THE AGENI SERIES: AMA ANGENI Read online

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  A sweet scent greeted me in the morning. Opening my eyes, lying next to me was a bouquet of wildflowers, carefully picked and bundled together. I sat up in the bed staring at the flowers then at the door. My heart skipped at his attempt at apologizing. It was very sweet. Did not think he had it in him, but it still did not change the fact that I was miserable here.

  Later that day, after bathing, I opened the door to find a pile of clothes sitting in front of the bathroom door. I fought to ignore the pull I felt on my heart. His sweet gestures were beginning to soften me, and I didn’t like it one bit.

  Ugh! He can hold me captive for an entire week, ban me from wearing clothes and be a jerk but one kind act and I’m melting.

  Asshole! He can go sit on a bee’s nest! I will starve before I give in to him!

  Moments later, giving in, I put on one of the dresses that were folded in the pile after sneaking a peek at his wardrobe selection. I can be prideful later…plus the clothes that Kasey gave me yesterday were dirty. It would have been nice if he had provided some underwear to go under the dress, though. But hey! This was a start, and I am choosing to pick my battles with him. Let’s just hope it’s not really windy today.

  I stayed outside for most of the day and decided to make myself useful. After all, I am a ‘wife’ now. I nearly laughed out loud saying it in my head. It was surely something I had to get used to…I mean, in view of that I actually believed everything he said about me dying if I leave him.

  Picking up a bucket of water, I started walking over to the garden he had on the side of the house when I felt the bucket get lifted out of my hands. Startled, I spun around to see Gawonii walking away with the bucket and water the plants himself without a word. Walking away, I sat under a tree making sure my dress covered any exposed womanly parts when he squatted down in front of me placing a lily in my hair.

  All the walls and the ice around my heart thawed completely.

  Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!

  I blushed trying to fight the emotions that began to swirl around inside me. He stood up and walked towards the cabin. As he walked away, I caught myself staring. This was confusing. No one has explained to me why he had to marry me. Why couldn’t he be with Kasey? What was my purpose in all of this? So many questions that was unanswered.

  I wasn’t sure how long I was out there sitting under the tree, but the evening crickets started chirping. That is when the cabin door opened and Gawonii stepped back out to stare across the yard at me. I wasn’t sure if I was successful in blocking him from reading my thoughts or if he was remaining low key since it seemed to upset me so much. I guess I would never know.

  “Come eat Ama. You have fasted long enough. I like my wife with meat on her bones.” He said going back in not waiting for me to join him.

  “It’s Lailah…and I haven’t lost that much.” I whispered to myself allowing my shoulders to fall in temporary defeat. “Ok girl…You can do this. He is trying to be nice. You can at least try as well.” I clumsily stood up clutching the hem of the dress to keep from exposing myself.

  Going inside, I sat down at the table which he then placed a plate in front of me. We ate in silence. As hard I tried, I couldn’t come up with anything to say. I mean, come on…what was I supposed to say to him? Or ask him rather? He never gives straight answers.

  “What do you want to know?” He asked breaking the silence. That answered my question about whether or not he was listening in on my thoughts.

  I shrugged pushing my food around on my plate, the full brunt of it all finally hitting me. “I was tricked into marrying a man who doesn’t want me and held prisoner.” Just hearing it aloud sounded nuts. I pushed my chair away from the table. “Honestly, I really don’t care anymore. I’m beginning to understand that how I feel doesn’t matter to any of you anyway.”

  He put his fork down looking me over. “That is not true, and I am sorry I hurt you. What I said the other day was unacceptable.”

  I got up washing my plate. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it won’t be the last time.”

  I dried my plate and was getting ready to leave the room when his hand stopped me. I shivered at his touch on my skin.

  “Tonight, and every night here after, I sleep with my wife. I know this is new to you, but we cannot put off consummating this marriage. I refuse to sleep in the chair again when I have a bed and a wife to keep me warm at nights.”

