by Vera Strange
“He killed my grandmother?” Jamal said with a start.
Grandma DeSeroux set her lips in a line. “My child, I’m afraid it looks that way.”
“But if the necklace is supposed to protect me,” Jamal said, thinking it over, “and she left it to me to protect me from him, then why could he curse my brother?”
“Dr. Facilier can’t curse you directly,” she explained, “and he can’t take the necklace unless you give it to him, because of the protection spells placed on it. But because you gave him something of great value to your brother, it rendered him vulnerable to the shadow curse.”
“Ugh, I’m so stupid,” Jamal said, his head falling into his hands. Remorse washed through him. “I have to fix this. I’m going to give him the necklace so he’ll reverse the curse.”
“My child, then Dr. Facilier will grow even more powerful,” Grandma DeSeroux said with a worried frown. “Eventually he might get more of the necklaces from the remnants of my order. Then there will be nothing and no one to stop him.”
“But I have to save my brother and reverse the curse.” Jamal jumped to his feet and paced around her hut. “You said yourself that he’s already fading. If I don’t at least try to make a deal with the shadow man, then my brother will disappear forever. I can’t let that happen.”
Grandma DeSeroux looked deeply troubled. “It is a terrible choice indeed,” she muttered. “But that’s how the shadow man works.”
“Isn’t there something you can do?” Jamal said, looking at her in desperation.
He was used to living in a world where adults held all the power and could always help him. He had expected that Riley’s grandmother would save them from the shadow man. But what if the adults didn’t have the ability to save them? What if it was up to him this time?
“My child, you have to make a choice,” Grandma DeSeroux said. “I wish I could help, but it’s up to you to decide now. It’s either Malik…or the entire city of New Orleans.”
“But how do I make that choice?” Jamal asked. “Either way, somebody loses.”
“I’m so sorry, my child. I wouldn’t wish that sort of terrible choice on anyone. But I know you’ll do the right thing—” she started before the door to the hut blew open.
She whipped her head around. Jamal followed her gaze: the dolls crowded into the doorway. Their button eyes fixed on Jamal hungrily. They wanted the necklace.
“W-what…they broke my protection spells?” Grandma DeSeroux stammered, clutching her staff and raising it. “Child, the shadow man’s power has grown stronger.”
The dolls’ eyes fixed ravenously on the skull necklace.
Jamal felt a jolt of fear and tucked the necklace away into his shirt. He couldn’t let them get it. The necklace was his only bargaining chip to use with Dr. Facilier to save his brother.
The dolls swarmed through the doorway, scrambling across the floor toward Jamal.
“Riley, get your staff!” Grandma DeSeroux yelled, lighting up her own.
Riley grabbed a smaller staff, raising it to fight against the dolls. She reached into her pocket, producing a handful of gold dust. She joined her grandmother.
“Wait, you have good magic, too?” Jamal said in shock, staring at Riley.
“Grandma’s been training me,” she said, “ever since we moved back…. It runs in my family’s blood.”
Riley blew the dust at the dolls. It swirled around them, but then it faded and the dolls regrouped and lurched toward Jamal. One doll grabbed his foot, while another reached for his arm, and another leapt off the sofa toward his neck.
“Protect the necklace!” Grandma DeSeroux yelled, blowing more dust at them. “Riley and I will hold them off—but you have to run. Take your brother. They’re too strong. We can’t hold them back forever.”
* * *
“Malik, hurry,” Jamal yelled as he fled from the hut with his shadow brother trailing right behind him.
He glanced back, hearing sounds of struggle coming from behind them. Unnatural explosions of reddish light and silver and gold dust swirled around the hut as Riley and her grandmother fought back against the dolls. Jamal hoped they would be okay, but he didn’t have time to worry.
Run.
Grandma DeSeroux’s cries echoed through his head, spurring him to run faster. He staggered into the dark bayou, plunging into murky water that sloshed over his shoes. A warm wind whipped through the cypress trees while thunder rumbled and lightning crackled.
