Blood in the Water by Carrie Baize

Author:Carrie Baize [Baize, Carrie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-05-01T05:00:00+00:00

The women were sitting at the table drinking coffee. Whatever conversation they were having when the door opened stopped suddenly and I didn’t blame them. They had no idea what was going to come up from the basement, after all, and I had no idea how much Belle had been able or willing to share with Šapat about what had happened just before her arrival.

I bowed to Šapat as I approached. “Welcome, visoka.[8]”

You have to understand, I’m pretty sure this woman was young when Martin Luther was hanging his list of the church’s offenses on its door. She was old, deeply benevolent, incredibly wise, immeasurably powerful… basically like a supernatural RBG… and she was sitting at my kitchen table drinking coffee with my girlfriend.

When Šapat nodded her acknowledgement of my greeting I turned away from her almost immediately. I really wasn’t trying to offend her and, in the back of my mind, I hoped that seeing why I turned so suddenly would grant me some tiny measure of forgiveness for my rudeness.

I fell on my knees at Belle’s chair and dropped my head. “Trezò mwen, I have no right to ask forgiveness for my behavior. And I know you have no reason to trust my words nanm mwen, but I swear to you it will never happen again.”

“I forgive you, cintaku.” Belle’s voice was soft but, thankfully, strong and unwavering. She lifted my face gently and I kissed her hand. “And I do believe y… oh my God, Mac! Your hand!”

I had been so focused on my apology that I had actually forgotten the fact that I was holding my injured hand against my chest but, when Belle reached down and lifted my face, she caught sight of the mangled sack of skin and splintered bone. I wanted to make some sort of joke just to give her back that moment of peace but I couldn’t manage it. In fact, now that it was in the front of my mind, even my normal abnormally high pain tolerance wasn’t helping much. “It looks worse in the light.” The joke didn’t do much for any of us. I don’t know if it actually felt worse suddenly or if it was the ability to see, in detail, the splintered bits of bone poking through the skin in places where I should have knuckles but I was suddenly nauseous and dizzy.

It was all kind of a blur for a minute. I don't know when she moved but suddenly Belle was beside me, easing my body to the floor and resting my head in her lap. She wiped sweat from my forehead with her sleeve and I thought, at first, she was singing but then my brain processed the sounds: a healing chant. Either I passed out momentarily or Šapat teleported to our side (I wouldn’t put money either way), but she was there almost immediately; her ancient crone fingertips tracing healing runes along the length of my forearm.

While they had both worked healing magic on me before, this experience was like none other before.

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