A look of shock fell on Maman Brigitte’s face. “Nico? How did he get… And the Baron… we have to bring back the Baron!”
“No! It’s the red Baron now!” I shouted.
“I don’t care!” Brigitte shouted, casting whatever magic Erzulie had given her into the gateway… something to draw him in.
“Not going to happen,” Oggie said. “Aida-Wedo, do it now!”
“No, Nico is still…”
But it was too late. The gateway was closed.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Any word on when classes will start up again?” I asked as I ushered Mikah into the foyer of our home and toward our living room couches.
“Nothing yet,” Mikah said, taking a seat on my grandmother’s rocker. “Marie Laveau is taking over the school.”
“Your shitting me,” I said. “The Queen of Vilokan… of all Voodoo… is going to take over the school?”
Mikah shrugged. “That’s the rumor. I think it’s just temporary. A permanent headmaster can’t be appointed until everything has been investigated.”
“What about College Samedi?”
“Oggie wants Brigitte removed. Aida-Wedo agrees that she should be banished. The whole college is suspended until the green Baron can be brought safely back. But right now they’re deadlocked. Erzulie supports her, and of course Maman Brigitte wouldn’t vote against herself. Everything depends on Sogbo, whenever he returns. God knows where he went.”
“Doesn’t Laveau have authority to step in and get rid of Brigitte?”
“Probably, but from what I can gather, she hasn’t made up her mind. At this point it’s all he said, she said. She isn’t sure if Oggie has other motives.”
“Other motives? Why the hell would he want Brigitte expelled if there wasn’t a good reason?”
“Laveau suspects a power play, that Oggie is trying to take over as headmaster in Legba’s absence.”
“That’s ridiculous! You’d think a student goes missing—one of Maman Brigitte’s initiates—she’d be the one under suspicion.”
“Speaking of Nico… any luck tracking him down?”
I shook my head. “Isabelle and I have spent hours cutting gates with my soul blade, wandering around Guinee, consulting with the Dryad, flying around with Beli. No one knows anything. Both he and the Baron… it’s like they just disappeared.”
“Maybe if we can talk Pauli into holding a gate for us, we could all go looking,” Mikah said.
“Yeah, good luck with that.”
“He still depressed?”
I nodded. “Not himself at all. Tried visiting him just last week.”
“Well, he does have a nasty Loa trapped inside of him, and trust me, having Kalfu inside of you…”
“Makes you feel dirty,” Ashley interjected.
Mikah nodded. “That’s one way to put it.”
“I think he’ll come around eventually. He can’t stay in his mom’s basement forever. Isabelle thinks once school starts again, it will be good for him.”
Mikah nodded. “Speaking of that… you still planning on joining us, Ashley?”
Ashley turned and looked at Roger. He’d barely left her side since we returned, and their constant cuddling was getting mildly annoying. “I don’t really want to…”
“But I told her it would be a good idea,” Roger said. “She’s learned everything she can from me. She’s a great Shaman.”
“Shaperson,” I interrupted.
Roger sighed. “Sha-whatever. Anyway, she has Erzulie’s aspect whether she likes it or not. One of the first rules of any magical discipline is that one must be at peace with one’s own self. Until she explores it, learns what this aspect gives her and how to control it, she’ll always be a little lost.”
I grinned widely at Mikah. “Not to mention, she’s going to be mentored by Ellie…”
“Holy shit,” Mikah laughed. “I hadn’t thought of that. I’d pay good money to see that play out.”
“I know, right?” I stood up and straightened my shirt. “I suppose I should go get ready. Where are you guys going tonight?”
“I can’t tell you,” Mikah said. “It’s a surprise, and if I tell you, Isabelle will hear.”
I laughed. “You realize I’ll be chaperoning the whole time. You watch yourself, mister!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mikah said, chuckling nervously. He couldn’t tell if I was joking or not—and that was my intention.
“Well, I can tell you she’s excited… hasn’t stopped talking about it all week.”
Annabelle! Hush! I’m trying to play it cool!
I smiled widely. “Yeah, every day this week… four days, thirteen hours, twenty-five minutes until my date with Mikah! Just like that, counting down the days, hours, and minutes.”
Annabelle! Stop!
I grinned. “I don’t think she wanted me to tell you that.”
Mikah shook his head. “I haven’t been counting the minutes… but I know exactly how she feels.”
“All right,” I said. “Just give us a minute. Wait until you see her. She’s looking gorgeous.”
Mikah rolled his eyes. “You two share a body… she looks just like you.”
“Exactly,” I said, smiling smugly. “But before we do this, you think you’ve got a good remedy to try for the headache afterwards? So far I haven’t been able to avoid it unless we swap the reins in Guinee.”
Mikah pulled a vial of something from his pocket. “I think so. Based on how you healed in Guinee, if you can infuse this with a bit of your magica and down it as soon as you take back over, it should at least take the edge off.”
“Should I even ask what’s in it?”
“It’s something we collaborated on,” Roger interjected. “Mikah’s been on the reservation all week working on this with me. Something of the best from both of our traditions.”
I almost blushed. “You know, that’s pretty sweet of you… even if it is for Isabelle’s sake.”
“It’s for both of you,” Mikah said.
I nodded, though I couldn’t help but feel a few butterflies churn in my stomach. This was Isabelle’s date, but as much as I wasn’t about to admit it to her… I was starting to look forward to it.
To be continued…
Book 2: Grim Tidings: https://amzn.to/2T1aBwY
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Copyright © 2020 by Theophilus Monroe.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Theophilus Monroe is a fantasy author with a knack for real-life characters whose supernatural experiences speak to the pangs of ordinary life. After earning his Ph.D. in Theology, he decided that academic treatises that no one will read (beyond other academics) was a dull way to spend his life. So, he began using his background in religious studies to create new worlds and forms of magic–informed by religious myths, ancient and modern–that would intrigue readers, inspire imaginations, and speak to real-world problems in fantastical ways.
When Theophilus isn’t exploring one of his fantasy lands, he is probably playing with one of his three sons, or pumping iron in his home-gym, which is currently located in a 40-foot shipping container.
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