Itanife: The Book Of Ifa (Orisha Chronicles) #NaNo2015Winner

TOTO, WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE - Part 9

                                                             If there is no enemy within,

                                                             The enemy outside cannot do you harm.

                                                                                                        African proverb.

     I feel pain in my head, neck, back....I try to open my eyes but they feel dry... so dry...so difficult to think...I try blinking, once, twice, rapidly and my eyes lids move....I see..but its all blurry...a haze. I had such a weird dream. Something about a forrest, a fish? Abi?.....Abi? Oh my god where is she?

     I turn my head and I see her next to me. Very close, we're almost touching. What? Where are we?

     "Hey....you're awake..". She croaks at me. Her voice sounds scratchy and dry. She's sitting next to me, with her hands down either side of her. I see she has a gash on her forehead. It's bleeding.

     "Hey you're bleeding-". I go to touch her face, and realise I can't move my hands. What?? Both hands. They hang on either side of me heavily. I try my legs and they also don't move. I'm paralysed aside from my neck which can move as I command.

     "Yes I know". She smiles sadly. "And I also realised we can't move. She must have done some kind of juju on us". It all comes flooding back to me. The riverbank, the fish woman, being taken....Oh my god.....no..no.no.no......

     "Juju? Are you serious?"

     "How else do you want to explain what happened? I think she is a mami-wata". She whispers with wide eyes.

     "You can't really be serious? A mami-wata? They don't exist! And they are not real!". They can't be, can't be, can't be...

     "Are you denying we saw that woman with blue scales rise out of the water?"

     "Rise? No she came out-"

     "And are you also denying that she has powers? What about her snake hair? And what she did to me just by looking at me?" She shoots the questions so fast at me, I want to yell at her to shut up so I can think for a second. I want, no... I need time for my brain to catch up with what is going on.

     "I know but seriously mami-wata? Besides shouldn't she have a tail?"

     "Have you ever heard of any other evil woman from the water?Maybe because of the scales they just thought she must have a tail....".

      "Shit". This is really happening. I have really seen a supernatural creature, a mermaid.....we are prisoners..

     I turn away from her to look around me. We seem to be in a cave. A cave? How can we be in a cave? There are no caves in this region. The riverbank was flat and I saw no mountains as we drove.

     The cave walls are smooth, not natural looking. They look polished and there are markings on them that I can't make out from my position on the floor. It appeared to be an unfurnished room. There are torches in the alcoves and it is silent except for the steady drip drip of water coming from the entrance way.

     "Well Toto, it looks like we're not in Kansas anymore". I joke sardonically.

     "Are you actually making jokes right now?". Abi asks disbelievingly.

     "Seems as good a time as any". I reply with false bravado. "Look what else can we do? We're stuck here and I don't know when that evil fish will re-"