"You go ahead and have that séance," a voice whispered to her. Ava sat up and looked around the now dark room. I must have fallen asleep, she told herself. She reached over and turned on a lamp that sat on the table next to her. She ran her fingers over the carved wooden table that the lamp stood on. She didn’t recognize the lamp or the table. It took only a minute for her to understand that she had been thrust back in time and although it was the same sitting room, the décor was that of the Montieu Plantation. The sound of a loon bird brought her out of the sitting room and led her into the kitchen. The floors were covered with oriental rugs and the decorations matched the time period. She half expected to hear Amelia come bounding down the stairs at any minute, but something told her that this wasn’t to be a nightmare; it was a dream, Celeste's dream.
As she made her way into the kitchen the smell of gardenias was strong in the air and she leaned against the doorway and watched in silence as Will stood staring out the kitchen window. A soft creaking made him turn his head towards the pantry. Celeste opened the door just enough for her to fit her slim body through and the second she was clear of it Will went to her and gathered her in his arms. Neither of them spoke a word; they held one another in a warm embrace before Will gently tilted her head back and leaned in for a kiss.
Ava took a step back, she felt as if she were intruding on this intimate moment. Her foot hit the edge of the doorway making it creak. Will and Celeste turned around then and stared at her. Can they see me? She wondered.
"Yes we can see you," Will answered her.
"Sorry," was all that Ava could manage. She was in shock that the two were able to communicate with her. "I must be in the deepest sleep that I've ever had," she told the two. "I have so many questions, but I don’t know where to begin," she let out a sigh.
"Hows 'bout yous start wit tellin Will you know who killed me." If she didn’t know any better, Ava would have thought that she was looking at a reflection in a mirror. She lowered her head in shame of the intrusion.
"How did you know that I know about that?" Ava said.
"Oh we's way past knowing Miss Ava, now is not da time to ask dem kind of questions, we's got to tell Will what happened to me so him and I can moves on." Celeste stared at her as if she was an enigma.
Will broke through their gaze. "Celeste, please tell me what happened? I can't help you unless you tell me who hurt you." His voice was strong and clear but it was fading away. Ava could see that his body too, had begun to fade away.
"He's coming Miss Ava, run!" Before Ava had a chance to react, Will instantaneously faded away and as she made her way back towards the pantry, so did Celeste. The two of them had faded into nothing.
"That you my brown sugar?" John DuPonte burst through the kitchen door and walked right through Ava. She trembled when saw that he was making his way to the pantry door and then he too disappeared.
She was standing in the dark kitchen by herself. The smell of gardenias had disappeared when Will and Celeste did. It was then that she felt it, without needing to turn around, she felt it. Amelia Montieu was standing behind her and instantly cold, ungodly cold hands wrapped around her neck and began to squeeze the life out of her. She reached up and took hold of the icy cold hands and managed to get a grip on some of the fingers. She was able to loosen the grip long enough to scream for help. "Will!" She howled loudly over and over again. "Will, help me please!" She choked out the words.
"Ava! Ava!" Magnus was shaking her awake. Sweat was pouring down her face and her hands were pulling at her neck. It took her a minute to remember where she was and when she did, she wrapped her arms around him so tight that he thought she'd never let go. Tears streamed down her face and she felt like she was going to faint.
"It was just a bad dream Ava, a very bad dream," he held her in his arms and tried to comfort her.
"Let's get you upstairs," he whispered to her. She was shaking so badly that he had to carry her up the stairs and the sobbing had returned with a vengeance. She was still unable to speak, it wasn’t until he had turned on the hot water to the tub and began undressing her that she spoke.
"It was horrible," was all she said as he placed her into the tub. Seeing that she was still terrified, he took off his clothes and got in with her.
He settled her in between his legs and let the hot water run until it reached the rim.
