"But it sounds like in that instance, the void was sucking matter into itself. What happened here, it's like it's doing the opposite. It sent wyrms here... Nammu, the one I met, said all of them were brought here."
Marie nodded. "Julie Brown was likely attempting the same. She figured out how to open the gateway to the void, but she couldn't stabilize it. She didn't have access to enough power. But if whoever did it this time is stronger, has access to more magic than she had..."
"Then they did what Julie Brown was trying to do so long ago."
Marie Laveau twirled a ribbon attached to her shirt around her finger. "But if Legba's suspicion is correct, whoever did this likely learned to do it from the ghost of the caplata. At least that's the most likely explanation. Not even I have been able to figure out, on my own, how she ever did it."
I took a deep breath.
Tahlia slithered her way around my arm and across the top of my shoulder. "So how did the void gateway get shut, then?" Tahlia asked. "Evidently it did. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here talking about it."
"Very astute," Marie said as she smiled at Tahlia. Then, she looked back at me. "You did it, child. The Wyrmriders closed the void."
18
THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE at Marie's was nothing short of surreal. I wasn't sure what sort of queen she was. Did the Voodoo world really have royalty? Or was it just some kind of nickname—the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans? Whatever it was, it apparently earned her a mounting by Papa Legba even as whatever sort of royalty they thought I was supposed to be merited the same.
I wasn't sure what to believe. All this talk about my future. If I knew one thing, based on my experience with trans-dimensional time-traveling Druids and such, knowing specific out-of-context facts about the future didn't mean much. There was invariably some kind of surprise, even a shock, related to how that future was going to come about.
According to Marie, the ghost of Julie Brown would likely speak to me for no other reason than that it was the future me—which she wouldn't realize was a me who had yet to exist—was the one who prevented her targeted curse from annihilating the world.
I felt like I needed to make a note of this fact somewhere. I didn't have a smartphone anymore. I didn't bother taking one with me to Fomoria. Sure, the new ones are supposed to be water-resistant. But somehow, I doubted that it would hold up thousands of feet beneath the surface, or for such an extended period of time. It was also doubtful that I'd have service down there.
Tahlia was the closest thing I had to a phone—a direct line to Agwe. But she wasn't a smartphone. And she certainly wasn't GPS enabled.
If she could speak to Agwe directly, on account of having his aspect... did that mean I could talk to Legba now too? Maybe. Maybe not. But it was something. I wasn't sure exactly what. Hell, I didn't even know what Legba could do beyond the fact that he was the steward of the crossroads and that his aspect would make me see dead people.
Manchac Swamp wasn't far from the city. Just northwest of New Orleans. The only thing I knew about it was that there was a large bridge named for the swamp, supposedly one of the longest bridges in the country.
But that wasn't where we needed to go. According to Marie, the ghost of Julie Brown would likely appear near Frenier Cemetery. It was not only where Julie was supposedly buried, but it was home to a mass grave where their lives were taken by the supposed hurricane—more accurately, the void vacuum—in 1915.
I basically had two options to get there. I could rent a kayak or something. Or, I could use dragon form. A day ago, I would have gone with the kayak option. But since I'd used dragon form already since I learned I could not only shift safely, but it had an effect of keeping most of the rage associated with the dragon's essence in my soul at bay, it was a no-brainer.
This time, though, I made sure to throw my pants and bikini top into a baggy and hooked it into my tail. With Tahlia curled around it, too, I was a little tail heavy. Thankfully, Tahlia was a lot lighter in her eel form than when she appeared as a mermaid. I wasn't sure how that worked. The whole reason I was a small dragon was that I'd have to absorb additional mass if I were to become a larger one—and untangling that mess when I shifted back was potentially hazardous. But Tahlia's shifting worked differently. It had something to do with putting on and removing her eel skin. And oddly enough, when she removed the skin—technically shedding some of her mass—she became larger as a mermaid.
It was the exact opposite of what would have happened if her transformations were based on the same magical principles that mine were.
Clearly, though, she was something entirely different. Whatever laws of the universe governed her transformations were beyond me, despite having earned an A-grade in high school physics.
As I flew through the marshlands, I kept my eyes wide, looking for the rougarou.
So far, I didn't see them.
But the closer we got to where this cemetery was supposed to be, howls echoed in the distance.
Was it the rougarou? What else prowls around the swamp that howls. I didn't know for sure. But it didn't seem like the usual place where you'd find coyotes or wolves.
A shiver coursed its way down my dragon spine.
I nearly shook Tahlia and my bag, holding my pants off the end of my tail.
Good thing I didn't... the waters were infested with alligators.
I spotted what looked like make-shift graves on a small hill ahead. That had to be it...
Little wooden crosses. The wood was well weathered, and the crosspiece on most of them was askew. Some of them didn't have a crosspiece at all. I imagined the nails had rusted away.
I landed on all fours in the middle of the graveyard.
I quickly shifted back into human form and did my best to get into my jeans.
Tahlia also shifted into her mermaid form and tossed me her eel skin.
I grabbed it and threw it across my shoulder.
"Got tired of eel form?" I asked.
