“Vexes are part of the Demon world, the Underground. They're the closest things to pure evil in the Caster or Mortal world.” Liv's voice was shaky.
The Vex continued to move slightly, as if it was being blown by the wind. But it didn't come any closer. It seemed to be waiting for something.
“They aren't Sheers, ghosts as you call them. Vexes don't have a physical being, unless they possess the living. They have to be summoned from the Underground by someone very powerful, for only the Darkest tasks.”
“Hello. We're already underground.” Link didn't take his eyes off the Vex.
“Not the kind of Underground I'm talking about.”
“What does it want with us?” Link risked a glance down the street, mentally calculating the distance to Exile.
The Vex began to move, dissolving into mist and back into shadow again.
“I think we're about to find out.” I squeezed Liv's hand, trembling in my own.
The black fog, the Vex itself, thrust forward like angry open jaws. And a sound, loud and shrill, erupted from deep within. It was impossible to describe — fierce and menacing like a roar, but terrifying like a scream. Lucille hissed, her ears flattening against her head. The sound intensified, and the Vex reared back, rising above us as if it was planning to attack. I pushed Liv to the ground and tried to shield her body with mine. I covered my neck, like I was about to be devoured by a grizzly bear instead of a body-snatching Demon.
I thought about my mom. Was this how she felt when she knew she was about to die?
I thought about Lena.
The scream reached a crescendo, and I heard another sound rising above it, a familiar voice. But it wasn't my mother's, or Lena's.
“Dark Demon a the Devil, bend to Our will and leave this place!” I looked up and saw them standing behind us under the lamplight. She was holding a string of beads and bone in front of her like a crucifix, and they were gathered around her, glowing and luminous, with purpose in their eyes.
Amma and the Greats.
I can't explain what it was like to see Amma and four generations of the spirits of her ancestors towering above her, like the faces from old black and white pictures. I recognized Ivy from the visions, her dark skin gleaming, dressed in a high-necked blouse and calico skirt. But she looked more intimidating than she had in the visions, and the only one who looked fiercer stood to her right, her hand on Ivy's shoulder. She had a ring on every finger, and she was wearing a long dress that looked like it had been stitched from silk scarves, with a tiny bird embroidered on the shoulder. I was staring at Sulla the Prophet, and she made Amma look about as harmless as a Sunday school teacher.
There were two other women, most likely Aunt Delilah and Sister, and an old man, his face punished by the sun, standing in the back with a beard that would've put Moses to shame. Uncle Abner. I wished I had some Wild Turkey for him.
The Greats tightened their circle around Amma, chanting the same verse again and again, in Gullah, the original language of her family. Amma repeated the same verse in English, shaking the beads and bone, shouting to the heavens.
“Of Vengeance and Wrath, Bind the Suspended, Hasten his path.”
The Vex rose even higher, the fog and shadow circling and swirling above Amma and the Greats. Its scream was deafening, but Amma didn't even flinch. She closed her eyes and raised her voice to meet the demonic cry.
“Of Vengeance and Wrath, Bind the Suspended, Hasten his path.”
Sulla raised her bracelet-laden arm, spinning a long stick with dozens of tiny charms dangling from it, back and forth between her fingers. She took her hand from Ivy's shoulder and rested it on Amma's, her glowing, translucent skin glimmering in the darkness. The second her hand touched Amma's shoulder, the Vex let out a final gnarled cry and was sucked into the void of the night sky.
Amma turned to the Greats. “I'm much obliged.”
The Greats disappeared, as if they had never been there at all.
It probably would've been better if I had disappeared with the Greats, because one look at Amma's face made it clear that she had only saved us so she could kill us herself. We would've had better odds against the Vex.
Amma was seething, her eyes narrow and focused on her main targets, Link and me.
“V. E. X. A. T. I. O. N.” She grabbed us by our collars at the same time, as if she could have thrown us up the Doorwell behind her with a single toss. “As in, trouble. Worry. Agitation. Botheration. Need me to go on?”
We shook our heads.
“Ethan Lawson Wate. Wesley Jefferson Lincoln. I don't know what business the two a you think you have down in these Tunnels.” She was shaking her bony finger as she pointed at us. “You don't have a lick a sense between you, but you think you're ready to be battlin’ Dark forces.”