Authors: Kira Saito
Lucus’s eyes were wide and his mouth
slightly agape.
“
Do you see them?” I
whispered.
He nodded, but his eyes remained fixed
on the dancing skeletons.
Beside Papa Ghede appeared a skeletal
woman dressed head-to-toe in black. Her waist-length blonde hair
and alabaster skin glowed under the pale moonlight. Her green eyes
had a mischievous gleam behind them as she stood before me and
chewed on peppers and sipped from a bottle of rum. “Maman
Brigitte?” I gasped. Did Mother and Father Death really want to
party with little old me?
She nodded. “I’ve heard about you,
Arelia. I’ve heard that you can be quite uptight
sometimes.”
“
Uptight? Me?
No.”
“
Yes. You. You should be
more like him,” she said, as her attention focused on Ivan. Her
large eyes filled with pleasure and longing as a wicked smile
appeared on her face.
“
Ivan, I think Mother Death
wants to dance with you,” I said, as I glanced behind
me.
Ivan uncrossed his arms and stepped
away from the tombstone he was carelessly leaning against.
Apparently, the sight of dancing, cigar smoking skeletons didn’t
bother him at all.
“
If Mother Death wants to
dance with me, bring it on. Ma Cherie, how can I refuse?” He bowed
and extended his hand even though he had no idea where Maman
Brigitte was.
Maman Brigitte dropped her rum bottle
and took Ivan’s hand. Having felt her presence, instinctively, Ivan
placed his arms around her back and they started to move. Maman
Brigitte placed her head on Ivan’s shoulder and buried her face
into his neck. They madly danced in sync with the beat of the
drums. Ivan spun Mother Death around and she let out a low,
carefree laugh that was seductive yet threatening. She ran her bony
fingers through Ivan’s hair and gently stoked his stubbly cheek. He
laughed as he spun her around faster and faster. She took a pepper
out of her mouth and shoved it into Ivan’s. Ivan laughed as he
chewed the pepper and bent over to pick up a rum bottle from the
ground. He continued to laugh as he took a sip from the bottle and
then afterwards gave Mother Death a big old kiss on the mouth.
Maman Brigitte continued to laugh and laugh like a maniac and the
pair continued their odd dance.
Meanwhile, the sound of drums grew
louder and the smell of cigars thicker. A skeleton separated its
self from the crowd and approached Lucus. It extended its hand.
Without question, Lucus took it and gave it a small kiss. I
scratched my head as I watched Lucus dance with the skeleton
without a hint of repulsion or hesitance. He turned to look at me
and mouthed. For Sabrina. Be strong.
“
Shall we?” asked Papa
Ghede, as took my hand into his. At this point, all I could think
of was Sabrina and how scared she probably was.
“
Yes, but I need to know if
my friend is okay. Can you tell me where she is?” I asked
innocently. Around us, the drums grew louder and the skeletons
started to dance faster.
Papa Ghede wrapped me in his stick-like
arms and we started to move. “What if I say it’s too late for your
friend?”
My heart stopped beating for a second
and my blood froze, but I didn’t want to panic. So I took a deep
breath. “With all due respect, Papa Ghede, I don’t believe
you.”
Papa Ghede let out a deep laugh and
flashed me a pair of rotting teeth. “So stubborn! How dare you
challenge me? If I say it’s too late for your friend, then it’s too
late.”
I sighed. “No. I’m not challenging you
per se, I’m simply making sure that you have all of the facts
right.” I tried to think really, really hard back to the LaRue
spell book and tried to dig up some facts that would help me deal
with Papa Ghede. Think, Arelia. Think.
As Papa Ghede continued to spin me
around and drag me from one end of the cemetery to the other, I
remembered that although he loved to party, Papa Ghede was also
wise and protective. I figured that maybe I could play up to his
emotional side and reason with him. Surely even Father Death was
open to negotiation. “Sabrina’s innocent in all of this; whatever
she’s gotten herself into is my fault. The whole thing. I should
have been honest with her from the start. If you give me a chance
to make it right, I promise I won’t disappoint you. I’ll do
anything,” I said with the most sincerity and passion I could
muster under the really odd circumstances.
