Chapter 2

Luna

My nose seemed to acclimate to the smell of rich spices and patchouli as I took his hand. The scent of the perfume that lingered on one too many of Joshua’s shirts of late still lingered in my nostrils, the smell of something sickeningly floral just barely detectable yet again. Squaring my shoulders, I resolved to put the thought of my long-term love’s potential betrayal behind me for long enough to at least entertain this absurd idea of Kayla’s.

She was like a dog with a bone when it came to her ideas. Once she had settled on a plan, there was no deterring her. It was easily her most admirable and also most annoying quality, based on who was at the mercy of her drive and ambition. Today was my unlucky day, it would seem.

“Allow me to introduce myself before we begin,” the man drawled in his thick accent. “I am Sebastien Broussard, and I am the owner of this shop. I have made my life’s work in the dark and beautiful arts, and use it to help the poor souls of the French Quarter.”?

“More like take advantage of them,” I muttered under my breath, unable to refrain from rolling my eyes. Even though the words were barely a whisper, Mr. Broussard’s green eyes found mine, staring into me sharper than any laser could hope to. I could feel the judgment, the silent scolding, like a hot knife through butter as it tore through me unabashedly.

“I learned the dark arts from my father, who learned from his father before him, back through the generations. This is not some false store selling trinkets as jujus and committing subterfuge.” His voice lowered, his tone quiet and biting with grave resound.

“Yeah, Luna,” Kayla agreed, as though she herself were a lover of the ‘dark arts ’, as he called them. “It’s not fake. It’s like a lifestyle or something. Like… oh, what’s the word? Paganism, or something.” I loved that girl, I truly did, but she was gullible as all get out, easily persuaded for a woman so driven and cunning in her profession and her love life.

“Pardon, Miss, but it is not Paganism. This, mes chères , is Voodoo.”?

“Voodoo?” I couldn’t help but scoff as I raised a single brow of disbelief his way.

“Yes, Voodoo. And it is not a hobby or a form of trickery. It is a religion. A religion that an Oungan such as myself takes quite seriously, I assure you. Now, will you allow me to show you?”?

Kayla and I shared a look, one of disdain on my part and utter excitement on hers. Resigning myself to getting through this theatrical display as quickly as possible, I nodded my head in acquiescence.

“Lovely,” Mr. Broussard drawled richly. “Now, who do I have the delightful pleasure of serving this afternoon?”?

“I’m Ms. Kayla King, and this here is Luna, my absolute best friend in the whole wide world,” Kayla announced without hesitation.

“And how may I help the two of you, Ms. King and Miss... I’m sorry, I did not catch your last name, chère ,” he asked with a gesture of his hand.

“Landry,” I answered hoarsely, clearing my throat around the lump that had suddenly lodged itself there. “Luna Landry.”?

“And how may I serve the two of you on this fine day? Are you in search of something specific? A juju or mojo , perhaps? Something to aid you in healing? Or would you be seeking something to help you succeed in your careers, perchance?”?

“Oh, nothing of the like! We are here to find out the truth.” I could have smacked her, giving away such information and matching his theatrics like an actress in pursuit of her first Oscar nomination. Everyone knew the first rule of dealing with physics was to give as little information as possible, so that they had nothing to craft around to dupe you into believing.

“Lovely. And what truth is it you seek?” Mr. Broussard drawled, turning his gaze to Kayla with intent. I could almost see the dollar signs dancing behind those green eyes.

“It’s not for me. Luna here needs to find out if her boyfriend is cheating on her,” Kayla announced immediately, making me groan.

“A lover scorned? This is no good, I tell you.”

“I’m not scorned,” I muttered defensively. An image of Joshua, of his clothes strewn across the bathroom, flooded my mind. It had only been a few days, but I could see it so clearly. I had gone to touch up my makeup before we left for dinner, and picked up his shirt just to be kind to my boyfriend. I had lifted it to my face, wanting to smell his scent for a moment while I waited for him to finish his work call downstairs. That’s when I had noticed the perfume. The sharp pang of betrayal and rage flicked through my belly once more, cutting as deep as ever. He deserved to pay.

“Of course, ma chère . And that is why you have sought out the work of Sebastien Broussard. To find answers. Now, tell me, is this lover of yours a good man?”?

“I mean, I thought he was, but now…”

“Now, Little Luna here has herself convinced that she smelled perfume on his shirt. I tried to convince her that it’s all ridiculous. Joshua has been faithful to her for five years. What reason does she have to think he’d cheat?”?

“I smelled the perfume on several of his dirty button ups, Kayla. The proof is right there. The asshole is fucking cheating on me!”?

“For all you know, he was just working with a co-worker. No reason to jump to conclusions.” She turned back to Sebastien, continuing. “But since she won’t let it go, we’ve decided to come here to find out once and for all.”?

The man nodded sagely, as if possessed by some superior knowledge, and turned to face me more fully. His presence still seemed to loom over me in that strange way, making me slightly uncomfortable. All part of his presentation, I assumed. He gestured with one hand towards a doorway hung with strings of beads and swaths of cloth. I couldn’t quite make out what was beyond.

