As Above and So Below

6: conspire

"The omen been bothering me. All I see are moths. In my dream tonight, I was engulfed by a swarm of moths, I felt I was suffocating," I told Giovanni, my hands holding my face. I shut my eyes, then glanced up at him, opening them. All I saw in his eyes was worry.

Gio sighed, thought for a moment, then looked at me, "go to Mr. Ocampo, he knows what's up, he always does. I swear, girl, he is the one person you need to talk to about omens."

I frowned, thinking long and hard, then looked back at him.

"Fine, you have to come though..." I told him, grinning.

He smiled, nodding, "aight, I'll come," he replied, looking at the clock, "class is over in 5, we'll go ask him during lunch," He told me, then glanced up Mr.Ocampo who was sitting at his desk reading up on, yes, omens, his profession. Gio then looked over at Koza behind us, who was reading a book on animals and their prophetic power, and her weird ass snake seemed to be reading too, or at least looking at pictures. Vanni widened his eyes, leaning closer to me, "shes reading a book about animals and prophetic power... "You see moths right?" He asked, acting like he just did something there. Like he pulled an Einstein or some shit.

I nodded, "you right, though..." I replied as I turned around to look at Koza who sat behind me. "Aye, does your book say something about moths," I asked, seeing if I'll get a reaction... And damn well I did. Koza somewhat jumped in her seat, dropping the book and moving closer.

"Cachiche, girl, whatever you say in America... did you just say 'moths'... Wait, wait, wait," She said quietly, "I keep getting omens evolving moths, are you implying you..."

I nodded, she gasped and grabbed my hands, "what was yours, mine was a bunch of moths clinging to my auntie Aishe's Dikhlo..." she whispered, staring into my eyes with her near black orb like eyes. Her medium brown face turned slightly red.

I felt my body grow hot with anxiety, I bit my lip and took a breath and looked in her eyes.

"I woke up one morning back at home and on the kitchen table were a circle of moths around a dead snake..." I told her, "ma grandmaman said it meant there was a snake in my mother's coven... a metaphorical snake..." I whispered feeling her squeeze my hands tighter as she tensed up.

"Oh shit, oh shit, we gotta talk to someone," she said as Giovanni interrupted.

"Got that planned already, we talkin to Ocampo, omens is he profession..." he whispered back to her, giving her a look of reassurance but we all knew deep down he was tripped out too.

Koza looked me in the eyes again, "you know, Cachiche said her mama found moths in her hair when she was braiding it..." she whispered, "you think we should involve her?" She asked, biting her cheeks in anxiety.

I sighed, I was so unsure. "How do we know everyone isnt having dreams or getting the omens, though? Are we sure we wanna involve her?"

Vanni snorted, "aight, Uci, first of all neither Shea or I have had dreams, Omolara hasn't either... I don't know anyone but you three who've even thought about moths, so yeah, go to Cachiche ," he told us, "plus you involved Koza like it ain't mean nothin', if you can trust her trust Cachiche..."

I nodded, "good point," I whispered as the bell rang, making us all basically jump.

Mr.Ocampo giggled at us, "you ok guys? Seem a little shaken," he said playfully causing other students to laugh a little. We only realized now how much we stood out. Everyone was doing they thing and we were out here conspiring.

"Actually, Ocampo, could we talk to you?" Vanni asked the homeroom teacher as he scratched his thick curly hair.

Ocampo nodded, gesturing for us to sit at the round table in the corner of the class. We followed him all taking a seat at the dark oak table cut into a perfect circle.

"So, what are you wanting to talk about, you all look worried..." He asked in caution of how we were acting.

I took a breath, let it out and got talking.

"First of all, back home in the French Quarter I woke up to a circle of moths around a dead snake. Well they were all dead. Forreal..." I told him fast as a gazelle. "Ma grandmaman said it's an omen meaning there was a metaphorical snake in my passed mother's coven... she was murdered, " I whisper, holding my face attempting to keep back the tears.

Koza joined in, "and at airport security in Portugal there were moths clinging to my dead aunties dikhlo..." she told him softly, her hands entwined together.

"And Cachiche mother found moths in her hair when she was doing her braids..." he added, "and no one else we know has seen, dreamed or heard anything about moths or omens... nada..." he told Ocampo.

Our homeroom teacher just sat there, his eyes wide. He stood to his feet, cracking his knuckles.

"Follow me, students."