“The hurricane…” Malik warned in his ear. “I think it’s making landfall tonight…. I heard it on the news.”
Jamal remembered his parents watching the local news and tracking the new storm. It had recently intensified over the Gulf of Mexico. It was now threatening their city.
More lightning bolts exploded overhead, followed by a sharp crackle of thunder. The bayou lit up for one brilliant second, then fell into thick darkness again.
Hurricanes were a normal part of life in their gulf city. But as Jamal looked up at the sky, he realized that something seemed different about this storm. Unnatural, even.
“The shadow man,” Malik rasped, as if reading his mind. “I can’t explain it…but since he cursed me…it’s like I can feel his magic.”
“Are you saying this hurricane is his doing?” Jamal said, his stomach clenching. He ran blindly, water sloshing up to his ankles now.
“Not his doing, exactly,” Malik gasped out right behind him. His voice sounded even weaker. “But it’s like…he made it worse somehow. I can’t explain it.”
That made Jamal more afraid. He thought about the deal he was considering making with Dr. Facilier—trading the skull necklace for his brother’s life. But if what Riley’s grandmother said was true, then the necklace would make the shadow man even stronger.
Could he take that risk?
More lightning pulsed overhead, accompanied by a deafening clap of thunder. Meanwhile, the wind was growing stronger, rattling the cypress branches draped with moss. Each time the bayou lit up, the shadows twisted around them, reaching out their clawed hands.
Jamal dodged the shadow monsters, running faster. Then the skull necklace lit up, glowing with reddish light. “Oh, no, he’s coming,” he hissed, trying to run even faster.
He burst into a clearing when, suddenly, red light exploded over the bayou.
It wasn’t lightning this time—it was something else.
A long reedy shadow stretched over the clearing, extending toward them like a curse. The skeletal figure had almost impossibly slender arms and legs, and a top hat perched on his head.
The shadow clutched a staff. The crystal on it glowed with red light.
It was Dr. Facilier.
Then the shadow man himself stepped into the clearing, behind his shadow. He clutched his staff, with the crystal glowing dark red. He grinned, his teeth resembling an alligator’s.
He stood taller than before. He tipped his top hat toward Jamal.
“Enchanté, little man,” he said in a smooth voice. “A tip of the hat.”
Then, suddenly, Dr. Facilier’s shadow came to life, uncoupling from him and acting of its own accord.
It flowed across the clearing and pounced on Malik, startling him with clawed fingers. Malik tried to fight back, but he was too weak.
Jamal lurched toward the two shadows to help his brother, but his hands passed through them harmlessly. He couldn’t touch them.
“No, leave him alone!” Jamal, feeling helpless, yelled at Dr. Facilier.
The shadow man chuckled, his voice echoing through the bayou and raising all the hair on Jamal’s body.
“There’s only one way to make it stop,” the shadow man said. “Don’t waste my time any longer. The necklace—hand it over now. Or say goodbye to your precious brother forever.”
“The necklace—in exchange for your brother’s life,” Dr. Facilier demanded, reaching his hand toward Jamal. “No negotiations this time, little man. My offer is final.”
L
ightning flashed in the sky and thunder crackled. Thick droplets of rain started to pelt them. Meanwhile, Dr. Facilier’s shadow twisted Malik’s neck, strangling him. Jamal’s brother was fading even more.
“Little J…help me,” Malik rasped weakly.
“Let him go!” Jamal yelled.
He pulled the skull necklace out. The eye sockets glowed with light, warning him not to do it. Grandma DeSeroux’s voice echoed in his head: Then there will be nothing and no one to stop him.
But Jamal pushed her voice away. I have to do this, he thought in desperation. I have to save my brother.
He unclasped the thick chain from his neck. Then he reached out to give Dr. Facilier the skull necklace.
“Don’t do it, Jamal!”
Riley burst into the clearing, clutching her staff. “You can’t trust him. My grandma told me. He’ll just trick you again.”
She blew her dust at Dr. Facilier’s shadow.
The shadow contorted in pain—and released Malik! Then Riley ran at Dr. Facilier with her staff raised, but before she could get to him, the dolls burst into the clearing.
