I turned to Kyle, hoping for some sanity.
My brother was no longer a part of this conversation. He was sitting in the chair where I’d been sitting, his hands on the table, whispering to Jezebel. He turned to me with disgust. “You didn’t take the pills?”
“No, I didn’t.”
He turned back to Jezebel. “Mom, we were wrong to wait to get Emma. She isn’t one of us. Ramses’s fucked with her” —he hesitated— “head. Leave the plans to me and Liam.” He stood. “She is...dangerous. Forget her. The spirits’ prophecy doesn’t need her to make it happen.” His volume rose. “We don’t need her. Our numbers are growing. Ramses doesn’t know how many of his men have turned. Soon we’ll have your city, Mother. I’ll lay it at your feet.”
“What is it with men and laying shit at our feet?” I asked.
Jezebel smiled as she stood. “You are both my children. The prophecy is that you will rule this city; you were conceived for that purpose.” She turned to the three of them. “You listen too much to folklore and fables.” She reached for my elbow. “Come, Emma. There is much for you to learn.”
“What did I misunderstand?” Liam asked.
We’d begun to walk, but she stopped. “Emma, show them your necklace.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the gris-gris, opened the flap and removed the silver necklace with the jade pendant.
“So?” Kyle said.
“Emma, tell them who it belonged to.”
Looking up from the necklace, I turned to Kyle and Emily, both near the table, and then to Liam standing near a counter. “Jeza—Mother said it was my grandmother’s, my paternal grandmother.” I looked at Jezebel.
“Is this supposed to mean something?” Liam asked.
Jezebel smiled. “Yes. Start listening to the spirits instead of rumors and let me know when you have it figured out.” She turned to me. “Come, we’ll sit on the porch.”
Emma
Iwalked beside Jezebel down the long hallway and toward the screen door to the porch. Before we made it to the door, she led me into a sitting room. In a basket were blankets. Jezebel lifted one and handed it my direction.
“It has to be eighty-five degrees,” I said as I took the wool blanket.
“It’s not for the temperature. Sitting outside, there will be mosquitoes. Wrap up and they won’t get you.”
The scratchy blanket was in my grasp. “Do you have any bug repellent?”
Jezebel shook her head. “I don’t believe in chemicals.”
“You gave me tablets to sleep.”
Her blue eyes met mine as a smile came to her lips. “There was nothing in them.”
We both wrapped the blankets around our shoulders and settled into two big rocking chairs. The hum of flying bugs began the chorus of night noises. Crickets and toads added their sounds until the dark world beyond the porch was vibrantly alive in my mind. Not all the creatures I imagined were capable of being kept away with a wool blanket.
“If the bugs are too annoying,” Jezebel said, “Edmée has a recipe for a lotion that will help in the future.”
I sighed, looking out into the darkness. “I don’t want to stay here long enough to need that.”
Jezebel nodded. “Your brother was right about one thing.” She didn’t let me try to guess what that was. “We should have brought you here sooner.”
Standing, I readjusted myself, sheltering my feet from the mosquitoes. Sitting again, I pulled my bare feet up onto the chair and tucked the blanket around me. There were probably already a few nibbles to my exposed flesh. Once I settled, I said, “I don’t have an answer for that.”
“It’s true. You’ve been influenced by your husband.”
My head shook as I swatted away something flying close to my head. “I suppose I have.”
“My earlier question about manipulation...has he manipulated you?”