Chapter 29

By

Brynn Morgan

Copyright © 2023 by – Brynn Morgan – All Rights Reserved.

It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited.

Chapter 29

Luna sent the address to Willow through chat, and Willow and Clarrisa drove across the Wappoo Creek Bridge, connected to James Island, to meet her Aunt Vivian.

The GPS led them down a country road covered in a canopy of Oak trees. The extensive branches spread out like outstretched arms over the pavement. They turned onto a side road that was dirt and gravel, and the GPS announced that they had reached their destination. They did not see a house. They only saw a large parking area with a long dock and a couple of small boats tied to it. They caught a glimpse of Wappoo Creek through the thick foliage of trees.

"This is it for sure," Clarrisa said, wiping the sweat from her forehead. Summer was brutal in the low country. There was no sign of a breeze, and it was stifling and even difficult to breathe at times for Clarrisa. It was that damn asthma, and she always had to carry an inhaler around in case of an attack.

She pointed at Luna's fire engine red Camaro that she had just bought a few weeks ago, and that was parked sideways close to the dock. Willow chuckled, "She does not want anyone parking close to that car, does she?"

Clarrisa shook her head. "Nope, we need to find this place, or we will be late for sure," Clarrisa was cranky with irritation, fanning herself with her hand. It was a weak attempt to generate some air. She needed to find a place with some air conditioning soon. Her and her mom needed some relief from the sweltering heat, or she felt like she would faint.

They stepped up onto the dock and started walking down the wooden planks. Their feet made a plunking sound against the boards, and then they heard Luna calling to them from a distance and gesturing for them to follow her further down the dock.

They came to a side path that was grassy and mixed with white sand, and Luna pointed at a strange-looking structure built near the water with a scape of Palmetto trees. It looked like a tent but was much bigger than a tent. It reminded Clarrisa of a circus tent, but the structure was more circular. It was made of poly nylon, bright white with a red stripe around it, and it had a roof crown to protect it from the low country heat and storms. The front door was wood and painted a brilliant shade of turquoise with intricate details in the woodwork. "This is a Yurt, which is surprising once you are inside." Luna explained.

Luna did not knock; she turned the knob and opened the door, holding it open for Willow and Clarrisa to enter. It was incredibly cool in the interior, which surprised Clarrisa, and all sorts of dried flowers in varying colors, palmetto leaves, and clumps of sweet grass hung in upside-down bouquets tied with purple ribbon suspended from the low ceiling. The place smelled of vanilla, which wafted from the sweet grass that carried the scent, and Palo Alto burned in incense bowls. The floors were highly polished wood and covered with bright Turkish carpets in shades of blue, yellow, and red with black fringe around the borders. Cozy pieces of shabby chic furniture beckoned you to sit down and relax or read a good book. There were triple-paned windows allowing sunlight to filter through and cast the inside of the living room in shades of peach and rose afternoon light. More beautiful light shone down through the stained glass roof crown.

"Come this way," Luna told them and led them out of a side door onto a porch overlooking the creek; a breeze blew in from the water and stirred the leaves on the trees. Clarrisa breathed a sigh of relief. The patio was wide planked and had a covered metal roof built onto the Yurt as an extension. Baskets of sweet grass littered the floor area, and large plants in colorful ceramic pots of Split Leaf Philodendron, Majesty Palms, Mandevelia, and White Bird of Paradise.

Luna walked over to the far corner of the covered porch and, leaning over, spoke to a striking older woman who moved back and forth in an old antique rocking chair painted red and creaked with her movements. She had white hair cut in a classic blunt bob. Her dark skin was the same color as Luna's, and she wore a black caftan. Clarrisa noticed she was barefoot, and her feet rested in a pile of sweetgrass.

The woman was resting her head against the chair with closed eyes. She had been weaving a basket, which still rested in her lap, and apparently, she had fallen asleep. She woke up groggily, and Luna motioned Willow and Clarrisa to come over. They approached almost with reverence; there was just something otherworldly about the vibe that she gave off. Untouchable. Magical.

"Aunt Viv. They are here in front of you." Luna announced in a whisper.

Vivian Salley opened her eyes up. She did not open them up wide, though; they were just slits of green gold. She stared at them with no expression on her unlined face. She had to be over sixty, Willow determined, but there was not one line on her smooth face, and she glowed with an inner light as if a lightbulb was turned on inside of her shining out. She continued rocking back and forth in the chair. Finally, she spoke."Interested in a sweetgrass basket?" Vivian asked loudly.

Willow and Clarrisa looked at each other and then at Luna, wondering if she was hard of hearing.

"Auntie!" Luna chided. "You know that they are not here for baskets, and why are you talking so loud?" she said with a snicker and playfully patted her on the shoulder.

The older woman kept a severe expression on her face and spoke."You were one minute late," she said in her low country accent. Again, Luna tapped her on her shoulder.

"Stop, Auntie! They are here now." she lightly scolded and looked at them apologetically. "She is very naughty at times. Aren't you Auntie?"

Vivian Salley sat up in her chair, and her eyes were wide open now. She looked at the ladies in front of her. She studied them carefully, warily. "Luna was very persuasive, ladies. That is why I am allowing you here. I stay to myself. I don't like to be bothered, you understand? I have nothing to prove to you or anyone else. I'm not into bragging about what I do. I try to help when I can."She continued. "People find out that someone has the sight, and they are all over them like flies on honey. I have to turn them away. I live alone, so the cops and media do not bombard me unless it is dire. Once there is even a hint that you have the sight, victims will drain you, as will the living." Vivian turned her head and looked at Clarrisa. "You know that, though, don't you, Cheri?" She looked at Clarrisa knowingly. Willow looked at her daughter, too, with a questioning look. She had no idea that her daughter had the sight. Clarrisa avoided her mother's stare and then looked at Vivian.

