“Yes, you do,” said Matthew stepping closer.
Cressida and Rosemary both took a step backwards, staring at the gold light surrounding the man. Why were there so many ghosts and why were the living humans able to speak to them?
Rosemary stared at Irene and Ruby and whispered something to her daughter. Cressida looked up at the women.
“You have magic. Powerful magic.”
“You have no idea, child,” said Irene. “What did you do to the land?”
At first Cressida said nothing, then she felt a stab of pain in her breast and doubled over, gripping her worn dress.
“Stop! Don’t hurt her,” said Rosemary.
“What did you do to the land?” asked Ruby. “I won’t be askin’ again child. Your little bitty baby magic ain’t nothin’ compared to me. Do what’s right and you might be able to move on from this place.”
“I didn’t do anything!” she cried out.
“Yes, you did,” said Hezekiah. “You did something to those plants that made them poison the soil after the storm hit. The red algae was effected, all of it turned the soil into a danger zone.”
Cressida just stared at her grandmother, then back at the two powerful witches or voodoo priestesses, she wasn’t sure which. But it was the man glowing beside them that frightened her more.
“Alright. Alright, I’ll tell you what I did.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“What do we do?” asked Luke staring at Rachel, Kennedy, and the others. They’d even brought in Noelle and Trevon, hoping for some ideas from them.
“I have no clue,” said Rachel. “She didn’t just poison each of the plants, ensuring that her grandmother would die, she poisoned the actual soil the plants were growing in.”
“And she did it with a mixture that even she didn’t understand,” said Noelle. “All of those poisons seeped into the soil and are working their way to the surface now.”
“What if we tilled and turned over the soil down six or seven feet?” asked Cam.
“If we do that, we risk moving the toxic soil into other parts of the bayou or only pushing it deeper for someone in the future to deal with,” said Rachel.
“Fire?” suggested Hex.
“Then it’s airborne. I’m really confused by all of this,” said Rachel. She turned to look at Cressida and Rosmary just waiting for their death sentence, again.
“Weather.”
Everyone turned to look at Trevon. He smiled at Noelle and she nodded, gripping his forearm.
“You’re brilliant,” she laughed. “The weather can help us. Anyone know how to ensure we have a severe freeze?”
Luke looked at his grandmother and Ruby.
“We ain’t Mother Nature,” said Irene. Luke just stared at her, smirking with a knowing grin. “I don’t know, Luke. Manipulatin’ the weather is a dangerous thing to do. If we do too much, crops and plants could be destroyed. If we don’t do enough, we’re right back where we started. Are you sure a freeze will kill it?”
“We’re pretty sure,” nodded Noelle and Trevon. They looked to Rachel who also nodded.
“It’s been known to happen. A big freeze kills the good and the bad. It can be like chemotherapy for the earth. I think we’d have to aerate the entire area to ensure the freeze truly went deep in the soil. Once that happens, Harmon would be free to drill for oil and we could ensure that everything was contained.”
“So, it’s worth a try?” asked Cam staring at everyone.
“I think it’s definitely worth a try,” said Rachel.
“Okay, let’s see what we can cook up.”
