A Grimoire Dark

by D. S. Quinton

  Resuming his professorial tone, he said, “Oh, I don’t know about that. The Voodoo mythos, at least, how it came to Louisiana, is well documented. It came here with the slave trade, primarily from Haiti and West Africa. And although we never pulled slaves from Egypt, it is the same continent. Who’s to say that whatever transformation supposedly happened in Egypt—well, it was simply documented there, I guess the transformations could have happened anywhere—but who’s to say that the people who were transformed didn’t migrate throughout Africa and get swept up in the slave trades?”

  Del listened intently and finally said, “What else do you know of the curse, or whatever it is?”

  “Let me be clear: I’m not talking about a curse that can be turned on or off. The theory here—and it is still just a theory—is that some people in the far distant past came into contact with something that changed them somehow. Fundamentally. A… Darwin’s natural selection of the cosmic order. The ability to perform these seemingly magical tasks is simply an outcome of their abnormal evolution.”

  Frank whistled his skepticism.

  “I know,” Armand said. “I know, it all sounds crazy, and I may be way off. It was simply that your mention of the universe was too much to ignore.

  “There is more, however.”

  “Oh lord,” Frank said.

  “Tell it,” Del said. “Tell us whatever you know.”

  Armand sat, shifting in his chair, and suddenly wished he hadn’t remembered the story.

  “Well, there was one more thing.”

  Everyone waited silently.

  “The diary also mentioned something about the God Set, the Egyptian god of the underworld. He was also believed to be the God of Evil, Chaos and… Storms, of all things. He was described as… as a half man and half animal, with the head of a Jackal and two tails.”

  No one noticed the color drain from Frank’s face.

  “‘And they become like Gods,’” Del said quietly.

  Startled, Armand stared at Del. “Yes, how did you know that?”

  “I don’t even know why I said it. It just popped into my head,” Del said. “Have you heard it before?”

  “I read it once,” Armand said. “It was one of the last things Otto ever wrote in his diary.”

  Chapter 38

  Wednesday

  Mama Dedé woke the next morning drained of energy. After Frank and Armand left, she had spent most of the night trancing, determined to figure out what all of this meant. Even though she had warned Del of the danger, she didn’t think the girl fully understood or appreciated it. Hell, maybe she didn’t fully understand. The Egyptian story that Armand had laid on them was a new variable.

  The trancing sessions always left her drained and invigorated at the same time. Her spirit could float free of its earthly bond, expanding in all directions. This left her mind ringing clear as a bell. Her body, however, bore the brunt of the trance, her energy stores tapped beyond capacity. She slept heavily after a trance, the knowledge of the universe settling into her mind.

  After waking, she lumbered to the kitchen in a large robe and slippers. Del was sitting at the kitchen table gazing into her coffee.

  “Watcha thinkin’, honey?” Mama Dedé asked, pouring herself a cup.

  Del stirred her coffee and watched drops desperately cling to the edge of her spoon. They clung tightly, defying gravity for a surprising amount of time; tinsel strength far beyond her capacity. Regardless of their inherent strength, the drops fell and disappeared into the swirling black void anyway. She felt like she was each drop of coffee, getting smaller every time, weaker; a small black drop in a large cosmic ocean hurtling towards a giant, sucking void.

  “Oh, just that I’m suddenly the target of a fairy-tale monster from a period of time I know nothing about. Just waiting for my prince charming to come along, give me a kiss and save me from the dragon.”

  Mama Dedé chuckled. “That’s good, girl. You keep that sass. If this thing is true, you’re gonna need every bit of strength you can muster.”

  “But how do we know?” Del asked. “How do we know if this is true, or just… just some weird coincidence and a couple of nutty old—although kind of interesting—men who like to tell spook stories?”

  “Who, Frank and Armand? Heh, they nutty alright, but that don’t mean da story ain’t true.” She joined Del at the table and grabbed her hands. A more serious look had never been on Mama Dedé’s face.

