Jordan started screaming. Ally continued screaming. And finally, feeling left out, Freddie screamed, too.
What had she gotten them into?
Why on earth had she decided to lead two AKs into a swamp? What had she been thinking?
“Okay!” Freddie yelled over the screaming. “Enough! Everyone be quiet so I can think.”
“What could you possibly have to think about?” Jordan asked.
“How to get us out of here, obviously!” Freddie snapped.
“What are these things?” Ally asked.
“I think they’re frog traps,” Freddie replied. “This area is probably filled with frog hunters.”
“But we’re not frogs!” Ally whined.
“I know that!” Freddie said. “But the traps don’t know the difference.”
“I mean, seriously,” Jordan griped. “I’m used to being stuffed inside a lamp, but this is tight.” She attempted to stretch out her legs but just ended up kicking Freddie in the face.
“Quit kicking me!” Freddie barked.
“Sorry,” Jordan mumbled.
“What are we going to do now?” Ally asked.
Freddie reached her hand through one of the bamboo bars of the cage, feeling around for a clasp or door. She finally located it and was relieved to discover it was a typical lock. Easy to pick.
Except for one problem.
She had nothing to pick the lock with.
“Jordan!” she said with sudden inspiration. “Give me your hair pin.”
Jordan snorted. “I don’t have a hair pin. What makes you think I have a hair pin? It’s not the nineteen fifties. Who wears hair pins?”
“I have a hair pin!” Ally called out from the other trap.
“That doesn’t do me much good,” Freddie said. “You’re all the way over there.”
“But the traps swing,” Ally pointed out.
Freddie was about to argue, but then she realized Ally was right. The traps did swing. And if they could just get close enough…
“Okay,” Freddie said decisively. “Ally, take the pin out of your hair.”
“Done!” Ally said after a few seconds.
“Good,” Freddie commended. “Now, Jordan. Can you stick your legs out of the cage and reach that tree over there?”
Freddie felt Jordan moving around and then she was shoved against the side of the cage as Jordan fought to stick her legs through the bars. “I can reach!” Jordan announced.
“Great,” Freddie said, although the word was muffled because her face was flattened against the bamboo. “Noh ush,” Freddie garbled.
“What?” Jordan asked.
“What?” Ally echoed.
Freddie struggled to pull her face away from the side of the cage so she could talk. “I said, now push.”
“Oh. Duh.” Jordan kicked her legs out against the tree and the cage started to swing.
“Ally!” Freddie called. “I need you to catch us.”
“Um, okay,” Ally said uneasily. “I’ll try. I’ve never been very athletic, though. Mum tried to teach me to play croquet once and I couldn’t even—”
“Ally!” Jordan and Freddie both shouted as they sailed right past her.
“Right! Sorry! Give it another go!”
Freddie and Jordan’s cage swung back toward the tree and Jordan gave them another hard push.
“Get ready, Ally!” Freddie called.
“I’m ready!” Ally shouted.
The cage soared through the air again. Freddie held her breath and then felt a hard yank as they were pulled to a sudden stop. She released the breath and strained her neck to try to see behind her.
Ally had caught them!
“Gotcha!” Ally said proudly.
Jordan let out a whoop.
“Yes!” Freddie said. “Now don’t let go. Hand me the hair pin.” She fought to wedge her hand up behind her head and out of the cage. She felt something small and metal being placed in her hand and drew her arm back inside.
Then Freddie got to work on the lock. It was difficult to do from her cramped position because she couldn’t actually see the lock, but Freddie was a pro. After only a few tries, she heard the soft click of the lock disengaging and carefully swung the door open.
Jordan jumped out, landing with a splash in the water below.
With the extra room, Freddie was then able to turn her body around so she could see Ally’s cage. She inserted the hair pin into the lock and sprung open the door.
“Whee!” Ally said, leaping down from the cage and making an even bigger splash than Jordan. She no longer seemed to care about the swamp water getting in her hair.
