Sugarcane and Indigo

A New Arrival

12 Years Later

I sat there at the kitchen table listening with horror to what my grandmother, Iris, was telling me.

    "What do you mean I've been chosen?" I demanded slamming my hands down on the table.

My grandmother just looked back at me unimpressed. "I mean exactly what I said, child. The elders have been talking and you've been chosen for the offering."

"But I never volunteered!"

My grandmother clucked  at me. "A sacrifice doesn't volunteer, Lavender! A sacrifice is chosen and you've been chosen. You will accept this honor with the dignity it deserves and perform your duties like I taught you."

I ran a quick hand through my hair, "But Grammie," I protested, "It's my magic! It's a part of me! You can't just ask me to give it up."

Ever since my magic came in it's become this integral part of me, more important than a limb. It was like a sixth sense, another way I experienced the world. She couldn't ask me to do this.

"I'm not asking, child," she snapped, "I'm telling. As a part of this town it is your responsibility. You always knew this could happen."

I stared glumly at the table with my arms crossed. She was right, I always knew I could get chosen but I never expected it to actually happen!

"Isn't there something we can do? Someone else we could choose? How about Lottie Mills? She barely has any magic to begin with! She wouldn't even really be giving anything up!"

    Grammie gave me a disapproving look. "And do you really want that type of magic protecting this town?" she asked, "You really want the only thing to be standing between us and certain ruin to be a barely-there type of magic?"

I looked down, ashamed. "No."

"How was this town formed?" she asked.

I groaned. She had given me this lecture many times growing up.

"Grammie-"

"How was this town formed?" she asked again, enunciating each word slowly.

I sighed. "Our ancestors were brought over as slaves and sold to the plantation."

Grammie gave an approving nod. "Right. And how did they escape?"

    "They pooled together their magic and overthrew the masters. And blessed the town so that nothing bad could happen to them or their descendants."

    "And how did they keep themselves safe?" she prompted.

    I looked down. "They chose a member of each generation to give up their magic to re-strengthen the barrier."

    "Right. And what happens if we get selfish or lazy and don't do this ritual?"

    I looked her in the eyes, her point abundantly clear. "The barrier protecting us from the dangers of the outside world would fail and we'd be like everywhere else."

    Grammie nodded solemnly, her black eyes boring into my face. "Right. Lavender, I know I've protected you from the evil out there but you need to remember how lucky we are. No one here gets sick or dies from accidents. Our crops have never failed. We don't have fires or floods or tornadoes. We don't have crime for Christ's sake!"

    "What about Violet?" I interrupted. "She disappeared."

    Grammie waved a hand in the air. "She was an outsider. Not from our town. She didn't count."

    I looked down. Grammie was always adamant that anyone born from outside this town wasn't important, wasn't our problem.

    "Lavender," she continued, "outside the barrier is disease like you've never seen. You can't even imagine. They have cancer and malaria and all types of sickness. They have waves of senseless crime that never gets solved. They live senseless lives and die pointless deaths. If you don't do your duty and give up your power, then you're damning us all to that. Could you live with yourself if Nowhere became like everywhere else?"