“You must concentrate,” she ordered as she extended her hands. “You strike me as the sort who has a mind that wanders. That cannot happen today. You must follow my lead.”
“I’ll do my best.” I meant it. “Just tell me what you want me to do.”
“I’m going to create a dark room,” she explained. “I want you to stand in the center of the room with me. We will call to my neighbor.”
“What’s his name?”
“I don’t know his name. I only know his essence.”
“Won’t that make things more difficult?”
“Yes, but I don’t see where we have another option. I will recognize his soul. Unless you have specific knowledge of one of the other bodies that have risen, he’s our only shot.”
She had a point. “Let’s do it.” I worried my hands were sweaty as I pressed my palms to hers and closed my eyes. “Lead away.”
“Keep your mind open,” she ordered. “Here we go.”
She began chanting. The words sounded French, which made sense. She was a Creole woman, and that meant the magic she knew had been passed down from various ancestors. The further back she went, the more French she got.
I opened my mind as she instructed, allowing the words to flow over me. I didn’t understand them, but somehow I got the gist. Before I even realized what was happening, I was floating in darkness. The only thing I heard was her voice; she was yelling at me to listen.
“You must anchor yourself to the room,” she snapped.
Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked around the black cube she called a room. There was no light fixture attached to the ceiling, yet I saw her clearly.
“What is this place?” I was intrigued as I glanced around. “It’s ... weird.”
“It’s a meeting room of sorts between the two sides,” she replied. “My grandmother taught me how to access it. Think of it as a thought museum.”
“That’s ... kind of cool.” I turned to study the darkness that surrounded us. There seemed to be no limit to the space. “How did you know you could access this place when you first started practicing? Did your grandmother teach you?”
“No. She was long gone before I came into my powers. That didn’t happen until I was in my twenties. I was something of a late bloomer.”
“Well, at least you realized it before it was too late.”
“True. You, however, were an early bloomer. I feel the power radiating off you. It is ... like being in a warm bath of light that makes me feel stronger with every breath.”
She sounded covetous. “What?”
If Madame Brenna realized she’d made a mistake, she didn’t show it. Instead, she let her excitement take over. “We could join together. Do you have any idea the things we could do if we linked your powers with mine?”
The idea made me distinctly uncomfortable. “I’d rather not do that. Thanks for the offer, though.”
“Why not?” She sounded petulant. “You have a power those in the Quarter would love to harness. People are whispering about you. They can’t identify what you are, but they know what you’re not.”
I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. “And what am I not?”
“A fluke. You’re not someone who will generate magic and then lose it. Your magic is in your blood. You were born with it. Most of the bokors and priestesses here were made. That makes you the greatest power most of them have ever seen.”
“I don’t want to be the greatest power. I’m happy just being a woman.”
“No one is happy just being a woman. Don’t kid yourself. Power is craved for a reason. If you share yours we can teach those who would hold us down a very powerful lesson. Isn’t that what you want?”
That was the last thing I wanted. “You sound like you want to be an overlord.”
“And what is wrong with that?”
I could think of so many answers to that question, but I didn’t want to anger her. I wasn’t sure I could find a way out of the box without her. “I don’t want to be an overlord. I prefer being normal, if that’s even really a thing. I’ve never understood my powers.”
“I can help you.”
“From the sound of it, you don’t know what I am. I don’t know what I am either. You can’t control what you don’t understand.”
“I don’t want to control you. I want to join with you. Together we can control others.”
Wait … what? “And why would I want that?”
“Why not?”
It seemed a simple question, but there was no easy answer. “This was a mistake.” I could see that now, but I feared it was too late to break away. “I’ll come up with another method to talk with the displaced souls. I’m sorry to have bothered you.” I moved to step away, but there was no place to go.
“I can’t just let you leave.”
“No?”
“No. I need you. You don’t realize it yet, but you need me, too. We must join.”
“That sounds kind of perverted,” I countered, buying for time. “Again, I have to say thanks but no thanks. This isn’t what I want.”
“Perhaps I don’t care what you want.” Her voice turned chilling. “What will you do if I don’t allow you to leave?”
She was backing me into a corner and I had no other choice. “I’ll have to make my own exit.”
“And how will you do that?”
“You really don’t want to know.”
“But ... I do.”
“Then I’ll have to show you.”
Twenty-Six
When it came to fighting strategy, I wasn’t one to think about the correct method or course before doing it. I was impulsive, and that’s how I operated now.
I lifted my hands, sparks emanating from my fingertips and causing me to widen my eyes. That rarely happened, which made me think the room somehow amplified powers. If I was surprised, though, Madame Brenna was stunned.
“What is that?” She was awed by the show.
“Just let me out,” I pressed. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I started unleashing magic in the mind room she’d built. There was every chance she might be able to absorb it, which would be bad.
“All you have to do is agree to join with me.” Her voice was calm, smooth. “You’re a woman of your word. I’ll believe you.”