Freddie chuckled and leapt after her.
For a moment, the girls were so happy to have been freed from the frog traps that they completely forgot they were supposed to be mad at one another. They jumped and splashed in the sludgy water, kicking their feet and laughing giddily.
Then Freddie glanced up and her heart sank.
“Um, guys. I’m not sure we should have jumped down from those cages.”
“Why?” Ally asked, oblivious to what Freddie had spotted. “Are you afraid of a little swamp juice in your hair?” Ally reached down, scooped up a handful of water, and tossed it at Freddie.
“No,” Freddie said, spitting out the water that had splashed into her mouth. “Look.” She pointed up at the tree Jordan had used to kick them into motion and suddenly the girls understood.
Nestled high in the branches, like a bird’s nest, was a giant boat.
Or houseboat to be more specific.
Freddie sighed. “I think we found Mama Odie.”
We did it! We found Mama Odie! Now all we have to do is figure out a way up her crazy front lawn.
And by lawn, I mean tree trunk.
After what felt like hours of difficult climbing, the girls finally reached the houseboat in the tree. There wasn’t a proper door, so they just walked right in. The house was almost completely dark inside. It looked like no one had been there in ages.
Freddie started to get a panicky feeling in her stomach.
“Is anyone even here?” Jordan asked.
“It certainly doesn’t look that way,” Ally replied.
“Are we in the right place?” said Jordan.
Freddie was starting to wonder the same thing when, suddenly, a female voice spoke, startling all three of them.
“What took you so long? I was just about to give up on you three.”
The girls whipped their heads in the direction of the sound, and that’s when Freddie saw, with the help of a single shaft of light coming through a window, the outline of a rocking chair in the corner.
The chair began to rock gently back and forth, and Freddie could just make out the faint silhouette of a woman sitting in the chair.
“Hello?” Freddie asked, taking a tentative step toward her. “Mama Odie?”
The woman in the rocking chair turned on a small gas lamp on the table next to her and the girls let out a gasp upon seeing her face.
Mama Odie was so…so…
Young.
Freddie could have sworn her father had always described her as an ancient blind lady with a cane. This woman—no, this girl—didn’t look much older than Freddie.
She had long honey-colored hair that fanned out around her shoulders and big brown eyes that were lined with gold shadows.
Had Mama Odie spelled herself into a younger woman?
“Are you—” Freddie started to ask, but the girl finished the question for her.
“Mama Odie? Afraid not. I’m her daughter, Opal.”
“Oh,” Freddie said. That made much more sense. “Do you know—”
“When she’ll be home?” Opal finished. “No, I don’t. I’m holding down the fort in her place. You know, stirring the gumbo pot. Feeding the snake.”
Ally leapt in terror. “SNAKE? Where’s a snake?”
“Don’t worry. He’s perfectly harmless. I think he really likes your hair.”<
br />
Ally screamed and started running her hands frantically through her hair. “Get it off! Oh, dear! Get it off of me! Now!”
Jordan came over to help, grabbing Ally by the arm. “Hold still. I’ll find it.” But after combing through Ally’s hair, she found nothing. “There’s no snake in your hair.”
Opal broke out into a bold deep-bellied laugh. “Oh, that was too much fun! So you’re the gullible one. I just had to check. My visions weren’t super clear on which one it would be.”
“Gullible one?” Ally repeated, offended. “I am not the gullible one.”
Jordan and Freddie both gaped at her.
“Okay,” Ally admitted. “So maybe I’m a little quick to believe a few things, but that doesn’t make me gullible. It makes me trusting.”
But Freddie wasn’t listening to anything Ally was jabbering on about. She was too busy thinking about what Opal had said just before that.
Visions? Freddie thought. Did she just say visions?
“Yes,” Opal replied, as though responding to the question in Freddie’s head.
“Yes, what?” Freddie asked.
“I did say visions.”
Freddie’s mouth fell open. “You can read my thoughts?”
