“Ivie Ivie Ivie...” the voice persistently called through the darkness until Ivie opened her eyes and followed the sound of the voice. Barefoot, she walked out of her house and into the dark. “Ivie Ivie Ivie..” the voice went on. Ivie walked across the stream to the hills and finally found herself in a cave. The cave was filled with bones and skulls of different animals, and she could make out bats on the walls.
“Ivie” the voice suddenly whispered into her ear and she spun around to find herself face to face with a woman. She gasped as she took in her appearance. The woman was long and thin with hollow cheeks, bloodshot eyes and brown long curly nails. Her breath reeked and there was a foul odor emanating from her.
“Who are you and why am I here?” Ivie asked bravely, putting her fright aside.
The woman let out piercing laughter, that revealed brown teeth that were as sharp as fangs.
“I am the great Angina, the giver of beautiful things to those who serve me. A long time ago your people used to worship me until they cast me aside and forgot me. I've been neglected for decades, but now it's time to punish them for their wrongs” Angina hissed like an angry snake.
“I don't know you spirit, what do you want from me?” Ivie asked again.
“The cursed moon night is in 3 weeks and I know you're the dreamcatcher maker like your mothers before you. Your job will be to make dream catchers that will enable me possess the children and enable them absorb my evil instead of trapping it!” Angina replied with a glint in her eyes.
“I can't do that, I will not do it!” Ivie shouted, shocked at the request.
“Oh you will little one, you will” Angina snarled quietly.
Ivie felt a whooshing sensation and all of a sudden, she was in her bed.
Ivie woke up screaming and scared, but happy that what she'd just experienced had been a nightmare. She looked all over her body and noticed that her clothes were damp, and her feet were dirty. If it had been a dream, why was she like this? She thought to herself. Had she sleepwalked? Ivie pushed the thought out of her mind and stood up to start her day.
Ivie was the wife of Rajeem a traveling blacksmith and mother to twins, a girl Adona and a boy Argyle. She hurriedly carried out her chores and fed her children before setting off to her stall. With each child firmly held by her side she moved through the village nodding and greeting the other villagers as she walked past. Ivie was pleased to notice she had customers waiting for her outside her stall.
The village had experienced a boom in childbearing, which meant more work and money for Ivie as she was the only dreamcatcher maker in her town. She opened up and attended to them, making appointments with the happy parents to hang the dreamcatcher on the children's cradles once she was done crafting the design they'd chosen.
She had finally finished the morning rush and had settled down at her worktable to begin her craft when she heard a voice speak.
“I see you have a lot of work to do, I can help you out”
Ivies looked up to find her two-year-old daughter standing at the edge of her worktable.
“Adona!” she gasped and rushed forward to grab her daughter.
“Yes mother” the voice spoke through her daughter “Only Adona is somewhere safe, and It is I Angina speaking”
Ivie gasped in shock and unhanded the little girl.
“So it wasn't a dream?” she whispered to herself
“Foolish mortal, of course it wasn't a dream I summoned you, remember?” Angina replied chuckling and moving towards Ivie who began moving back in fear.
“What did you do to my child?” Ivie asked with a shaky voice.
“Relax, your offspring is fine…for now. Although things could turn bad for her if you don't do as I say” Angina replied.
“But I can't hurt the children, please look for another way. My job is to protect the little ones, people will suspect if things go wrong please” Ivie replied sobbing.
“I picked you, and you know my plans already. If you don't do as I say, your children will have to pay the price for your stubbornness” Angina replied, baring her teeth.
Ivie watched in shock as Argyle began to shake violently and Adona was suddenly floating in the air.
“Your son is going to hit his head on a sharp object any minute now, while poor Adona here will fall and break every little bone in her body. Then I'll hunt down your husband and make him my prisoner. Every night, I'll summon you and make you watch while their souls suffer!”
Ivie screamed and continued crying, she knew she had no other option than to accept. Her family was too precious, and she didn't want to die.
“Okay I accept! I'll do it” Ivie sobbed in defeat.
“Smart girl. Now make those dream catchers, and I'll be back to possess them before you hang them on the cradles. See you soon” Angina said laughing as she exited.
Ivie watched as chaos returned to peace in her stall and her children became normal. She ran to them and enveloped them in a tight hug, she sobbed as the children looked at her and wiped the tears off her face. A gust of wind blew into the shop and reminded her of what she had agreed to do, with alacrity she jumped up and headed to her worktable.
Within two weeks Angina had completed her mission through Ivie who had even convinced the parents who had good dream catchers to replace them with her new ones. Now that her plan was going well, all Angina had to do was wait for the cursed moon night in a weeks time, when the villagers would feel her wrath and wished they hadn't neglected her.
All would have gone to plan if the entire parents of the newborn children did not start noticing strange things in their children's cradles. The new dreamcatcher glowed at night, and the infants cried and struggled all night. Most of them found strange objects like feathers or cowries in the children's hands every daybreak.
The parents knew something was wrong, and secretly they invited the seer. Angina was too busy rejoicing on her success that she forgot to check daily that all was going well. Which was why she wasn't aware when the seer discovered evil in the new dreamcatcher and summoned Ivie.
“I'm sorry, but she threatened to kill me and my family” Ivie sobbed to the seer
“Who threatened you, child?” the seer questioned.
“She said her name is Angina and that our people served her long ago, but they began to neglect her” Ivie said through sobs.
“Angina!” the seer replied angrily, “Our people refused to serve her after she became greedy and evil. She became possessed by a foul spirit and was subjected to suffer for her evils towards us in a lonely cave by the other spirits”.
“Really! But she seems powerful” Ivie replied.
“She still has her evil powers, of course. Anyway, I'll commune with the other spirits. You'll have to be cleansed while we employ the services of the dreamcatcher maker in the neighboring village to secretly replace the cursed ones” The seer instructed.
Ivie was ordered to fool Angina into believing all was going well whenever she was summoned, and even though they doubted the efficiency of the plan it worked surprisingly. Angina was smug and absorbed in her fantasies of revenge that she hardly paid attention to anything. Even though she noticed her powers were no longer projected on the kids, she shrugged off her concerns. After all, On the night of the cursed moon all hell would be let loose by her.
On the appointed night, everyone was in the safety of their homes as usual. It was a night where the moon killed anyone It touched. Angina's plan had been to summon all the children to the square and when their parents came after them, they would all die. Their souls would make her so powerful that she would rule over the whole village and finally be able to defeat the other spirits and be free of the cave.
Angina knew something was wrong when she couldn't summon anyone at midnight. She kept on trying, but the effort only weakened her. She let out a yell of fury and then fear as she found herself surrounded by the other spirits. Since she was too weak to fight, she watched in agony as they bound her with the cord of chains and sent her to the netherworld. She growled and yelled, but her fate had been sealed.
Ivie was the happiest when the seer gave her the news. She was finally free, and the parents were also happy. The averted incident had been kept a secret from the rest of the village, so life continued as normal for them all…