They seized Riley, overpowering her this time.
“No, let me go!” she yelled, struggling against the dolls, but there were too many of them. They jumped on her and held her down, restraining her.
“Seize the shadow brother,” Dr. Facilier said, flicking his wrist. His shadow responded by grabbing Malik. It started to devour him.
“Stop!” Jamal yelled. “They’re my friends…my only real friends.”
It was the shadow man’s enchantment that had made Colton and the others at school like him. But Riley had liked him before he made that deal with Dr. Facilier, and his brother had always had his back, protecting him from the bullies. They were his real friends.
He had to save them.
“Little man, don’t waste my time,” Dr. Facilier ordered, peering from under the brim of his top hat. “Your grandmother’s necklace…now.”
Jamal glanced at the dolls. They were latched on to Riley, holding her down. She struggled against them, but they were too strong. Their button eyes followed the necklace hungrily. Jamal moved his hand right, then left. Anywhere he moved the necklace, their eyes followed it.
Suddenly, he had an idea. “Wait, what happens if you don’t get this necklace?” Jamal asked, holding it up over his head. The doll’s eyes followed it. “What if I break it?”
Fear flashed over Dr. Facilier’s face. The doll’s eyes darted to him now.
Suddenly, Jamal understood: Dr. Facilier had asked his friends on the other side for help, and they had sent these things to do their bidding, but he had to get the necklace as payment or his “friends”—and the dolls—would turn on him.
“They’ll come after you, won’t they?” Jamal said. “The dolls. You have to get this for your friends—or else!”
“That’s right,” Riley yelled from the ground. “If he doesn’t provide the necklace, he’s doomed. They’ll take his soul.”
Jamal raised the necklace to smash it.
Dr. Facilier held up his hands, trying to stop him.
“Little man, don’t act so hastily,” he pleaded. “Let’s talk about this. I’m a wheeling, dealing man. I’m sure we can work something out—”
The dolls released Riley and started toward Dr. Facilier. The dolls surrounded him, staring up at him with their button eyes.
“If they take my soul,” he snarled at Jamal, “then you’ll never get your brother back. I’m the only one who can reverse the shadow curse.”
Jamal flinched. This was the terrible choice he had to make. He remembered what Grandma DeSeroux had said. It was either Malik or the entire city of New Orleans.
“Little J, don’t do it,” Malik rasped in a strangled voice. The shadow monster had almost fully devoured him now. “I’m not worth it. Save our city…. Don’t do it!”
Jamal watched him start to disappear and felt his heart lurch painfully. The truth hit him all at once. He couldn’t stand to live in a world where his brother didn’t exist anymore. They were twins, and Malik was like a part of him.
He lowered his hand.
“Here…take the necklace,” Jamal said in defeat, holding it out.
Dr. Facilier grinned. His hand closed around the thick chain. Smoothly, he fastened it around his neck. The eye sockets lit up with reddish light—and Dr. Facilier’s eyes glowed red, too. He started to grow taller and taller, his form enveloping the bayou.
“Okay, reverse the curse,” Jamal said, turning toward his brother.
But Malik remained a shadow. Suddenly, Jamal felt like something strange was happening to him.
He glanced down at his hands, but they had turned dark and transparent…like a shadow.
“Wait, what’s happening to me?” Jamal screamed, but his voice came out raspy, just like his brother’s voice.
He was now a shadow, too.
An evil chuckle echoed through the bayou. Lightning and thunder tore through the turbulent sky while rain poured down from the hurricane.
“Now you know what it’s like to really lurk in the shadows,” Dr. Facilier said with a tip of his hat. “You should’ve listened to your grandmother. You can’t trust the shadow man.”
“But you promised to bring my brother back,” Jamal rasped, “not to turn me into a shadow, too.”
He felt himself fading even more. Another chuckle rang out.
“Little man, I promised you no such thing,” Dr. Facilier said with an evil grin. He grew even bigger, stretching almost as tall as the trees that surrounded them. “You heard what you chose to hear. And now you’ll pay the price—and so will the city you love.”