  Sucking my teeth, I moved to pull away from him when his fingers caressed the soft skin of my hand causing a slow burn up my arm and desires, I had suppressed for years. He pulled me down onto his lap, his hand tugging on my short curls. I tried to run away still sensitive over my short hair, but he would not allow me to get up.

  He ran his fingers through my hair massaging my scalp and my eyes closed enjoying the sensual massage.

  Goodness, that feels good. I wish…

  “You think too much.” He whispered interrupting my thought, pressing his fingers against my face and forcing me to face him. He brushed his full lips across mine and my insides quaked like fireworks exploding inside of me.

  When his lips covered mine, his tongue gently teasing, I felt a shiver run up and down my spine setting off hundreds of sparks in my body without any physical touch.

  He was doing it again.

  The invasion made it hard to concentrate on keeping him out of my head. He held my body hostage sending waves of desire highly intensified, tearing through my subconscious.

  I was too wrapped up in his seduction to realize that he had positioned me to where I was now straddling his lap. Blushing, my mind veered off track remembering my lack of under garments and how exposed I was. My thoughts turned naughty forgetting that he was there, as well, with front row seats witnessing what I desired. Two large hands gripped my bottom and slid me higher up onto his lap only stopping when I coughed a gasp. Images flashed in my mind of what he intended on doing to me that evening and a moan escaped.

  Throwing my head back, I enjoyed the softness of his lips on my neck, so very close to openly begging for more when the door burst open and Kasey followed by three other men entered the small cabin filling up the already small space with their presence.

  Kasey froze in shock. She witnessed, firsthand, our intimate position and froze in the middle of the front room.

  Chapter 8

  Useless

  Kasey and the group stood back, respectfully.

  Startled, Gawonii picked me up and placed me behind him preparing to fight. When he saw who it was, he relaxed but his rage over being interrupted by the intruders exuded off of him.

  “Why are you here!” Gawonii shouted.

  Kasey spoke first. “I’m sorry Gawonii but several children are missing from their homes. They are getting bold and crossing over now.”

  Gawonii looked behind him at me. “Tsiyi take Onacona and Waya and wait outside for me. Chitsa…you stay with Ama.”

  “What?” Kasey spoke, surprised at his order. A heated argument broke out between Gawonii and Kasey that I couldn’t understand. The three men kept going without a backwards glance at their chief and mistress as if this type of thing happened regularly. Figures!

  “Hey look…” Both Gawonii and Kasey looked at me. “I am all right by myself, really I am. No babysitter needed.”

  “No.” Gawonii said with finality.

  “Why do you get the final say? I don’t understand. She doesn’t want-”

  “Asduda!” His voice shook the room and I’m quite sure he told me to ‘shut up.’

  “You’re right! You do not understand. You have no clue of our customs and ways. To leave you alone is dangerous and right now you are useless for me to bring you along. Whether with me or here alone, you cannot protect yourself if it is a trap.”

  Turning his back to me, he grabbed a weapon from over the mantle. Kasey still was talking to him in Tsalagi, I guess trying to convince him to let her go. I walked out of the room and into the bedroom slamming the
door.

  Shortly, the front door closed shut and I could hear the men departing. I quickly changed into the clothes that Kasey brought me the other day.

  Useless my ass!

  A knock on the door came soon after Gawonii left. Kasey walked in. “Lailah…he’s an ass. He’ll feel bad…about…it…later…? What are you doing?”

  I pushed her to the side walking out the room. “He’ll feel bad about it later, huh? You would know.” I replied sarcastically. Her eyes grew big when she saw what I was wearing.

  ‘Ummm Lailah. Why did you change?”

  I faced her; arms crossed over my chest. “If you want to go, let’s go. Screw him.”

  Kasey shook her head rapidly. “I just can’t ‘screw’ an order that our Chief commanded, Lailah. He would have my hide if I took you out there. If he catches us both out there the punishment for that would make you wish your ass were detached from your body.”

  I went for the door. “Well then…I guess we better be useful then.”

