by G A Chase
The professor explained his modification to Minerva, who was sitting behind the wheel. “Just lay into the accelerator. I’ve changed out the oil to handle higher RPMs and given the gas a bit of an octane boost. She might balk a bit after shifting.”
Delphine added, “For the spell to work, you’ll need to get fully up to speed then shift into fifth gear.”
Minerva didn’t look impressed by the work others had done to her pride and joy. “There is no fifth gear.”
“With the silver skull, there is. Just get it moving and shift, trusting it’s there.”
“So long as you don’t tell me to get her up to eighty-eight miles per hour. This is a Volkswagen, not a DeLorean. The engine isn’t the only limiting factor. For aerodynamic reasons, these old buses were never turned into hotrods.”
Delphine didn’t seem concerned, but then, it wasn’t her butt sitting on top of the little engine that could. “Take the Crescent City Connection across the river. I’ve put a traffic jam spell on the freeway, so you’ll have the straight stretch of road to yourself. With Professor Yates’s modifications, you should be able to make the climb with little trouble. Once you get to the top, put it in fifth and give it all you’ve got. Downhill with the wind behind you should be enough to blast you to the other side.”
Professor Yates patted the side of the van. “We’ll be keeping an eye on you from this side.”
“Like that’s going to do any good.” Myles grumbled so low he hoped even Kendell hadn’t heard him.
The way Professor Yates and Delphine backed away from the bus before Minerva started the engine didn’t inspire confidence. The little four-cylinder engine sputtered as though it had been given prune juice after a lifetime of drinking wine.
“Come on, girl. I know you’ve got it in you.” Minerva caressed the steering wheel before giving it another shot of battery life.
A loud explosion emanated from the tailpipe, followed by a rattling behind the bench seat Myles shared with Kendell, Sanguine, and Cheesecake.
Minerva pumped the gas. The hyped-up engine rocked the bus to the side as it experienced far more power than it had been designed to handle.
Cheesecake snuggled tightly to the laps of Kendell and Myles.
“One way or another, we’re leaving this plane of existence.” Myles’s lame joke managed to get a smattering of nervous laughs from the women.
“What do you say we give first gear a try?” Minerva let out the clutch.
The rattling of water bottles and other garbage left under the bench seats announced the bus was in gear. As if getting ready for a Disney ride, Myles hoped everyone’s arms were inside the vehicle.
The bus struggled through the city streets. With every stoplight, the people in the van held their breath. Minerva couldn’t find the sweet spot between the clutch and accelerator. Each start was like being launched out of cannon—a quick start followed by an unnerving hesitation when Myles wasn’t sure if the bus would make it to the next gear.
He breathed a little easier as the overloaded VW flew up the on-ramp. With no other cars around, Minerva gave the old vehicle all the gas it could take. From the smell in the back of the bus, Myles suspected flames were shooting out of the tailpipes.
Like a sports car that was finally being driven at its proper speed, the old bus ran through the gears at high RPMs. The small engine still had the putter of the old VW, but at the much higher RPMs, it sounded as if it was on steroids.
Kendell held Cheesecake tightly in her lap. “If this is going slow, I’m worried about what happens when we crest the bridge. I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster and kind of want to get off before I go over the edge. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”
“I don’t recall anyone thinking this was a good idea.” Myles kept his arm around her as the asphalt road in the windshield disappeared.
“Here goes nothing.” Minerva threw the bus into the mystical fifth gear.
Even Scraper, in the passenger seat, was screaming as the bus doubled its speed on the downhill run toward the Westbank.
In the blink of an eye, the bright summer day turned to night. Water covered the roadway, and the bus was skidding wildly out of control.
“Hit the brakes!” Scraper yelled as she grasped the handle on the dash.
“Can’t. I’ll lose all traction. I’ve got this.”