He merely laughed. “I don’t want to
talk about your friend; I want to talk about you.”
“
Me?”
“
Yes. Now, tell me, why are
you so afraid of dying? Why is everyone so afraid of dying?” he
asked, as he popped another pepper into my mouth.
After forcing the pepper down my throat
and slightly enjoying the slow, painful burn, I finally managed to
speak. “I guess because no one really knows what happens on the
other side. I don’t think anyone is afraid of dying, I think we’re
all afraid of what we don’t understand.” I had no idea if that was
what he wanted to hear, but it was the only answer that I had. The
only answer that made any sense to me. I thought back to last
summer when Grand-pere had died suddenly and unexpectedly. The
thing that tormented me most about his death was the fact that I
didn’t know if he was safe or not.
Papa Ghede laughed as he drank some
more rum. Afterwards, he leaned dangerously close and whispered,
“Are you afraid of me, Arelia?”
“
Yes, I am,” I replied
honestly. “But I know you’re not cruel. There has to be a greater
meaning behind things, right?” I asked, maybe too
hopefully.
“
Would you accept that logic
if I told you that your friend was dead?”
No. No. No. How could Sabrina be dead?
A few hours ago we were getting ready for a party. She was deciding
on what lingerie to wear and I felt like murdering her. This can’t
be right. “She doesn’t deserve to die, I do,” I
whispered.
Papa Ghede stopped dancing and we stood
still. He eyed me in silence for a minute while sucking on a pepper
and smoking his cigar. “You’d be willing to share the pain? Willing
to ease the pain?”
“
The pain?”
“
Yes.”
I could have stood there and bombarded
him with a thousand questions. That’s exactly what I felt like
doing, but I knew the loa were a fickle bunch. Like me, they were
prone to massive mood swings and that meant changing their mind at
any second. There was no time for second-guessing, so I said the
only thing I could: “Yes.”
“
Are you willing to give her
peace?”
I had no idea what he was talking
about, but something in my gut told me that Ivan was behind the
whole mess. “Is he responsible for this?” I asked, furious. “Is he
connected to this?” I pointed at Ivan.
Papa Ghede laughed again and then his
expression turned severe. “Yes, if that’s the answer you’d like to
hear. No, if it’s not.”
“
What does that
mean?”
His expression changed from severe to
amused and he let out another deep laugh. Argh. More riddles and
puzzles. “Give her peace,” he said again simply. “You need to give
her peace, because she’s been waiting for it for an awfully long
time. Dig her up- she’s on her way to six feet under- and give her
peace.”
“
Who?”
“
Her.”
That didn’t help me much at
all.
Papa Ghede released me, strutted over
to where Ivan and Maman Brigitte were dancing, and pulled his wife
away from Ivan. He gave her a soft kiss on the mouth. Afterwards,
he turned to me. “Good luck, Arelia.” With those words he
disappeared and the skeletons vanished with him. The drumming
stopped and the cigar smoke was lifted.
Lucus immediately ran over to me and
placed his arms around me. “Are you okay?” he asked, as he wiped
away the thin sheen of sweat that had formed on my forehead from
all the dancing.
I nodded.
I looked around the cemetery and
realized that Sabrina was right here. Buried almost six feet
under.
Chapter Eight
Princess, Where Art
Thou?
I took a moment to catch my breath and
to get over what had just happened. I eyed Ivan with outright rage
and frustration. Every inch of me wanted to beat him to a pulp. He
slumped against a tombstone and continued to sip from a rum bottle.
He caught me staring and a large smug smile formed on his face. I
knew this was part of his sick plan, but I couldn’t prove
anything.
Wasn’t that fun, queen? All that wild
dancing was invigorating, wasn’t it? Too bad we weren’t naked. Oh
no, did Barbie get herself into some sort of trouble? More reason
for you to get the hell out of here, isn’t it? Where is the little
princess? Oh princess, where art thou?
