Witch Doctor Sacrifice

Witch Doctor Sacrifice 4

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Chapter 4

Black Doors and Fruit

"Today we go outside. Micko. I'd like you to try ane keep up with the rest of us. It seems you lack behind. In this coven those who are lag behind become sacrifices. I wouldn't like to see that happen to you."

I wasn't sure if Genesis Bah was joking with me or not. Whether or not he was joking didn't mean much to me either way. The threat seemed very real. The idea of being a sacrificed had crossed my mind several times. I'm not sure whether or not it had come to me in a dream or whether my live conscious has invented the possibility. The reality of the situation was disguised by his humor. He smiled when he said it. Brandon laughed as though Bah had said the funniest thing in the world. The others were all amused. I had become the joke in the coven. Even Mason smirked.

It had been a week since Bah had come back to the class. The others had begun to excel. The Atwood's proficiency was rivaled only by Brandon at times. They have become so proficient in healing their cuts that they had begun cutting one another and made a joke of it. Rio and his twin followed close behind. I still remained the last one...each and every time to heal.

Mason always waited for me...even now as I lagged behind the others followed Bah out of the tower Mason waited for me.

"Understanding blood is only part of sacrificial magic," Bah explained, "Our magic depends on relationships more than others. The relationships that we are able to build with our ancestors is key. The closer the bond you have to a spirit the more they are willing to do for you. My mother is dead. In order to have her perform an act for me from the afterlife I don't have to do much. She already loves me. However if there is a spirit that does not know me, I'd have to sacrifice more. You must persuade that spirit with your sacrifice."

"How do we know which spirits to sacrifice to?" Melody asked.

We were outside in front of a yard that spooned the fogged forest in the distance. It was the first time I had been outside. The weather here was warm and moist. There was no one else outside. The forest seemed to be alive and a part of me imagined that it was looking back at me as I peered into it.

"We are all connected to these spirits. You will come to know them. You will know their names. You will know their identities and they will become your friends. I need someone to help me out with a demonstration."

"I can," Brandon immediately jumped forward.

I didn't expect anything less of him when it came to Bah.

"No. Melody...close your eyes and extend your hand."

I watched as the Atwood did as Bah told her to do. I was intrigued by it just as everyone else. As Melody extended her hand.

From the forest something came at Melody. Her eyes opened but she didn't jump back in fear. I was surprised that she didn't. Angelica who was close to her even took a few steps back as though puzzled at that point. Melody didn't though. She seemed to welcome whatever came her way and when the creature landed on her hand we realized that it was a black crow. I wondered who was responsible for calling the bird. Was it Bah or was it something that Melody herself had done? I wasn't really sure but at the same time I wasn't really impressed. This wasn't magic. The bird could have been a trained pet for all I knew.

"Crows are some of the smartest animals in the animals kingdom. They are capable of learning pieces of the human language. When I was a kid I used to watch as the crows threw down nuts in front of cars so that they would crack open," Bah said.

"We walked all the way out here to handle crows?" Mason asked.

I smirked. Mason was probably talking about the fact that Bah went on to pet the bird that was in Melody's possession. Melody was smiling as though already she had formed some sort of connection to the bird. He was irritated as usual. I had to admit. I didn't have much patience for this either. Bah was long winded at times. What was the point?

I spoke to soon.

In the next minute Bah snapped the crows neck!

The crow let out the strangest sound I ever heard from an animal. It definitely wasn't mimicking human language at this point. This time Melody did jumped back and Angelica let out a harsh scream.

"Was that really necessary?" Victor said.

"Yes. That was a good sacrifice," Bah said and then looked down at the bird, "Fatima are you satisfied? Do you accept this good sacrifice? Grant me a wish."

The bird laid on the ground with a broken neck.

When Bah said his words to no one in particular the bird began to shrivel and grow smaller and smaller. At this point excitement seemed to get over all of us. I found myself huddling close to the Atwoods and trying to peak over Victor's shoulder to look at the bird shriveling up smaller and smaller into the ground. The bird folded into itself shrinking like a raisin in the sun. This was magic! When it had finally shrunk to size it had become a black seed. The black seed sprouted roots. The roots grew stems and the stems grew out one single piece of fruit.

The fruit was no normal fruit. It was a black fruit.

Bah's hands extended over the fruit and showed it to us. My own mouth had dropped open at that point. What was once a black bird was now a black apple. I had never seen any vegetation that looked so purely manipulated. It had a texture to it and when I looked close enough I could almost see an outlined skin similar to that of a feather.

"Holy s***t," Mason said.

