Cursed

Chapter Sixteen

Marie Toussaint stood at the sink in her kitchen, washing dishes while her daughter, Bess, dried. She heard her son speak from the direction of the front porch and stopped to listen, curious about who had come to visit.

“G’evenin’.” Tommy’s deep voice drifted into the house.

Assuming it was one of the grandkids who lived in the neighborhood, Marie checked the bowl on top of the counter near the door to the living room. It was always loaded with treats and the first place the kids went.

It was full, as usual.

“Who is it, Tommy?” Bess called.

“Damned if I know.”

The eldest of her kids, Bess tried to take care of everyone or bullied them to death trying. Marie watched her toss the towel she was using to dry dishes and storm out of the kitchen.

“Who did you bring me here?” Marie whispered to the spirits, looking up.

Candace.

Marie stilled in her movements. From what she knew, the mambos rarely left the city. If the House leader herself was seeking her out, it had to be about something important.

Drying her hands, Marie shuffled into the living room just as Bess opened the door for the graceful, gracious Candace.

“Madame Marie,” Candace said with a smile.

The cats came out of the woodwork when she entered, sensing her subtle, but powerful healing magic. The five of them surrounded her, nuzzling her legs.

“Welcome!” Marie said, grinning. “Shoo!” She waved the cats away and took Candace’s hand, anxious to take her to the magic-protected shed out back.

“Goodness, Marie, you need an AC unit in here,” Candace said.

“Oh don’t go there!” Bess snapped.

In her fury after Jayden brought the girl over, Marie had tossed the working AC out the window, breaking it into pieces when it fell. She’d been worried about the white zombie lacing it with black magic spells, only to discover she’d been wrong about the girl completely.

And now, she once again had no AC.

You coulda told me sooner, she addressed the spirits silently.

She led Candace out of the house and to her special place to perform rites then lit candles dressed with cascarilla powder and vanilla on the table where she did most of her spell work.

“I’ve never seen such a collection,” Candace said, admiring the bookshelf dedicated to thumb-sized vials of oils. “Marie, you must have everything.”

“I hope I do,” Marie said proudly.

“I brought you some tea.” Candace held out a small tin of loose leaf tea. “May I?” She motioned to a chair.

“Yes.” Marie waited for her to get comfortable, anxious to hear why the House leader was here.

“The girl I told you about,” Candace started. She tapped the table with her fingernails, gaze growing distant. “I spent the morning in meditation, communicating with my ancestors. Marie, I think she’s the chosen one you spoke of this past weekend.”

Marie listened intently. First, Jayden called to ask if he could visit for a voodoo-related reason, now this. It was an incredible bountiful day, in terms of good news.

“You said you knew who she was?” Candace asked. “You learned this week?”

Marie’s eyes went to a jar on one of her shelves. She pushed herself to her feet and crossed to it, returning with the jar in her hand.

Candace lifted it, peering at the small segment of an earlobe suspended in gel.

“I mistook her for the white zombie,” Marie explained. “She wasn’t no zombie. When I made a spell with her blood, I got a vision. She is the chosen.” She pointed to the flesh.

“Is this … Adrienne’s?” Candace asked. “This is what happened to her ear?”

Marie nodded.

Candace smiled and then chuckled. She set the jar down. “What a fortunate turn of events. Even if by accident, you are able to confirm what I felt was true.”

“The white zombie haunts her, as does the Red Man,” Marie said. “But I don’t know why. The spirits won’t tell me nothing more.”

“I’ve sought answers as well. All they tell me is that the chosen is going to be misled. Does that make sense to you?”

Marie tilted her head, working on recalling everything the spirits had shared with her.

“Or maybe you can tell me what it is you’re hiding, Marie,” Candace continued. “Because they tell me you have the secret I need to help Adrienne.”

“No secret.”

“Marie,” Candace chided.