  “Listen to me now,” she said in a low tone. “I heard from Marie last night. It wasn’t very clear, kinda faded, like a T.V. channel that’s goin’ out, but it was her. She came to me early on in the trance. She knows that somethin’ is happenin’.”

  Del tried to hide the disbelief on her face by looking into the void of coffee.

  “It has somethin’ to do with that boy you know.”

  Del’s spoon clanked into the bottom of her cup, sending angry drops cascading across the table. “What boy? Jimmy?” she said. “What’s wrong with him?”

  Mama Dedé grabbed her hands, demanding her attention. “I don’t know for sure, but listen: there’s somethin’ you got to do. I don’t fully understand why jus’ yet, but you do what I tell you.”

  Del walked through the double-doors of the orphanage and didn’t bother signing in. She had seen Jimmy staring out the window of the waiting room and knew something was wrong.

  “He was crying all night,” Josephine said, jumping up from behind the desk. “I tried to talk—Del…?”

  Del walked straight through the next door and saw not the child-like excitement she normally saw in Jimmy, but instead a boy she hardly recognized.

  Jimmy turned toward her from the window and sank into a small waiting-room chair next to the window. The dark circles under his eyes suggested sickness or malnutrition. He reached his hand up and spoke her name, but it came out as a mouse squeak. His hand fell to his lap and his head lolled against the back of the chair.

  In two long strides Del was at his chair, sliding on her knees as she thought he would tumble forward onto the hard linoleum.

  “Jimmy! Jimmy, what’s wrong?” she asked, hugging him close. “Are you sick?” She felt his head for fever. He was cold and clammy, but still managed to feel wet with sweat.

  “I tied, Deh,” he said. “I fought you dead and I—”

  “Dead? Jimmy, I’m not dead. I’m right here,” she said, smoothing his hair back from his forehead. “Why would you think such a thing?”

  “Bad deams.” He started to say more, but now that Del was here sleep was quickly overtaking him.

  “You had a bad dream again? Did it keep you awake? Josephine said you were up all night. Were you scared?”

  “I fought you dead,” he said weakly. “I deam da iissard tied to eat you head. Den I saw ghost people, and den… some bad fings.”

  “What bad—never mind. It was just a dream. I’m fine. I’m right here.”

  “But I doan wan’ you to die, Deh. Da iissard wan’ you to die, but I doan wan—”

  “Wait, just wait!” she said, holding his hands tightly. “Why do you think the iissa— Why do you think the lizard wants me to die? Did the lizard talk to you in your dream?”

  Jimmy thought about this as he rubbed his tired eyes. “No Deh, you talked to me in my deam, ony it wasn’t you, but it was kinda you. You sang da song to kihw da iissard. You said sing da song Yimmy and I singed it but now I doan ‘member it and now you gonna die ‘cause my ‘tupid head can’t ‘member da song.”

  “I’m not going to die, not for a long, long time. And neither are you. I’m going to get you out of here and you’re going to come live with me.” She looked over her shoulder in case the Crow was looking through the door window. “I don’t know where we’ll live yet, but I’m going to get you out of here. I need to do some things first. I don’t know how long it will take, but I may not be able to come visit you for a while.”

  “But why?”

  “Don’t worry. I can’t explain now
, but I need to ask you to do something for me.”

  Jimmy perked up slightly at this. “What Deh, kihw da issarrd?”

  “What? No. You stay away from the iissa— from the lizard. If you see him…” She suddenly wondered how far she should take this line of thought. “Jimmy, have you seen the lizard? Has… has the lizard seen you?”

  Jimmy thought again on this. He felt happy that he could help Del. “No, I doan see da iissard. My deam see da iissard. Dat why he can’t see me. He can’t see my deam.”

  Del felt a slight wave of dizziness hit her as she considered the implications of what Jimmy was saying. She couldn’t believe this was happening.

  “Jimmy, you said I sung you a song in your dream. But you don’t remember it?”

  He shook his head weakly.

