Free Silver Moon by Monica Barrie Page A

clothing, so different from other women’s, had accented her full, womanly body, and made him want to take her in his arms.
    Forcing himself to push her from his mind, Brace turned back to the plant and prepared himself to enter the inferno that was cold, compared to the heat flaring through his body.
    *****
    The darkness was a never-ending blanket, and only the small fire in the clearing gave any illumination. There was but one person sitting before the flames, Lucea, the Obeah woman. She stared into the fire, her eyes glazed and far away. Her body was stiff, her breathing shallow.
    She remained in that position for an hour, until she shook herself free of the trance and blinked her eyes. She knew she was a rare person, gifted since birth with a special ability.
    Even as a young child, she was different from the others, not alienated, but different. She had found it easy to speak English without the dialectic differences spoken by the other slaves. She learned quickly, absorbing all the teachings, while thirsting for more and more knowledge. Damian, the Obeah man, the voodoo priest, had seen how different Lucea was, and had taken her as his student, teaching her the ways of his religion.
    As she learned, she became a true Obeah, gifted with the sight, and the Loas—the possession of spirits. When Lucea went into a trance, her spirit advisor would enter her body and speak with her tongue.
    Yet even in this, she was different, for other obeahs never remembered what they spoke during possession; Lucea always did.
    Tonight she was deeply troubled. She sensed terrible things afoot. Mysteries within mysteries, all centering on Elyse Louden. Lucea sensed it was not the young woman who would bring trouble; rather, Elyse was the one trouble followed.
    Brace, too, who was like no other planter, was marked with the sign of trouble. That the green-eyed woman had been born for him, Lucea did not doubt; that Brace himself would recognize this truth, she prayed daily.
    She had seen through the heat of the fire that unless these two people accepted their destiny, either of them might lose the other forever.
    “I call upon you, Erzulie, eternal female that you are, to help us, to protect us from what is about to happen.”

Chapter Ten
     
    Elyse emerged from the trees and stepped onto the beach. The sand squeezing between her toes had a strange, yet familiar feeling, and she wondered why she had come here without boots.
    She looked at the gentle swells within the moonlit bay, and a rushing desire to swim overcame her. Taking off her nightdress, she stood naked before stepping into the warm Caribbean.
    As the water rose along her legs, the sand and seashells beneath her feet became a welcoming walkway. The water was a warm caress, lapping at her thighs then gradually her waist. The water covered her breasts, and her nipples hardened as if the water were a lover. Then it was up to her neck, and her long hair floated cape-like behind her.
    Taking a deep breath, she pushed off the bottom and swam outward. As she did, she saw a shadow ahead of her. The instant she spotted it, she felt the compulsion to swim to it. Arching her body, Elyse began to take long, smooth strokes, but the shadow never seemed to get closer.
    She swam for what seemed hours. Then suddenly, she was near the shadow and it was taking form. She saw it was a man’s head, and then she was close enough to see the moonlight reflected in his eyes.
    “Brace!” she called, her body turning molten as desire flared. Treading water, she held her arms out to him, but he was still too far away.
    Then he spoke. “Don’t stop. Keep swimming, swim back to where you came from. Go!” he commanded, pointing seaward.
    Elyse shuddered, but his words were commands compelling her obedience. She swam seaward, into the open darkness spread before her.
    “No!” she screamed when his face faded away.
    “No!” she screamed again, jerking upright in the bed, her chest rising and falling from