Myles admired Minerva’s confidence. Were he driving, he was pretty sure they’d be headed over the side of the bridge. As the roadway leveled out, she took the first exit and let the incline of the overpass slow the bus’s momentum.
“Piece of cake.”
Cheesecake growled at Minerva, but Myles wasn’t sure if it was due to the reference or her driving.
In the past, Myles’s mental journeys to the afterlife had the advantage of instantaneous travel. Getting around in an unknown realm had never been an issue.
The bus rolled to a stop at the end of the off-ramp. “Okay, navigators, where to?”
“Make a left,” Kendell said. “Head out toward the river. I’m not ready to face Colin the Devil just yet. We need to get our bearings.”
The nicely paved roadway that cut through the parklike setting wasn’t what Myles had expected. “I’ve only come over here by ferry, but I thought there were a lot more houses over here.”
Looking at Sanguine, Myles thought, She’s fidgeting in her seat like a girl who’s about to visit her grandparents. He realized the comparison wasn’t that far off. “What you see while we’re here isn’t completely based on the reality we know. My grandmother created this realm to conform to the inhabitants.”
Kendell petted Cheesecake’s head. The act helped both of them remain calm. “I don’t understand. What inhabitants?”
Sanguine turned away from the window. “The curse is the foundation for this reality. There are now two people in this world who are connected to the environment—you and Colin Malveaux. He’s the fulfillment of the curse’s objective, so this place is meant to teach him a lesson. You, however, are the ultimate beneficiary—the inheritor, as Marie Laveau put it. Imagine what would have happened if there’d been no need for the curse.”
Kendell leaned back on the bench seat and stared out the window. “For Louis Broussard not to have commissioned the curse, he would have needed to be able to pay back Baron Malveaux and the bank. So his invention for draining the swamp worked?”
Sanguine closed her eyes as if slipping into a trance. “As the new swamp witch, I can call up any version of the past. His creation didn’t help his agricultural experiment. This land, though productive, never made him much money. However, the ability to remove large volumes of water efficiently became the foundation for the city’s flood control. Many hurricanes that in our reality flooded the city were quickly drained thanks to Louis Broussard.” She opened her eyes. “It’s kind of like being a tour guide. Each time we experience a change in reality, I’ll be able to digest the CliffsNotes on what happened.”
“Cool,” Kendell said. “So this area would be the home to his descendants in this reality. And presumably, they’d be well off, thanks to what he did for the city. So far, hell doesn’t sound so bad from my perspective.”
“It’s not your hell—just an alternate reality. You’ll want to be very clear on that point. If you focus on something here, even if it’s something you want to avoid, it will become your reality. My grandmother used to say, ‘Where you look is where you go.’ She meant if you fixate on something, you end up making it happen.”
Myles understood the concept. “Right. So no imagining burning sulfur pits, only sunshine and puppies.”
“Simplistic, but not wrong. It’s not just about the surroundings, though. There are countless alternate realities. Each is completely true to the people who inhabit it. So the people you meet over here aren’t illusions. They’re very real. As with the curse itself, Kendell is a doorway between dimensions.”
“So we’ll see a completely different New Orleans?” Kendell asked.<
br />
“Not quite. We haven’t jumped into that new dimension. We’re only standing at the doorway. It’ll take someone from the other side who’s equally open to the mystical for you to establish the link.”
Minerva swung the bus off the main road onto an avenue shaded on both sides by oak trees. “I saw a house down here with its lights on. Seemed like a good place to start our investigation.”
Despite its long driveway, the plantation house wasn’t particularly grand or imposing. The single-story home with the wraparound porch looked well maintained, modest, and inviting.
“Who do you think lives here?” Myles asked.
As the bus rolled to a stop, Kendell was struggling out of her seat before Lynn had the sliding door open. “I could hazard a guess.”
