Nalah slid down the live oak’s trunk to the ground. Her vision blurred with black spots. Her tears burned hot with anger. The Boo Hag had brought terror to the island. The witch had even taken what Nalah had never known to miss. The Boo Hag had killed her mother and stolen her skin.
The baby kicked again, and Nalah thought of Malik. The Boo Hag had ripped him from her life. The father of her child. Her love. Her sun. The witch had created a darkness of loss in her heart.
Nalah rose from the ground, hatred running thick through her veins. She knew what she must do. She made a vow, one she intended to keep. Even if it was the last thing she ever did.
Nalah would kill the Boo Hag, the witch who had taken everything.
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
In Behaven Cemetery, Nalah lay still in front of Malik’s grave. The day was fading, and soon the time would come to fulfill her vow and kill the witch. She packed the spice mix of sapelo pepper and winnow’s reed and put it in her traveling bag. Nalah would wait until dusk-dark, when the Boo Hag would venture out for her next victim.
When night approached, Nalah walked down the main road. When she heard the chilling cry of the buzzard overhead, she traveled through the woods to the same spot where she had first followed the Boo Hag three nights ago.
Nalah sat on the ground among the resurrection ferns with her mother’s skin. She had dusted it with the spice mix and shook the skin in the bag like she was getting ready for a fish fry. Right now, the Boo Hag was on the prowl, selecting a victim to ride, taking an unlucky spirit for her own. One of the most recent victims was William Barnette, one of the Elders who had begrudgingly given her and Malik the Council’s union blessing at Sula Church. So far, all the men had been from the Council families of Shell Bluff.
Bitterness seeped into the back of Nalah’s throat, and the familiar heat of anger rose up her arms and into her face. The Boo Hag had stolen Malik’s spirit. She had killed her mother. Nalah had been living a lie all of her life. This morning, she had wanted to throw the fire beauty juice at the Boo Hag. She had wanted the witch’s skin to burn. It had taken Nalah’s total strength to keep her from destroying the witch, but she wasn’t a foolish girl anymore. The Boo Hag would have killed her, stolen her skin, and taken her baby. Then the witch’s charade would have started all over again.
After falling asleep among the resurrection ferns, Nalah quickly jerked up when she heard the rustle of wind and heavy footsteps. The Boo Hag appeared and shimmered in the moonlight. Slimed with blood, her muscles and blue veins bulged full of spirit. The witch’s eyes were wide sockets of blackness. The Boo Hag was in her true form, no longer wearing Tena Everlasting’s skin.
“You dare cross my path, girl?” the witch hissed.
“I found this.” Nalah raised the bag that contained her mother’s skin.
“Mighty fine prize. You bold to be holding that.” The Boo Hag crooked her neck, and blood dripped down her chin. “Now, you weren’t fool enough to meddle with that skin? No need for all of us to be dead on this night.”
“I’m no fool. I can’t run from you,” Nalah said. “Look at me.”
“You bound to give that baby up any day now. That’s true enough,” the witch said. “Besides, you know I have no quarrel with you.”
“You stole my mama’s skin!” Nalah blurted out in anger. “You left her on Carlitta Beach. You let them parade her down the roads like a dead dog. You let them burn her.”
“Your mama was weak,” the witch spat. “I found her crying about your daddy. She begged me to take her life.”
Nalah took a breath. “You lie.”
“I didn’t even know she had a baby until I found you,” the witch said. “That’s when I decided to hold off on my ways and love you.”
“How could you love me when you killed Malik?” Nalah cried.
“You think I was gonna let him take you away from me? You’re mine, and your child is mine.” The witch raised her hands, and the trees whipped in the wind.
“I’m not yours,” Nalah said. “I was never yours.”
Small pinpricks of light appeared in the black, empty sockets of the witch’s eyes. “I don’t have time to play with you, girl. Time’s a-wasting.”
If Nalah kept the witch out of her skin until morning, the witch would burn. But she also knew the Boo Hag would kill her before that happened.
“Who did you take tonight?” Nalah asked.
“Why do you care? I do a favor every time I take a man’s breath.” The Boo Hag pumped her chest, and a splatter of blood hit the ground. “I done took care of John Resby. His fancy wife, Lucy, will find him dead soon.”
The night sky continued to lighten. Morning was coming, but not fast enough.
“Why did you come here?” Nalah asked. “Why do you terrorize this island?”
“I ain’t the one you should fear. Greater monsters roaming here,” the witch said. “I think the time has come for you to know the truth.”
Nalah was caught off guard by the Boo Hag’s statement. She knew they were clever, and she didn’t know what angle the witch was playing.
“What are you talking about?”
“The Veil. It’s a lie. The Council men created that mist.”
“That’s not true,” Nalah said. “The guilds are studying it and trying to find answers.”
“You sure about that, girl? No skin off my back if you don’t believe me.” The witch chuckled.
“There was a war on the Mainland. The Cataclysm . . .” Nalah faltered, now unsure of the Elder stories and what she had read in the archives. Why would the Council want to hide from the Mainland? It had now been almost two centuries since the Cataclysm. Could Samara Island be that easily forgotten?
The Boo Hag moved closer, and the cloying smell of sulfur made Nalah cough.
“The men on this island are the reason I came here,” the witch said. “They want to be kings and make up their own rules. Even your Malik. He knew about the Veil.”
“I don’t believe you,” Nalah said.
“I can see right now we ain’t gonna be the same no more,” the Boo Hag said. “You go on into that mist. You and the baby. Better life waiting for you there.”
Nalah looked above the witch’s head. The night was continuing to fade. The Boo Hag’s time was almost up.
“You’re trying to trick me,” Nalah said.
“Give me that skin, girl. Go on into the mist. Leave me here to feast on the men. Take your baby and leave.”