I looked back and forth between the two of them, my gaze stopping on her. “She—”
“See boss?” she yelled in his ear. “I told you. She can see me!”
Stopping once again he looked in her direction, but not directly at her. “Suzette! Go ‘way!” he said sternly. Turning back to me, he smiled again saying, “She don’ know when to quit.”
“You really can’t see her, can you?” I asked him.
He thought momentarily. “No. I kin only hear her. And you? Can you? See her, dat is?”
“Yes. Yes, I can. See her and hear her. Little good that does.” With that, Suzette took off running back to the store, going right through the glass door as if it wasn’t even there. As crazy as it sounds, I was beginning to get used to that kind of thing. I followed Jeremy back into the office, raising my hands up again for Rand as we passed the Jeep like I did before. This time he saw me and replied with the same.
“I’m Roxanne Bonacci,” I told him. “I called two days ago and reserved a camper for a month.”
“Oh yes! Yes! I remembers, I do. I get you keys an’ contract.”
As Jeremy turned, something odd caught my eye. His rather long pointed nose became a massive black beak framed by glossy black feathers. His chin disappeared into them, and his dark sunken eyes became little black beady ones. Just for a split-second. Then, when he turned back my way still talking, his upper and lower beak became lips again, and his chin reappeared.
A shifter! I guess my mouth must’ve dropped open.
He froze. “You have d’Sight!” he accused loudly.
“The what? Why, whatever do you mean?”
“You See me, too!”
“No. I don’t know what you’re talking about—”
“Is okay. Jus’ not meet one wit’ d’Sight in long time,” he said, laying a set of keys and a rental contract ready for my signature on the counter in front of me. “Dis be Nawlins. I no judge, but tell me true—why you here?”
“Okay . . . I’m here to find my aunt. Estella Devraux is her name. I have a general location, but Google Maps doesn’t show it.” As soon as I said the name, Jeremy froze again like a deer in headlights.
“How you have d’Sight if you a witch?” He eyed me suspiciously.
“I’m not a witch.” At least, I didn’t think I was from everything I had heard and seen. “Listen, it’s a long story. Yes, I have the Sight. I just need to find my aunt for . . . personal reasons.”
Considering me, he seemed to come to a decision. Abruptly, he scooped up the keys and the contract, turned around, and walked away.
“Hey! What are you doing?” I asked.
“Is wrong contract, it is. Wrong keys. I get right ones, I do.” His beak showed again. This guy literally was a crow. A crow-shifter, that is.
Geez, the further south we go, the weirder this all gets!
“Dis is right one,” he announced, returning with different ones.
Either he was pulling a fast one before, or he is now! “Is this the one you sent me pictures of? Can we go see it before I sign?”
“Oui. Yes. We go see, Ms. Devraux.” He came quickly around the counter and headed for the door. “You turn off car and bring dog. Lock.”
“Bonacci,” I corrected him. I opened the rear door of the Jeep and got Toby on his leash. I nodded to Rand to get out and come along. Jake followed Toby out. For whatever reason, Rand wasted a little energy making his hand solid enough to turn off the ignition, open the door, close it, and bring the key fob to me. All Jeremy saw was the door open and close by itself, and my keys float through the air over to me, I’m pretty sure.
“Oh sheet! Oh sheet!” he mumbled quietly, looking down at the ground and away from Rand. His beak showed again, but he started walking. We all followed along. Jeremy kept stealing glances over his shoulder. I just rolled my eyes and shook my head at Rand for his little performance.
He hadn’t been kidding earlier. He stopped in front of the nicest, biggest fifth wheel on the water. He handed me the keys and said, “You go look. I waits here.”
It was indeed the one in the pictures. A rear living room with slide-outs on both sides made for a huge room with windows facing the water. The central kitchen was designed just as nicely as any house and three steps took us up to the bedroom and bathroom. I could totally live in this.
“What do you think guys?”
“This is really cool! By far the fanciest one I’ve ever seen,” Rand said, “and it’s right on the point where the channel curves so we can see down it in both directions. Perfect view. This is way better than any hotel room could ever be.”
