Anaya stood in the still silence of the cemetery, scared, shaken, her only succour being that of the tree she had held tightly to.

"She has to run!" Nia Afriyie exclaimed, looked at the owl once again, repeated the earlier chant spells and it flew back rushing over Anaya's head. It advanced ferociously towards her as if it was going to attack her or do something worse to her. It was the only way they could get her to run. Anaya screamed as she tried to fight the owl off her head. A shiver ran through her body like an electric current. Her first instinct was to run. And she meant to do it this time.

She bolted down the graveyard path like an Olympic champion at the starting gun. She increased her pace to an all-out sprint as the fog followed her. Her breathing hastened as she pushed herself through the thick whiteness. It was difficult to see beyond the fog yet, as she turned around, she could see the silhouette of something so stubbornly trailing after her.

"Oh, no! He is trying to lead her to her own death."

"She shouldn't get into that car!"

"Stop her!"

In no time, Anaya had made her way to the outside of the cemetery. The familiar sight of the town — the town she had grown up in — was made hazy by the fog. It was like someone had taken a white paint and had begun to paint the urban landscape that usually greeted her on the way outside anytime she visited the cemetery.

The town was awfully silent. No one was seen on the streets and no sound was heard. With no difficulty, she located her car. She knew exactly where she had parked it. With her hands which were shaking uncontrollably, she managed to open the car. She took a deep breath when she finally sat in it. Her mind was a scattered mess. Nothing made sense to her.

"Anaya? Anaya are you okay?" Nia Afriyie's voice called out from the back seat. Anaya didn't expect the voice, especially not at that time. It was low with a trace of huskiness and a whisper of power. Without thinking, she stepped on the gas pedal and the car moved at an abrupt speed.

"Stop the car! Anaya, stop the car!" Nia Afriyie cried out.

Anaya's adrenaline rose higher and higher as she drove ahead. She wanted to stop the car but she couldn't. It was as if her leg had instinctively been glued to the gas pedal and her hands, to the steering wheel. She drove faster — the fastest she had ever driven. Almost 150 km/h. Out of nowhere, a figure appeared in the middle of the road in the darkness beyond the headlights. Anaya felt a scream burst out of her chapped lips.

She stepped on the brake pedal with the same force she had gassed the car earlier causing the car to flip. It rolled over so many times as the lights swirled like some sort of visible cosmic energy with a deafening noise of the metal being bashed over the asphalt.

Her body jerked onto the dashboard, her head clashed with the window glass then finally, the car settled, its tires up in the sky. Steam flowed from behind and a hissing sound could be heard. Anaya groaned as she opened her eyes slowly tilting her head in pain to where the seat belt lock was. She struggled to free herself from the seat belt but all her attempts failed. With every lurch, she was rewarded with more pain. The seat belt had tugged against her skin and the airbag was already deflating.

A smile flashed across Dembe's face from across the street. He had a black light energy stream from his hands to where Anaya's car lay, tires up and smashed to the core.

"What did he do? No LightBlood or DarkBlood can turn into such a creature! Or..?" Nia Afriyie queried, still in the state of shock.

"Yes, you are right. Look at him from across the street." Kukua pointed at where Dembe stood. "He just created an illusion with his Dark Light. That creature wasn't real. We are losing her. Summon your mother, Nia! We need to act fast." she added and Nia Afriyie did as she was told.

As she struggled in the car, Anaya's vision became blurry. It became fuzzy; then she couldn't see anything. Her heartbeats pounded loudly through its cage ringing in her ears, as her lips tried to utter something. Suddenly, everything was dark.

***

In the old abandoned pig slaughterhouse that was at the outskirts of the town, alone in the middle of nowhere, Nia, Nia Afriyie, Kukua, Mwanaume and other powerful LightBlood circled around Anaya and Nia Afriyie's body. Also present in their mist, were a number of emotions that couldn't be described. There was anger, sorrow, fear and...

"Am I angry? No. I'm bitter and that's worse. The anger gets over fast, bitterness lasts. They have to pay for this! They can't silence us for yet another generation and cause havoc around the human world knowing there will be no one to stop them."

Yes, there was bitterness among them and the Elder LightBlood from the Counsel actually meant her words. Everyone felt her words and they knew that this time, there shouldn't be any wrong.

"That is why I brought Nia Afriyie's body. You know what we can do with both the bodies, right?" Nia asked.

"What did you do, Mama? How did you get the body?" Nia Afriyie, being her curious self, also queried her mother, her voice very low so she doesn't interrupt the discussions of the others.

"Don't worry, it has been taken care of."

"What?" The doubt on Nia Afriyie's face was very visible.

"Get rid of that look, daughter. I didn't kill your father or anyone. All I needed was a simple spell. We will talk about that after we are done here. Now, let's focus on how to solve this mess first. I can-"

"So, Nia, you were saying we invoke the Soul binding spell?" The Mwanaume cut in.

Nia nodded as she walked over to Anaya's body which was turning darker than it was supposed to be. "She was never awoken. That is why it will be possible for her soul to be transferred. We can't put her back in her own body. It won't accept her. This is the only way." she explained.

She was right and everyone in the room knew that. Even the Mwanaume did. He gave the directive to prepare the bodies for the nekrós ritual. They all knew the energy it took for the Necromancy spell to be used, but at that point, none of them cared about the consequences. All they cared about was not allowing another defeat from the DarkBloods. They formed a circle around the bodies and held their hands so tightly that when the door of the spirit opens, neither of them would be sucked into its trenches. They needed to protect each other. A thick, almost blinding light forged around them. Their eyes lost their black parts leaving just the white as they jerked their bodies front and back, right to left.

"Shikamoo walezi

ya LightBloods

ya ulimwengu wa roho

Nguvu za kwanza na zote.

Tusikilize!

Roho jionyeshe,

roho yatangaza, roho njoo kwetu

kwa hivyo tunajua wewe ni halisi!"

They repeated the spell three times and it was done. When a cough vibrated from Nia Afriyie's body, they knew for sure Anaya's spirit was safely in there. After several loud and heavy coughs, in slow, torturous degrees, the coughs eased in severity and then slowly, slowly passed.

"How do we make sure she doesn't freak out when she wakes up?" Kukua asked as soon as everyone opened their eyes.

"We will not show ourselves to her, neither would we do anything Magickal. We will go with the human way. We will leave notes. Actually, a letter...in an envelope." Nia Afriyie muttered. "Just the letters and clues for now. The rest will follow."

As cliche as her idea was, the others agreed with her. They helped her put a letter together.

"To Anaya

Dear Anaya,

The body you are wearing used to be mine. I'm writing this letter to you for your survival.

You might be confused and shocked right now. I know. But you would have to do everything I say if you want to find out the truth of what happened to you.

Also, I know you have a lot of questions. I promise to answer all but first things first.

Just turn to your right. walk to the window and look through the mirror."