Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
Elijah
K ainda tossed a quilt on the floor in the center of the room before setting large white candles at each of the corners, and then one more for each cardinal direction. She pulled a compass from around her neck to position those. Movements hurried but not frenzied, and there was a rhythm to them as she went about the room. It reminded me of watching a dancer on the slowest level of fast-forward on a DVD player.
Arms loaded down with stuff, she moved back to the quilt. She knelt down, moving things around into some kind of arrangement for whatever she had planned. After a few minutes, she looked up at me before jerking her head in the ‘come here’ gesture. I stepped up to the quilt and waited for her instructions.
“Kick off the shoes, then come sit down on the cushion. You’ll want to sit in the Quarter Lotus pose.” She kicked off her dress boots and a knife fell out. More knives appeared from her pockets as she removed them, dropping them into a pile with the other ones and her boots. They came from pockets, under her shirt, her socks, and even one tucked into her braid. Glass vials of colorful liquid began stacking up as well.
I must’ve given her a skeptical look because she chuckled and stood facing me. She took my hands. “Let me show you. And don’t mind my arsenal, it's not for you.”
She sat in a cross-legged position, her feet on the backs of her opposite calves, spine straight with her hands resting on her knees. It looked comfortable on her, but somehow I didn’t think I’d work for me for any length of time. Sighing, I did as she asked. Kainda gave my knee a pat before standing up, looking down at me.
“So, what is it that you’re doing?”
“I’ve read your file from the hospital and the police report, but your mind is blocking out key pieces of information from your time with Uttu. The missing information is what I need. I’m going to use a spell and magic to access your memories.”
“This isn’t going to be pleasant, is it?” A rhetorical question, and she treated it as such.
Kainda placed a large crystal in front of each window and in front of the door. She came back to the quilt moving around it speaking in a soft voice, words I couldn’t make out, as she lit the candles. Then she opened a small, weathered leather pouch. She held her hand down to me in a closed fist.
“Hold out your hand and repeat after me once you close your hand around the stone. It’s an Apache Tear. One of their uses is protection for someone as they heal emotional trauma and wounds, and to cleanse the soul. It grounds and guards against negativity. Now repeat after me, ‘ I am supported as I allow myself to grieve’ .”
She placed the pouch back on the table and reached into the trunk, lifting out a small wooden chest. It looked like a miniature pirates’ treasure chest. From inside of it, she lifted out a series of delicate chains that looked to be connected and decorated with a bright green stone. Then she pulled a large mottled purple stone from the trunk before coming back to the quilt. She placed the large purple crystal on the quilt next to my knee.
“ I move forward with the knowledge that I am safe and protected. ” She placed the chains with green stones on the top of her head, moving them around until it draped over her hair and forehead. The green stones seemed to make the red in her hair flame to life. It looked like a headdress a sorceress in Medieval times might’ve worn.
“Elijah, I hope you don’t mind me calling you Elijah. To bad if you do because for what’s about to happen I feel we should be on a first name basis. I hope you don’t have an issue with personal space. Now stay still. And don’t you dare drop that stone.”
Before I could say anything, she practically climbed in my lap. She sat back on her tail bones, but with her legs draped over my knees. If she hadn’t told me to stay still in that ‘I mean business, Buster,’ voice, I’d have tripped over myself to back away from her. I’d have probably set the room ablaze with all those candles in the process, too. No one had touched me outside medical exams since before my ill-fated vacation. I couldn’t even tolerate the thought of my family giving me a hug, and I’d recoiled from their attempts. I wasn’t comfortable with touch anymore.
She took my hands, placing them palms up on her knees. I could smell some floral scent coming off of her skin or hair, I couldn’t decipher which. Her body heat radiated out to me, making the room feel like it the walls closed in on us. She placed the purple crystal between us so that our torsos held it in place, and we shared air. It was far too intimate for me.
“Place your empty hand on the amethyst spike and repeat after me, ‘ I let go of attachments and rest in the truth’ .”
I repeated the words, and with every breath we took the crystal to shift between us, making it hard to focus. The Apache Tear felt warm in my palm, and the amethyst felt cold in contrast against my chest, even through my shirt. Kainda shifted the piece of amethyst so that it rested across her legs and against my waist. Surreal, like a vivid dream so real you’d swear by it when you woke. What has my life become that I didn’t find this nearly as strange as it should’ve been?
“Are you ready to get started?”
“What do you need me to do?” My voice shook and sweat gathered with the mounting anxiety.
“Place your hands palms up on your knees. I’m going to take your hands, don’t let go of me or the stone. You’ll close your eyes, and I’ll say the incantation, and I’ll rest my forehead against yours. So I'm not having to sift through all of your memories, you’ll have to call forward everything you can remember of the morning before you encountered Uttu. Your keyword is going to be ‘Spider Queen’, once you’ve got the memory called forward you’ll say the keyword and the spell should take over from there. If all goes as planned, the spell will take effect, and I’ll see your memories of your time with her. This won’t feel good, Elijah, I’m sorry.”
“Let’s just get this over with, please.” Dread churned in my stomach and I felt like I could vomit at any moment. She hadn’t even cast the spell, and already I wanted to call the whole thing off. Sheer will power kept me glued to this spot. Five seconds from now, I’d jump ship if she didn’t get this over with.
Kainda gave me a weak smile she probably thought reassured me, but it didn’t and gave me a nod.