Anesuishe appeared in Charleston at the edge of the driveway where Wendy lived. She had never been to the city, but it felt strange to her and she could not say why.
She stared around the house at the people and spirits moving along and she thought that it was a very crowded place in the relatively remote suburb where the house was located. There was a spiritual battle far off that Anesuishe decided to spectate. She flew toward it and landed along the waterfront that was full of tourists. The homes along Rainbow Row shone brightly pastel in the summer sun and Anesuishe wondered why the spirits were causing such a commotion in such a beautiful place.
There were flares of pastel energies wafting off the houses like they radiated the colors of their facades and Anesuishe could hear yelling inside. She ghosted through the front door of the building painted pink and inside it was a luxury home that belonged to millionaires. Everything was pristine on the ground floor, like she had walked into a model home, but it was filled with the spirits of what seemed to be previous generations. There was a middle-aged man who looked as though he carried the grime of the early nineteen hundreds with his wife and extended family who argued with a rich looking older man and his wife and family who were obviously not of the present, but much more contemporary than the grimey man.
“This will never end will it?” the more contemporary of the women said exasperated and she wandered away from the conflict and into Anesuishe.
“My Lord!” The woman exclaimed, “Where did you come from? They just keep showing up, well this land belongs to us now and whatever claim you had to it is null and void. Just wait until my Percival is done with that mangy couple over there, we’ll deal with you too. Just like the rest of them!”
The woman grabbed Anesuishe around her neck and then Anesuishe yelled words that blew the woman back, and completely out of the house. The other spirits stopped their arguing and looked to her.
“What have you done to my Margaret?” the contemporary male, Percival, said angrily.
And then Anesuishe noticed the faint yellow sparks around the mangy family and they hurled insults at Percival and his remaining family that turned into waves of pink and swept him and his family out of the house.
“What was mine is mine again!” The mangy man said happily. “Thank you nigress for the distraction.” The mangy family went gleefully up the stairs and Anesuishe watched confused at what was happening. Soon after they were up the stairs, the contemporary couple was back inside. They were both panicked.
And then bloody screams filled the home and all three of the spirits on the first floor ran up to the grisly scene of the mangy spirits standing over the brutalized corpses of the living family that occupied the house.
“This is all your fault!” Margaret screamed at Anesuishe. “We were holding them all off, and then you helped them murder my family!”
“This is not my fault,” Anesuishe said gravely. “You are the victim of a curse. It is your own fault. I can help you, but I don’t think that I want to.”
Anesuishe left in a flash. She was shaken. The mangy family, their spirits had somehow been enhanced and they had become walking curses, capable of killing the living. This was alarming and Anesuishe needed to consult with her family.
At Wendy’s house, Great uncle was growing very concerned. He had called out to Anesuishe and he and Wendy had been waiting for hours for her to appear. Normally, she appeared almost instantly and Great uncle was worried that the strangeness in Charleston had somehow gotten to her.
“Should we do something?” Wendy asked as she paced the living room.
Suddenly, Anesuishe ghosted through the front door.
“What is this place?” she asked Great uncle and he chuckled at her. “You’ve seen the curses? When have you seen something like that before?”
“I know that I have but it was an accident, like a spirit found a way to become a curse while trying to do something else. Or it’s that thing that happens sometimes when something is so traumatic and the spirit is so enraged that it can be stuck and empowered by righteous anger for revenge that allows them to enact a physical punishment. It’s not common, spirits can rarely interact physically with the living, but there is definitely a problem here.”
“Is it this place? One of the curses I saw called it Charles Town.” Anesuishe said.
“It’s those yellow sparks…” Great uncle started.
“The sparks,” Anesuishe said. “You’ve seen them too? I was by the water at the colorful houses and the old white people who lived there when the area was a dirty slum are mad at the new people who eventually moved in and turned it into a goldmine. They are so rich now, those houses are so nice. But the old spirits are curses somehow! And they just slaughtered one of the families.”
“We have to go stop them before they hurt someone else,” Wendy said.
“I agree,” said Great uncle and then he said to Anesuishe, “you must give Wendy a course on curse breaking.”
“I won’t intervene with those spirits,” Anesuishe said. “I was there and they called me a nigress. I don’t know what that is but this is the American south and you know how they treat black people. They deserve their curses.”
“Are you serious?” Wendy said, exasperated. “I get that history complicates everything, but what is the point of all this Ane? Why do I have the abilities that I have if not to protect the living from this very thing? Why are you here?”
“I am sworn to protect you,” Anesuishe said proudly. “You are the summation of many generations, the very best that we have ever been and it is because of everyone who came before you who dedicated themselves to your empowerment. You are our legacy and I exist to protect that.”
“That’s all I am to you?” Wendy said. “I’m not even a person, I’m just a reflection of you?”
“You are the embodiment of my best self,” Anesuishe said. “Of everyone in the vadzimu and it is your great honor to be.”
“Great uncle, is this how you feel?”
“It is our purpose, sweet one,” Great uncle said as kindly as he had ever said anything to her. Then he looked to Anesuishe. “The Brave is right as well, Ane. The Brave exists as a doorway between two states of being, living and dead. It is true that in our time we did not lend a hand to white people, they were not a legitimate part of our communities. But you have taught me, and the Brave has shown me that her life is not mine and the mission of the Brave is not the same as it was when I held the title. Not when you held it either. You helped everyone in your community in your life, you claimed the ones under your protection, and fiercely protected them with the full force of the vadzimu, did you not?”
Anesuishe nodded silently.
“Wendy, you are the Brave and we serve at your righteous will.” Great uncle knelt before her, and then Anesuishe followed suit.
Tears welled in Wendy’s eyes. She was overcome by the show of respect and also the awesome responsibility that she had. She wanted to save lives, and she wanted to help souls find peace. That would be her mission.
“Anesuishe,” Wendy said as she helped her ancestors to their feet, “I need you to teach me how to break curses.”
“I will give you all of my knowledge,” she said dutifully.
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