We all went silent. Watching. The breath slowly escaped her slack lips.
Seconds trickled by.
Lainie sucked in a breath. Sat upright, knocking us all away, her arms flailing.
“What is it? What’s happening?” Sheshema asked. “She dead? She back?”
Lainie gasped a dozen breaths. Held her hands to her chest. Her face was contorted with agony. She bent forward, over her knees. Sucking breaths. She cursed softly, over and over.
“She’s breathing,” Margot said. “She’s cussing.”
“Her body breathing. Who’s in it?” Sheshema asked, her tone challenging.
“What were we saying?” I asked as I watched T. Laine breathe, and wondered who or what was actually inside her. “Those words,Njoo. Ishi.”
“Awyrdworking of sorts. A prayer, really,” Margot said. “One my auntie created. She’s a Christian and she only usesprayer, so her workings have never been tested. This was sort of a test run.”
“A test— And?” Aya demanded.
“It’s Swahili forCome. Live.”
“The bishop gonna skin me alive,” Sheshema said.
“No, he ain’t,” Mud said, “ ’cause we finished it with a church word. We called on one a the oldest names of God.”
Power. Energy. Intent. Quantum stuff. And God.I shivered with cold. Stared at my friend.
“Son of a witch,” Lainie whispered, rocking back and forth.
Tears sprang out of my eyes and rained down my cheeks.Son of a witchwas witchy cursing.
“Where’s the elephant that was sitting on my chest?” she demanded.
“She’s alive, Auntie,” Margot said. “She’s alive. You did it.”
“Let me talk to the woman who finished off the working,” Sheshema said. “I want to hear the final parts.”
Margot said, “It’s a kid who grows leaves in her hair, not a witch. Have fun.” She handed Mud the cell phone and crawled up to Lainie. She sat next to her and encircled her shoulders with her arms.
Lainie laid her head on Margot’s shoulder. “That was freaky. What happened?”
Almost casually, Margot said, “Your throat got torn out and you died. Your soul got sucked into the vessel with Torquemada’s and a demon.”
Lainie laughed and coughed. When she could breathe, she asked, “Only that? No elephant?”
“No elephant. FireWind and Rick did CPR while Yummy fed you, and everyone else sat around with their thumbs up their collective butts. Nellie captured the demon. Then we figured out your soul was missing, so Nell disobeyed FireWind and opened the vessel. She figured out how to keep the demon inside and let you out. My auntie gave us awyrdprayer to pull your soul free. And Mud figured out which soul was yours and how to get it back into you. It was a community effort.”
Lainie tilted her head to FireWind. “You wouldn’t let me out? Fuck you. Sideways.”
The boss-boss laughed, and was still laughing when he said, “Turns out I was wrong about the demon escaping andpossessing one of us. My deepest apologies, Kent. I’ll approve you two weeks’ PTO to heal from the broken ribs I gave you keeping your body alive while the unit figured out how to save you.”
Mud reappeared and handed Margot her cell. To Lainie, Mud asked, “How do you have sex sideways?”
I interrupted quickly, “No sex talk.”
“Mindy,” FireWind said, using my sister’s given name. “How did you know which soul was Kent’s?”
“I’m a plant-woman. I know things,” Mud stated, her expression Nicholson-mulish.