  Kasey grabbed me by the arm and yanked me around to face her.

  “Lailah! I’m not joking! He means what he says. Some things he will casually let me have my way, but I know when not to push him and his temper. Maybe you should take notes.”

  I opened the door.

  “Dammit Lailah! I’m serious!”

  “Kasey, I am too! You owe me!” I threw all of my anger her way sending her crashing into the fireplace. Thank god Gawonii hadn’t started the fire for the evening. “If I must be stuck here, then help me to not be useless!”

  I released her and she stood up mumbling something underneath her breath. Her head nodded to the mantle over the fireplace.

  “Choose something. Something quiet and something that you think that you can handle. If we survive the night… and Gawonii, I’ll train you. If I can still stand…” The last phrase she mumbled snatching up a satchel she brought with her off the floor as she went out the door.

  I tried my best to keep up with Kasey but that wasn’t as easy as you would think. I keep forgetting that she had a whole other life than the one she had with me up north. When she knelt behind a tree and scanned the area, I got a good look at her.

  She was a far cry from the fashion queen she flaunted back at home. This woman beside me looked nothing less than feral. Maybe this was the perfect time for her to explain to me what the hell was going on.

  “If all of what you and Gawonii had told me is true, why don’t I remember any of this? Why can’t I remember who I use to be?”

  Her black eyes stared at me then went back to observing their surroundings.

  “I’m not quite sure. Maybe because it wasn’t your time to come back yet.”

  “Can you please provide just a little more detail please?” I turned to face her trying to keep my irritation in check. Kasey rolled her eyes.

  “I don’t know Lailah. I really don’t know. You weren’t supposed to be seeing visions or having any use of your gifts at all until later. That is what I heard the elders discussing when your visions started to get out of hand. For some reason, you have been straddling that fence between both human and spirit world since you became sick and the elders have been frantic over it. They feel the disease deteriorating your body, somehow, was able to break the barriers between those worlds.”

  Kasey started walking again.

  “The things you are seeing, and hearing are real, Lailah. You aren’t going crazy. They are not just some silly nightmares. They are 100% real. Now whether you are seeing past, present, or future…none of us knows, but it’s yet to be seen.”

  “The old woman that night called me an angeni. What is that?”

  Kasey groaned. “I can see Gawonii hasn’t done what he was supposed to do.” She shook her head.

  “Can’t totally blame him. I haven’t been feeling up to communicating with him the past week,” I gladly shared.

  Kasey sighed, loudly. “Listen…there are five spirits called Angeni. You are one of them. A very powerful one at that. Gawonii is another. You have yet to meet the other three. You are what they call a water spirit. You have the ability to control anything that contains water which is…”

  “…just about every living thing.” I concluded for her starting to understand what happened the night of the wedding.

  “Yes, and anything that has absorbed even a drop of water.”

  “So, what is Gawonii? What does he control?”

  “Gawonii is what we call the Sun god or fire spirit. He is just as powerful because he can control energy and matter. You two together, with powers combined, are literally unstoppable.”

  “Shut the hell up! You married me off to the Sun God!” Once it was said, I couldn’t take it back. Kasey lowered her eyes to the dirt ground. Her eyes blinked, rapidly, before looking back up at the clearing ahead. A perfect time to change the subject. “Why haven’t I been able to do any of…of…of these…powers before?”

  I saw Kasey shrug in the moonlight.

  “They were suppressed because you were clueless, living as humanly as possible until recently. The cancer treatments and your body breaking down became a problem. Your body wasn’t a suitable host any longer becoming weak.”

  “Are you speculating or are you stating facts?”

  The look Kasey gave me was enough for me to change the subject. “Ok so we are elemental spirits, right? If I am water, Gawonii fire, then there is earth and air. What is this fifth?”

  Kasey looked at me over her shoulder her glare giving me chills. “Aether. A dark and sneaky spirit that has the ability to snuff out light and air and use it against you. He is who we fear has stolen our children. He can open portals and travel through space and time. In his true form, he can’t be held down by gravity…” She looked at me. “…nor water.”