"You're safe now," he tried soothing her. "I'm here Ava, and nothing's going to hurt you I promise." Her sobs had turned to quiet sniffles now and she was able to talk. She confided in Magnus the entire dream and when she was through he held her tight.
"Ava, please promise me that you won't read that diary anymore," he begged.
"I promise," she said and settled into his arms.
"You know I can always reschedule, it's just to go over a few things with my editor." Magnus was hesitant about leaving Ava and Kelly alone in the house.
"You'll do no such thing, I've kept you from your work long enough and besides, I'm feeling good and once Kelly arrives I'll feel even better so go and take care of business, we'll be fine," she said and kissed him. Magnus looked at her in disbelief; he knew that she was being untruthful. She wasn’t feeling good at all, ever since she had that nightmare she'd been up most nights lying awake in bed and when she was finally able to fall asleep, the sun was up and a new day had emerged.
"Magnus I'll be fine really, I think I hear Steve so go and enjoy yourself but hurry back," she said before giving him a long passionate kiss.
"I love you, he said.
"I love you too, you know that right?" She asked. She let her hands trace along his face in such a way that it felt as if it was the last time she'd ever see him. And she wanted to remember each and every line.
"Ava," he looked at her with love in his eyes. "You know Steve maybe I shouldn’t go, you can handle things can't you?" He was seriously reconsidering.
"No, I can't handle things Magnus come on," Steve pleaded. "Just one meeting and we'll be back here in no time, Kelly is here and I promise you, she will watch over Ava like no other now can we go please?"
Magnus stood one foot in the car and one on the ground, he wanted to stay with Ava, he wanted to protect her.
"Magnus come on now go, we'll be fine I promise." She kissed him again while gently coaxing him into the car.
"What was all that about?" Kelly asked as she and Ava stood waving.
"I'll tell you all about it over a cup of tea come on inside," she said to her friend.
"Buddy, I've never known you to be so clingy, what's the deal man?" Steve was concerned about his friend; he was beginning to behave like a love sick teenager.
Magnus was deep in thought, he was worried about Ava.
"What was that?"
"I said what's with you being so clingy? She's not going anywhere buddy, she loves you."
"I know she does, but this whole situation is taking its toll on her. She hasn’t been sleeping, she has horrible nightmares, she thinks that I don’t know that but I do. Steve, my girl hasn’t had a decent night's sleep in days, but me on the other hand, I've been sleeping like a baby, I feel guilty."
"I had no idea that all this was happening to you and Ava Magnus, now I am the one who feels guilty. I wish you would have told me," he faked his sympathy. Steve wanted nothing more than to get back to New Orleans and get things underway. The sooner that Magnus would be able to get this meeting over with, the sooner he could get back to finishing his novel and that meant the sooner Steve would be on his way to becoming a highly sought after agent.
"I thought she'd get better but listen, Kelly is there and like you said, she'll take good care of her so let's get through the meeting tomorrow so we can head back here, the sooner I'm back the better I'll feel."
"Sounds good buddy but mind if I ask you a question?" Steve asked.
"Ask away."
"It's just that… I mean what do you know about this Sinta woman? How do you know she's not pulling some kind of scam on you to try
and get you and Ava out of that house. I hate to say it buddy but the woman just appeared, I mean don’t you find that rather odd?"
"Are you kidding me Steve? This whole situation is odd. But you wouldn’t be saying that if you knew what I've seen and Ava trusts Sinta so that's good enough for me."
"Well…" He said, he knew he was going to have to tread lightly on this next question.
"That brings me to my next question, I mean Ava is a great girl and all but what do you really know about her? She came into your life at the precise moment that you needed her, is that a coincidence or something else? And don’t get mad I'm just putting it out there is all. Like I said, Ava is a great girl and any guy would be lucky to have her."
Magnus was getting irritated now, making accusations against Sinta was one thing, but now he was accusing Ava of being up to something and he was not about to have that.
"Steve, you're talking about the woman I love so if I were you, I'd quit while I was ahead," he warned.