  “Not even a little bit?”

  Jimmy scrunched his face into concentration. Del knew that he would do this all day if she asked him

  “Aarrgghhh… come out ‘tupid tong!” Jimmy said.

  “That’s OK Ji—”

  “It tuck, Deh. It fwew in but won’t fwy out!”

  Del chuckled at this and gave Jimmy a hug. “That’s OK. Maybe it will come out later. If it does, try to remember it, OK?”

  Jimmy nodded enthusiastically.

  “And Jimmy, one more thing.” She looked directly at him. “I need you to be really brave until I come and get you, OK?”

  “Bwave da ‘ion?”

  “Yes, brave like a lion.”

  At this, Del walked Jimmy back to his bed, and despite the morning hour, tucked him tightly in. He was asleep almost immediately.

  Looking around the unusually quiet orphanage, Del saw Josephine hovering in the shadow of the hall. She had been at the desk when Del ran in, but she wasn’t sure where Jo had been during her talk with Jimmy. She was concerned with how much Josephine may have heard.

  Josephine walked quickly to Del, nearly skipping as she looked over her shoulder at the empty orphanage.

  “Where is everyone?” Del asked.

  Grabbing her jacket sleeve, Josephine tugged at Del’s arm and pulled her towards the back hall that led to the showers and back offices.

  “The Crow and most of the other penguins are out with the rug rats,” Josephine said, “on some sort of field trip. Del, I need to talk to you.”

  Josephine stopped inside the entrance to the girls’ shower room. She remembered sitting on the bench not long ago waiting for Del to finish her shower. She knew her time was short.

  “Jo, I need a favor from you. I need to ask—”

  “Anything,” Jo said. “Ask me anything.” She smoothed Del’s jacket sleeves again from shoulder to wrist, willing herself not to grope her arms altogether. “But first I have to say something.”

  “Jo, I need—”

  “Please wait. Please listen.” Jo looked at the dark hallway, trying to detect any light footsteps, afraid her time has flying away. She felt a blush rush up the sides of her torso. She felt this every time she thought of Del, now. She saw herself slightly disconnected from the scene, gazing at Del, pawing at her arms, but couldn’t stop herself. “Del, I wanted to say…” She didn’t want to scare Del off, but she had to say this one thing. “I want you to know…” The blush flowed up her body, releasing waves of heat up her neck, turning her cheeks a warm, inviting pink. She felt dizzy. She swallowed hard. She thought she was fainting. She focused on the smallest thing she could see: a tiny freckle on the side of Del’s mouth, right near the edge of her lips. It was a hidden freckle, she’d never noticed it before, but she had never been this close before. It was intoxicating to be this close. No one else knew of this freckle, she was sure of it. It was her secret. One of the many secrets she would know about Del. Jo wasn’t sure if she was still speaking or not. Del’s lips moved ever so slightly, maybe a word, maybe a light sigh, she wasn’t sure. She thought her lips quivered an invitation. Yes, her lips had invited her. She was sure of it now.

  Without thinking, Jo grabbed the sleeves of Del’s jacket pulling her forward, arched up on her tiptoes and kissed Del with a passion she had only dreamed about. All the dreams, all the words she had rehearsed were practice for this one, lone kiss. She couldn’t say any more.

  Del, surprised beyond action, stood still and let the kiss happen. Finally, grabbing Jo’s shoulders, she held her out straight, breaking the spell. She saw Jo blink slowly, as if coming out of a dream. Pleading eyes looked up at her.

  Del’s mind swirled with confusion. This is what Jo wanted to tell me? How… How did I not see this?

  Del wasn’t sure how much time had passed; it was speeding up and slowing down to the point she felt like she was in a carnival room. The floor was tilting over her head and she was tipping backwards. Somewhere in the distance she heard a voice, small and desperate, a pleading voice, a warm voice.

  “Del, please say something. You’re scaring me. Just say something.”