“I am a woman of my word,” I agreed. “That’s why I can’t do that. I don’t want to see whatever endgame you’re trying to leverage. It was a mistake to come here.”
I knew that deep down. That begged the question of why I felt the need to see her in the first place. The urge was strong at the hotel. I kept hearing Papa Legba’s voice in the back of my head. He wanted me to listen to my heart, which is how I ended up chasing a woman with an obviously dark soul. How could I have gotten so turned around?
“Show me more,” Madame Brenna insisted. “Show me all of it.”
“You couldn’t handle all of it,” I shot back. Of course, I couldn’t handle all of it either. I often felt shaky unleashing my magic, as if I was about to lose control of who I was and become something else. That was the greatest fear I harbored. What if the magic made me into something I didn’t want to be?
“I want to see.” Her eyes shifted in the light, momentarily looking reptilian and causing my blood to run cold. “Show me.” She was insistent, brutally cold.
I had no choice but to give her what she wanted. The longer I stayed, the greater the chance I would become lost. If I gave her power over me, let her feel my fear, I’d lose control. “Fine.”
I shook my hands, several sparks flying loose.
“Yes. That’s what I want to see.” Madame Brenna was greedy as she shifted closer. “Do it again.”
“You want to see it again?” I had an idea. When she nodded, I leveled an evil smile at her. “Fine. Here you go.” Quick as lightning — or as fast as I could move because even I can’t match lightning — I shifted my hands to the sides of her head and poured as much magic as I could muster inside. “Show me,” I orde
red.
Madame Brenna was confused. Her instinct was to pull away — and that was the right move — but I gripped her so tightly that she didn’t have the strength. “What are you doing?”
“Show me,” I ordered, peering inside her mind. “I want to see what you are.”
“I ... you ... .” She went slack-jawed as I took control. “This isn’t right.” She sounded bitter about the turn of events. For some reason, that made me happy.
“Show me.” I burrowed deep, forcing myself past her defenses. As far as shields go, she had an impressive arsenal. I was stronger. She probably should’ve taken that into account.
“No! What are you doing?” She threw everything she had into breaking away from me. I refused to allow it.
“Be still.” I was in deep enough that she had no choice but to acquiesce. Her eyes went blank and she stopped struggling as I looked for hints of what she was really after. It wasn’t hard to find information. Unfortunately, I couldn’t absorb the information very well.
Memories flashed through her head like a movie as I tried to pick the most important ones. I was on a limited timetable.
I saw a young girl who looked remarkably like Madame Brenna. She was in her early teens, wild hair standing on end, and she looked to be fighting with several other girls. The typical pre-teen insults flew and then the image dissolved.
Madame Brenna again. She was older now, probably early twenties. She was in a park and a handsome man made eyes at her. He was dressed in simple khakis and a shirt, but the smile he sent her was knee-weakening. My knees went weak at the same time hers did.
Another flash. Madame Brenna in a house, standing next to a stove, a toddler wailing at her feet. She didn’t even remotely resemble the self-assured woman in front of me now. Instead, she looked wrecked, as if life had taken a swerve she hadn’t expected. She didn’t lean over to help the child. Instead she glared at him, as if he were the worst thing that had happened to her.
Another flash. The child was older, walking, quiet, a set of dark eyes that promised he would not be ignored forever. He sat in a window seat, his eyes fixed out the glass, as two people screamed in the adjacent room. I recognized Madame Brenna’s voice. The male voice was an enigma, but he bellowed about a dirty house and a child falling behind in school. He called her a bad mother. Her only response was to laugh.
She was still laughing in the final flash. The child was older still. He didn’t look happy or unhappy. He simply stood next to the door as his mother carried a suitcase toward it. She promised she would be back for him someday. She explained that his father wouldn’t let him go and she didn’t have the strength to take him. She swore she would eventually find the strength to return. The child didn’t appear to be affected by the announcement. He merely nodded.
Other visions lurked at the outskirts of her mind. All I had to do was reach for them and I could’ve gained more insight. Something told me, however, that I’d already seen the necessary memories. I simply had to figure out the bigger picture and escape from the mind room.
I expanded my magic, pushed hard, and was gratified to see her mind barriers crumble like dry cookies. She was nowhere near as strong as me. Whether that was because she didn’t realize what she was up against and was caught unawares or she was simply weaker, I couldn’t say.
I forced a hole in her mind and stepped through it. The second I was free, I gasped in a breath. The real me, not the image trapped in her brain, remained sitting on the floor, cross-legged. She was across from me and looked dazed. She listed to her side, leaning on her elbow as she meekly crawled away from me.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” she hissed. Her eyes were back to normal and yet I couldn’t shake the memory of the reptilian slits in her head. “I’ll make you pay for that. You have no idea what I’m going to do to you.”
I was the one in control — at least by appearances — so I climbed to my feet and clenched my hands at my sides as I stared down at her. “Don’t come after me again. You won’t like what happens if you do. That was a simple taste of the power that I wield.”