When we went back out to tell Jeremy I’d take it, he was arguing with Suzette. She was in his right ear again, but stopped talking when she saw us. All I caught was, “I just wanted to see him up close, Jeremy! Relax—” She stared at Rand, looking him up and down, obviously liking what she saw. Smiling seductively at him, she pushed out her extremely well-endowed chest and twirled the fingers of her right hand in her hair.
“Hey!” I barked at her. She instantly disappeared. Rand chuckled.
Jeremy’s beak showed again as he looked down again saying, “Oh sheet! Oh sheet!” shaking his head.
“It looks good. I’ll take it,” I told him. “But keep your ghost girl under control,” I chided him.
Chapter 10
After walking back down to the office and signing the contract I drove the Jeep back to the RV to unpack my things. Since Suzette hadn’t shown her face this time, perhaps she’d gotten the message to leave Rand alone, though I’m not sure what had brought on my bout of possessiveness.
Quickly getting the few things that were left in the small cooler put away in the refrigerator, I lugged my suitcases into the bedroom. Unpacking those took less than ten minutes. Had I known there would be an eight foot closet and a built-in dresser, I would have been tempted to pack more. Jake and Rand may have had to stay in their gray space the whole way down. As I explored more thoroughly, I saw there was even a washing machine inside the closet on the far right. This was definitely better than a hotel.
Toby followed me around, sniffing everything thoroughly, but Rand and Jake disappeared almost immediately. Once everything was put away, I headed straight for the shower. I was pleasantly surprised to find a full sized soaking tub with jets and a standard wall mounted shower similar to what I’d had in my house. The water pressure was unbelievable and the hot water outlasted me, so I figured it must have a ‘heat on-demand’ unit. Rand hadn’t reappeared by the time I was done, so I took the opportunity to fit in a nap.
Toby’s cold nose woke me up far too soon, letting me know it was his dinner time. Once he was fed and had been taken out to the designated dog area, I realized all I had were snack items and bottled water left over from the road trip. Not feeling up to a drive to one of the local grocery stores yet, I decided to walk over to see what the general store had available and how outrageous their prices were.
“Where are you heading?” Rand appeared just a few steps in front of me. Should I be worried about the fact that this barely startled me anymore?
“I’m starving so I just thought I would check out the store here before making a larger trip out for supplies. Are you coming with? Suzette might be there,” I teased.
“Uh, hard pass, thanks. I’ll go wait with Toby if you’re okay on your own.”
“I’ll be fine. Want me to tell Suzette you said hi or anything?” I struggled to keep a straight face, just barely managing it.
His expression said it all; he popped back out without answering. Laughing, I continued on.
Surprisingly, the actual food available at the general store was impressive. I grabbed a shopping basket and proceeded to load it up with staples. The prices weren’t nearly as bad as convenience store prices at home in Michigan, so I decided to support the place as much as possible. I was saving enough money on the accommodations that it more than balanced out.
As I rounded the end of an
aisle, there was a woman quite a bit older than me leaning casually against the glass door of the cooler—or so it appeared at first. Though she was making the effort to look like she was, she probably wasn’t wasting the energy to really be doing so. Her eyes followed me, but I pretended not to notice until I was almost up to her. Making eye contact, I smiled and said, “Boo!” She winked out immediately, reappearing ten feet away with her hands on her hips, looking very annoyed.
“So it’s true! You scared the piss outta me, you know, so to speak. Suzette said there was a new woman that had the Sight. I wanted to see it for myself, is all. I’m Alana.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Roxanne. So, what exactly do you do here?”
“Hang around the grounds here, mostly. Not much to do but put on a show for the campers once in a while to keep Jeremy happy, but at least I’m safe here. Nice meeting you.” With that she disappeared.
Okay then. Today was not turning out quite the way I had imagined it, to say the least.
Taking my basket up to the checkout counter, I noticed the young man on duty was a dog-shifter, possibly a beagle. I put on my best poker face, which seemed to be getting a lot of practice lately.