Opal clucked her tongue and rocked back and forth in the chair. “Well, not all of them. The stronger ones, yes. It was harder when you guys were far away, but as you got closer to the boat, they started to become clearer.”
Ally narrowed her eyes at Opal. “Are you a VK?”
Opal squinted. “A what?”
“What she means is,” Jordan explained, “are you a villain kid?”
Opal threw her head back and laughed that same bold laugh. “You think just because my mom has pet snakes and can cast voodoo spells that she’s a villain?”
“Well…” Ally hesitated.
But Opal didn’t let her finish. “Never mind. I can already read the answer.”
“In my mind?” Ally asked, flabbergasted.
“No. On your face.”
Ally quickly tempered her expression.
“Anyway,” Opal said, “you clearly have a lot to learn about villains.”
“Oh, I think we know plenty,” Ally mumbled, darting a look at Freddie.
“Ah, yes,” Opal said knowingly. “The Shadow Cards. The reason you’re here, right?”
“We came to see if your mom could reverse the spell,” Freddie clarified. “We’re worried the cards might cause more bad things to happen.”
“Those shadows are tricksters, aren’t they?” Opal rose from her chair and sashayed over to the giant bubbling black pot in the center of the room. She gave it a quick stir, then dipped her finger in and licked it. “Mmm, mmm, mmm! I do make a mean gumbo.”
“So,” Freddie prompted, starting to lose her patience. “Can your mom reverse a spell cast by Shadow Cards?”
“Of course she can,” Opal said. “And so can I.”
Freddie nearly wilted in relief, and she heard Ally and Freddie let out simultaneous sighs.
“But she won’t,” Opal said matter-of-factly. “And neither will I.”
Freddie instantly deflated. “What?”
“We don’t use magic anymore. We’re not really supposed to. King Beast’s orders. Now this magic gumbo pot is filled with just regular ol’ gumbo.” She took another taste. “But man, is it some good gumbo!”
“B-b-but,” Freddie stammered. “But this is an emergency. You have to make an exception.”
Opal sighed dramatically. “It always is, isn’t it? Everyone who comes here looking for Mama has some kind of big emergency.”
“But we really do!” Jordan said, stepping forward. “My Web show has been canceled! And Ally’s parents’ tea shop is flooded and our friend Carlos has a dislocated shoulder and can’t play tourney.”
Opal turned toward them with wide, concerned eyes. “Really?”
“Yes!” Ally said, stepping up beside Jordan.
“That’s horrible!” Opal cried. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?”
“So, you’ll help us?” Freddie asked.
Opal laughed. “No. But you should have seen your faces. So full of hope.”
Ally let out a grunt. “You are a VK!”
“Honey,” Opal said condescendingly. “There’s a big difference between being a villain and being just plain sassy.”
“But,” Freddie complained, “I don’t understand. If you have the ability to help us, why won’t you?”
Opal smiled. It was a genuine smile this time. “Because,” Opal said kindly, “you don’t need my help. Or my mother’s.”
“Yes, we do,” Jordan argued. “We really, really do.”
Opal shook her head and went back to stirring the gumbo pot. “Sweetie pies,” she said silkily, “you already know how to fix your problems. All of them.”
Freddie frowned, confused. “No, we don’t. That’s why we came here.”
“Well, see,” Opal said, adding a dash of hot sauce to the pot and stirring again. “That’s the thing. Everything you need, you already learned on the journey here.”
“What?” Freddie asked. “No, we didn’t.”
Opal turned from her pot and stared intensely at Freddie. “Aww, have faith in yourself, sugar plum,” Opal said soothingly. “Besides, I know for certain you’ll figure it out.”
Freddie squinted “How do you know?
Opal gave her a coy wink. “Because I’ve already seen it happen.”
Freddie felt frustration boiling up inside her.
Why is Opal being so difficult? Why can’t she just tell us straight up what to do?