“You don’t deserve that power.” She was back to bitter. “You don’t even understand what you have.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not your power. You need to let it go.”
“I won’t.”
“Then you’ll fall. I’m not here to deal with you. I thought you could help. Obviously you had other ideas.”
“Obviously.” She rasped out the single word, glaring as she propped her back against the wall. “We’re not done.”
“Oh, we’re done. I don’t have time for you.” I headed toward the front door. I hoped to make a smooth exit, but I couldn’t quite manage it because I wasn’t familiar with the lock.
“You can’t solve this without me,” she warned. “You’ll have to join me whether you like it or not.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s not true. You will be back.”
“I promise you I won’t.” I pushed open the door, sucking in a breath of fresh air, and pulled up short when I found Laura standing five feet away. Her arms were crossed, her eyes suspicious, and I knew she’d seen some of what happened inside the store. The question was, how much? “What are you doing here?” I blurted out, frustrated. “Why are you following me?”
“I knew you were up to something,” she replied, matter-of-fact. “There’s no way you would willingly pull away from the rest of the group to take a nap. Do you think I’m stupid?”
I very much doubted that was a rhetorical question. “What did you hope to accomplish?”
“Well, I figured you were lying and all I had to do was follow you to figure out what you were really up to. You’re not very stealthy, by the way. I’d say you need to practice those skills, but you won’t be with the group long enough for it to matter.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean?”
“Jack won’t be happy that you lied to him.” She looked thrilled at the prospect. “He’ll finally see you for what you really are. I was convinced he’d grow tired of that naive schoolgirl thing you’ve got going eventually. This is so much better. There’s nothing Jack values more than honesty. You, my dear, have officially burned your bridges.”
I merely stared. She was right. I’d lied and Jack wasn’t going to be happy. Worse than that, he would be hurt.
“Aren’t you going to beg me not to tell him?” Laura chortled. “Aren’t you going to appeal to my fellowship as a woman to help you?”
“No.” There was no reason to lie. Laura wasn’t a friend. She was an enemy. “You’ll do what you feel is necessary.”
“I will. Jack will be crushed.” She rubbed her hands together. “I bet that means he’ll be looking for someone to help him pick up the pieces.”
I wasn’t especially worried. “That will never be you.”
“You don’t know. It could be me.”
“No, it couldn’t.” I shook my head. “Jack is a man of substance. You’re an empty vessel. You’ll never be able to give him what he needs.”
“And you think you will?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I know. I’m off to tell him the truth. I wonder if he’ll cry. I know you will. I guess I’ll see you back at the hotel.” She skipped off, gleeful, leaving me nothing to do but follow at a much slower pace.
I scuffed my feet against the sidewalk as I trudged to what I was certain would be imminent doom. It appeared I was never going to get the chance to tell Jack the truth after all. Maybe that was for the best. I would never have to see the look on his face when I crushed his belief system. He might be better off.
What about me, though? An inner voice kept whispering the question. Would I be better off? I knew without a doubt that the answer was no.
JACK WAS IN THE LOBBY, and Laura was with him. She gestured wildly as she talked, her lips moving at a speed I’d never witnessed. He didn’t react, but his eyes slowly tracked
to me when I crossed the threshold. I saw betrayal lurking there, and it pained me.
“Charlie.” His voice was deceptively mild. “I think we should talk.”
“He thinks you should talk,” Laura repeated. She was clearly having a great time. “I wonder what he wants to talk about.”
“Sure,” I offered, resigned. “We can talk. Where do you want to do it?”
“Upstairs.” He pointed toward the elevator. “Come on.” He didn’t reach for my hand. He didn’t brush his fingertips over my cheek or smooth my hair. He kept at least a foot between us at all times, even in the elevator.
We made the ride to our floor in silence. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to argue in my room or his, so I hung back and watched as he headed toward my room. I followed him inside, resigned that I was about to lose everything important.
He kicked off his shoes and left them on the door rug before throwing himself into one of the chairs in the small sitting area. He looked like a man on the edge of a precipice. I wanted to soothe him, but there were few words I could offer to make things better.
“Laura said you were out with Madame Brenna,” he started. “What were you talking about?”
“I thought she could help me conduct a seance,” I replied dully. “I thought maybe if we could track down one of the spirits of the stolen bodies that he or she could answer some questions.”
“That sounds ludicrous.”
“I know.”
“You did it anyway.”
“I did. I just ... I don’t like being painted as someone who needs constant protection. It’s frustrating. I’m a grown-up, but I’m constantly treated as a child. That’s not an excuse, mind you. I deserve whatever you’re about to unload on me. I lied and snuck out.”
“You did,” he agreed, tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair. He looked antsy, frustrated to the extreme. “Why didn’t you tell me what you had planned?”
“You know why. You’re a non-believer. I can’t make you believe like I do. I knew you would fight me. I wanted to give it a try.”
“You left the hotel alone.”
The Undead Uproar Page 25