Thunder and Lightning

Chapter 17 : Together

A loud raucous exploded  from the  common space. Dru jumped out of their bed in all his glory and ran to the front to see Amina, Mabi, Sarala and a weakened Dave.

Trailing behind Dru, Nzinga stood in the doorway wearing one of Dru's shirts, eyes widened. Her Eye winked open and saw Dave covered in gray and black strands, his normally jovial gold and yellow hidden beneath the haze. "Go get Kitt.  I'll let her know you are on the way" she instructed Amina. Dru handed her a phone that was already dialing her. "Kitt , come look and then pack your things and come here. Tell the pixies to pack their things and bring as much of my things as well.

Kitt appeared alongside Nzinga.  The free spirit energy gone , she turned to Nzinga and instructed her to prepare tea. "Do not  feed him blood or push your energy to him. It will only strengthen the strands. I'll bring the box"

Nzinga kept tins of loose tea at the warehouse for emergencies. She began boiling the water. "Lay him on the floor near the fireplace." he was bruised and torn across his body, but many of the scars were old  with their own stories to tell. The team moved him gently, carefully not to cause any pain then waited for the next instruction. "Please close the blinds. Then wash your hands and remove your shoes and socks. Those things carry the energy of the street"  She continued "Sarala, please place Dave in your orb. Hold Mabi's hand and don't let go."

Dru stood silent and watched Nzinga become the leader, she remained calm and those around her became settled and moved with poise in response to her. Once Dave was in the orb, Nzinga had begun pushing out energy to everyone in the room, allowing them to move with ease. Nzinga looked at Dru "do not excite the energy around Dave, it will feed off our fear, jealousy or anxiety. We mustn't offer it anything."

She walked to the bathroom and rinsed off her skin. Dru repeated each step after her. She let down her braids and reapplied shea butter. Dru offered her his boxers and shirt while putting on a jogging suit.

Nzinga returned to the kitchen and finished making the tea.  Kitt came in with the pixies and began the routine  starting with removing  her shoes and socks then cleaning her hands and settling on the floor next to Dave with the small brown box.Nzinga then nodded to Sarala  to release the orb.

Kitt's Power wasn't like Nzinga's. It was surgical and strong. Her strands were translucent in color not giving off any power as it slowly unraveled each knot made by the black and gray essence surrounding Dave. Finally fully unraveled she commanded Dave to sit up. The whole room responded to the order in a trance to Kitt's smooth voice as they watched in bespelled calm. Nzinga offered Kitt a cup of the prepared tea, first bowing her head in acknowledgment of the power that poured out of her being. Kitt accepted the cup and swallowed. She took several deep breaths, opened her Eye then allowed her strands to wander through the room. Kitt remained patient until it finally grasped ahold of the black and gray matter and began to consume the energy. With each strand, Kitt's eyes burned deeper violet until they were iridescently black. Dave collapsed from the full release of the negative force. Nzinga picked up the brown box and her Eye released strands that formed the symbolic representation of a turtle that the box seemed to recognize. Kitt's essence formed  a star with an empty circle in the center. The star was surrounded by a larger circle that had leaf like shapes surrounding it. The box seemed to respond in understanding, it opened its lid and dragged out every piece of black and gray  strand Kitt consumed from her mouth and made a loud wooosh sound. The lid closed then rumbled and shook about until finally settling . The lid opened once more then evenly distributed to each sister strands of silver, gold and white. The box became silent and inanimate once again returning to what looked like an old jewelry box. The sisters stood drunk off the Power their spirit had eaten and sat on the couch in perfect harmony of steps and collapsed .