*This chapter is a little more exciting than the first, so if you thought it started out kind of boring I hope this helps. Reviews are greatly appreciated.*
The African camp was little more than a series of small shacks set up in a loose curve. The people who lived there were all free men and women who worked for Mary Alice's father on the plantation, however in a lot of ways they were still not entitled to the true meaning of freedom. Mary Alice thought that it was grossly unfair, but there was little she could do about it. She and Tanna spent many days and nights dreaming of what life would be like if their relationship was considered acceptable. For now they would just have to meet in secret by the light of the moon.
When Mary Alice arrived Tanna was busy stoking a small fire, tossing leaves and sticks in at regular intervals. She wore a colorful scarf on her head and many necklaces made of bones, beads and other bits of this and that. Sitting on the ground to her right was a bowl of various herbs and two small, clay cups. Tanna knew that Mary Alice was there without even seeing her. She had a mysterious way of knowing things that Mary Alice could only guess at.
"You have come, my friend, and just in time too," She said crouching down to blow on her meager fire.
"Oh Tanna," Mary Alice said, "I couldn't wait to tell you. My father, he wants to give me away to some boy. What am I going to do?"
"We'll see what we can do about that. There is a spell, but it's complicated. I will ask my mother to teach me. For now there is a right I would like you to help me with, that is, if you're not too scared." Tanna said turning around to grin at Mary Alice.
Tanna's mother was teaching her Hoodoo magic, little by little, and she was always happy to try out what she had learned with Mary Alice. They had started out with just simple charms and Mary Alice was so fascinated with it that she had even taken to hiding various herbs and other unknown substances around her room to protect her from her father.
"I'm not scared!" exclaimed Mary Alice, "What does it do?"
"My mother says it will help us see, if we do it right. But we have to really believe in it or it won't work."
"See? What does that mean?" Mary Alice rarely cared what the spells they performed were for she was just eager to participate. This one sounded a little strange though. She and Tanna could see just fine, why would they need a spell for it?
"She says we will be able to see beyond what is in front of our own eyes. I'm not too sure what exactly, but we will find out, wont we?" Tanna grimaced a little as she said this, which made Mary Alice a bit nervous.
"It's not going to hurt is it?" She Mary Alice replied, her voice a little shaky.
"Only a little," Tanna said with a wink and they both laughed, "Okay, we will have to say a little chant I want you to remember it, it goes like this: Njozi, njozi hili ni lengo langu! Waje, waje! Mbeleni tutaona!"
Mary Alice struggled with the words a few times but soon she had it down. When Tanna was satisfied with her chanting she tossed a few of the herbs into the fire along with some salt and a few other things that Mary Alice couldn't identify and drew a strange symbol in the dirt around the fire. A thick orange smoke rose from the flames which startled Mary Alice. The rest of the herbs were used to make a tea. Then Tanna pulled a dagger from her hip. Mary Alice eyed the dagger nervously.
"What are you going to do with that!?" It was the first time that Mary Alice had ever been afraid of any of Tanna strange rituals.
"We both have to make a contribution."
"What kind of...contribution?"
"Just a little blood. You're not backing out are you? I can't do this alone," Tanna pleaded.
Mary Alice was starting to get a little scared. She hated the thought of having to be cut, but she couldn't let her friend down. So, she swallowed her fears and held out her hand.
"Try to make it quick," She said then shut her eyes tightly. She felt the knife slice through the flesh of her palm and let out a small cry of pain. When she opened her eyes Tanna was cutting her own hand in exactly the same way. Tanna put her cut on top of Mary Alice's then held each cup underneath and let a few drops of mixed blood fall in.
She handed one cup to Mary Alice and then held the other up to toast. Then the two of them drank down the liquid as quickly as possible. They danced around the fire then chanting softly at first then letting the sound grow until they were both practically screaming the words. At first Mary Alice was having a great time whirling around the fire, but it was not fun for very long. She began to feel hot as if she were in the fire and not just next to it. Then her ears began to ring, a high pitched squealing that blocked out all other sounds. The smoke from the fire engulfed her, choking and blinding her. She tried to scream but as hard as she tried she could not make her voice reach the air. She felt as if she were floating off the ground. She could not feel her arms and legs and soon she felt as if she was separated from her whole body. Then a thousand images like lightening flashed before her eyes. People, all different kinds of people talking and laughing and screaming and dying and doing any manner of thing you could think of. She tried to focus on each scene but as soon as she started to comprehend it a new one would emerge sending the other spinning out of her head.
Tanna had stopped chanting. She knew that something was seriously wrong with Mary Alice. She was on the ground convulsing her eyes rolling in every direction. Tanna screamed at her hoping for a response but Mary Alice either wouldn't or couldn't respond.
"Mary Alice!" She yelled her name over and over shaking her, tears streaming down her face, but nothing helped. What had she done to her friend? Finnaly she realized she could do nothing and ran as fast as she could to fetch her mother.
Tanna's father picked Mary Alice up and ran as fast as he could to her father's house. By the time they got there she had stopped shaking, but her body hung limp and she was red and burning with fever. He pounded on the door and one of the maids came to answer it. She screamed for the Richard as soon as she saw the state of his daughter. She led Tanna's father upstairs and instructed him to lay her in the bed and began applying cool cloths to her skin. Richard and Caroline were histerical when they saw Mary Alice.
"What have you done to my daughter?!" Richard yelled.
"She's ill, that's all I know. My little Tanna led me to her. She was like this when I found her." Jabari answered as calmly and politely as possible.
Meanwhile Caroline was busy tending to her daughter. She had noticed that her left hand was clenched when she turned it over she was shocked to find a huge red gash through the center of her palm.
"Richard! They've cut her!" she screamed.
He glared at Jabari as if he were nothing more than a piece of garbage.
"I want you out of my house! Now! You and that devil daughter of yours and the rest of your family are no longer welcome here! Do you understand me! Be gone!" He roared.
Jabari ran out of the house as fast as he could and never looked back. When he returned to his home Tanna and his wife were sitting quietly waiting for him to return.
"Tanna!" he said, "What have you done! We must leave now, we have nowhere to go!"
"I'm sorry father!" She cried. She was sorry. Sorry she had done this to her family, sorry she had ever tried a ritual that was too advanced for her, but most of all she was sorry that she had hurt Mary Alice and would never see her again.