“If it pleases you, my friends, let us adjourn to a more appropriate space to perform such a ritual. If you will follow me?”?

I sighed my resignation to this entire charade and nodded, rolling my eyes at Kayla. How did I let myself get caught up in these ridiculous situations? Mr. Broussard turned and began leading us through the bead-covered doorway he had indicated. As we passed through, I failed to stifle a small gasp of surprise at the sight that greeted me. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this.

Shelves lined the walls in between antique wall hangings depicting all manner of occult and ritualistic imagery. My eyes couldn’t pick a place to land as I took in the contents of those shelves; skulls, entire small animal skeletons, statues depicting various otherworldly beings, a number of small doll-like figures made of cloth with crude faces stitched into them, and candles.

Candles were everywhere. They were the only illumination in the room aside from a fireplace crackling quietly in one wall, and the combined glow cast a ruddy, uncertain light that flickered and warped as our entrance disturbed the air. The light glinted off of dusty bottles and jars sealed with twine and wax and filled with cloudy liquid. I glimpsed several things in those murky depths that I wasn’t sure I recognized, and a few things I wished I didn’t.

Shaking off my shock, I focused in the middle of the room, where a round table sat surrounded by four wooden chairs. The intricate tablecloth matched the sweeping curtains that hung in places around the room, and on it sat a deck of cards, a small knife, and a few other odd knick-knacks. At the center of the table sat the most cliche thing I had seen yet; a crystal ball.

“Seriously? A crystal ball? What are you, some kind of witch? Come on Kayla, let’s get—”

“I am not a witch, Ms. Landry. I am an Oungan , as I said before. A priest trained in the art of voodoo. You may think me some cheap charlatan, but here, in this place, you will show some respect. You tread on sacred ground.”

As he finished speaking, he turned around to face me once more, and that feeling of looming returned twice as strongly. He almost seemed to grow bigger in the flickering candlelight, his many shadows flickering and moving around him. He really was going for full production value here. That’s all this was; a show to impress and intimidate people into paying for a line of bullshit and thanking him for the pleasure of it.

Kayla fairly vibrated with excitement beside me. “Holy shit, Lu, look at this place! It’s incredible!” She dragged me to the table and plopped into a chair, pulling me down beside her into the other.

“Yeah, it’s something, alright.” I winced as my ass hit the seat hard. Sebastien was already around the table, and he seated himself ostentatiously in another chair before steepling his long fingers in front of himself and eyeing me seriously. He seemed entirely focused on me now, almost as if he had forgotten Kayla even existed.

“So, ma chère , you seek to discover if your lover has been unfaithful to you. That is a serious and worthwhile thing to desire. If you are ready, and if you have the strength to face the answer, we may ask the spirits to reveal to us the truth of the matter. Are you ready, Ms. Landry? Do you have the strength?” As he spoke, he lit a few black wax candles positioned around the table, and their strangely reddish light lit his face oddly as he smiled at me. The smile didn’t seem to reach his eyes; eyes that reflected the glow of hundreds of candles like tiny constellations.

I huffed and shrugged with a nod. “Sure, I guess. If it will get Kayla to get off my back, then sure. Let’s do this reading, or divination, or whatever. What could it hurt?”

Sebastien let out a soft, somewhat sinister chuckle. His eye sockets seemed to sink into shadow as he spoke. “Ms. Landry, the voodoo arts can do many things. Some of them can hurt quite severely. Do not take this power lightly.”

I shivered despite myself, and nodded again, sitting up straighter.

“Good. Now, let us begin. In order to find answers to your questions, I must first create a connection between you and the spirits. They need an anchor for your soul.

To that end, I require a small sacrifice from you. If you would be so kind, I need a few strands of your hair… and a few drops of your blood.” He picked up the small knife from the table in front of him, twirling it in his fingers. I hesitated for a moment, glancing at Kayla. She nodded enthusiastically to me, completely spellbound.

Oh, what the hell. “Okay, fine, whatever. Kayla isn’t going to let me leave until I do this. So fine. Just… be careful, okay? I don’t want to have to go to the hospital for stitches after this.”

Sebastien simply smiled wider, his eyes glowing with excitement. He gestured towards my hair, and I leaned forward.

Before I could even follow his movements, the knife flashed in the candlelight as he deftly cut a thin lock of hair from my head and placed it carefully on a small tray beside the deck of tarot cards.

“Thank you, chère . Now, hold your hand out to me.” He positioned a small polished silver bowl between us, then gripped my offered hand firmly, turning it palm up. His fingers were warm on my skin, his grip sure, and a bit too tight. I sucked in a sharp breath as the knife bit into the meat of my palm. The edge must have been beyond razor sharp;

there was no resistance as he made a shallow cut about half an inch long. Ruby red blood welled immediately, and he held my hand firmly over the bowl as it began to drip, drip, drip. The sound of it hitting the metal seemed to reverberate in the room for a moment.

“What the fuck?! I thought you were going to prick my finger or something, not slash my palm open!” I made to stand, but Kayla put her hand on my shoulder and rolled her eyes at me.

“It’s not even that bad, Lu. Just let him do his thing!” I swear, Kayla was going to be the death of me some day.