  Del blinked several times and looked around. She was still standing in the girls’ shower room, and the world had not turned upside down. Hordes of demons were not coming through the floor to take her to hell, and lighting had not destroyed the church as the Crow would sermonize. She felt her heart pounding in her chest and realized she wasn’t having a heart attack after all. Her pulse settled.

  She took a long slow breath and looked at Jo. Suddenly, something that Mama Dedé had told her flashed through her mind. She saw Jo looking up at her in anticipation. Del understood.

  In one quick move, Del slid her hand from Jo’s shoulder to the back of her neck and pulled her forward. She closed her eyes and let Jo kiss her again. She may have kissed Jo back, but wasn’t sure which direction it was going. She ran her fingers up the back of Jo’s neck and cradled her, kneading her fingers through Jo’s long brown hair. She felt Jo sink towards her when she did this. After several seconds, Del broke the spell again and pulled her hand away. Jo’s eyes shimmered with joy. Del tucked her hand into her jacket pocket, rolling her fingers together, saving her prize.

  “Del, I… Thank you. I just wanted…” Jo stammered and swallowed hard. “I… I just… That’s what I wanted to say… I’m here for you, Del. I’ll help you. Whatever you need. With Jimmy, anything… I’ll help however I can.”

  “I know you will, Jo,” Del said. “Thank you. I know.”

  “Say my name again. Just once more.”

  “Thank you, Josephine.”

  Chapter 39

  A Treacherous Name

  Oh! Treacherous, treacherous name!

  * * *

  I beg of you never to speak it! I pray the wretched word shall never pass my ears again!

  * * *

  Haunted! Cursed! The bane of my torment and anguish for more years than I can recall!

  * * *

  Why I hate the name so has been lost to me, but it is poison! A curse rolled into a single word! A…

  * * *

  Wait… I do recall… something… something about the name… it is from a dream that pricks my mind.

  * * *

  But alas… What became of the name? Was it not lost? It is a curious thing.

  * * *

  All but lost to the ages I’d say… only wh—

  * * *

  Of course! It has come to me at last!

  * * *

  The wretched name was upon the wind.

  * * *

  And into the tempest it did fall.

  Chapter 40

  Del left the orphanage with confused thoughts running through her head. She tried to process the events of the morning, but felt more at a loss than ever before. Her life had become a whirlwind; a tornado, uncontrolled, wreaking havoc wherever it went. Her life had been unleashed on the few people around her she cared about, and had only brought destruction. She didn’t know where her life was going, but had to get it under control somehow. She knew she had to find the strength, and just a few hours ago had taken the first step to that end: she had agreed to learn from Mama De
dé.

  The short bike ride back to the halfway house helped to clear her head a bit, but her mind was still racing. She was nervous and excited at the same time. She could feel… life, speeding up around her. Things were now in motion that she didn’t understand, but she knew she would be part of them. In fact, she somehow felt she was the center of the storm, maybe even the catalyst. She wondered if she really did have an unknown power. She had heard several stories of people with strange abilities; sometimes good, sometimes bad, but mostly good, she thought. Why couldn’t she have something good? Even though she was an orphan, it wasn’t her fault—at least she didn’t think it was. If she had some type of natural power, she would use it to help people. She would help Jimmy. Maybe this was the thing she needed to help him. She would learn what she needed from Mama Dedé, just enough to get past this ghost thing, and then she would help Jimmy with the rest.

  Part of this sounded ridiculous and immature to her, but the thought of having another way to help Jimmy superseded all other thoughts. She would learn this Voodoo stuff to help Jimmy.

  As she entered the halfway house, Mama Dedé greeted her with a solemn nod, turned and walked down the hall to the parlor. Del followed without a word.

  The other kids that stayed at the halfway house had been sent across the city to retirement homes to do chores. They would spend the night there. The house would remain nearly empty until the next morning. Mama Dedé hoped that would be enough time.

  Inside the parlor, the information from last night flooded back into Del’s mind. A heavy weight settled back around her shoulders, causing a dread to shadow her face.