We’ll find a way, Isabelle said calmly. With my abilities, there has to be a way.
I nodded, choosing to believe what Isabelle was saying. I mean, what choice did I have? It was a thread of hope, and I had to cling to it. If I didn’t, I was bound to unravel.
I drew in a deep breath and released it with a long, drawn-out exhale. “All right… are we ready to do this?”
Baron Samedi nodded as he removed his top hat, exposing his wormy cranium. Ashley took a deep breath as she locked eyes with death himself. It was odd, seeing a mounting from the outside looking in. I didn’t feel much of anything when Oggie mounted me, but now a chill filled the air around us. The Baron’s face tightened, and he scrunched his brow.
“I don’t understand,” the Baron said. “It isn’t working…”
“But you haven’t given an aspect to a student in years,” Oggie said.
“It is because she’s a Shaman?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” the Baron said. “If she were a native Choctaw, her blood might reject it.”
“Or if she has a Choctaw baby in her,” I blurted out as I stared at my sister.
Ashley shook her head, diverting her eyes from my semi-accusatory stare. “I’m not… I mean, I’m pretty sure.”
Erzulie pushed the Baron aside and took Ashley’s hands instead. “Men never seem to be able to perform under pressure for beautiful women. We don’t have time for this.” Erzulie locked eyes with my sister. The Loa of love’s eyes glimmered, her lips parting slightly as a pink mist passed from her lips to my sister’s mouth. Ashley inhaled deeply as Erzulie released her hands.
“It is done,” Erzulie said. “Welcome, Miss Mulledy, to College Erzulie.”
Oggie was shaking his head. “You already have one sponsee for the year. There are reasons why Legba forbids—”
“Legba isn’t here,” Erzulie said. “And if you ask me, he’s responsible for the whole mess we’re in.”
“But are you sure you were able to give her your full aspect?”
“Honey,” Erzulie said, grazing Oggie’s chin with her thumb. “You might need time to recover your stamina after a good mounting, but we are women. We’re blessed to go as many times as we’d like…”
I whispered in Mikah’s ear, “Think that’s why she thinks she needs so many husbands?”
Erzulie turned to me, a crooked grin on her face. “That’s precisely the issue. As impressive as he appears, your Loa has never been able to satisfy Erzulie.”
I tried to make eye contact with Oggie, but he was looking the other way, ignoring Erzulie’s comments. I felt horrified on his behalf. What Erzulie said… a lot of women might think it, but you can’t talk to your husband that way. Emasculating a man publicly… yeah, that’s never going to elicit a mature response. I could almost feel the heat radiating from the back of Oggie’s head.
“Oh, darling,” Erzulie said, “you mustn’t get angry! It’s only the truth.”
“That’s not why I’m angry,” Oggie said as he turned back to Erzulie, his voice steady and firm. “You took a second initiate, defying tradition, without even consulting the rest of us.”
“In due respect,” the Baron interrupted, “we need the Shaman’s aid, and there wasn’t any other way.”
“I could have sponsored her just as well,” Oggie said.
“To mount two sisters at once!” Erzulie exclaimed giddily. “I think my ways are rubbing off on you, husband.”
Oggie shook his head. “Whatever. The deed is done. We’ll see how Legba responds once he’s—”
“If he’s able to come back,” the Baron said. “Our mission has yet to succeed. And if Erzulie had not acted, I dare say our chances would be even slimmer. I must thank you, dear Erzulie, for stepping up in the wake of my—”
“Impotence?” Erzulie asked, turning a sly eye toward Baron Samedi.
“Not what I was going to say,” the Baron said. “But thank you, no less.”
“My dear initiate,” Erzulie said, taking Ashley by both hands. “Learn your first lesson now. Carry yourself confidently. Ask men for nothing, take what you demand. They are powerless to thwart you.”
Ashley nodded, though I could tell she was mildly uncomfortable with what happened. Still, I know my sister well enough that I was pretty sure she’d make the best of it.
“What’s done is done,” Oggie said, then turned to Ashley. “I assume you know what is expected of you.”