“Did you find everything you needed okay, ma’am? It’s such an honor to meet you! I’m Robert and if there’s anything you need, anything at all, I’m happy to help.” Barely pausing between sentences, the young man, er, shifter, looked at me expectantly.
What the heck is going on here? I wondered. “Hi, Robert! I think I’ve got everything I need for now, thank you. You seem to have a very good supply on hand.” His face brightened happily at that and he gave a little wiggle. Maybe it was a beagle thing. “I’m Roxanne, by the way. Why is it such an honor to meet me, though?”
“Oh, it’s not my store, Ms. Roxanne, it’s Mr. Jeremy’s. All of this belongs to Mr. Jeremy. The whole place. He told me, and I bet all the others too, that you’re a really important person, and that you have the Sight. I’ve never met a norm who had the Sight before . . . oh shoot! Excuse my mouth ma’am. I meant to say a normal human.”
I couldn’t help but be amused at the way he was nearly falling all over himself. “Well, it seems Jeremy isn’t good at keeping secrets. Yes, it’s true, I do have the Sight. But I don’t know about the whole being a ‘normal human’ thing. I don’t always feel especially normal these days.” I whispered the last part for emphasis, and winked at him. He blushed brightly.
He leaned a little as I picked up my bag and started to leave. “Can you see my animal?”
I smiled at him, leaned even closer, and whispered, “Beagle.” Then I turned and walked away.
I heard, “Gol-ly durn!” behind me as I went out the door grinning.
***
After I put everything away and fixed myself a salad, I told Rand about my trip to the store while I ate.
“Between Jeremy’s reaction to who you’re looking for and this, I think we’re on the right track. I’d like to take a look around the place a bit more, if you don’t mind. Want to go for a walk around the park?” Toby’s ears pricked up at that.
Grabbing the eager dog’s leash, I headed out, thankful to finally work out some of the kinks from being stuck in the Jeep for so many hours over the past two days.
We went out to the boardwalk and turned right. The heavy air smelled slightly of salt and fish. “I wonder if it’s always this humid here,” I remarked. “My hair is already frizzing like crazy.”
“That’s not really a worry for me these days,” he said grinning. “You norms sure are wimps!”
“I knew I shouldn’t have told you Robert called me that!”
“But you did . . . deal with it.” He was giving it back to me for teasing him about Suzette, no doubt.
We hadn’t made it twenty steps before we met head-on with an older couple intently watching some kind of device the man held in his hand. It reminded me a little of one of the first mobile phones . . . the giant ones from before my time, even. I had to steer Toby over to the side to avoid them walking right into us. “Um, hello!” I said loudly, not sure if they’d be hard of hearing or not. They were about the right age group to be.
The woman’s hands flew up to her mouth in surprise. “Oh my! I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there. Oh, what a lovely dog you have! Is he friendly? Can I pet him?”
“Toby—friends,” I said. “He’s highly trained. What are your first names?”
“I’m Betty and my husband is Greg.”
“Toby—meet Betty and Greg.” He relaxed his posture and enthusiastically nosed both their hands in greeting. “What is that?” I asked Greg, indicating his odd device.
“This right here is what you call an EMF meter, young lady,” he told me matter-of-factly. “Just came in from Amazon. Only forty-nine, ninety-five. It’s the latest and greatest ghost hunting gadget!” He was all smiles, obviously very proud of his new gizmo. “Wherever there is ghostly activity, electromagnetic anomalies occur in the environment. This meter measures them and, if you get a spike in activity high enough, you’re supposed to take a picture right where it indicates. They say quite often you can catch a picture of a ghost that way!” They both looked up at us, well me anyway, smiling, while he held out the gizmo labeled The Ghost Meter EMF Sensor and she had a digital camera, ready to go.
Rand crowded in right next to me and bent over for a good look at the device, which did nothing. “Piece of Chinese junk!” he proclaimed. “There should be a law against ripping off gullible old people like this! Activity? I’ll show you some activity!” He did a few jumping-jacks right in front of Greg and his meter, and even reached out and engulfed the meter inside his hand. Nothing happened. It was hard for me to keep a straight face with Rand’s antics, so I wished them well in their search for ghosts, told them I hoped they got a good picture of one, and resumed walking again.