“Now, where would be the fun in that?” Opal said, once again answering the question in Freddie’s mind. “If I told you exactly what to do, you’d miss out on the adventure of discovering it yourself.”
Freddie shook her head. “I don’t want any more adventures! I just want to fix this.”
“And fix it you will,” Opal said confidently as she lowered herself back down into the rocking chair. “As my mama always said, ‘you just gotta dig a little deeper.’”
What a waste of a day. We’re no closer to fixing anything.
Leaving the bayou. #ByeYou
“Well, that was a huge waste of time,” Jordan said as soon as they were out of the houseboat and back in the swamp.
“Yeah,” Ally agreed, glaring at Freddie. “What are we supposed to do now?”
But Freddie couldn’t answer that question, because she didn’t know. This was her big plan. She had been so certain that if they went there Mama Odie would help them. But they didn’t even get a chance to see Mama Odie.
What was all that mumbo jumbo about not needing her help? That Freddie already knew how to fix all of their problems? Of course she didn’t already know! If she already knew, she wouldn’t have dragged two whiny Auradon kids through the swamp.
How much deeper could she dig? What could Opal even mean?
With a sigh, Freddie turned and walked away.
“Wait!” She heard Jordan’s angry voice behind her. “Where are you going? What’s the plan now?”
“There is no plan,” Freddie mumbled dejectedly. “We just go home.”
But even as she said the words, she wondered what they meant. Go home. Where was home for her? Auradon Prep? The Isle of the Lost? The bayou?
None of them really felt like home.
None of them really felt like places she wanted to go back to.
So where would she go from there?
As they trudged through the swamp, Freddie added that to the list of questions she still couldn’t answer.
The drive back to Auradon was as awkward as the one to the bayou. No one talked the entire trip. Whatever kind of bond the three of them had managed to build in the few hours they had spent traversing lakes of mud and escaping cougars and frog traps was long gone.
For a moment there, Freddie had actually felt like she was a part of something. A group. A trio. A team. T
hose AKs never would have survived that swamp without her.
Actually, when Freddie really thought about it, they had all contributed in some way. If Ally hadn’t known how to talk to cats, they never would have gotten past the cougar. And if Jordan hadn’t busted a window in the jazz club, they never would have escaped that angry musician.
But apparently all of that was only temporary, because now everyone had gone back to ignoring one another.
As Jordan drove the orange Bobbidi Buggy back to Auradon Prep, Freddie closed her eyes and tried to “dig deep” like Opal had told her. She tried to find the answer that Opal had sworn was already inside her.
She tried and she tried, but all she could feel was that horrible sickening sensation in her stomach. The one she hadn’t yet been able to identify. But she felt it whenever she thought about Ally’s face when they had walked into the flooded tea shop, or Jordan’s face when she’d told Freddie about her suspended Web show. Or when she pictured Carlos getting carried off the field with a busted shoulder.
I wish I had never come to the bayou, Freddie thought.
I wish I had never tried to help anyone.
I wish I had never found those Shadow Cards.
Later, Jordan pulled the minivan up the long, curving driveway of Auradon Prep and parked. The girls got out of the car in silence.
“So,” Freddie said awkwardly when they’d reached the dorms. “What are you guys going to do now?”
“I’m going to sit alone in my lamp and not film my Web show,” Jordan said with a huff before turning on her heels and stomping away.
Ally sighed. “I’m guess I’m going to try to clean up the tea shop as best as I can before Mum comes home tomorrow. But I’ll never finish in time.”
Freddie fidgeted with the hem of her dress. She knew there was something she was supposed to say in this moment. Something appropriate. Something nice. It was bubbling on her lips. It was struggling to get out.
But her villainous tendencies were fighting against her. She had been a VK for so long, she had lived in that world for so many years, it felt almost impossible not to be one.
Freddie glanced out of the corner of her eye at her shadow on the ground. It looked small and defeated. And about as uncomfortable as Freddie felt.
Freddie's Shadow Cards Page 9