Ashley nodded. “It won’t be a problem.”
“Good,” Oggie said. “Now we’ll just need to locate Kalfu. He can’t be far.”
A flash of multicolored light appeared out of thin air. I instinctively shielded my eyes. After my eyes readjusted from the shock, Aida-Wedo appeared, her clothes tattered and, per usual, an actual boa constrictor slithered around her neck, much like one might wear a feathered boa if she had any style at all.
“Come quick!” Aida-Wedo said in her thick Haitian accent. “They deceived me… they are no longer here.”
“Just tell us where Kalfu went,” Oggie said, staring at her intently.
“That’s not what she said,” Erzulie interrupted. “She said they deceived her. Tell us, who are you referring to?”
Aida-Wedo was about to answer when she spotted Baron Samedi and gasped. “I did not know you had returned.”
“I came to help bind Kalfu.”
Aida-Wedo pulled at her own hair and screamed. “That’s what she told me she was going to do… bind Kalfu, help me save my initiate.”
“Who is it you’re speaking of?” Oggie asked.
“Maman Brigitte,” Baron Samedi said, his voice quivering.
Aida-Wedo nodded, lowering her eyes to the ground.
Oggie looked at Baron Samedi, his eyes like daggers. “What is your wife doing with Kalfu?”
The Baron ignored Oggie’s question and approached Aida-Wedo, extending his hand and using his knuckle to lift her chin. “This is not your fault.”
“But it is… When Legba started to feel Kalfu growing stronger, he had me prepare a portal, in the room locked in the back of his office. One that would transport him to a place that’s already warded.”
“Where his abilities would be hindered?” Oggie asked.
Aida-Wedo looked at me. “Annabelle Mulledy… Legba had me prepare a permanent portal from his office to her home.”
“The slave quarters,” Ashley interjected, “in the back of our property. Someone had made a symbol…”
“A veve,” I added. “Kalfu’s veve.”
Oggie gripped me by the shoulders. “Why did you not tell me of this before?”
“I would have,” I said, shaking out of his grip. “But I only found out myself just moments before all this shit went down with Nico. Then I was off to Guinee.”
“Never mind it,” the Baron said. “It seems my darling wife has deceived us all.”
“But to what end?” Oggie asked.
Erzulie stepped forward. “Perhaps we should ask her ourselves.”
“One problem,” Ashley said. “Those old slave quarters… they’ve been warded for a long time. For nine years, in fact.”
“If Legba somehow got control long enough to take Kalfu there, it will render him powerless, but it will do the same thing to all of us.”
Except for me…
“Isabelle’s power will not be affected,” Mikah added, almost as if he’d heard Isabelle say it.
Oggie shot a death stare at Mikah—he’d spoken of Isabelle out loud, in front of the other Loa.
“Of course,” the Baron added. “But once the Shaman dispels the wards, I’ll have a few moments to act. If Aida-Wedo can transport me there…”
“I can,” Aida-Wedo added. “But we would have to know the exact moment the ward was taken down. Besides, who is Isabelle?”
“Just a friend, someone who has access to a different kind of magic.” I quickly moved to change the subject. “I can text Oggie. He has a phone. Then you’ll know it’s time f
or you to come.”
Aida-Wedo and Erzulie exchanged glances, as if they realized they’d both been out of the loop regarding something. It was only a matter of time before they figured out the truth.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ashley belted out the lyrics of “Rainbow in the Dark” from the passenger seat of the Camaro, adding her pitch-deaf accompaniment to the once-epic voice of Ronnie James Dio. Isabelle decided to join her, singing loudly and equally off pitch.
I turned up the volume—which did wonders for drowning out the sound of an animal in heat that was coming from my passenger seat. It did nothing to quiet Isabelle, however.
I gave in and decided to join in with my own high-pitched shrieks, singing the line about the magic in the air. I looked in the rearview mirror to see Mikah smiling but shaking his head. I shot a grin back at him. He reluctantly joined in on the chorus—probably the only words he had picked up in what was likely the first time he’d ever been blessed to glory in the eighties metal anthem.