“Oh, we will, I’m sure of it!” Greg called after me. “This place is lousy with ghosts. You’ll see. Just wait until it gets dark!”
I held it as long as I could, but when we were far enough away for them to not be able to hear me, I couldn’t stop laughing. My misbegotten attempt at slapping Rand on the shoulder sobered me up before I could give him heck for his behavior. Rubbing my affected hand on the back of my neck warmed my hand and cooled me off at the same time, so it wasn’t so bad for a change.
We passed a few other couples out walking and several clusters of people of varying ages sitting together in folding chairs around little above ground metal fire pits that had cutouts of ghosts and spooky eyes on the sides that glowed red from the fire within. Since they were all the same, they must have belonged to the campground. “Hey? Do we have one of those?” Rand wanted to know. “Maybe you could shoot some lightning out of your hand to get the fire started! We’d just need to get some firewood. They probably sell it at that store. That oughta cause some excitement!”
“You’re just full of it tonight, aren’t you? What’s gotten into you?”
We walked past a Cajun looking gardener who appeared to be finishing up and was busily packing up all his trimmers and tools into a green plastic wagon. “Oh, hello, Ms. Roxanne!” he said smiling broadly. “Mr. Jeremy told me Ah would know you by your handsome German Shepherd.” He moved toward me suddenly, extending his hand to shake mine.
Toby moved into a defensive position between the man and I, his low, deep growl warning him not to come any closer. Jake circled around and behind him, effectively trapping him between the two big dogs. The man, unaware of Jake, took a step backwards, almost bumping into him. He bent his back slightly, lowered his head, and hissed as he took a swipe at Toby with one . . . paw? Jake let out a tremendous woof and would have gone after him right there, had Rand not called him off. It struck me as weird that with all the movement and noise Jake was making less than two feet away from him and Rand’s yelling, the man had no clue they were even there! In that instant I saw his animal. The man was a big, fluffy cat-shifter. A Maine Coon, if I wasn’t mist
aken.
Almost as soon as he realized what he’d done, the man began a tirade of apologies. “Oh lawdy, Ah am so sorry, Ms. Roxanne! Ah don’t know what Ah was thinkin’! Please don’t tell Mr. Jeremy that Ah slipped again. Ah like workin’ here, and they ain’t nowhere else as safe as here in all of Louisiana.”
“There’s no problem,” I assured him. “Toby can See your animal too, I think. It was just a cat and dog thing, I’m sure.” I smiled and he moved along, unknowingly passing mere inches from Jake and Rand. I didn’t get the poor man’s name, but it appeared as if everyone in the place already knew who I was.
“Yeah, you called it,” Rand said. “Toby and Jake both saw his animal before I did. What happened was a mix of them moving to protect you against a potential enemy plus the dog and cat thing, like you said. Good boy, Toby! Good boy, Jake!”
“Is everyone that works here a shifter or a ghost?” I wondered aloud. “Let’s turn around and take the boys home. I could use a glass of wine, I think. There’s none at the RV, but I’m sure I know where there should be some,” I said, pointing at the bar back across the channel.
“I’ll bet they do! I’ve been wanting to go check that place out since we got here. Not sure what all they have on the menu, but there’s one sure way to find out, right?” Rand seemed pretty excited for someone who couldn’t eat.
After taking the boys inside, we went back outside, heading in the opposite direction this time. The sun was just setting, painting the whole western horizon with pinks and reds. The birds were settling into all available foliage for the night already, their noisy chirps and whistles blending with the emerging night sounds. Insects were buzzing and even the frogs sounded like they were celebrating now that the day was over. At times like this, I often tried to reflect on the changes and blessings in my life. Lately, there had definitely been some drastic ones! Looking back, forty seemed like a slow motion train wreck, but at this moment, I was in a beautiful place, on what was shaping up to be an epic adventure. Maybe I was being optimistic, but it seemed as though things could only get better from here on in. We both walked in silence, lost in thought.
Seeing Witchy Things Page 9