over me and the task before me. “I call the guardians of the north to aid me with the task at hand.” I held my hand with the necklace up and fire burned in my palm as I willed it from my magic. “I ask the mother to shield and protect me in my time of need. Until the day comes when I am worthy of what I will become and the task I have been dealt with. I ask that you guide me in this time so that I may become as you deem me, as you willed me, alive in the womb of your power and grant me in time the retribution I am owed.” The power was unseen to the naked eye but for me was cast around me like a fog. The moon was high, nearly full in the sky as it peaked out from between the clouds and then I felt it, a burst, a click within me like a lock clicking open and the pressure of a room changing as a long sealed door swung open. I swayed gripping my fist closed around the pendant, the fire extinguishing as a light within me grew and then detonated from within me. I slumped forward, my freehand digging into the mucky soil to brace my weight.

My muscles trembled as I righted myself. My muddy hands brushed back my hood as I pulled the necklace over my head and dropped it beneath my shirt where its warmth caused a trickle of sweat to run between my breasts in the balmy August night. I pulled myself up checking my watch. It was 3 am, the witching hour, how convenient. They may or may not realize I was missing. Until I didn’t show up for class Monday, then Draven would notice. I unhooked it, chucked it in the circle, and stamped on it. I carved out a message into the silty dirt in the middle of the circle. No doubt they would find it and realize the actual strength of my power. I grinned to myself internally, immensely proud of screwing up their plans. I began walking, trying to shake off the buzz beneath my skin. I needed to move, the high of the power within had started wearing off. A telltale headache began brewing as my body warred with it and started pounding. I had to move and find shelter, safety, and somewhere to disappear. As dawn’s light approached I felt a tug in my chest. I noted a small dock sitting in the back of a disheveled house. A lonely little wooden pirogue boat tied off at the end of it. I crouched down by the thicket at the edge of the property, my eyes darting to the empty drive, the lightless windows. I crept noiselessly across the backyard. I reached into my pack and grabbed a wad of 20 dollar bills as I padded carefully along the short dock shoving the money into an empty water bottle, which I placed next to where the boat was tied off. I wasn’t a thief, these boats were cheap enough and I was sure the money I left could buy two.

Stepping into the boat was another task and I wavered, my balance faltering in the commotion as I attempted to stay upright. The foreign feeling of the buoyancy of the boat. I caught the attention of a dog who burst from a hole in the screen on the porch. “Shit,” I cursed, grabbing the oars and long pole off the dock and chucking them in the boat. Shooting out a burst of power severed the rope and another almost had me tipping the boat as I let off a pulse of energy to push me off the dock. The blue leopard catahoula began baying up a storm. I was close enough to see the pale blue of the animal's strange eyes. ‘Fuck’ I began using the pole in the shallows, willing up a fog that crept from inside the swamp, coming from the depths of the bayou itself. lights turned on and curses swelled from within the house. There was no point in silencing the dog once his alarm was raised so I left him. Between the power of my muscles working the pole, and the pulses of the power within me, the crawling fog finally met me. I was engulfed when a gunshot rang through the night and I shuttered, feeling it whiz way too close to home as I disappeared.

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