“Like a rainbow in the dark!”
I giggled a little. I had to admit, there was something cute about his Ethiopian accent shining through a song that struck me as a bit too appropriate for the moment. That’s how we rolled, though. Anytime Ashley and I saddled up in the Camaro to face the paranormal frontier, the classic metal playlist became our war cry. Only this time, we were bringing the battle home. To the very spot where it all began.
When we pulled into the circular driveway in front of our house, nothing gave any hint of the fact that some supernatural trouble was stirring nearby. Coming home… it felt peaceful, even though my insides were like a butter churn. I suppose it was an eerie kind of calm that loomed over the place.
I can feel it…
“Feel what?” I asked, Mikah and Ashley both looking at me as they got out of the car.
The magic… Kalfu and Brigitte…
“Hey, Ashley, Isabelle says she can feel the magic. Shouldn’t the ward be dispelling it or something?”
“It should…”
“Does Isabelle feel where it’s coming from?” Mikah asked.
I didn’t bother to patronize her by repeating his question.
It’s everywhere… just in the air…
“Not really any one spot,” I said. “She says it’s just in the air here.”
“Then the ward should be working… I think,” Ashley said, straightening her shirt.
“You think?” I raised my eyebrows.
“Magic is real… it’s an energy,” Mikah said. “Basic science really. The First Law of Thermodynamics: energy can neither be created nor destroyed.”
“The ward doesn’t erase magic,” Ashley explained. “It frees it, diffuses the energies all around.”
I nodded. “Then let’s do this!”
“Yes!” Mikah shouted. “Time to kick names and take some ass!”
I grinned, amused by Mikah’s butchering of the American idiom. I didn’t have the heart to correct him at the moment.
Ashley just shrugged. “All right, let’s go take some ass!”
We charged headlong around the plantation mansion and toward the slave quarters in the back. I could still hear Dio’s voice echoing in my mind… Like a rainbow in the dark…. We crashed through the thick door on the front of the slave quarters.
I gasped as Ashley and Mikah followed me into the room. Papa Legba was lying in a pool of black blood. Behind him, Pauli stood over him.
“Pauli!” I shouted.
That isn’t Pauli… Not anymore…
When he turned, two eyes, black as the night, stared back at me. Those were Kalfu’s eyes. He grinned at me widely, Legba’s black Loa blood dripping from what had grown into fanged teeth.
“Kalfu!” I shouted. “What did you do to Legba?”
“I have no more use of him. Soon, due to your friend’s generous donation, I’ll have fully absorbed the aspect of Aida-Wedo.”
“Pauli wouldn’t agree to this!” I protested.
“Pauli is shallow. His mind is preoccupied with lusts… men and fashion. It was not difficult to convince him to take my bargain.”
“What deal did you make with him?”
Kalfu chuckled. “He offered himself, the sweet boy, if I’d promise not to hurt you, Annabelle.”
I cocked my head. “Why would he agree to that?”
“Like I said, he is shallow and weak. He values his friends more than he does himself.”
“That’s not weak!” Ashley added. “That’s honorable.”
Kalfu shrugged. “Perhaps. But it is foolish that he would offer himself so willingly for a friend he barely knew.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He didn’t know about Isabelle,” Kalfu said, his chest puffed out. “So naturally he offered no terms for her in his bargain.”
“You’re a snake!” I said, my nostrils flaring.
Kalfu snickered. “That is quite literally true now that your friend has given me Aida-Wedo’s aspect.”
“Which is powerless beneath these wards,” Ashley added.
Pacing back and forth, Kalfu put his hands into the pockets of Pauli’s skinny jeans. “And you would just leave me trapped within these wards forever? You’d damn your friend to an eternal hell, with me, in this place? Because I can assure you, he is suffering… painfully…”
“We have a plan for that!” I said.
“Correction,” Kalfu said, extending Pauli’s purple-painted index finger as if it were his own. “You had a plan. You see, Maman Brigitte had a weakness too. Her weakness was her husband. And based on your little disappearing act at the academy earlier, I’m guessing you did precisely what she wanted.”
