Babah's head snapped up. She put down the empty juice glass and straw she'd been offering the sick young woman and lifted her hand to her chest. She couldn't hear any noise other than the birds and the wind and the sea. She couldn't see anything other than the sun, the sand, the palm trees... It wasn't anything she saw or heard, tasted or smelled. It was something she felt in her heart of hearts, a ripple in the very fabric of the Universe, in the soul of every living thing, in the glue that kept the atoms together joining the smallest grain of sand she crushed under the soles of her sandals to the largest planet in the depths of outer space.
For a while now, Babah had felt the soul of the Universe unraveling, ripping at the seams. Something very wrong had happened. Her plants were different, her "orixas", the gods of her ancestors who ruled Nature, were angry. Since time immemorial, the holy gifts of the earth were used in ritual, in sacrifice and to open the minds of the initiated to the world beyond. Special herbs, mushrooms, roots and fruits were used to crack open the doors between realities, not only in her own "candomble" religion, but in other ancient faiths. Mescal, ayahuasca, marijuana, dung mushrooms... all of them tools in the hands of priests and priestesses. One of the most powerful of these tools was jimsonweed. Handled by well-trained initiates, it was capable of putting a "yao", a novice, in direct contact with his or her ruling "orixa". Just like all the other revelation tools, it should only be used as an instrument in the hands of priests and wise men, of medicine men. But someone had used the "erva-do-diabo", or "devil's trumpet", as an instrument of unspeakable evil, as a tool not for the opening of the doors of perception, but for mind domination. That could destroy all communication of this solid world with the other world, the world beyond.
The realm of the Spirit was pulling away thanks to the misuse of the sacred herbs. Something had to be done to right that wrong, and Babah knew the woman she cared for, the poor tormented girl, now all twisted and frail, the same she had met a year before as a vigorous, beautiful and loving young woman, was the key to mending the spiritual hailing frequencies, so to speak.
Whatever had to be done, it had to be done soon, but Babah couldn't do it alone. It was an extreme situation that called for extreme measures. A single "yalorixa", or high "candomble" priestess and wise woman as herself, was not enough. She needed help. And help was coming. Babah felt the other world stir.
She turned to the older man reading in the easy chair by her side. "Mr. Adam," she said, using the Brazilian form of address joining the formal "mister" to the first name. "Mr. Adam, we have company."
The older man looked puzzled, but followed Babah's gaze down the winding path that led from the glass house to the beach. Sure enough, a few people walked up towards them.
Despite her advanced years, Babah's eyes worked perfectly and she could count five people. As they got closer, she saw a tall, dark haired man holding hands with a statuesque blond woman. Babah could clearly see Ogum, the Warrior, shining in the face of the man. And Oxossi, the Hunter, covered the woman from head to toe. Behind them, Babah saw a fair-haired young man helping a red-head up the path. Xango, the Rock, was with him. The second woman walked with Yemanja, the Lady of the Sea, the indomitable force of Nature that ruled the oceans, at the same time soft and gentle as the waves licking the sand, but capable of unbridled fury.
Closing the line, walked a long-haired man, dark and brooding. With him, came Olodum himself, the greatest, the God of gods, the One Above All.
The whole Pantheon was there, the representatives of all her gods, the gods of Nature, who changed names from one faith to the other, but who always remained the same, no matter what they were called. They were gathered together to fight back.
Babah saw the older man smile sadly. "He thinks they came to pay their respects, to say goodbye to their dying friend," she thought.
"Those are my closest friends, Babah," Mr. Adam said. "I believe they'll stay for a while. Can you have everything ready?"
"Everything has been ready since the day you andyour lady arrived, 'sinhô'." She called Adam by the old word the slaves used,meaning "boss".
YOU ARE READING
Invisible Death
ActionA sequel to Revolution #9. Mutants start disappearing from the East Coast, vanishing into thin air. One of them is Donna Gryphon, Adam Kane's paramour. Adam will stop at nothing to get her back.