The last thing Jamal heard as he faded into a shadow altogether was Dr. Facilier’s evil laugh echoing across the bayou.
“Carter, turn the volume up,” their mother called from the kitchen.
“Sure thing,” Dad said, reaching over from stirring the gumbo, and pumping up the volume.
“Aftermath from Hurricane Donald continues to wreak havoc on our city,” the reporter spoke into the microphone, showing the swirling pattern of the storm that had passed over the city. It had been a direct hit.
The local news carried footage of the recent damage from the hurricane. Flooded streets. Garbage strewn everywhere. Shattered storefronts. Roofs caved in. Fires from lightning strikes that burned around the city.
The power was still out in the French Quarter, and the streets were dark and shadowy. Some of the shadows even seemed to take on monstrous forms, depending on who you asked.
Only one business seemed strangely unaffected—Dr. Facilier’s Voodoo Emporium.
“Is it luck or magic?” the reporter joked with a knowing chuckle.
“Thank god we moved out of the floodplain,” their mother said, watching with a frown. “Otherwise we’d be going through it all over again. Maybe losing another home.”
“Oh, we’re so fortunate,” their father agreed. “With climate change, it’s only going to get worse….”
Dad carried the pot to the table. Mom took a seat and ladled out heaping helpings of gumbo. The table was set for only two people.
There was no sign of Jamal or Malik.
“The mayor is giving a press conference on the storm,” said the reporter, dressed in a yellow rain slicker.
Their parents watched as the image cut away from the streets. On the television, the mayor stepped up to the podium. He had dark skin, a thin mustache, and a smile with a big gap right in the middle. He wore a purple suit and clutched a staff with a crystal on it. On his head perched a top hat with a skull and crossbones. Around his neck hung a skull necklace. The eye sockets glowed deep red. He tipped his hat forward and leaned into the microphone.
“Enchanté, citizens of the great city of New Orleans,” he said in his silky smooth voice. He grinned widely. “Due to the damage from the recent storm, I’ve been forced to seize power and issue a state of emergency. The city is now under martial la
w….”
It was Dr. Facilier.
Outside, neighborhood kids splashed in the water flowing through the streets. In the gutters they sailed homemade boats, some of which vanished into the storm drains.
Dad glanced outside and frowned. “Kiara, I’m so glad we decided not to have kids. Especially with all these hurricanes. It’s a dangerous world we live in.”
He reached over and clasped her hand. She smiled at him.
“Me too,” she replied, squeezing his hand. “I’m so happy with just the two of us.”
“But we’re right here!” Jamal cried from the shadows. “Mom…Dad…we’re your children! Can’t you see us?”
But it was no use. Jamal and Malik were both shadows. Their parents couldn’t see or hear them, no matter how hard they tried to get their attention. They both continued shouting at their parents, but still it made no difference. It was like they didn’t exist.
In the living room, the family pictures showed only their mother and father. There were no pictures of Jamal or Malik. It was as if they had never existed, thanks to the shadow curse.
“How do we get back from the other side?” Jamal asked his brother.
Malik stared back at him. He was still fading, but it had slowed since Jamal had joined him in the shadows. However, both of them would eventually disappear altogether. They could feel it.
Dr. Facilier’s laugh echoed out of the television set, though their parents seemed oblivious to it. Dr. Facilier’s eyes fixed on Jamal’s and Malik’s shadow forms.
“Now you know what it’s like to lurk in the shadows…forever!”
I want to start by thanking Disney Books and my amazing editor, Kieran Viola, for entrusting me with their villains (and yes, for the record, they do have the best ones). It’s a dream come true to write about Disney characters, especially the creepy ones. To quote Dr. Facilier, “dreams made real.” Special thanks to Kieran for being a fabulous editor and always making my writing stronger. Collaborating with you has been simply fantastic. Looking forward to many more books together. Also, as always, thanks to my book agent, Deborah Schneider, who believed in me from the beginning and always looks out for me and the rest of my team.
