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 shiny, 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, crashing 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 snatches 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 shimmering 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 marsh!” 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.