"Look Magnus, I'm not trying to start anything, all I'm saying is that don’t you find it strange that all these occurrences start happening when Ava arrives? I mean you never had any problems before right? Why all of a sudden now? Who's to say that Ava and Sinta aren’t in this thing together you know? Trying to take you for all you're worth, hey buddy you wouldn’t be the first guy who got blinded by love and you won't be the last."
He'd had enough. "If you're finished Steve, let me explain a few things to you, first off Ava doesn’t need my money, she has her own. And as far as Sinta is concerned, yes you're right she appeared out of nowhere. But I can safely say that the woman has come to Ava's aid more than once and she's done nothing but be supportive, without Sinta Ava and I would be lost.
And to answer your question of whether or not I've had this happen before, the answer is yes. As a matter of fact I have." Magnus went on to tell his agent about the couple who had visited the house in the hopes of making an offer but before the realtor could even show them the inside, the older gentleman got violently ill and the woman was slapped hard in the face. "Now you can call it coincidence but I call it supernatural and if you weren’t so busy thinking the worst of people, you would see that Ava is the one for me. So the next time you want to accuse someone of something you better have proof to back it up, now do I make myself clear?"
"Perfectly," Steve said. The rest of the ride into New Orleans was silent, Magnus was lost in his thoughts and Steve was too embarrassed to say anything more.
"Things seem to be getting pretty intense between you and Magnus," Kelly smiled and took a sip of tea. "Have you guys been talking about maybe taking things to the next level?"
She shook her head. "I guess in an abstract way I thought that marriage and having a family was somewhere in my future, but the only contender was Gavin and I told you how that turned out. I mean we looked at rings once but I told him that I wasn’t ready. It's funny because it was right about the time that I told him I wasn’t ready that he started his affair with Melanie, he was playing me all along," she laughed bitterly.
"He may have tried to play you Ava, but look where you are now and who you're with, you're with someone who truly loves you. You can't ask for more than that. And once we get this curse thing taken care of you and Magnus can start to live a normal life, maybe by then you'll be more than ready to talk about taking the next step," she winked at her friend.
"Now tell me about this séance you want to have, I brought my Ouija board," she grinned.
For days after the nightmare, Ava couldn’t get it out of her mind. Magnus had been supportive and comforting and though she promised him that she wouldn’t read the diary, she made no promises that she wouldn’t have a séance. So when she texted Kelly asking her if she'd be a willing participant, she felt good knowing that she had kept her promise to Magnus.
And when Kelly responded with an enthusiastic yes, she thought to herself, what Magnus doesn’t know won't hurt him. Kelly had even gone so far as to have visited a local novelty shop where she purchased a handmade Ouija board for the occasion.
"Well I was thinking that since I promised Magnus that I wouldn’t read the diaries, that you and I would hold ourselves a little séance and see if we can't connect with Will again. Except this time I want to be able to tell him exactly what happened and who killed his Celeste."
Kelly couldn’t conceal the excitement that she was feeling, nor did she want to.
"Sounds good to me, when do you want to get started?" She asked. She hoped that it would be soon, the anticipation was driving her crazy, she'd never used an Ouija board before let alone preform a séance, and she could hardly wait.
"Well I think we should do it tonight, as soon as it gets dark we'll start and see if we can squash this curse once and for all," she smiled a smile that showed more than a glimmer of hope.
"Magnus I'm fine." He'd called her to make sure that she was alright. It was almost completely dark out and he and Steve had just gotten back from having a late dinner.
"I was worried about you," he said with sincerity. "When I left this afternoon, you seemed so distraught. I wanted to forget all about the meeting and stay with you, make sure that you were okay."
She loved listening to the sound of his voice, but not at this moment. It was time to start setting up for the séance and she wanted to get everything ready.
"I love you and I'll be alright. As a matter of fact, Kelly and I were just about to settle down and watch a movie," She lied to him. "But we'll see you tomorrow though right?" She asked.