“What did she want?” I asked.
“To bring back the Baron,” Kalfu said calmly. “After all, he’s the only one who could put me back in my little box, right?”
I glanced at Mikah, who was wringing his hands.
“She’s the one who put me onto summoning you…”
Kalfu laughed loudly. “Such fools, all of you!”
“Wait,” I said, staring at Mikah. “She told you to summon Kalfu?”
“No,” Mikah said, hanging his head. “She gave me the gris-gris to practice summoning Legba.”
“Why were you consorting with another house Loa, anyway? I mean, you belong to our college. Aida-Wedo is your mom, so that might make some sense… but why College Samedi?”
Mikah took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Because she told me that if I did, she would release my father from the land of the dead.”
“You see!” Kalfu said, giggling with glee. “You humans are all so sentimental! It’s what makes you so easy to manipulate. Once your friend here summoned me, I only needed to possess him for a moment to loosen myself from the prison that subjected me to Legba’s control. And don’t think for a moment that Maman Brigitte didn’t know that would happen. Human emotions embraced by a Loa! Because she missed her husband. What comedy!”
“Where did this Brigitte go, anyway?” Ashley asked.
Kalfu shrugged. “Got scared when I took Pauli. I can’t blame her. She didn’t see that move coming. She thought the Baron could put me back in my box, but now…” Kalfu looked down on Legba’s body, “it appears that Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.”
I think she ran to go get Baron Samedi…
I coughed over my shoulder—Isabelle was right. Though, Kalfu probably assumed as much. And would the Baron be able to accomplish the same thing now that Kalfu was possessing Pauli? I honestly had no idea, but I pulled out my phone anyway and sent a quick thumbs-up to Oggie. We’d discussed that the thumbs-up emoji meant we’d dispel the ward in exactly one minute. Aida-Wedo could transport him and the Baron here in exactly sixty seconds. I had to buy some time… and there was one way I knew I could keep Kalfu distracted.
“How about we make ourselves a bargain?” I said.
Anabelle, don’t even propose it. He’ll take it as binding before it’s e
ven agreed upon.
Isabelle had a point—but I intended to offer Kalfu nothing more than what we were planning to do anyway. “Seeing as though I am human, and admittedly weak, what if I agree to ask my sister to take down the ward, to free you, on the condition that you grant Pauli his freedom.”
Kalfu locked eyes with mine. “I cannot free him. He is my vessel.”
“Then relieve his suffering. You can give him whatever experience you like as he wanders in your mind, right?”
“I could…”
“Then give him whatever fantasy—I don’t care how freaky it might be—whatever pleasure he might want so he can at least be somewhat happy rather than suffering whatever tortures you’ve imagined for him. Give him his own version of heaven. Do that, and we’ll take down the ward.”
Kalfu pressed his hands together and lifted them to his lips. “You’re a smart girl, Annabelle… much smarter than that. I gleaned that much from your sister’s memories. Do you really think I’d expect you to offer me such a one-sided deal?”
“For the sake of my friend, yes…”
Kalfu shook his head. “You could have asked for much more. You could have asked me not to spread my aspect further, not to harm any humans. You could have tried to negotiate similar protections for Isabelle that Pauli negotiated for you… but you didn’t. And that makes me wonder why.”
It worked… all I’d needed was to make him wonder. To distract him for a second. I nodded to Ashley, who retrieved a bundle of sage from her satchel, lit it aflame, and spoke a chant in native Choctaw.
Kalfu laughed even louder. “Fools! You grant me your leverage in the bargain before I’d accepted your terms!”
I shrugged. “I didn’t need you to accept them.”
With a flash of rainbow-colored light, Aida-Wedo, Oggie, and Erzulie appeared in the quarters.
I looked at Oggie. “Where’s the Baron?”
He glanced at the door. Through it, Baron Samedi burst alongside Maman Brigitte.
“Well look what we have here!” Kalfu exclaimed. “The whole gang, back together… taking advantage of me in my moment of weakness.”
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