"Practice makes perfect..." Bah said, "I'll have you all performing this task. You are not to go to dinner until you have brought me a black apple. I'll be in the dining hall. I plan on making a black apple pie for the king. Don't have me waiting too long."

"But you killed the only bird."

Bah nodded.

"Oh...right...those..."

He turned to the forest again.

At that moment something happened. It looked like chaos was happening in the forest. I saw as Victor grasped as his sister and every time he did that I knew something freaky was about to happen. The forest got noisy and there was this screeching noise.

Then the birds came!

They flew fast at us and for a moment I thought I was in some sort of Hitchcock film. Dozens of them came at us but before they reached us I could hear Bah saying something. I wasn't sure what he said but the birds fell from the sky as though they had gotten caught in some sort of net. When they fell from the sky they died and remained motionless on the ground.

"Holy s***t was right," Rio said to his brother.

I turned to Bah. A part of me wanted to ask him to give us another demonstration but he had already gone into the tower leaving us outside.

We spent most of the afternoon trying to turn these dead birds into seeds. Nothing happened. The most action that we got was the false alarm when Brandon or an Atwood was able to make their bird shrink an inch or two. There was no transmutation going on here no matter who we prayed to or wished to. No ancestors names came flooding into my head.

"This is pointless," I stated.

It was meant only for my own ears but Brandon was close enough to actually hear it.

"Why don't you give up then?" he said.

I shook my head, "I didn't say I wanted to give up Brandon. I was just saying that this is pointless. Maybe one of us should go get Genesis and ask him to come back out here and give us another demonstration."

"He has a point..." Victor said.

"Mind your business," Melody said to Victor.

Victor quickly shut up. It was the first time since the bus that Victor had talked to me and almost immediately Melody had gone back to isolating the Atwoods. By the way she stood with her hand on her waist I could tell she was giving up too.

"I can go in and get him," Rio said, "You guys know I don't have any issue asking."

"That's weak."

"How is it weak to ask for help..." I asked Brandon.

"Because it is. No need going inside there and bother Genesis because you are too weak to figure this out on your own. He showed us how it was done already."

I raised an eyebrow shocked that Brandon was coming at me like that.

I was about to say something but someone beat me to the punch.

"No one was attacking your boyfriend," Mason told Brandon immediately, "Oh I'm sorry...does Bah even know that you exist?"

"Boyfriend. YOU of all people want to make gay jokes Mason? Really?"

"What the f***k is that supposed to mean?"

I didn't get it either. Brandon was referencing something but I wasn't really quite sure what it was it was that he was talking about. The Atwoods seemed to be moving away as Mason got heated. I could tell they didn't want to be involved.

The wrath in Mason's voice all of a sudden seemed to subdue Brandon who let out a submissive "Oh nothing."

"It was something. Go ahead say what you have to say?"

Mason had taken aggressive movements towards Brandon. Rio was the one who got between Mason and Brandon. He acted as though he was holding both of them back but Brandon wasn't being combative any longer.

"Can we end this?" Rio asked.

"Right. Let's end this. I'm going in."

Rio tried to grab at his brother, "You going to quit? Bah said not to leave until we brought him black apples."

"Well its not working. I'm not going to spend all day bulls***tting out here with you losers."

I found myself going after Mason.

I wasn't sure why but I didn't feel like I belonged with anyone else except him. I didn't fit in with the others. The Atwoods isolated themselves. Brandon thought I too was weak and Rio seemed to be too interested in getting out of here to really get to know anyone on a one on one basis.

I followed behind him watching his back. The muscles in the back of his neck flaring up as he walked. I could follow him anywhere. Was some sort of magical pull that he had over me?

"Why are you following me?" he asked.

He hadn't looked back but I figured he knew it was me that was following him. Who else would it have been? He seemed annoyed as well. Maybe it was a mistake following him. I should have just let him cool off on his own without arguing about this.

"I just wanted to thank you for sticking up for me."

"I didn't do it for you. Brandon is a b***h. He is trying so hard to be the teacher's pet but doesn't really he's a grown ass man and that s***t isn't the move anymore."

"Regardless of why you did it I wanted to thank you. Where are you headed? I am kind of over this too. Maybe we can hang out."

"I don't want to f***king hang out with you..."

"Excuse me?"

"Look you kind of...I don't know man. You kind of getting clingy. I see you all the time. You a cool guy but what do you want."

His tone came like a blow to my stomach. I wasn't really sure how to take it. I knew he was upset right now and right now with his anger level up wasn't the best time to talk to him about anything. I kept hoping that was the reason he was acting like that. He was already breathing hard. Whatever caused him to push me away like this was crippling to me.

