“I’ll skin you alive,” Caspian said through his teeth. I saw a similar cut on his arm. One of Mothman’s sleeves was pushed up and in his dark fur, I saw dried blood. Even Brandon, I realized, had a fresh cut on his arm similar to ours.
Ben dropped my arm and pushed me back. I stumbled a few feet until the crowd's hands reached up, grabbing at me, holding me in place. Some hands stretched towards Pollux and Caspian. I could hear quiet crying behind someone’s animal skull and didn’t like it.
“It is time!” Ben called out, standing behind the bed of stone and branches. He raised the chalice high above his head and looked up at the moon. The crowd began to sing again, louder, more fervent. I ripped the fabric of my dress from their hands and tried to move to Caspian. More hands reached out and grabbed me, making me fall over. My knees and palms thunked on the stage and dull pain radiated as I landed on them.
Ben slid his hand behind Brandon’s head, lifting it up and pressing the chalice to his lips. What was he doing? Makwa didn’t know either but he watched in earnest, as if he couldn’t look away from what was happening.
Brown liquid mixed with our blood slid down the sides of Brandon’s mouth. He began coughing up the liquid, choking a little as it was forced into his mouth.
“Stop!” I cried out, my voice rising above the singing. The singing grew louder though and the drumming started up. Boom boom boom, rattling in my chest while the haunting chorus of unknown words swelled up into the air above us.I looked down and saw strange symbols etched in every single part of the wooden platform.
I tried to rip my dress from the hands holding it but they held steady. I struggled on the platform trying to pull away.
“Let me help,” Makwa said aloud. How? How did I give up myself entirely to him? I remembered the first time I saw my mom possessed when I was six. Her eyes had turned white and her breath came out in big white puffs. She had shook so badly she fell to the floor, hitting her head. I had screamed and cried, running to her. That’s when she had stopped shaking and blind eyes snapped to me. A smile had stretched across her face so wide I thought it must hurt. She hadn’t been my mother.
“Little witch, you will be mine,” came a creaky voice from my mother's mouth. I’d never been more terrified in my life.
So how did I stop fighting Makwa when I’d rebelled against such things my entire life? It was a reflex I did unconsciously.
Brandon coughed more and began to wake up, groaning as the disgusting liquid slid to his neck. The scent of it alone made me feel like throwing up. I couldn’t stand the thought of it in his mouth, sliding into his throat, settling in his belly.
Ben had sat the chalice down at some point. Brandon tried to lift his arms but they flopped back down, too weak. He groaned in discomfort, unable to fight off Ben.
“You get to be the test subject. How do you like that?” Ben asked with sadistic entertainment gleaming wildly in his eyes.
Ben reached down and grabbed something. My eyes widened as he raised the knife he’d cut me with, high above his head. Sickening dread spilled inside me, a scream ripped out of my throat.
A gasp left Brandon’s mouth as the knife slammed down into his chest. I screamed so long without thought I was left gasping for more air just to scream again.
Blood pooled out of Brandon’s chest, pumping out in gushes with his heart beat as Ben forced the dagger up, reaching inside the ribcage to his heart. Tears slid down Brandon’s face, his mouth open but no sound coming out. It was buried to the hilt, the blade fully seated. My mind tried to bargain with reality, suggesting it was a joke—one of those props from movies and fake blood. It was just too extreme to be believed. Dark crimson bubbles and trailed from Brandon’s mouth as croaking gasps came in abbreviated punches.
Caspian was thrashing, panic on his face, his eyes haunted as he watched his bandmate murdered brutally right in front of him. Pollux began to stir, his eyes slowly cracking open. Brandon stilled, his eyes in vacant terror as his head fell to the side.
Ben began to feverishly tie a deer skull to Brandon’s head with leather straps. The antlers jutted up wildly.
I couldn’t take it. I felt myself detaching from it all. My face went slack as I laid down on the platform, my thoughts escaping me entirely. My feelings were all gone. I dissociated away as I heard Brandon’s ribs crack and hoped he was already dead.
“I’m sorry, love,” Makwa said and for once sounded genuinely upset for me. “Best you sleep for now. It's time for me to have my way with this wayward flock.” His voice was like the gentlest whisper, but dripped with unshed blood.
19
Ava retreated and I burst to the surface entirely, feeling it all, controlling it all. Finally free. I’d only had to wait some three hundred years. Oh, this world was in trouble.
The wooden platform beneath my fingers was a smooth, hard texture. It had been a long time since I felt anything. With my cheek pressed to the wood, I slid my fingertips across it. Then I dropped my tongue from my mouth and took a long lick because I wanted it all—every sensation I could get. I tasted dirt as I looked at the dark, damp wet spot I left.
I pushed up to standing, wobbling on my legs. I wasn’t used to a body, especially not two legs and two arms. I felt confined in my movement. I stumbled a little to the side, my arms went out trying to stabilize myself.
No one was clutching Ava anymore. They were all holding their breath, silence resounding in the clearing. Their attention was on the dais, their leader’s hands covered in blood up to his elbows. His eyes were wide and manic as he hovered over Brandon, waiting for something.
A big, fat smile spread over my face. I was so very happy to have the opportunity to face this collection of fools. There was nothing worse than a community thriving off mob mentality. I’d do the world justice by killing them.
I looked down the length of my arms and down at the dress that fell around my legs. I could feel my thighs touching, the heavy weight of breasts on my chest, and could wiggle each little finger. I ran my tongue over my teeth and wiggled my toes.
I couldn’t remember what it was like to have a body. I had expected muscle memory to unlock when I finally had control of Ava’s body but I hadn’t been a man in far too long.
It seemed, there was no human left to me at all. It all felt so unnatural. I stumbled to the side a little and realized I was next to the jagged, twig thrones Caspian and Mothman were tied to.
“Your eyes are black again,” Caspian said in concern.
