attaching other people to me, using my sister as bait and going after my friends, all in the pathetic hope that I’d come to you, weak and powerless. What did you think I was going to do? Just surrender?”
Her face fills with anger and rage. Her voice sounds like a growl as she yells at me. “I no longer need you to surrender, you silly little girl. Your soul is undoubtedly stronger than any of the others I have captured, but I can still make it mine.”
“Well, then do it. I’m standing right here. What are you waiting for?”
With a twirl of her hand, she surrounds my entire body with thick, rubbery vines and suspends me in the air.
Small snake heads emerge from the smoke that surrounds her. They snap in my direction, hissing at me. She moves within inches of my face, her breath audible in my ear and hot on my skin. I wince at the horror of it. “You have evaded me for three hundred years, Emma. I do not like to be kept waiting.”
She moves slowly around me, relishing in my captivity. “I've heard that you think you can break the curse that I put on you all those years ago.” She laughs. “Well, I have a surprise for you. You can’t.”
She backs away slightly. “For many years it was your father’s soul I sought. He hid from me like a coward behind the conjurer he took up with. They protected him for so long, weakening my spirit. Each life that he lived pushed me further away from becoming human again. I was forced to find new souls, weaker souls, unknowing souls who would sacrifice themselves to the darkness.
“I have claimed thousands over the years. But none of them hold the key to my rebirth. You see, I need the soul of the one who took my human life to return. That would be your father. But he is a coward and has decided that he would rather sacrifice you instead. So here we are. Just the two of us.”
She strokes the back of her hand down my cheek. I wince at her icy touch. I am unable to hold my emotions in any longer. Tears spill out of my eyes, clearing paths in the dirt on my face. Raindrops begin to fall from the sky, landing noisily on the dry ground. A subdued clap of thunder sounds in the distance.
“Oh, Emma, don’t cry. You have a great destiny to fulfill. No, it’s not the one you came here for, but it is a great one at that. While your blood may not be able to make me human again, it will get me closer than I ever have been. And will award me the opportunity to connect myself with your father. Once I am connected to him, I can easily claim his soul.”
She twists her hand and the vines tighten around my body. A whimpered cry escapes my mouth. She laughs softly and smiles as I hang helplessly in the dark void. “Where is your precious protector now?”
The rubber vines creak as they dig into my flesh. My entire body pulses as my blood struggles to flow through it. Breathing has become a near impossible task. I can't imagine being able to survive like this for long. With no escape in sight, I tell myself that I am ready to accept death.
Suddenly, a familiar voice breaks through the darkness.
“I’m right here.”
Eliza. A bright blue light flashes through the sky as Eliza takes a few precarious steps closer to me. Isabel turns her head and stares deeply at Eliza, soaking her in.
“You are not the one who has always been here. You are new.”
“I’m not that new, Isabel.”
“You are foolish if you believe you can stop me in any way. The magic of the Igbo is no match for me.”
A smirk spreads across Eliza’s face. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m not an Igbo witch then.”
She throws one hand out toward Isabel, sending a fulguration of light in her direction. It grips hold of her and surrounds her with an electrified forcefield, immobilizing her.
Eliza quickly turns her attention toward me. She mumbles a spell that releases the vines from my body and drops me to the ground. I collapse in a heap and desperately try to catch my breath, my lungs fully expanding for the first time in what feels like an eternity.
She turns back to Isabel, who is desperately trying to escape the forcefield.