I sighed resignedly, and a few seconds later he released my hand, offering me a small handkerchief from the pocket of his suit jacket. I pressed the cool cloth to my palm to stop the bleeding. Oddly, the cut barely hurt.??

“Excellent. Now we may begin.” I watched as he began his ritual, if that’s what you wanted to call it. He began murmuring a steady stream of incomprehensible words and pulled a little cloth doll from his drawer.

I recognized it immediately. There had been similar ones adorning some shelves throughout the shop.

Placing it down on the table in front of him, he took most of the hair he’d collected from me and affixed it to the head of the doll, then dipped his finger in my blood and drew a symbol on the doll’s chest and back.

“The doll creates a connection, giving the spirits the anchor they need to be drawn to us. Do not fear, I will burn it when we finish, breaking the connection.” His voice had gone all serious and somber, like he expected me to believe that voodoo dolls were real, which I found hilarious. I kept my face still, though; no need to heckle the man during his act.

He placed the doll back on the table, then gripped either side of the crystal ball, which still glowed from what I assumed was a lightbulb inserted into the base or something.

“ Loa , spirits of the underworld, answer this woman’s call. Come to me. Give us the answers we seek.” He continued beseeching these Loa for answers, whatever they were. After a few moments, he fell silent, seeming to stare deeply into the depths of the crystal ball. He occasionally nodded or raised his eyebrows, pretending to be gaining some deep, profound understanding. I suppressed a sigh of annoyance as I waited for the show to end, so we could get out of this creepy room.

After a few moments that seemed to stretch for hours, he released the crystal ball, which faded back to dull darkness. He looked up at me and nodded. “The Loa have answered your call and have spoken to me. I saw your lover in the depths of the crystal and saw the truth of him.”

Kayla shifted and grabbed my hand, making me wince as she squeezed the place where I’d been cut. “Well, what did they say? Please tell Luna that she’s worried about nothing, that Joshua would never cheat on her. That’s what they said, right?”

Sebastien glanced over at her with a look that seemed almost annoyed, then back to me. “I am truly sorry, miss Landry, but I am afraid it is not good news. The spirits have shown me that your lover is indeed being… unfaithful. He has been for quite some time, it seems. I never enjoy being the bearer of bad news.” A small smile crossed his face as he finished speaking, making it seem like he did enjoy doing just that.

I sat in the chair, trying to sort out my emotions. I didn’t believe in any of this voodoo crap, did I? I didn’t believe in spirits, or the supernatural, or psychics, or anything like that. And yet, his words seemed to grip my heart like a vice, and I didn’t know how to process that. Of course I didn’t believe this stranger! But… my heart told me he was right; Joshua was cheating on me, even if I didn’t believe that he’d seen it in his little ball.

Kayla’s entire demeanor shifted from excited to shocked, and she turned to me. “I… I can’t believe that he would do something like that to you! Maybe the spirits are wrong. You don’t actually believe that, do you?”

Suppressing what my gut was telling me, I shook my head. “No.. no I guess not. I don’t know. I don’t believe in this stuff, anyway. No offense, Mr. Broussard.” I glanced worriedly towards the man, although I couldn’t place why I was worried. What was he going to do, kick us out without paying? Yet, I had to admit that I didn’t want to offend the man, for some reason.

“You must choose what you believe, ma chère . Believe the truth I have spoken this day, or believe the lies you tell yourself. The choice is yours.” He stood and walked to the fireplace, tossing the doll into the flames. The fire flared up for a moment, flickering to an odd pale green as it consumed the cloth figure. I’d read about powders that could change the color of flames; he was still putting on a show, it seemed.

I stood, pulling Kayla to her feet as well, and gestured for her to pay the man. “Well, thank you anyway, Mr. Broussard. This has been… interesting. Your shop is lovely, by the way. We appreciate your time. I’m sure you have plenty of things to get back too, so we won’t take up any more of your day. Come on Kayla, let’s go.”

I walked back into the main lobby, leaving the two of them to square up the payment for today’s entertainment, unable to shake the feeling of icy fingers gripping my heart at what Sebastien had told me. It was all made up, right? It had to be. I had to be worried about nothing. Joshua wasn’t cheating on me! I rubbed my nose, that phantom perfume plaguing me once more as the others rejoined me. I had been certain he was before walking into the shop, but now, after hearing Sebastien confirm it, I suddenly wanted to doubt it.

“Thank you for your patronage, Ms. Landry. Perhaps we will see each other again, hmm? For now, you must think about what I have shown you today, and decide what you believe.”?

“Thank you again, Mr. Broussard.”?

“Of course, Ms. Landry. Please, come again soon.” He smiled in that slightly sinister way once more, and I gave him a polite smile back before grabbing Kayla’s arm and making my way towards the door. I needed to get out of here and back to the real world. The normal world, where things made sense.

Just as I was getting ready to leave, I felt an icy chill run up my back, making my whole body shiver violently for a moment. I stopped and glanced back to see Sebastien watching us go, that grin still apparent on his face. He gave me a silent nod. I turned quickly and exited the store.

I swore the sound of a low, dangerous chuckle followed me as I dragged my friend back towards our car.