"Yes as soon as my meeting is done, Steve and I are going to head back, I love you too. Have fun," he said before hanging up the phone.
"See buddy? I told you she'd be okay, Kelly is going to keep her occupied with wine and movies, you'll see. By the time we get back there tomorrow she'll be back to her old self, calm, cool, and collected."
"I hope you're right Steve, I hope you're right." And he silently hoped that Sinta would be around to keep a watchful eye on things.
But Sinta was nowhere near the old plantation, she was at the grave site of Sophie Laveau, the Creole practitioner of Voodoo that was renowned in New Orleans. Sinta had met Sophie centuries ago and the two held a strong bond back when Sinta worked as a field slave at the Montieu Plantation. When Sinta was bought and sold to William Montieu Senior, she was but fifteen years old. The slave auction was the last time that she saw her family, they'd been sold off to another plantation. Soon after, a much older woman named Marie who worked on the plantation took Sinta under her wing and began teaching her about the Voodoo religion and it would be several years before she would be able to call herself a Voodoo priestess.
Sophie Laveau was born free. Her mother was creole and her father was a white plantation owner. After her first husband died, Sophie became a hairdresser who catered to wealthy white families, that was how she met Sinta.
After Sophie would finish catering to Miss Amelia, she'd boldly walk into the slave quarters that stood over a half mile away from the main house. While Sinta kept a look out, Sophie would continue where her teacher had left off and it wasn’t until she was in her twenties that she earned the title of Voodoo practitioner. Sophie had taught her how to request reincarnation by asking the strongest loa for guidance. She also taught her how to conjure and perform various rituals and before long, she found herself bombarded by requests from the other slaves, including Celeste. But Celeste had been like a daughter to Sinta and she now needed help in freeing the young woman.
It is said that when Sophie passed, she appeared to Sinta under the guise of a dream. She told her that no matter what, she would always be there for her and that all she would have to do was preform a ritual invoking her spirit or loa and she would come. But then she also warned Sinta that if she was called upon, the circumstances would have to be dire and there would have to be no other alternatives. "I has no other alternative Miss Sophie, I needs your help. You da only one can help Miss Ava now. She about to go int
o da darkness and it gonna take both me and you to bring her back into da light," Sinta quietly said and began the ritual.
Chapter Eighteen
"Everything is all set," Ava said and smiled at her friend. They were in the sitting room and she had just finished lighting the last of the candles.
"This is going to be so much fun," Kelly said and laid the Ouija board across the table. Ava thought that the Ouija board would come in handy, she couldn’t fully remember what kind of ritual Sinta had performed to invoke Will's spirit and she wouldn’t have to try. The Ouija board would do it all for them, all they had to do was place their hands upon the hand carved wooden planchette and wait for it to start moving. She hoped that she would ask the right questions and that either Will or Celeste would provide the correct answers.
"If Will appears tonight I'm going to tell him that John DuPonte raped and murdered his Celeste and that his mother set the whole thing up," Ava revealed to Kelly.
"I think that's a good idea, that ought to get the ball rolling," she said rubbing her hands together in excitement.
"Well, no time like the present," Ava said and together they placed their hands on the planchette.
It didn’t take long for it to start moving, in fact Ava had barely finished asking if anyone was there when it started to move quite erratically across the smooth wooden board. As the spirit board began to spell out Will's name, and with some gentle coaxing from Kelly, Ava began to speak out loud to Will and tell him that his mother was responsible for Celeste's death. A cold chill began to slowly filter into the room, at first they thought it was the air conditioner, maybe it had developed a mind of its own and had turned on but that wasn’t it. This cold was a damp, eerie cold that chilled them both to their core.
"Maybe we ought to stop," Ava whispered, she wished at that moment that she had taken Magnus's advice and left well enough alone. She could feel that someone or something was coming into the room, maybe it was already there.
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