It took Myles a moment to realize the woman running down the porch was the same Mary who, in their reality, was the matriarch of the homeless community who lived on the batture. This version of the woman was thinner, wore a flowing dress instead of the tattered housecoat he remembered, and was clearly a woman of means. She embraced Kendell as she got out of the van. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“But how?” Kendell asked.
“My silly angel, don’t you remember Whit telling you I was a seer?”
Though the ride had only been from one side of the river to the other, Myles felt as if he’d been crammed in the bus for days. He stretched out his back as he looked around the riverfront plantation. “Even with Sanguine’s explanation, I’m still not clear on how you know us without Kendell knowing anything about your life.”
“A person can only face one direction,” Mary explained. “I’m standing here, in this in-between reality, focusing on where you’ve come from. To do that, I have to suspend my connection to my reality.”
Kendell continued to hold Mary tight. “It doesn’t matter. I’m just so happy to know there’s a reality out there where you’re the inheritor of this land.”
Mary looked over the group. “Bring your things. There are plenty of bedrooms. So long as I’m in this space, you’ll all be welcome. I’ll stay as long as you need me.”
Sanguine stopped in front of the woman. “Do you know why we’re here?”
“I know enough. Get some rest. We’ll talk in the morning.”
* * *
Mary kept her arm tightly around Kendell’s waist as they walked along the batture. Across the river, the remains of Hurricane Agnes continued to threaten the Quarter and would for the foreseeable future. But on the Westbank, it was a calm, sunny day as if it were in the eye of the storm.
Kendell needed answers but wasn’t sure Mary would be able to provide anything other than a place of peace. “As a seer, what can you tell me about this reality?”
The woman who felt more like a mother to Kendell than her own mom looked out at the river. “It’s not stable, but I’m not sure it was meant to be. I’m only an observer here. You, however, are actually present in this strange place. That gives you power to change things.” She looked back at Kendell. “I suppose that’s not very helpful. In my world, there are so many people that what we know of as reality is pretty consistent. The more people, the less deviation. Though your friends are with you, they don’t have the power to change things like you do.”
“And Colin Malveaux has that same power?”
“I don’t know. Time doesn’t make much sense here, and that confuses what I see.” She pointed across the river. “You see how it’s still dark and gloomy over there, like nothing has changed since last night? While you’ve been here, we’ve gone from night into day. If Colin has power over his environment, I don’t think he’s discovered it yet.”
Cheesecake ran through the tall grass like a dog half her age. It warmed Kendell’s heart to see the old girl having so much fun.
That feeling flipped to terror when Cheesecake came to an abrupt halt ten feet in front of her. The dog lifted her droopy ears as high as she could, a clear sign she’d heard something that put her on edge.
“What is it, girl?” After Cheesecake’s abduction, Kendell swore to never again take any of the dog’s reactions for granted.
The pup tore across the field with a growl that made Kendell break into a run without thinking. Ahead, a dense thicket of vines and reeds bordered the river. Certain there was either a gator or some other terror from the Mississippi lurking along the shore, Kendell screamed for her dog to stop, but Cheesecake wasn’t listening. She dove paws first into the vegetation.
Between the fear and exertion, Kendell’s heart felt ready to explode. She could hear Cheesecake growling in the reeds, but other than the bushes shaking, she couldn’t identify the threat.
Before Kendell reached the water’s edge, Cheesecake emerged from the brush and trotted up to her, looking far too pleased with herself.
“What the hell was that about? You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
Cheesecake sat at attention in front of her and let out a solitary arf.
The bushes behind the dog began to shake. Kendell braced herself for some demonic creature from hell to emerge.
Instead of the dreaded fear-inducing demon, a brown-and-white puppy ran out from the reeds, giving her little legs all she had to pounce up to Cheesecake. The ball of fur landed on her belly at the bigger dog’s side.
“Oh my god. That is the cutest dog ever.”
But Cheesecake didn’t give Kendell long to admire the little girl. She let out two very distinct arfs.
