Status: Brewing
That Voodoo You Do
Page Seven
Leaving the Marin household, the plea of a heartbroken mother wore heavily on her. A burden on her shoulders as she started down the street. FOr all her impassivity, Aleece cared deeply for everyone and anyone in need. It was a rule and once more she heard her grandmother’s voice in her head:
Our only purpose here in this world is to pick people up and walk them through their trials, our purpose is to love and be love, to guide and be guided. Don’t forget your strength is a weapon for good, you help mon petite, you help and you right the dark way of this world.
Aleece pushed back her thick unruly hair behind her ears and behind her head. The wind tousled around her and she could smell the earth on the wind, it was going to be cold. Just as the weather predicted, but Aleece knew something no one else did. Lydia was alive, being guided through the woods by some force. Something in the wood, something in the air, something spiritual or magical, but something was definitely keeping her safe. That didn’t mean she would be okay through the night, the spirits couldn’t keep a body warm in the dead of night nor could it feed an empty stomach. They needed to find her.
Aleece stuck a hand in her bag and palmed the velvet pouch of button and hair, gripping it tight and imbuing it with energy and hopes.
She carted the clothes back to school but instead of going into the building or heading for the Sheriff’s station, an idea struck her. She found the old blue Jeep with ease, parked near the front of the school since Stiles and Scott were typically early. She glanced around the parking lot and then darted across the pavement to Stiles’s jeep. She jimmied the door open, finding it stuck rather than unlocked, and pulled the clothes out of her bag to put in the jeep.
“Hey! Hey what are you doing to my jeep!” a voice cried in a panic and Aleece slammed the door shut to run but a hand reached out and snagged her. It was Scott. Damn he was fast. Aleece tugged at her arm but Scott held fast as Stiles looked over his jeep, finding the clothes in the passenger side. She avoided their looks and kept her eyes on the pavement beneath her shoes. “What’d you do? Did you- did you hex my jeep!?” Stiles asked exasperatedly and Scott looked at Aleece curiously, those dark eyes drinking her in. She shifted and yanked her arm but Scott gripped tighter.
“No, I didn’t hex your damn car,” she replied uneasily, rolling swampy green eyes. Unlike her mother she didn’t have attractive green eyes. Hers were the colors of swamp moss and algae. Stiles opened the door and looked at the clothes in his car, Scott looked over too.
“Those are Lydia’s, these are Lydia’s,” Scott said turning back to Aleece who was finally fixing him with an even look. Her expression was often blank, but her eyes burned like a bonfire. Scott frowned and looked her over, smelling her attitude shift to defensive and her feeling her tensing under his grip. “Why- Why do you have Lydia’s clothes?” Stiles asked looking at the mousy haired teenager being held captive by Scott’s firm grip.
“She’s naked and if anyone gunna find her- it’ll be you,” she said uncertainly as she shifted her feet and looked between Stiles and Scott. The two boys looked at each other and Aleece finally yanked her arm free. “Everyone so damn concerned with finding her naked ass ain’t no one thinkin of gettin her somethin to wear,” she muttered in annoyance as she rubbed her arm and pulled her sleeves over her hands. “I knew you’d be after her- on a account of you love her,” she muttered glancing at Stiles who blinked rapidly, as if surprised by her knowledge of his universal love for Lydia Martin. “Yeah yeah I know all about your hormonal imbalance for Martin,” Aleece snipped and Stiles shot her a look pointing at her,
“it is not a hormonal imbalance that woman is a goddess!” he whispered harshly and defensively. Aleece stepped closer, almost nose to nose and Stiles straightened, feeling threatened for like the fifth time that day,
“Then go find her.” Aleece’s voice was even and thick, falling over Stiles in a wave as she glanced at Scott and added, “Both a you,” with that she turned on her heel and stormed off towards the the street to go home early. Stiles and Scott had ventured out during lunch when they found Aleece and she had a lot of work to do if she was going to help Lydia find her way home.
~*~*~*~
The bonfire roared loudly, flames dancing high above her head in the clearing as bare feet danced over chilled ground and snapped dry branches. Aleece wore a simple white dressing gown with flowy sleeves and a length that billowed around her legs. She twirled and rose the basin of herbs above her head chanting and moving into the wind as the sun began to set. She tossed the herbs into the fire and watched it flash green and burn brighter. She chanted and put the bowl on the ground, waving her arms and dancing around the fire, inviting the spirits to enter her, to use her energy. Her unbrushed hair fell over her face and blew in the cold night hair as flashes echoed behind her eyes.
Tired legs.
Racing heart.
Pale skin.
Red hair.
“Lydia,” Aleece called and the running stopped. The spirits swirled around her and there were more than usual. An older one, and the smell of blood flooded her senses. She was drowning on it, choking on the copper taste. She begged the spirits to guide Lydia to safety, but something went haywire. The blood gagged her and the pain of torn flesh overwhelmed her. A spirit was taking over, racing through the darkness almost animalistically. Aleece felt strength coursing through her body, her heart thundering and bones cracking under strong flesh and that blood, sticking to her hair and in every gulp of air. She wasn’t following Lydia anymore. “Lydia!” she cried and then eyes locked on her, blue as ice and teeth bloody and yellow. Aleece fell out of the trance, kicked out of the connection by the spirits to protect her. Her body doubled over as she fell back as if physically pushed. She fell to dead leaves and rough twigs, she panted and gulped, grasping at the earth to hold in her hands as she crawled up the trunk of a tree and held onto the rough bark. To ground her, to stabilize her.
“Please, please find her,” she prayed to the whirling wind as it stirred through the fire and the smoke coiled up into the sky. Aleece pulled some leaves from other herbs, grinding this with that, and mixing dye with the air and button she stole from Lydia’s room. She put everything in the pouch and tossed it the fire.
