by Les Goodrich
***
On Monday morning Carol met Tanner at the shop shortly after he opened.
“You’re here early,” he said still tying back the front curtains and yet to turn on the music.
“I’m going to visit Josephine Lemort at the inn and I want Jordan and Brit to come with me. Do you think they’re awake yet?”
“Brit might be. She’s off today, and she has class this afternoon. But Jordan, up yet? No way.”
“I’ll text them anyway. This is important.”
“Why? What’s up with the voodoo lady?”
“It looks like we let our fears trick us. Can you imagine, witches prejudging a religion like that? Turns out she’s a good voodoo priestess. Most of them are.”
As always, Tanner thought carefully before he spoke. “You sent the faeries to find out what she was up to. That’s just investigation. Prejudging her would have been accusing her without investigating to find out the truth.”
“Right you are my Ashenguild witch,” Carol said. “But we still jumped to the conclusion that she was voodoo hexing the kids because she’s into voodoo.”
“Brit and Jordan did.”
“That’s why they’re coming with me,” Carol said and she texted both girls.
Brit was awake and she texted Carol back instantly and her text was populated with smiley faces and hearts.
Jordan, however, thought the text chirp was part of a dream. When she heard it again she thought it was a hallucination. She opened her eyes and listened for the rogue sound to intrude, and it did. She climbed over James and rested her body across his bare chest where she fumbled for her phone and focused on the screen.
“What are you doing?” James asked and he put his hands on her to push her down some so he could breathe, and instinctively began to caress her smooth back and sides.
“Stop, I’m trying to read.”
“Now?”
“A text from Carol. I have to go,” she said and she kissed him and rolled out of bed. James sat up and watched her throw clothes around in search of what to wear. “I bet it’s freezing out there.”
“I thought you closed today,” James said.
“I do.”
“So you’ll be gone for good once you leave, right?”
“Maybe,” and clothes continued to fly.
“I took the day off just to spend time with you.”
Jordan looked a pair of jeans over, then sat with them on the bed. “I’m sorry. This is important or Carol wouldn’t ask.”
“More important than us?”
“You know I didn’t mean it like that.”
“But you’re going anyway.”
“I have to.”
“Did you ever think you could include me in your little witch escapades? I’m a witch too you know.”
“I know. I’m just spread so thin lately. I’m sorry. I’m tutoring Casey. Brit’s fresh out of the broom closet, so I’m kind of a mentor to her. The store is getting super busy, and we’re all pitching in to help Mims get going. Forget about my career, whatever that is. I love the store but still. And Tanner, thank God for him at least. I mean he has his own thing for sure, but at least he understands.”
“I understand. You guys are busy. I work in retail too. You and I have a good thing going. I think you should move in with me.”
“What!” Jordan burst and if she hadn’t been sitting she would have fallen over.
“Yeah. I can cook for you and we can be together anytime we’re away from work. You can still do all of the things you’re doing, but we could spend more time together without splitting us from our places.”
“Without splitting you from your place, you mean,” Jordan said comparing two shirts.
“Or we could live here if you like living in one room so much.”
Jordan began pulling on her socks. “We’re not talking about this right now.”
“Then when?”
“Not now. As a matter of fact, you should go. I can’t even think right now.”
“You’re serious?”
“Yes, please. You’re great. We’ll figure something out. But me moving or you living here is not it. Go on. I have to get a shower.”
“You have to get a shower with socks on?”
Jordan looked at her feet. “This is too early for me. I’m not supposed to be up at eight a.m. unless I’m still in a nightclub from the night before. I’m nocturnal dammit.” She stood up. “Bye James, I’ll call you later.” With that she went to her bathroom and James gathered his things and left.
Jordan got coffee at Coastal and rode her witch broom bike through the cold morning to the shop. She had perfected the art of riding a bike with coffee and she sipped it and swerved casually around road bumps she knew by heart. She met Brit and Carol at the shop and they walked to Carol’s white Volvo in the apartment parking lot at the far east end of the alley beyond Charlotte Street.
“Shotgun!” called Brit and Jordan rolled her sleepy eyes. With Brit up front and Jordan happily stretching out in the back they rode across town to the Penny Fountain Inn. Along the way Carol relayed what the faeries had seen and heard in the graveyard.
“So Gwen is mixed up in this after all. I knew it,” Jordan said propping her boots on the far door.
“And you knew Josephine Lemort was a voodoo priestess hexing the kids too,” Carol reminded her over her shoulder. She sped up to beat a yellow light.
“Josephine Lemort is a voodoo priestess,” Jordan said.
“Who’s trying to help the kids like we are,” Carol said and she made the corner a bit fast and Jordan and Brit were pressed against their doors. Carol parked in front of the stately Victorian bed and breakfast.
“A technicality,” Jordan said and she drank the last of her coffee.
“Now listen to me you two, this lady is seriously powerful. We’ve all underestimated who and what she is. She may be trying to help these kids, but we still don’t know exactly what she’s up to. We know she’s trying to find Gwen, but we don’t know why. I wanted you here so you could listen and learn. Listen with your ears and be polite. Now let’s go.”