A brindle pup with curly hair ran out of the plants so fast she lost her footing and did a tail-over-head somersault. She stood back up and shook the blades of grass out of her face. It took the dog a moment to figure out where she was headed. Again, she ran much too fast and ended up plowing headfirst into Cheesecake’s tail. The old girl turned her head to the pup, grabbed her by the mane, and positioned her on the side opposite her sister.
Without waiting for Kendell’s response, Cheesecake let out three arfs. Kendell once again thought her heart was about to explode, but this time it was out of happiness instead of fear.
Nothing happened in the weeds. Cheesecake remained facing Kendell but gave a solid growl before repeating her three arfs.
There was still no response from the plants.
Cheesecake stood up, faced the brush, and gave her fiercest growl, normally reserved for when Kendell had failed to provide dinner on time.
Finally, the weeds parted and a black-and-tan pup ran out onto the grassy field. He got halfway before stopping and shaking the river water and mud from his coat. As he stood at attention, Kendell could see that the tan coloring was actually just dirt.
Cheesecake resumed her seat between the cute little balls of fluff. The canine newcomer behind her looked crestfallen. Kendell wanted so badly to rush over and pick him up, but she had to trust that her dog was the one in charge. The little guy let out a pathetic whimper and ran full speed until he was at the front of the pack. Then he sat down between Cheesecake’s front paws.
Kendell turned to Mary. “How in the world is this even possible? Clearly, they’re her puppies, but I do know a thing or two about how animals get pregnant and have offspring. Does she have puppies in your reality?”
Mary looked as enamored with the little dogs as Kendell was. “I’ve never seen any of these dogs in my life.”
Having introduced her brood, Cheesecake got up and started running across the field but with her head turned back so she could watch her puppies chasing after her. Kendell had never seen her dog so happy. Unable to keep up, the little mites chased after their mother, yipping and howling. Having teased them sufficiently, Cheesecake doubled back and rolled onto her back. The hellions jumped, ran, and nipped at their mother while she wriggled around in the grass.
“I don’t get it. How can she have puppies?”
Mary wrapped her arm around Kendell. “It’s what I was trying to explain. Every animal develops its own reality. With so many people around us, we have to fit our sense of identity i
nto the bigger picture like pieces of a puzzle. And as humans, we’re bound to logical thinking. Cheesecake isn’t tied to our strict rules of existence. In this reality, there aren’t any other dogs, so she gets to choose to be whoever she wants. Clearly, she wanted to be a mom.”
* * *
Myles watched the women sitting in a circle on the antique braided rug, playing with the puppies. Kendell looked up at him. “We need to name them. Don’t you think? Or do you worry I’ll get too attached to them if they have names?”
He knew it might not be all that manly, but he couldn’t resist the puppy cuteness. “Like you’re not already attached to them? I don’t see any harm in giving them names. It’s not like we can arf for them like their mama.”
She wasted no time in snatching up the brindle little girl. “This one’s Muffin Top. I always liked those pumpkin-spice muffins we serve at the coffeehouse, so she her nickname can be Pumpkin. What do you think?”
For the briefest moment, Myles thought she was talking to him, but from the way she held the little dog up for Cheesecake’s inspection, she was clearly seeking the mom’s approval. Cheesecake gave kisses to both the puppy and Kendell.
“Good. I thought you’d approve.” She picked up the brown-and-white girl. “And I thought Cupcake for this one. She has your markings, but instead of black, hers are brown. So I thought Cake would be a good way to honor that connection. I’ll call her Cuppers when we’re playing.”
Again Cheesecake signaled that she liked the name by giving her traditional single bark then kissing both Kendell and Cupcake.
Myles felt a bond with the little dude. The boy pup was outnumbered by the females. Myles feared the women would give him some cutesy name like Beignet. “I like Doughnut Hole for that little guy.”
Both Cheesecake and Kendell looked at him as though he’d lost his mind.
“Why are you being an ass?” Kendell said.