"It did not happen until my initiation into the coven last year," Clarrisa said and hesitated. She had never said a word to anyone, but somehow, this woman knew. It was comforting, she had to admit, for someone else to learn of her ability, too, now.

"What is it, Cheri? I sense a troubled heart," Vivian asked encouragingly.

"They were minor at first but have increased with time. My strongest one was this week. It seems to grow stronger each time I have one," Clarrisa told Vivian. Willow, again, looked shocked by this new information.

"Uh-huh." Vivian nodded her head. "It will only get worse with time, Cheri. I hate to say it, but it's true. People call it the gift, but I call it the curse. I have always considered it to be a thorn in my flesh. You wake up to the dead standing by your bed, wanting you to help them. It's exhausting," she said soberly. Vivian sat forward in the rocker and folded her hands in her lap."What do you ladies want from me? You are witches. You have powers, can cast spells, you have the sight," she said, pointing at Clarrisa. "So why me?" She asked bluntly.

Willow spoke up softly."I was not aware that Clarrisa had been blessed with this sight ability," Willow said. "You are right. We are, but this is something that we have never dealt with before."

Luna was perched on the porch railing, swinging one bare leg back and forth absent-mindedly, scrolling on her cell phone and listening to the conversation.Vivian sighed.

"I have not been there, but I can tell you now that you are dealing with a very volatile situation and should be extremely careful. This spirit does not wish to be led to the light but is perfectly happy dwelling in darkness, Cheri. For a spirit to move from its haunting ground to other places in the blink of an eye means that this spirit is not to be trifled with. It is powerful and will destroy all of you if you are not careful." She warned them. "Now then," she said, moving away from them into a side room from the porch. She did her readings there for customers. It was a simple room with bare walls, and a big Himalayan salt lamp gave off an amber glow in the corner.

Vivian walked over to a low, chunky table with short wooden legs. There were piles of jewel-toned pillows on the floor, and the table was littered with white and violet candles of varying heights and a set of tarot cards. She lit the candles slowly and then bowed her head. She looked at Clarrisa and Willow. "I light them for protection. I have put up a barrier so that the spirit can't hear or see us," she whispered and added to Clarrisa. "You will want to follow this method, Cherie, for the future," she instructed. She held out her hands to Clarrisa. "Come sit with me." Her voice was kind and lilting in tone. Vivian grabbed her hands softly and rubbed the inside of her palms with her fingertip, long her lifelines. "Relax, Cheri," she soothed. "We are on the same side." She said in her French Creole accent.

Clarrisa smiled slightly, breathed deeply, and practiced meditation by going to another place, a calming place in her mind.Vivian breathed as well.

"This house has always called to you, Cherie. Even at a young age," she said slowly. "You had a vision of the spirit hurting your friend the other night, and it shook you to the core," she said. "It was as if you were there and seeing all this at a distance. It greatly disturbed you, as well it should. She is to be feared."

Clarrisa started to speak, and Vivian hushed her.

"This spirit has connected to you now, Cheri. She can see others through you. She is drawn to your light and your energy. That is why she chose to communicate with you. She has never been able to communicate with anyone like this before, and she relishes in it, delights in it! You let her in and gave her voice!"

Vivian dug deep for more. She held firmly to Clarrisa's palms."You were in the house, communicating with her, weren't you? And you were there when she attacked the woman the other night in the hallway? she asked softly, closing her eyes tightly.

Clarrisa nodded quickly and started to speak again but Vivian continued.

"I am reading you, but I sense something else with us now. I want to remain undetectable," she whispered. "I am putting up a wall of protection to shield us from this entity; it's hard for me to do so." She concentrated harder. "Luna, take your leader and surround us with candles on the floor. We need a protective ring around us!" she expressed urgently.

Vivian closed her eyes tighter.

"This house is dark and has only known darkness. She has been there for a very long time in this darkness. It has enveloped her and entwined her in its clutches. She has been angry for so long that she knows nothing else but anger. She wanders around upstairs, and she haunts the halls at night. She sticks close to her dying place and does not wander far, but she can wander away, and she has, and now that she knows that she can, she likes it and wants to do it more. Her killing ground is the stairs. She is horrid and ... "she paused and moaned. "She is so ... very evil and seeks to destroy. She draws her victims to the stairs. She is like a Siren to lost sailors on the sea, luring them to their deaths with her sweet song. Many have died in that house. There is no hiding from her, for she knows where you are, your sisters, and your friends." she said dismally. The old woman froze, and her eyes widened in horror. She slapped her open palm to her forehead, and her voice was frantic.

"She saw everything. The girl saw everything. She saw her push her." Vivian shuddered at the vision, holding tightly to Clarrisa's fingers, almost causing her pain with her hard grip. "She knows her and has for quite some time! She communicates with her!"

Luna and Willow had surrounded Vivian and Clarrisa with white candles in a circle. The wind began to blow under the roof, making the candles dance in the room; the wind blew stronger and stronger, the flames leaped higher, brightening the space, and the small room darkened, suddenly cast in shadow, and all the candles extinguished.

Vivian looked across the table at Clarrisa, and her voice was low."That is not the weather, Cheri," she whispered. The whites of her eyes were visible. The shadows were suffocating to them both. Vivian looked around her, and her pupils were dilated. "That is The Girl. She is here with us now."

Clarrisa's eyes widened in horror, and she whispered.

"That is what she is called, Vivian. The Girl."

Vivian shook her head knowingly, and her voice was a whisper. "I know. The girl, Bella, saw her. She saw her mother push her to her death."

Vivian rose from the table and looked at The Sisters.

"I will help you."

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