The three witches greeted a woman who was tending to the breakfast service for two tables of guests in the parlor. The bed and breakfast house was filled with antiques and had a warm and welcoming tone. A fire crackled in the fire place.
“We’re looking for a friend of ours, a Ms. Josephine Lemort.”
“Ms. Lemort should be down shortly. She has breakfast every day at this time, as do her friends. You may wait in the common room if you’d like.”
“Thank you,” Carol said and she sat with the girls near the fire and waited. In time Josephine Lemort came smoothly down the stairs. The teenage girl followed and behind her the two men. Without hesitation the girl and the two men went to seats in the dining room. Josephine turned and greeted Carol and the girls as if she had been expecting them.
“The Light Tribe witches,” she said. “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” Carol stood and the ladies shook hands. “Ahem,” Carol cleared her throat and Jordan and Brit jumped up. “Good morning,” both said and they, too, shook Josephine’s hand.
“And those were your faeries who attended our little outing last night, I take it.”
“They were. We thought you might be in league with Shadowclan. How did you spot the fae?”
“Oya told me all about them. Please, sit,” Josephine gestured and as the girls and Carol sat Josephine did as well. Carol leaned in and spoke quietly.
“Since you brought it up, I hear that you conjured Oya in the flesh. Impressive.”
“In all fairness, she and I go way back,” Josephine said and her eyes conveyed a mystery to her words but that was all she ever told of the Goddess.
“We apologize for sending our spies, but Shadowclan tends to run unchecked around here, unless we are the ones doing the checking.”
“I understand. How well do you know Gwen?”
“Too well,” Caro
l admitted.
“Then it wouldn’t shock you to find out she’s up to no good. She has trained this hacker in the ways of Shadowclan. She has helped him to cultivate his dark powers and leveraged his voodoo skills to add a new layer of control over others. Together they have succeeded in blending dark magick, voodoo, and technology.”
“But why?” Brit asked and she and Jordan scooted forward and, like Carol, listened intently.
“Why indeed? Gwen has been at this for some time. I recognized a certain Shadowclan energy residue when the first minor crimes popped up in New Orleans. I know now that those were mere tests. Gwen and her apprentice working out the bugs. I traced her activities to Saint Augustine and earlier this summer, I discovered this town was her home base. I would have come sooner but other matters required my attention.
“We know she has recruited this young man who calls himself Figment. He is dangerous, and unstable, but for some reason she wanted someone with a proclivity for voodoo and, unfortunately, she found him. He’s the son of a powerful voodoo priestess and grew up watching her work. She died when he was in college, and up to that point, he thrived. We know he was a computer engineering student of great promise and hope.
“However, two years ago and shortly before graduating, he vanished and never finished school. Some of his classmates, although far less gifted, went on to find staggering success. I suspect it was during this time when he first met Gwen.
“But it seems he went rogue as they say. He has become one of the most reviled abominations New Orleans has ever produced. But he has evaded the most persistent voodoo watchdogs and that’s why I was called in. He has used his power to manipulate children for financial and personal gains, but we have no idea what his true motivations are. I believe he has stepped far above whatever role Gwen imagined for him. I came here to confront her but she is nowhere to be found.”
“Thank you so much for your time,” Carol said. “Perhaps we can assist one another. I know Gwen as well as anyone. I’ve known her most of my life. If she’s traveling to coach someone, you can bet it’s for a grand reason. It isn’t in her nature to collaborate. These children being used to rob banks and such, it seems they’re just pawns in some larger game.”
“Much larger,” Josephine agreed. “Gwen’s Shadowclan hacker minion is just a puppet that got out of control. A pawn himself, who, I’m afraid, has his own bigger scheme. I hope we can discover what that is before it’s too late.”
Carol stirred. “Gwen is a certain level of calamity most stable people never let themselves imagine. But I don’t believe even she would harm children. She’ll likely try to reel in her creation, this, Figment.”
Josephine nodded in slow agreement. “Indeed. Gwen has invested much time and energy into training him. But before more children are victimized, Figment must be stopped. My coming here was an act of desperation. I hoped if I could get my hands, or at least my sights, on Gwen, she could lead me to Figment. If we can’t find him, we are lost.”
“We know where he is,” Jordan said and Josephine’s eyes widened. Jordan explained how Figment had hexed Casey, and that Casey had tracked him to a neighborhood in New Orleans. “We don’t know the exact address, but we have it down to a general area. We’re already planning on going to New Orleans to track him down.”
“We are?” Brit asked and Carol looked to Jordan as well. Josephine stood and spoke.
“If you are, you will need my help, and truth be told, I could use yours. New Orleans is not like Saint Augustine. Our ghosts are not friendly, and our secrets run deep. You will need my help and you shall have it. Voodoo is a powerful friend, but a fearsome enemy. Do not make your decision to go into it lightly.”
Jordan and Brit followed Carol’s lead and stood when she did.