  “I thought you said Gawonii and I are unstoppable. This aether guy sounds like he’s on top of the food chain.”

  “The problem with the aether spirit is that he is unstable. He must take a shape in order to be physically seen or touch. Once he has taken a form, light and even water can destroy it.”

  “Does he have little minions that run around with long white hair and sharp teeth?”

  “That would be the Yracs…yes. They were the ones that had given you such a wonderful welcome the first few days you were here.”

  “Yayyy, wonderful indeed. Horrible creepy bastards. What did I ever do to him for him to send out the monster squad?”

  Kasey laughed pausing at a tree. “Funny you should ask. From what I heard…you broke his heart choosing Gawonii even when-”

  My eyes detected something in the trees but before I could push Kasey out of the way, something whizzed through the branches and struck her in the shoulder.

  “Augh!” She cried. “Rorrets! Lailah get the hell out of here!”

  I ran over to Kasey as she tried to pull a long-spiked stake that protruded out of her arm. Each time she pulled, the gruesome thorn-like dagger produced tiny arms that would expand out of it to pierce her skin and drive the stake further into her flesh.

  “What are rorrets! And what the hell is it doing?”

  “God dammit Lailah! Get out of here!” She yelled. I saw her pull out her knife and stab herself in the arm to start cutting the creepy thing out.

  “Oh my god!” I cried as blood trickled down her arm. “Kasey, stop! Let me help.”

  “Lailah, I have to cut this thing out before it burrows its way into my body. I’m good as dead if it does.”

  I began to panic watching her slice into her arm. I slapped her hand away grabbing the knife and removing it from her arm.

  “To the gods, Lailah! Are you trying to kill me?”

  “Shut-up! And let me concentrate.” I said trying my best to clear my mind of everything else but removing that thing out of her.

  “Well you better hurry up.”

  “Shhh!” I said trying to conjure up the emotions needed to make my gift work.

  It must have started
to work because Kasey grimaced in pain.

  “Ouch Lailah.”

  “Shhh…I can’t concentrate.”

  “Lailah…” I heard urgency in Kasey’s voice.

  “I’m trying.” My mind pulling as that thing fought back.

  “Lailah…” I heard her again.

  “Shhh! Shit Kasey!”

  “Lailah!!”

  “What?!” I yelled.

  Kasey screamed. I turned my head in time to see the scariest, ungodly-like creature I could not come close to thinking up in my wildest nightmares. This thing coming at us had webbed wings spanning about 40 feet, four large eyes, about six legs, and a short narrow beak. The closer it got preparing to dive on top of us, in the light of the moon, I can see the hair ripple over its body as if it were preparing to discharge. I screamed throwing up my hand in fright.

  My hand covered my eyes waiting for my life to be ended when I heard Kasey next to me.

  “Dear god.” The astonishment in her voice had me look up wondering what had happened. Turning my head, I gasped out of fear and amazement. The insect, looking bird hovered over us. It let out a loud screech, snapping its beak at us but was unable to get any closer. But why?

  Looking over at Kasey, I saw that the tiny stake had been removed from Kasey’s shoulder. It, also, was suspended. Somehow, I was able to contain the rorret while my other hand had successfully pulled out that thing trying to bury itself inside of Kasey’s body.

  Controlling both, I looked at Kasey. “What do I do with them?”

  “I don’t know.” She cried scooting away out of the direct path of hovering spiked creature. “How long can you hold them like that?”

  “How the hell am I supposed to know? You’re all expert-ish about my history better than I. What was I able to do then?”

  “I’m not as old as you or Gawonii. I never knew you then. They taught us about you, but they only briefed us on all your abilities. They weren’t even sure of all that you were able to do.”

  “Where’s Google when you need it.” I mumbled.

  Kasey’s eyes grew wide stumbling backwards. “Lailah!! Do something now!”