The flood inside the cave spit us out. Daisy pumped the water out of my lungs. "A fucking mermaid is inside the mountain!" she stood over me. I rolled over, "But why?" I gasp for air. I get to my feet. "Do we go back in?"
"No!" she yells at me. "We have to go back to the dome. Tell the other witches."
"What's so bad about a fish?"
She snaps her head at me. "What is wrong with you? You never heard of Mami Wata?"
"I--," I stammered. Crossing the halls at school, yes. Seeing one, no. Studying mermaids? Hell no. Which equals. "No." I said.
Daisy huffs, "Mami Wata live inside the realm and as far as I know it has to do with drowning. And bring up, Ni--" she covers her mouth. "If I bring up Shikki, that's a reason."
"What does she have to do with it?"
"Mable tried to drown her several times. She put her whole face in the beach and assumed the wave would take her."
I look back at Yo Gotithehm Ten. I don't get why this moutain is so important. "What's at the top of Ten?" I ask Daisy without looking at her. "The Church." she says. "The First Church."
"The First?"
"The church we all died in. Supoosedly, my grave could be under this rock of a mountain." she looks at the peak. "Aleigha used to sit in there and I think there is another road to the top but I don't know."
"Lola said something about teleporting." DAisy scoffs at me. "You are a baby…" she mocks in a childish voice. "I could then get tried. You can't."
"What about your daughter?"
"If Lola is a mermaid then she's lucky."
"What the fuck--A memrmaid took her kid and your going about it like it doesn't mean anything to you!"
"Lola is a vampire." she puts one arm on her hip. "Vampires do not live forever. There ain't no telling when a mermaid dies and it ain't outside the fucking water." she says.
"That doesn't make sense!" I'm angry. "Lola is gone!"
"And I hope for the best. If my baby is a mermaid right now, bless it."
"That's weak!"
Daisy walks off. "Forget it."
.
.
.
We made it back to Mulierum Sarcina. My face is all tight, I'm just poking my lips out. "Sokkaina!" a soul shapes into a white skin woman. She has on a hijab like Lola did except you can see her eyes. She might be blind; her eyes are pure white. "Sok!"
"Yes, ma'am!" she walts over. "How do you get to the road to the top of Yo Gotithehm Ten." questions Daisy.
Sokkaina looks to the floor, "You can't!"
"This is Mokiri P. Gains, Yawa's girl." Sokkaina bows her head at me. "We both saw a face during meditation. Abner is trying again."
"The baby?" her voice is high, squeaky. She muses to herself. "I'm trying."
"I was told Abner is the son of Abner the first?"
"Yes…" she nods. "The mangle is buried at the peak of Ten. Abner is a cow. A child born between man and creature. This is a forbidden practice."
"Practice?"
"There used to be a thing in the depths of history that created such ideas as man and animal being one. The werewolf is actually taboo." adds Daisy. "We hate Hadi." says Sokkaina.
"Is my mother responible for something--"
"Mokiri, you are a prophet!" exclaims Daisy. "We are witches! You come from sight, the knowlegde, the calm and the storm."
"We knew shit like this was going to happen…" says Sokkaina. "Only women can breed. When the white people learned the magic--"
"Stole." corrects Daisy. Sokkaina eyes her and continues. "Stole the magic, their favorite thing is breeding. Switching souls , making zombies, liches."
"They mock jesus." says Daisy.
I look at both of them. "I'm out of pocket."
"Science wise, if you learned this, the body needs a brain." says Daisy. "Zombies do not have will. Liches do. A Lich can do more then a zombie."
"To be honest, after much has happened to people of color--" Daisy groans. "Well I'm colorful. I'm just light skin."
"I don't like the term…" she sneers.
"Arab--" she rolls her eyes. "Vampires do exist. But in the form of a cadaver."
"That's the scientific reason."
"A cadaver can move… but not a corpse like…"
"It's the same thing!" I'm baffled.
"Some people identify cadaver and zombie the same but a zombie is rot." adds Sokkaina. "why is this important?"
"The Growden are necrophiliacs."
My eyes expand. "What about racism?"
"Yes." says Sokkaina. "But think about it. It's dead."
"Right…"
"I can do what I want to dead people… because dead people are dead."
"It's still slavery and a sin to mock the dead as such. But!" Daisy yells. "The point being, Abner Jr. Is at the top of the mountain."
"I…" why am I so fucking slow? "Kill him!"
"I need to give you a baptism…"
"You look sick…" says Sokkaina. "Are you ok?"
"I… I used to do steroids…"
"She needs a baptism…" Daisy blows air from her nose. "Get Babusha."
There's another section of the dome. A room that's a half circle and several back windows rounding it. We went to the room and there was a woman in there with another female that was next to a skeleton in torn wedding dress. "Ah!" I see a carpet whisk behind her. "Sin-Drosu!"
"Sister Sin is enough, Danebod." she looks at me. "She needs a bath."
"And who is this?" Danebod gives me her hand and we shake. She looks like a belly dancer with her belly button pieced and glossy brown skin. She has a bindi in middle of her forehead. "I'm Danebod and this is Theobald."
"The carpet?" the carpet is a red oriental pattern rug. It swooshes in the air, turning loops. "The carpet is like…" fucking Arabian nights, Aladin!
"Yes… I'm that Indian."
"And your mother was white…"
"Your name sounds like my blue flippers in the closet."
Sokkaina grits her teeth. "Your mother is white."
"But this isn't powder nor a tan."
Lord!
"Girls, next week." daisy seperates them. "Babusha, Sister!"
The woman next to the skeleton lifts her head. She's much older with wrinkles. "Sister, you shouldn't be on the floor." Daisy lays her hand on her shoulder. "I was meditation." her voice is soft spoken. "I saw his face… but the cow is missing."
"Missing?" Daisy steps back. "Yes, the cow is gone from the church. Oh…" she touches her cheek. "Somebody smart, a bit cheeky."
"Was somebody in the church?" she asks.
"Yes. A relative…"
"Of who?"
"It is Deelo…" she says. "The boy isn't gone but he is locked up. We have to get below."
"Who's Deelo?"
"Deelo is Sweettooth. Sweettooth is Gata's son." Daisy clarifies. "Deelo is alive the soul is not gone." states Babusha. "Does Piroska know?"
"That may be why. The child has been upset all day." says Babusha.
"Where is she?" asks Sokkaina.
"I don't know." she frowns. "She walked out the dome."
"She might have a charm." says Danebod. "She stays in her room all day making charms. I read her mind once."
"And?"
"The girl thinks she useless." Danebod states bluntly. "Now… no sister among us is useless. We all have something." says Babusha.
"Well, you tell her that." the carpet lies in Danebod's arms. "I don't talk to Piroska anymore." says Sokkaina. "Why?" I ask. "She's dark… she just doesn't…" she twists her lips and lifts her shoulder. "She doesn't feel good to be around."
"Like she's depressed…" states Danebod.
"I came in her about Mokiri. She's needs a bath!"
I'm clean. "You are right." Babusha says. "You don't even sound right." she opens one eye. "Get me off the floor. That child stank."