“Thank you for your time Ms. Lemort, but I must ask one question.”
“Yes?”
“Voodoo has my utmost respect, as do you. But did you not perform a ritual to stop this very criminal? Didn’t you send Ogun forth to help you stop Figment?”
“Indeed I did,” Josephine smiled. “And the very next day, here you are.”
Carol smiled as well. “Then bless our new alliance. And Bless Lwa Ogun La Flambo.”
Josephine Lemort bowed and Carol and the girls did the same. Josephine left to join her companions at breakfast and Carol led the girls out. Just as they reached the door, Josephine paused and spoke once more from the dining room arch. “Come to New Orleans on the full Moon. I will find you.”
Chapter 11
Backup
Tuesday afternoon Jordan and Casey sat on the porch at Monster Coffee. It was their day to go over Casey’s studies for the week and Jordan needed the air and the space. Casey came straight from school and Jordan came from her place where she had spent the morning avoiding texts and calls from James. They had gone over most of the pagan Yule traditions when Casey closed her notebook and leaned forward on her crossed arms.
“What’s wrong?” Jordan asked.
“I’m out of it. I can’t concentrate on this stuff anymore. Getting hexed by that guy freaking scared me. And now I know I can’t go back.”
“Go back to where?”
“Back to a time when I wondered if witchcraft and magick were real or not.” Casey looked up to Jordan with her face all but crying, shaken, and exhausted. Jordan set her drink down and put her hand on Casey’s crossed arms. Casey lifted her head and vented. “How is it I’ve lived my entire life and never seen a single faerie, but as soon as I start to study witchcraft I see a Lutin, two faeries, and a ghost, all in one week? Plus I got hexed and could have ended up like one of those robot kids. What if he made me hurt my parents? Or myself?”
“With everything going on right now, I thought about skipping our meeting. But then I decided that witches determine our own fates, not circumstances. I’m so glad I decided for us to still get together today. Are you?”
“Yes,” Casey said and she sat up some. Jordan saw so much of herself in the girl. Her eagerness. And her confusion about why someone would deliberately use someone else. Hurt an innocent person. They were actions foreign to Casey and to Jordan as well.
“Casey, those things have always been there. You just opened your mind to their possibility, so they revealed themselves. But living outside of that knowledge is no solution. Quite the opposite. People think by disbelieving something supernatural or magickal, they’re pushing against it. But really, skepticism is the ally of darkness.
“When people disregard what they don’t understand, they create a sanctuary for it to thrive beyond scrutiny. They allow it to run free. What happened to you could have happened to anyone. This isn’t witchcraft’s fault. You think those little kids were studying witchcraft when that asshole hexed them and turned them into bank robbers?”
“No.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m just worn out I guess. And I can’t really talk to my parents about this.”
“I get that. My parents are a lot like yours. Cassia Darden and Whitaker Beaumont. They’re cool, but they’re damn sure not witches.”
“Where do they live?”
“They live in Cocoa Village. It’s a funky little spot west of Cocoa Beach. We’ll go there someday. And you can always talk to me, no matter what it is. Okay?”
“Okay. So who taught you?
“Carol,” Jordan said with obvious love in her voice. “I was lucky enough to have someone like her when I needed it most. I’m trying to be that person for you. Doing it’s changing my life, but wonderfully so. I know it’s scary when magick controls you in an unwanted way. Believe me I do. That’s why we have to stop this guy.”
“You’re right,” Casey said. “So you’re going to New Orleans?”
“I think so. We’ll sort it all out in the next day or so.”
“I wish I could go. So when do I get a wand?”
Jordan smiled. “Now there’s the Curious Casey I like to see. We’ll check out wands in the shop the next t
ime you’re there. I have one in mind that might suit you.”
***
Brit zipped up her backpack and stood among the shuffling students who exited the hall in a mumbling group.
“Miss Mason,” the professor called and Brit moved to the desk at the room front.
“Yes?” she said and she would gladly take time to speak with the young professor of English Literature. Professor Harrison was thirty-six, wore tweed sport coats, and his straight but thick blonde hair was long, fell to his chin when he leaned forward, and he was constantly brushing it back over his head where it fell to the sides. He did that and Brit stood watching.
“There are a few students, more than a few, who are struggling with the last two subjects we have studied. Initially I thought it was simple comprehension, but those same students have done well with previous material. Would you be willing to sit with me for a few minutes and give me your opinions. I think you understand the deeper themes and I’m thinking, if I could explain things from the perspective of a student that understands this, it may help some of the less intuitive in the group.”
“Now?” Brit asked. She was already pushing it with arriving to work on time.
“I only imagine it taking about thirty minutes,” Professor Harrison assured her with a bright grin.
“I’m actually making myself late for work as we speak. But any other time.”
“Can you come in early before class next week? Thirty minutes?”
“I’ll be here,” she said.
“It’s a date,” Professor Harrison said flashing a smile and brushing back his hair.
Brit blinked, opened her mouth, but closed it then just nodded, and walked to her bike on the way to relieve Tanner and close with Jordan.