"I'm not trying to be clingy man. I'm just trying to be a friend. We are in this together remember."

"No. That's where you are wrong. We are in this alone," Mason explained to me, "You got the wrong Wright brother. I don't care about people. I don't care about anyone. If I don't give a damn about my own flesh and blood what makes you think I'll care about you?"

"Heartless," I said nodding, "You'll probably be a great sacrificial witch doctor. I heard thats how they are usually are."

He sighed heavily not giving me another look before he walked away.

When I returned to the others it was pointless. I wondered if they heard parts of the exchange between Mason and I. We hadn't exactly been whispering and the courtyard was extremely quiet. By the expression on the Atwood's faces I knew that they must have caught a few things.

It was Rio who thought to say something though, "It's wasted energy trying to reach out to my brother you know. I tried be his friend for years. There's no reaching out to him. You are just wasting your energy."

"Well your brother shouldn't have been leading the kid on," Brandon said.

"No one is leading me on," I explained.

"You two spend a lot of time together," Brandon said, "That's all I'm saying. Him waiting hours with you for you to finish your bleeding rituals. I've known Mason. He's a d***khead. He doesn't get like that with people."

"That's none of your business," I said.

I was getting defensive. I didn't care.

I watched the way they looked at me. Mason had embarrassed me. He had somehow turned this all on me and I looked stupid in front of my peers. I looked weak.

I didn't know what came over me.

It was some sort of emotion but I found myself going into a trance. I found myself praying to something or someone that I didn't know. A name came to me and immediately I found myself thinking about someone that I didn't even know. My dead sister's name came to my mind.

Micki.

At that moment I believed in ghosts. I think Bah would have considered them spirits but whatever Micki was and whereever she came from I could feel her with me now. The spirit of my dead sister was right there beside me. I couldn't see her. I couldn't hear her but I KNEW she was there. I didn't know how to describe the feeling.

I closed my eyes and when I opened them two of the ravens were black fruit in front of me. It happened in an instant.

"How did you do that?" Victor Atwood asked.

They were all looking at me again but instead of that look of pity they had more of a look of self-conscious disbelief. Wasn't I supposed to be the weak one in the bunch that was slow on catching on? At that moment though I knew my sister was with me and somehow she had done this for me.

I shook my head.

"I'm not sure."

They all looked at me suspiciously. Most of the suspicion seemed to come from the Atwood bunch. I couldn't take it much longer and grabbed the two fruit. I quickly headed in. Even before I had opened my eyes I had a feeling there would be two fruit. I knew why. I WANTED two fruit. That was what deep in my mind I had wanted and somehow my dead sister who I had never met was able to provide it.

Was this sacrificial magic?

I found Genesis Bah in the dining hall. I felt nervous approaching him. I had never really been alone with him. As I walked up to him I saw how handsome he was. There was something so amazingly sexy about him but in a very mysterious way. He was the type of person that seemed to be able to get the most attention when he walked in a room just because he had this allure to him. He seemed very dangerous and I didn't know what that really meant. Could I trust him? Could I not trust him? I wasn't sure. I wasn't even sure if I liked him or not. The only thing that I knew for sure about Bah was that he was dangerous.

"Sir," I approached him my voice making an attempt as self-assured confidence.

"You?"

He seemed surprised but only with his voice and not his facial expressions. He was sitting at an empty table. I presented the fruit in front of him.

"Here are the black fruit that you requested," I told him.

"Two?"

"Mason and I were the first to finish."

Why was I covering for Mason? I didn't know. I just felt like I wanted to pay him back for helping me that day we were attacked. If it wasn't for Mason who knows how badly I would have lost my cool.

Unfortunately Bah didn't seem to believe that, "Why wouldn't Mason bring it to me on his own?"

"He felt exhausted from using too much power. "

I had taken the line from what Catalina had said. Supposedly sacrificial magic was draining. He didn't believe me. He laughed a cool, intentional snicker. I knew he didn't believe a word I said. I was surprised however when he took the fruit in his hand.

"We'll stick with that," he said, "As a reward for being the first to finish, you will accompany me to a very important dinner."

"A dinner."

He smiled, "With the royals."

I looked down at what I was wearing, "I should clean up."

"No time for that. Follow me."

Bah quickly lead me down the hall. I followed closely behind looking at him. I studied him trying to find a flaw or some sort of character defect like in Mason. Bah didn't have any of those things. It may have been when I realized how easily he could glide down the hall that I felt like I idolized him.

