Free Tomorrows Child by Starr West Page B

was unimportant. It took another step, fixing its eyes on me,
its victim. I took a step back, drawn inexplicably into a world
where everything ceased to exist. Phoenix reached out and pulled me
aside as the beast stepped into the glowing coals of a dwindling
fire.
    Ruben
whispered, “Navarre! The gun.” The beast whimpered as the hot coals
seared its flesh. As Navarre began to move, the beast swiped at him
with a paw, sending him crashing to the ground. Jalani tumbled from
his arms.
    Everyone’s eyes
turned to Navarre. His blood seeped through his torn shirt as he
lay in a lifeless heap on the ground. Tahinah rushed to his side.
She lifted her face and I watched her eyes grow wide and her skin
blanch white.
    “Jalani!” a
woman screamed. The beast was gone, but so was the child.
    In no more than
a few seconds, we had lost sight of the beast and Jalani. The chaos
that erupted was deafening and confusing. Then, a voice of reason
rose above the chaos, “Stop!” It was Libby, with Tahinah now
standing by her side. Their faces were strained, but controlled.
Both women appeared unified and strong, demanding the attention of
the crowd.
    “Don’t move!
Everyone stay where you are. Look on the ground, do you see any
footprints, anything from that beast?” Emily pointed to a
footprint, her hand shaking. Ruben pulled a clump of black, wiry
hair caught on a shattered piece of firewood.
    “That’s enough,
that’s more than we could have expected.” Libby knelt near the
fire, stirring globs of drool and ash with a long stick. She
snapped instructions at Phoenix, listing items she needed.
    The stench of
death fouled the air.
    Tahinah reached
for a battered, soot-coated pot and placed it on the fire. She
dropped a lump of golden wax in the centre and I watched it puddle
in the bottom of the pot as the smell of beeswax and honey slowly
replaced the sickening smell of death.
    Libby scooped
up the ashen drool and matted hair and tossed them into the pool of
wax. Then she hurried to where the footprints were pressed in the
dirt and ash. She mumbled in a language I couldn’t understand and
took a tarnished copper spoon from Phoenix. I watched as the
shadows deepened the lines in Libby’s face and her shoulders sagged
under an unseen weight. I saw an old woman scoop at the paw prints
beside the fire and toss the dirt and ash into the pot of molten
wax.
    Phoenix handed
her a small, dark red bottle. She opened it and smelt the contents.
Tahinah did the same; then they looked at each other and nodded.
One, two, three! Thick red liquid dripped into the wax, which
spluttered and sizzled as if resisting the invasion. Tahinah
stirred the mix with the copper spoon until the colours swirled,
blended, and changed from golden to deep blood red.
    The two women
stood facing each other, holding the pot. They poured the wax onto
a cold stone slab. The wax began to thicken and the surface grew
dull. They stood, repeating the words, “One heart, one mind,” and
scooped the wax with their fingers, forming it into a misshapen
figure. It was as if one hand moulded the wax, not two, and
certainly not the hands of two different women. I understood the
words and realised that my grandmother and her friend stood as one…
one heart, one mind.
    Phoenix handed
Tahinah a long black cord. She wound the cord around the wax,
chanting as she intoned, “Bind this spirit, bind this blood,
essence of the wounded beast, Bound by spirit, bound by blood”. She
passed it to Libby and they continued together, “Bound by spirit,
bound by blood, trapped in time.” With steady hands, they both
reached for a knife and plunged it into the wax figure.
    “So be it, it
is done.” They sat with their eyes closed and hummed a tuneless
song.
    We waited.
Phoenix stepped back, and I felt his warmth as he put his arm
around my shoulder and pulled me close. Time stood still and we
waited. I could barely breathe, for fear that I would break the
spell.
    Navarre was
sitting up now