What The Bones Say - Chapter 2

Running to the consultation room with items in hand, Angel put them down and helped to move the heavy oak table to the side room.

“This thing weighs a flippin’ ton!”

“Stop whining and hurry. We need to get this circle cast, and get this house cleared.”

“Hurry? Are you not feeling how heavy this thing is? Or have your Wonder Woman powers kicked in?”

Celeste tsked at her and rolled her eyes. With the table finally moved, they worked in unison. Sprinkling the room with holy water, reciting the 23^rd Psalms, and then sending prayers to the loas for their help.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Hun we don’t have time we need to start now.”

“We also need something to get a reading. I’m grabbing the bones, since those are the only thing that have not been incinerated…yet.”

“I have an onyx pendulum in here. We can use that.”

Ignoring her, Angel ran to the kitchen and turned around to start heading back to the consultation room when a wave of dark energy hit her like a brick wall. Collapsing on all fours , she wretched uncontrollably.

“Angel, hun? Come on we don’t have…Bon Dieu!”

As Celeste ran to help her friend, she was knocked back and slammed into the living room wall by the same dark energy.  Grabbing her head and trying to control the buzzin in her ears, “Angelique…oooouch? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of me. What about you?”

“Got the black knocked of my fine ass, but other than that, I’m just peachy, sweety.”

Both of them let out a tight bitter laugh, but it did help to relieve some of their tension.

“Can you come towards me? Can you make it back to where I am?”

Angel, tried to get up on her feet but her stomach was still lurching from the foulness of the energy that was swirling all around her. “I’ll try.” She crawled on all fours taking it slow, inch by inch, until she reached Celeste.  Sliding down against the wall next to her, she took in a deep breath, centered  herself and drew down a beam of white protective healing light to encircle herself first, then extend around them both. Grabbing Celeste’s hand, power arched between them and the bubble of light solidified like a crystal. For now they were safe. For now they could rest and think.

“Ok. So what’s the plan?”

“Je ne sais pas, ma cher. I just don’t know. But, I know that we have to get to the consultation room. Get that protection circle erected and get some answers.”

“Why not do it here?”

“Hell to the nah! Are you forgetting what just happened or, what happened earlier? I am not about to become a human lightening rod in here because of those things. “

Looking down at the leather bag sitting  in her lap, Angel knew that their chance of making it to the consultation room was slim to none right now, and their best bet was to do the reading there.  Why not do the reading here? We are in a protective bubble. If we can get at least some information as to what is going on then that will give us a better shot at resolving this issue. She had made up her mind.

“I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna do the reading in here.”

“Have you lost your goddamned mind?!!”

“Think, C-. We are in a protective circle…of sorts. The negative energy that was affecting them out there might not affect them in here. “

Celeste looked at her friend with doubt, then finally gave in.

“Fine, but if I get electrocuted to death, and you survive, I am coming back to haunt yo’ ass.  Hope the men you bring to your bed enjoy voyeurism.”

“Just plain nasty”

“Oui, that I am. And proud of it!”

Fear shining brightly in both of their eyes, they give each other a hug and set to work.

“Ok, let’s do this. This bubble is tight as all hell, and I have got to pee like a friggin’ horse.”

“TMI…t.m.i.”

“What’s a little sharing of personal bodily functions between friends?”

“Refer to the first fucking statement.”

Maneuvering around so they were facing each other, legs crossed, they crossed their wrists and grabbed each other hands.  Focusing their energy, a gold thread wound around them like the infinity symbol getting larger and brighter, extending the crystallized bubble to make more room for them and push back the darkness that  was on the outside slithering over their refuge trying to find a way to get at it’s prey. The light they generated was warm, loving, and sparkled with the purity of bon Dieu.

“K. I think we’re good. Let’s get this over with.”

“Agreed.”

Angel emptied the contents of the protective bag out into her hand this time the bones did not feel electrified, they thrummed like a strong heart beating in an athlete’s  chest.  Hello my loves. She thought.

“Papa Legba! I call to you we need the door way open, we need to see what can not be seen. Show us the hidden truth.”

The bones were thrown in between them. They bounced and rattled around what seemed like an eternity. Then finally an answer…ALL strong no’s.

“Merde! Cher, that is no good. No good at all.”

“Really? I hadn’t figured that one out.”

“Hey, no need to get pissy with me.”

Angel sighed, “I know. Sorry. But this is the last thing I needed to see.”

“Roll them again. Not sure if it will make much of a difference, but it doesn’t hurt to try.”

The bones were rolled once more. And much as they had expected, they got the same answer.

“Ok, we are going about this the wrong way. We already know that we got big, bad, and definitely ugly out there causing all hell to break loose, but we need to know why.”

“True dat, sweety. So what we need to be asking is who is doing this and why.”

“I knew I kept you in my life for a reason.”

“Well one out of the two of us has to be the brains of this operation.”

Angel playfully punched her best friend in the arm. She was right. They needed to know who and why. So the bones were rolled asking if what was trying to harm them had to do with Angel’s dream. A strong yes. Was it the thing in her dream that was causing the this mess? A strong no. Was it someone connected to the thing chasing her in the dream? A strong yes. Last question…was it someone she knew?

The bones bounced and then did something she had never seen before, they up ended and spun and spun, without stopping. They heard a crack and looked up. Their protective barrier was weakening.

“Fuck! What now?!”

“Grab those things and put them back in the bag.

Angel tried to grab them and they shocked her.  “Ouch!” shaking her hand , she turned the bag inside out and grabbed each one in turn then righted the bag with the bones inside. They buzzed with deadly energy.

“Hun, we have no time left. We have got to get to the consultation room. “

“Celeste, there is no way we will be able to make it there. You see how thick that is?”

Looking out through their protective bubble, they saw the dark energy becoming thicker and blacker, almost as if it was absorbing everything it touched. But they saw a clear path. A slim one, if they took it now they might be able to make it.

“Ok, ok. We got one shot at this. Take my hand we stay linked no matter what. We run that path there straight through. No looking back. You got it.”

All Angel could do was nod her head in agreement. The fear building in her was too great to do much else.

More cracks were forming, the passage was starting to close, they got in a crouched position.

“On the count of 3. Un…deux…”

“Hey what happened to three?!”

Celeste ignored her shot forth a blast of energy she had been building to break their barrier, and took off in a life or death sprint dragging her friend behind her.

Almost there, she thought.  Just as she placed her foot within the consultation room there was a scream, but not from her. It was Angel. She turned to see her friend lifted partially in the air. Something had grabbed her ankle long, inky black sinewy strands of the nastiness was trying hard to take Angel.

“The hell you will!”

Celeste pulled down as much energy as she could with a speed she had never done before and shot it out through her free hand at the center of the black mass. It recoiled, dropped Angel, and she dragged her friend into the consultation room before their path permanently closed.