As we entered another dining hall that was different from the others I realized that this had to be a very important meal. The hall seemed more lavish than anywhere that I've seen in the tower so far. We were ushered into the room by decadent servants. I felt like I had been transported out of the creaky, old tower into a palace of some sort. The walls seemed to be painted differently. The old smell of the tower was substituted with a smell of rich leather. The table was lined with food that looked way better than the crap they served in the regular lunch rooms.

"Should I know anything?" I asked.

I didn't know where the question was coming from but it seemed necessary.

"Just smile. The royals are the coven who last was able to find their way out of the fog onto the other side and win the crown. The king is the leader. He's an introvert so this is going to be one of the rare times you meet him. They most likely invited me here because they don't trust me. There is one by the name of Eli Vincent that really hates me. When he found out I was gay he came onto me. I turned him down. He's a young boy and he has no idea how old I really am. Ever since then he's been obsessed with me. His obsession recently took a turn for the negative side."

"You're gay?"

I raised an eyebrow.

I never thought about it but thinking about it made sense. He definitely seemed different to the point that I could easily have seen him with a man but not really a woman. He wasn't feminine really but he definitely wasn't masculine. He had an androgyny about him that definitely made me suspicious.

Bah's confession was interrupted by an entrance of these so called-royals.

There were several of them that walked in. I counted maybe 7 in total. They all wore black robes that I recognized as a Castor's uniform. Unlike the Sacrifice uniform the Castors covered themselves completely up. I felt naked compared to them as they walked into the room. I felt like I should cover up a little more. About half of them seemed friendly enough while the other half didn't seem friendly at all.

One of the last people to walk into the room and take his seat was Corey.

That was where I realized the last name Vincent from! It was Corey, the Castor boy who I kept running into.

"Oh it's my buddy," he announced.

I smiled at him. It was weird seeing someone happy to see me. I had gotten so used to that sort of backwards sentiment from Mason that the idea of someone smiling at me and almost excited about my presence seemed like a relief. Immediately after Corey walked in I realized who it was that this Eli Vincent was. He was next to Corey and they favored one another. Twins. Yet another set of twins?

I was shocked.

Eli and Corey were harder to tell apart than Mason and Rio. They had the same hair. The thing that made me tell them apart was actually a small mole on Eli's cheek that Corey did not have.

There was a very small kid that was the last to walk into the room. When I looked at him I smiled. He was so cute. He had to be about 5.

Eli seemed annoyed already, "Doesn't the Moreen coven know how to stand in the presence of their king?"

King?

I stood up immediately bowing to Eli, "I'm sorry king."

There was laughter around the table.

"Eli isn't the king," Corey said, "Juju is."

I looked at Corey's eyes trying to see who he was referring to. There was coven was made of all men. They didn't have any females and no one really looked weak. All of them were amazingly handsome actually. I was confused on how Bah could turn down someone like Eli. Eli and Corey had this handsome dapper attraction about them. They looked like they were worth a million dollars. They weren't the type you would go for if you were into bad boys but they were like the handsome boy next door that you could fall for. In fact everyone in this coven seemed like the boy next door type.

Corey wasn't referring to any of these handsome boys next doors.

He was referring to the kid.

"It's ok," the five year old said, "I get it often. Similar to your master Genesis I have obtained immortality. Once a witchdoctor obtains immortality they can set the age they like and I chose this one."

So Genesis really was immortal. It didn't come as a surprise to me.

"You choose to look like a five year old?" I ask.

I can't help it. I know these questions could rub him the wrong way but I couldn't imagine someone actually WANTING to look like a 5 year old for eternity.

Juju smiled, "Think about it. You are most happy as a child."

He smiled again. He had an innocence about him that made me not believe someone so could young could have won the crown. The kid sat down and on his chair there were layered pillows so he could reach the table. I wanted to almost cry in laughter. What the F***K was this? A five year old kid was running everyone in this tower. Genesis hadn't even stood up this entire time and I couldn't even really blame him. How could anyone take this serious?

"You didn't invite your entire coven?" Eli asked Genesis, "The invitation was for your entire coven to have dinner with us."

Bah shook his head, "They are pretty busy."

"Too busy for an order from the king."

"I apologize King Juju. We were attacked. Before me is one of my boys that were actually attacked. My coven is the youngest and they need to put in those long hours."

King Juju shook his head, "Your coven was attacked so early?"

Bah smiled.

"Eli lead the attack."

The room got quiet. Bah wasn't holding anything back. I looked over at Eli. He had this outraged look on his face. He slammed his hand hard on the table.

"This is a crazy accusation. I am a PRINCE!"