“La protéger pour moi.”
Our only purpose here in this world is to pick people up and walk them through their trials, our purpose is to love and be love, to guide and be guided. Don’t forget your strength is a weapon for good, you help mon petite, you help and you right the dark way of this world.
Aleece pushed back her thick unruly hair behind her ears and behind her head. The wind tousled around her and she could smell the earth on the wind, it was going to be cold. Just as the weather predicted, but Aleece knew something no one else did. Lydia was alive, being guided through the woods by some force. Something in the wood, something in the air, something spiritual or magical, but something was definitely keeping her safe. That didn’t mean she would be okay through the night, the spirits couldn’t keep a body warm in the dead of night nor could it feed an empty stomach. They needed to find her.
Aleece stuck a hand in her bag and palmed the velvet pouch of button and hair, gripping it tight and imbuing it with energy and hopes.
She carted the clothes back to school but instead of going into the building or heading for the Sheriff’s station, an idea struck her. She found the old blue Jeep with ease, parked near the front of the school since Stiles and Scott were typically early. She glanced around the parking lot and then darted across the pavement to Stiles’s jeep. She jimmied the door open, finding it stuck rather than unlocked, and pulled the clothes out of her bag to put in the jeep.
“Hey! Hey what are you doing to my jeep!” a voice cried in a panic and Aleece slammed the door shut to run but a hand reached out and snagged her. It was Scott. Damn he was fast. Aleece tugged at her arm but Scott held fast as Stiles looked over his jeep, finding the clothes in the passenger side. She avoided their looks and kept her eyes on the pavement beneath her shoes. “What’d you do? Did you- did you hex my jeep!?” Stiles asked exasperatedly and Scott looked at Aleece curiously, those dark eyes drinking her in. She shifted and yanked her arm but Scott gripped tighter.
“No, I didn’t hex your damn car,” she replied uneasily, rolling swampy green eyes. Unlike her mother she didn’t have attractive green eyes. Hers were the colors of swamp moss and algae. Stiles opened the door and looked at the clothes in his car, Scott looked over too.
“Those are Lydia’s, these are Lydia’s,” Scott said turning back to Aleece who was finally fixing him with an even look. Her expression was often blank, but her eyes burned like a bonfire. Scott frowned and looked her over, smelling her attitude shift to defensive and her feeling her tensing under his grip. “Why- Why do you have Lydia’s clothes?” Stiles asked looking at the mousy haired teenager being held captive by Scott’s firm grip.
“She’s naked and if anyone gunna find her- it’ll be you,” she said uncertainly as she shifted her feet and looked between Stiles and Scott. The two boys looked at each other and Aleece finally yanked her arm free. “Everyone so damn concerned with finding her naked ass ain’t no one thinkin of gettin her somethin to wear,” she muttered in annoyance as she rubbed her arm and pulled her sleeves over her hands. “I knew you’d be after her- on a account of you love her,” she muttered glancing at Stiles who blinked rapidly, as if surprised by her knowledge of his universal love for Lydia Martin. “Yeah yeah I know all about your hormonal imbalance for Martin,” Aleece snipped and Stiles shot her a look pointing at her,
“it is not a hormonal imbalance that woman is a goddess!” he whispered harshly and defensively. Aleece stepped closer, almost nose to nose and Stiles straightened, feeling threatened for like the fifth time that day,
“Then go find her.” Aleece’s voice was even and thick, falling over Stiles in a wave as she glanced at Scott and added, “Both a you,” with that she turned on her heel and stormed off towards the the street to go home early. Stiles and Scott had ventured out during lunch when they found Aleece and she had a lot of work to do if she was going to help Lydia find her way home.
~*~*~*~
The bonfire roared loudly, flames dancing high above her head in the clearing as bare feet danced over chilled ground and snapped dry branches. Aleece wore a simple white dressing gown with flowy sleeves and a length that billowed around her legs. She twirled and rose the basin of herbs above her head chanting and moving into the wind as the sun began to set. She tossed the herbs into the fire and watched it flash green and burn brighter. She chanted and put the bowl on the ground, waving her arms and dancing around the fire, inviting the spirits to enter her, to use her energy. Her unbrushed hair fell over her face and blew in the cold night hair as flashes echoed behind her eyes.
Tired legs.
Racing heart.
Pale skin.
Red hair.
“Lydia,” Aleece called and the running stopped. The spirits swirled around her and there were more than usual. An older one, and the smell of blood flooded her senses. She was drowning on it, choking on the copper taste. She begged the spirits to guide Lydia to safety, but something went haywire. The blood gagged her and the pain of torn flesh overwhelmed her. A spirit was taking over, racing through the darkness almost animalistically. Aleece felt strength coursing through her body, her heart thundering and bones cracking under strong flesh and that blood, sticking to her hair and in every gulp of air. She wasn’t following Lydia anymore. “Lydia!” she cried and then eyes locked on her, blue as ice and teeth bloody and yellow. Aleece fell out of the trance, kicked out of the connection by the spirits to protect her. Her body doubled over as she fell back as if physically pushed. She fell to dead leaves and rough twigs, she panted and gulped, grasping at the earth to hold in her hands as she crawled up the trunk of a tree and held onto the rough bark. To ground her, to stabilize her.
“Please, please find her,” she prayed to the whirling wind as it stirred through the fire and the smoke coiled up into the sky. Aleece pulled some leaves from other herbs, grinding this with that, and mixing dye with the air and button she stole from Lydia’s room. She put everything in the pouch and tossed it the fire.
“La protéger pour moi.”
♠ ♠ ♠
Translation: Protect her for me