Tahlia nodded. "And I figured I'd be less appealing to the gators this way."
I smiled. "Yeah, probably true. I had no idea there were so many."
"But if what Marie said is true, the gators are the least of our problems," Tahlia said. "I hear the wolves. Haven't seen them yet. Do you see the ghost anywhere?"
I shook my head. "I don't. A part of me wonders if Legba did anything. It felt like little more than an uncomfortable staring context when he supposedly mounted me."
Tahlia shook her head. "I hate when men mount me, and I don't feel a thing."
I chuckled. "I hear you, sister."
"Seriously though," Tahlia said. "I didn't feel anything at first when Agwe gave me his aspect either. But when it worked... well... I knew it."
I nodded. "Here's to hoping I have the same experience."
Tahlia and I stood there for what felt like an hour. In truth, it was probably fifteen minutes or so. But when you're anticipating a ghost, not to mention a werewolf, to show up every second is vested with a tension that drags it out.
Then I heard a soft voice.
"Do you hear that?" I asked.
"I hear something," Tahlia said, nodding.
"It sounds like... singing?"
"I think it's getting louder," Tahlia said, gripping my arm.
She was right. The sound was increasing, gradually, in volume. I could tell there was a tune to it. But then the words became clearer.
I'm gonna die... and I'm gonna take all of you with me... I'm gonna die... and I'm gonna take all of you with me...
"Holy fuck," I said. I was fairly pale-skinned as it was. But when I heard those words, I was sure any color I had at all in my complexion flushed out.
"Creepy much?" Tahlia asked as the ghost's voice faded away again into silence.
I nodded slowly. "Very."
"Do you see her anywhere?" Tahlia asked, looking around in every direction.
I shook my head. "Nothing at all. Just some shadows."
"Where?" Tahlia asked.
"Right there," I pointed in the distance, maybe twenty yards away between two trees. Something was moving back there.
"Whatever it is," Tahlia said, her voice somber. "It isn't small."
"I have an idea," I said as I touched the sigil on my hand. It wouldn't take much magic, not that I had a lot left, to summon my wand. If I were a mermaid, it would be a trident. But my wand, I could use it and take a tiny bit of magic more to illuminate it at the tip. "We'll just have to go back to Marie after this... I'm not sure after shifting twice if I have enough magic to return to mermaid form."
"Survive first," Tahlia said. "Worry about how we're getting home later."
I nodded. I inhaled and drew the magic from my medallion into the sigil. My wand formed in my hand. I drew in a little more magic, and a glowing ball of white light formed at the tip of it.
I pointed it in the direction of the two trees where I'd seen the shadow moving before.
"I don't see anything there," Tahlia said.
I shook my head. "Whatever, it was probably moved."
Something roared loudly.
I turned around just in time to see a massive, furry body diving toward me.
The rougarou's mouth was wide open. He wanted something to eat.
I sensed another kind of magic nearby. I didn't know what it was. I didn't have enough left in my medallion.
I don't usually like using magic I don't recognize. But I didn't have much choice.
I inhaled. Whatever it was burned my lungs. The sensation grew.
I screamed even as the rougarou collided with my body.
I crashed into the swamp, the weight of the wolf's body pushing me beneath the water.
If I still had some of that magic in my medallion, I could have become a mermaid again. At least then I could breathe.
The magic I inhaled was spreading through my body. It felt like whatever it was might melt my insides. It burned me from within.
I had to release it. Whatever it was.
I jabbed my wand into the werewolf's side and unleashed the magic into its gut.
A torrent of fire consumed the wolf as it rolled off of me and into the water. As the flames hit the water, a massive cloud of steam erupted all around its body.
Then An alligator jumped out of the water and bit the wolf's arm.
I quickly scurried back onto the hill, thankful that the gator saw the wolf before it spotted me.
I would have been easier prey.
With a twist of its body, the wolf threw the alligator a good twenty feet through the air.
The gator struck a tree and plopped back into the water.
Tahlia was hopping around the graveyard on her tail when two more rougarou appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and charged her position.
"Tahlia! Watch out!"
I tossed her the eel pelt, and she threw it over her body just in time to shrink back into eel form and slither her way into the water.
The two rougarou collided and, after tossing a few paw swipes at each other, turned their attentions back to me.
Whatever that magic was I'd drawn in before... it was nasty...
But it was effective.
And there was a lot of it.
I gripped my wand and started to inhale...
"Wait!" A voice said. I turned around.
There stood a semi-translucent figure. Her hair was pulled back tightly, and she wore a long white dress.
She raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
The two rougarou whimpered, turned around, and sauntered into the darkness.
"Julie Brown?" I asked.
"What do you think you're doing?" Julie asked. "Siphoning infernal power from the flambeaux?"
I grimaced. I didn't know what in the hell infernal power was... but I'm pretty sure "in the hell" was a proper classification. It didn't feel natural. Not like the life-giving magic I was more accustomed to wielding.
"I didn't realize... it was the only thing I could do... these werewolves..."
Julie folded her hands in front of her body and looked at me curiously. "You look different, La Sirene."