Marie sighed. She debated what to do. If her grandson wasn’t mixed up in this and the chosen not essential to the future of all of them, she’d continue to cover up the entire truth. As it was, she might need Candace to help Jayden one day.

Not everything, the spirits told her.

“The curse you are trying to break,” she began. “My family helped the bokor who created it. Long ago.”

Candace’s eyes widened.

“You cannot tell no one of this. Even the chosen,” Marie said sternly.

“I swear on the spirits of my ancestors, I will not.”

“There were three families involved in the curse who seem to be involved in the prophecy, too. I do not know all the details, except that my family, Jayden’s father’s family, and the family of the Adrienne girl and white zombie were all a part of it.”

“Your family was not cursed.”

“No. We were spared. But we are involved in the prophecy, through Jayden. Quand li gagnin kichose dans so latete, ce pas dans so lapie.” I’m used to seeing sky as “ciel”.

“Agree, except it won’t just be the flies caught if the sky falls.” Candace took the information in.

“My family helped the white zombie’s ancestor create the black magic that would grant the wishes of the two lovers. The curse should be over. Ninety-nine firstborns from each of the two lovers’ families are dead. Jayden is the hundredth born, the first in four hundred years who is not cursed.”

“But something happened on Adrienne’s side, within the Fourth House. The white zombie – her sister – thwarted the Red Man, and now Adrienne bears the mark of the curse,” Candace finished. “Which set into play the prophecy.”

“Yes,” Marie said with a sigh. It was almost a relief to have the dark secret off her shoulders. “But I can’t understand why the white zombie poses a threat. The spirits scream at me, say if she regains what was hers, she will draw forth evil and destroy many. We have found a Warrior in Rene, the Chosen in the girl, and … I think Jayden is the Devil. But for what purpose?”

Candace frowned.

“It makes my head hurt. I pray and beg the spirits and gods each night for answers,” Marie said sadly. “All they tell me: Keep Jayden safe. Don’t let the white zombie get him. Keep him safe.”

“If he’s the Devil, he may be free of the curse, but he’s not free of whatever happened four hundred years ago,” Candace said. She took Marie’s hands. “The curse and the prophecy are connected, the way your families are.”

Marie squeezed her, sensing her friend and fellow mambos was as worried and lost as she was.

“Thank you for trusting me, Marie,” Candace said. “Adrienne is safe. Rene watches over her.”

“The reluctant warrior is rising,” Marie said, smiling.

“Complaining all the way.”

“He is a good boy. I worry there is no one to protect my Jayden.”

Candace was quiet for a moment. Marie took the jar with Adrienne’s earlobe back to the shelf, aware it was far more important than she could understand. If she needed to make a spell against the white zombie, what was more powerful than the flesh and blood of her sister?

What kind of spell stopped someone neither living nor dead?

“What if we talked to the Red Man?” Candace asked in a hushed tone.

Marie turned, startled by the question.

“I know. It sounds crazy. I don’t know what else to do. I’m doing my best to help Adrienne, but I don’t have all the answers she needs.”

“I understand. But Candace, the Red Man … summoning a spirit like his will require the blackest of magic.”

“I know.” Candace rose, distraught. “You know my brother performs such magic. I can ask for his help.”

“No, Candace. My ancestors thought the same long ago and drew the Red Man’s curse upon them.” Marie shook her head gravely. “We cannot risk it.”

“What do we do?”

“What the spirits tell us. Help Adrienne, and I will help Jayden.”

Candace drew a deep breath. “You’re right. Of course. It is so hard for me to see her in pain, to know I may not be able to save her. She’s a good girl, Marie. The spirits are drawn to her. She is meant for … something great.”

“Like Jayden. My ancestors don’t tell me why.”

They exchanged looks of concern.

“We are doing all we can,” Candace said. “I will keep researching and praying. There’s more. I just don’t know what it is.”

I’m sorry I can’t tell you, my friend. Marie smiled in comfort. “We can only do what the spirits let us.”

Even if it meant lying to someone who might be able to help.