I took a deep breath and marched up to
him and grabbed the rum bottle out of his hand.
“
Where is she?”
“
What the hell, queen? I
have no idea what you’re talking about.” Ivan shrugged.
“
You’re useless!” I
screamed. I wanted to scream, you can’t get rid of me. But the
words didn’t come out. None of the goddamn words were coming out! I
felt like a pitiful prisoner trapped in my own body.
As much as I wanted to beat the crap
out of Ivan, I couldn’t risk standing around and wasting precious
time arguing with a lunatic, so I smashed the bottle against a
tombstone. It took a huge amount of restraint not to jab him the
eye with the broken glass. I had to concentrate on the task at
hand, and I knew I needed help. The cemetery was massive and there
was no way we would be able to find Sabrina without
help.
“
Erzulie, I’m asking you out
of pure desperation, please help me find Sabrina. I promise I’ll
have more patience with that ass that calls himself Ivan but right
now all I care about is making sure my friend is safe.
Please.”
I brought a broken piece of glass to my
palm and closed my eyes while I stabbed myself seven times and
recited the chant that had become my mantra.
Seven stabs of the knife,
seven stabs of the dagger,
Lend me the basin so I can
vomit my blood,
Seven stabs of the knife,
seven stabs of the dagger,
Lend me the basin so I can
vomit my blood,
My blood is pouring
down.
I fought back the bitter tears that
were threatening to flow freely down my face. No matter how many
times I made an offering to Erzulie, it never got any easier. The
sting always felt like the first time. I guess that’s why it was
called a sacrifice. Sacrifices were supposed to be hard and
painful. Maybe spirits fed off of pain- it was such a childish
conclusion, but it was the only way I could explain the
inexplicable. It was the only way I could vaguely relate to the
world of les mysteries.
Erzulie appeared before me dressed in a
striking aquamarine gown, blood-red headdress, and layers of wooden
beads. Her kohl-rimmed hazel eyes were miserable and I could see a
stream of tears gracefully sliding down her supple cheeks. “My
dear, you need to learn how to work with the other loa. You don’t
have enough blood in your body to always satisfy my thirst and you
know that.”
“
I will. I’ll learn how to
work with the other spirits but I need to find Sabrina now and
fast. Please help. Please.”
“
I need more blood,” she
whispered.
Of course she did. Already in agony and
desperate to find Sabrina, I did the only thing I could think of, I
clutched the broken glass in my bleeding palm and brought it to my
other hand. Before I had a chance to stab myself again, I felt
Lucus’ hand around my arm. “Arelia, no,” he said, as he stopped
me.
“
Erzulie needs more blood,
that’s the only way she’ll help us find Sabrina. Sabrina is buried
here somewhere.” I was hysterical as I glanced around the massive
graveyard.
“
Take mine,” he said. “Take
all you want.”
“
No. You already helped with
Soussan Pannan. I can’t let you rescue me every time things get
complicated.” I might get used to it.
“
There’s no shame in letting
others help you,” he insisted.
“
You’re going to let the
queen stab you? This is gonna be fun.” Of course Ivan was still
leaning against the tombstone and watching the whole scene play out
with gruesome delight.
Go ahead and stab Prince Charming. He
deserves to shed some blood after all the blood he’s shed. In your
heart you know you want to.
“
Shut up!” I hissed. “Lucus,
I can’t.” Stabbing myself was fine, but stabbing someone else was
just plain wrong, unless that person was Ivan.
“
Arelia, do it,” said Lucus,
as he held out his palm. His voice was strong and
determined.
I knew that standing there and arguing
with Lucus was pointless and an epic waste of time, so I took a
deep breath, closed my eyes and stabbed Lucus with the crude glass.
I didn’t want to watch his expression as I did it. Maybe I was a
coward, who knows, but the last thing I wanted to do was
intentionally cause him pain.