I rolled my eyes. I knew she'd met some future version of me at some point, but I didn't expect her to call me by the same title that Nammu had used. Still, I wasn't here to satisfy a dead caplata's curiosities. "Someone came here recently," I said. "They were looking for the secret to open the void."
Julie smiled slightly. "This might have happened, yes."
"Who was it?" I asked.
"You seriously don't know?" Julie asked.
I shook my head. "I wouldn't be here, taking on rougarou like some moron, just so I could talk to you if I knew who it was."
"I told him he was a fool," Julie said. "But if I didn't tell him how to do it properly... it could have been much worse."
"He's released the wyrms," I said.
Julie narrowed her eyes. "Wait, the you I met before... you're not that you yet, are you?"
I shrugged. "That's a lot of yous. I didn't follow your question. And it doesn't matter."
"You just answered my question, right after telling me you didn't follow," Julie said, her hands on her hips.
"I was being sarcastic," I said. "I'm not here to discuss my future. I just need to know who opened the void."
"Is she here?" Tahlia asked.
I turned. Tahlia had shifted back into mermaid form, apparently feeling safer now that the rougarou left.
I nodded. "She is."
"Good," Tahlia said. "Because I was afraid you'd gone batty and were talking to yourself."
Julie cleared her throat—not sure why because she was just an apparition. Her throat was just an illusion, so she didn't technically need to clear it. Unless she was trying to make some kind of point.
"Yes," I said. "My apologies."
"Never mind it," Julie said. "One second."
I nodded. Julie turned around, knelt down, and pressed her hand into the mud. Red magic formed around the ground beneath her touch. Then it coursed through her body.
Julie inhaled deeply, then exhaled.
"Holy crap!" Tahlia exclaimed. "Is that her?"
"You can see her now?" I asked.
Tahlia nodded, her jaw dropped all the way.
Julie smiled wide. She was pretty for a dead woman. Probably quite the looker back in her day. Even if she was an evil Voodoo priestess who, apparently, came close to ending the world more than a century ago.
"I can tell you who it was that evoked me to learn my spell, the one who came that he might open the void. But I must warn you, you should be careful how you respond to this information. For he is but a pawn, manipulated by other bokors whose plans are infinitely greater and more abominable than his."
I nodded. "Very well. I'll follow the trail of clues wherever it leads me. For now, I just need to know who called the wyrm from the void."
Julie laughed. "He didn't call them, dear. He entered the void himself."
I cocked my head. "Someone can do that?"
Julie tilted her head. "It is ill-advised. But someone with strong magic, a magic that maintains their existence in the realm of nonexistence... it is possible."
"And what did he do there?" I asked.
"He took one of the wyrms. A child that he could raise it loyal to him."
"How do you know this?" I asked. "Did he tell you his plans?"
"I insisted," Julie said. "I might have been allied with the bokors during my life. I was a caplata, and, in a way, I am still. But I never wanted to see the world consumed... what these bokors seek... it's more than power. They want to destroy the world to remake it as their own."
"Why would anyone want to do that?" I asked.
"bokors are addicted to power. The taste of magic, the power that can be wielded when a Loa's aspect is arrested and manipulated... It is one thing to seek to rule the world. But if you accomplish that, all you manage to do is rule according to the terms of the world as it is. But if you can design the world the way you
like, if you make the rules, and those rules cater to your power..."
"Insanity!" Tahlia said. "Wouldn't that basically kill everyone in this world?"
"Yes and no," Julie said. "Can you die if you do not exist? It would be less a death and more a disappearance. The souls of this world would simply dissolve into the void."
"And the one who came hoping to enter the void... he kidnapped a baby wyrm, why?"
"Because only the wyrm can fend off the voidbringer. They are the guardians of both worlds, the ones who stand between the void and all of existence. Your king intended to raise one as his own, one loyal to him, that after having complied with the bokors demands, he might still have recourse to stop them."
"Wait... you said, my king?" I asked.
"It was King Conand who opened the void," Julie said. "Only by claiming the child, the rest of the wyrm pursued him. Without even realizing it, he brought them all to this world and left the gate to the void open."
"And these bokors... he basically played right into their plan."
Julie nodded. "Even as I almost did when out of a desire for vengeance, I opened the void to punish my village... a village that had scorned me, hated me, and mocked me for what I was."
"For being a caplata?" I asked.
Julie shook her head. "More for being a negro and daring to think herself independent and strong."
I bit my lip. "My god. I'm sorry that happened to you."
Julie shrugged. "I've had more than a lifetime since, wandering this swamp and guarding an infernal relic, to grow up. I no longer hate them. I pity them for their ignorance. After all, most of them know the infernal power in a way... more intimate... than I ever hope to even as the guardian of such an object."
"You're saying they're in hell?" I asked.
Julie grinned, flashing her ghastly smile. "I should think so. At least the notion gives me a bit of solace in an otherwise unpleasant way to spend one's afterlife. It's rather comforting to imagine that, while this is far from heaven, it's certainly better than the eternity they've earned for themselves."
"I don't understand," Tahlia said. "What could these bokors have on King Conand that he would comply with their request? And why did they need him to do it?"
Gates of Eden: Starter Library Page 39