There was crazy mumbling in the room. At that moment a part of me wondered how safe I was in this room actually. We had only been here for a few minutes and Bah had already started getting under the skin of the royals.

It was Corey who looked over at me, "Micko was it my brother who attacked you?"

I paused.

A part of me wondered if I should lie for Bah but instead I shook my head, "No. I didn't look back to see who did it."

"Exactly! These are crazy accusations," Eli continued.

He banged his hand again.

Each time his hand banged the other royals seemed to be getting more and more rowdy. My eyes searched around the room for some escape plan if I needed one.

Juju was rather quiet but he quickly added to the conversation, "Bah this is a serious accusation."

Genesis looked over at Eli.

His eyes got wide and I knew that look in his eye. He had looked at me with the same exact look when he made me walk into the water when I first met him.

Bah barked out an order, "Tell the truth Eli."

"I did it," Eli confessed.

Right after Eli confessed he put his hand over his mouth. It was then I realized that there was no way that Eli wanted to confess on his own. It was Bah's influence at that point that made it happen. I looked over at Genesis and saw a smile on his face from making Eli confess what he did.

"There will be none of that mind control blood magic at my table," King Juju said to Genesis.

I coudln't imagine someone controlling Genesis or putting him in his place but Genesis admitted to it.

Bah nodded humbly, "I apologize sir."

The damage had been done already though. Eli had admitted to it.

Corey jumped in, "I'm sure Eli had a reason for doing it. He didn't mean them any harm? Right Eli?"

"Why did you do it Eli?" one of the royals asked.

They all looked suspiciously at him. Eli still had his hands over his mouth as though feeling that his body would betray him like it had just did a few minutes ago.

"That blood magic is EVIL!" Eli said, "If I was king that sort of magic would not be allowed. It is pure evil. Don't you all see it? Aren't you blind? These people base their power off of sacrifice and death."

His eyes had so much hate. Before we came into the room Genesis had stated that Eli had feelings for him and that was the cause of his distaste. This Eli's motivation seemed much deeper than just misplaced attraction. There was something else spewing under these vehement eyes. He had darkness to him.

"Eli you are overreacting."

"The Divine stated that one of the Blood Magic will open the black door very soon. How strange that all of a sudden a coven of Sacrificial magic users show up huh?" Eli stated, "If we don't stop them they will be the downfall of all of us."

"What was that?" Genesis asked.

It had gone right over my head too what the hell Eli was talking about. The look in his eyes though spread across the others.

The small king was the one to excuse him, "It was nothing. Eli you can excuse yourself. Genesis I definitely wanted to apologize. Eli has been feeling very much so under the weather lately."

I thought Genesis was going to say something. He seemed very interested in what Eli had to say but instead he put his head down.

"No need...I think I have overstayed my welcome," Bah stated and got up from the table, "Me and my student will be retiring. Have a good evening gentlemen."

I sat in the seat a minute longer than I should have. What Eli said seemed off-putting and strange. I was almost stuck in time until I noticed Genesis waiting on me.

I quickly followed behind him watching the group of eyes steadily after me. They were watching Genesis and I. There seemed to be some sort of distrust there but that distrust was mutual. I knew these people didn't trust my coven and after that attack I felt awkward.

I couldn't even wait until we got past the door to look over to Genesis.

"What is the black door?"

Genesis shook his head, "I'm not sure."

He kept walking leading me down the hallway towards the staircase which would lead up to the floor that we stayed.

"Don't you care?" I asked, "The way that guy Eli looked seemed like he knew something that was scaring the f***k out of him. It was something about us."

"I noticed that and more," Bah stated staring out into the darkness with no emotion, "I noticed the way the King paused after Eli made his claim and turned to me. He was searching for a reaction. I noticed how Eli paced his anger. All of that was staged by them. They are afraid. I can tell you this. I don't know what the black door is or why it is they are this threatened by us...but I will find out."

"I want to help."

"No."

Bah didn't even look my way. He completely excused me. I knew I didn't know much about this world. Hell I didn't know anything about this world but I felt like I was in this with Bah and the others in my coven. We were all in it together and from the look on the faces of the Royal coven we were enemy #1.

"They have it out for us..."

Bah looked at me finally and turned his head, "Go to sleep. This is beyond you. Don't talk to the others about what you heard tonight. It may just bother them. For right now we have to worry about getting strong enough to be the first group out of the fog. That's all you need to worry about."

I wanted to believe him. A part of me longed to have someone as a role model that I could believe in but I didn't know if I could believe anything Bah said. He seemed untrustworthy but in a pit full of snakes it seemed easier to pick up the one that you've seen before.

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