Part 33 (1/2)
”Don't let these f.u.c.kers get you down, Deem,” Winn said. ”That's what they want.”
”I'll be OK,” she said. ”It's just a little jarring. I didn't think they'd go there. But they're really capable of anything, aren't they?”
”You saw what they did to Claude,” Winn said. ”What makes you think they won't do that to you?”
They arrived at Carma's and she welcomed them in with open arms. ”Awan with you?” she asked.
”No,” Winn said as she released him from a hug. ”His mother is having surgery today.”
”Oh, I didn't know,” Carma said. She grabbed Winn's upper arm right at the bicep and gave him a squeeze. ”You don't need his permission to come 'round, either of you! You can stop by anytime. I was thinking I might see you last night, Deem.” She pulled Winn by the bicep into the house.
”I was planning to,” Deem said, ”but we had something come up, and I had to meet Awan in Vegas. We're having some trouble with a shaman that we need to do some research on later today.”
”Does this have anything to do with the skinwalker epidemic?” Carma asked as they walked down the hallway to the sitting area with the view of the back yard. ”Sit down and I'll get you something to drink.”
Deem fell into the soft chair she'd enjoyed at their last visit, and looked out over Carma's backyard. I suppose it's Lyman's back yard, too, she thought. In the daytime she had a better view of the trees and bushes, and the beautiful lawn. The hill rising behind the yard made it all seem so private. There were occasional outcroppings of red rock on the hill, giving it an interesting range of color. Set against the deep green of the lawn and the trees, it looked beautiful.
Carma returned with a Diet c.o.ke for Deem and an iced tea for Winn. ”Now tell me about this shaman,” she said, taking an iced tea for herself and joining them in the sitting room.
Deem relayed the story of the skinrunner and how they'd managed to neutralize him. When she mentioned the blood river, Carma's eyes went wide and she interrupted Deem.
”Oh, you didn't!” she shrieked. ”Tell me you didn't!”
”Didn't what?” Deem said, confused.
”Tell me you did not walk into that awful place,” Carma said.
”The blood river?” Deem asked.
”Yes,” Carma said. ”You didn't go in, did you?”
”I stuck my hand in it,” Deem said. ”And my feet.”
”Oh no,” Carma said, shooting up out of her chair. She began to wring her hands. ”Well, Awan didn't know. He thought he was helping you. He should have talked to me first.” She disappeared into another room.
Deem looked at Winn. ”What the f.u.c.k?” she mouthed to him. He shrugged and took a sip of his iced tea, looking in the direction Carma had gone. ”I don't know!” he mouthed back.
”Here,” they heard Carma say before she entered the room. ”Here!” She had a book in her hand, and she handed something to Deem in the other. Deem opened her hand and Carma dropped three small, round yellow b.a.l.l.s in her hand. They looked like peas.
”Eat them!” Carma said. She opened the book and began reading from it, chanting in a strange language. Deem was beginning to feel freaked out, and she turned to look at Winn. He gave her another shrug, and she turned back to look at Carma, her face in the book, struggling to p.r.o.nounce the words. Carma looked up, and saw the peas still in Deem's hand.
”You have to eat them while I'm saying it, dear,” Carla said. ”Or it won't work.”
”What are they?” Deem asked. ”What are you doing?”
”Cleansing you,” Carma said. ”You may have washed the blood from your hands and feet, but you're still tainted by it. Not all of it comes off by was.h.i.+ng. Go on, they won't hurt you.”
Deem popped the peas into her mouth. They were hard and she had to bite down on them with her molars for them to pop. Once she had them chewed down small enough, she swallowed them and chased them with a gulp of Diet c.o.ke.
Carma continued chanting, watching as she drank. She completed the chant and closed the book, then returned to her seat next to Winn.
”Now promise me you'll not go near the place again,” she said, looking pleadingly at Deem.
”We needed to,” Deem said. ”It was the only way to deal with the skinrunner.”
”There's other ways, Awan just didn't know,” Carma said. ”The other blood rivers are fine, but that one is polluted.”
”Its mutation is what made the ghost corporeal,” Deem said. ”That's why it worked. Because of the radiation.”
”But what else does it do?” Carma asked. ”What else is different about it?”
”I don't know,” Deem said. ”We were just operating off what Awan said.”
”He didn't know,” Carma said. ”Just promise me you won't go there, again. Will you do that?”
”I suppose,” Deem said.
”Sure,” Winn said. ”We have no reason to go back.”
”And I want you to keep an eye on that hand,” Carma said. ”Which hand was it?”
”My hand?” Deem asked. ”You mean the one I put in the blood river?”
”Yes,” Carma said. ”Was it your left, or your right?”
”My right,” Deem said, holding it up.
”I want you to wrap it in a brown paper bag every night for the next week,” Carma said, looking stern. ”Spray the bag with a mixture of distilled water, Epsom salts, ground thyme, and a drop of rabbit urine. Do you have a little bit of rabbit urine at home?”
Deem saw Winn successfully control a spit-take of his tea.
”No,” Deem said calmly, ”I don't have any rabbit urine at home.”
”Well, I'll give you some before you go,” Carma said, leaning back in her seat. ”It won't work at all if you don't use the rabbit pee. Now tell me about the letter you received.”
Deem was dumbfounded. Carma moved from one thing to the next at breakneck speed. Further, Deem hadn't mentioned anything about the letter to her. She can read minds, Deem thought.
”You've been thinking about it since you got here,” Carma said. ”That and the winds.h.i.+eld and the mindwalls. Start with the letter. What was it?”
”Bishop's Court,” Deem said. ”Excommunication.”
”Delicious!” Carma said. ”For who?”
”Me.”
”Oh, that's wonderful!” Carma said, rising from her chair and extending her arms to Deem. Deem stood up and let Carma hug her. ”Congratulations, my dear.”
”Thanks, but I'm afraid it will not be a congratulatory thing for my mother.”