"Are you alright?" Magnus walked over to her and draped one of sweatshirts around her.
"I'm fine," she responded with a smile. "I'm perfectly fine, now let's get this séance started," she said and wrapped her arms around him.
"Just think," he said as he kissed her. "This could all be over tonight and we can have a chance to get on with our lives, together." His eyes observed her with hope.
"Together," she repeated the word and gently traced her fingers along his face.
Chapter Fourteen
Sinta and Magnus had rearranged the sitting room, making it look like that of an intimate parlor. A round table was brought in and candlelight illuminated the room, the fire had been lit and the flames flickered and crackled calmly as everyone took their seats. Melanie sat quietly in a corner turning the pages of a book. Ava saw that her eyes averted quite frequently from the pages of the book towards the small group.
After Sinta said a short prayer, she instructed them to hold hands and under no circumstances should they break the circle.
"You's has to wait for me to thank 'da spirits fo visitin', then we's can close the circle and welcome in 'da light, everybody clear?"
When they all nodded their heads in agreement, Melanie snickered and looked away as Ava was forced to hold hands with Gavin.
Almost immediately after Sinta asked if anyone was there, the candles that had been placed in the middle of the table began flickering. A cold wind whipped through the room, it scrapped at her skin in such a way that it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Magnus gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and she reluctantly lifted one eyelid. She could see Sinta's head rolled back and she was murmuring something, it sounded like chanting.
Both Magnus and Gavin had their eyes closed and soon Ava followed suit. Sinta's chanting began to grow louder and was soon echoing throughout the room, until she stopped and a voice that was not her own came through.
"Celeste?" The male voice questioned. Now they all kept their hands interlocked but their eyes were open as they sat staring at Sinta, mesmerized by what was happening.
All eyes were soon on Ava, including Sinta's who looked at her as if she'd never seen the young woman before.
Melanie, who had remained silent during the ordeal felt a strange presence nearby, and was about to speak when Gavin turned to her and whispered, "Mel, shut up." He could sense it to, but this presence was a malevolent one.
The séance that was going on at the table meant nothing to Melanie as she sat in a trance listening to a female voice whispering in her ear. The voice was saying unspeakable things about Ava. It was telling her that Ava was plotting to take Gavin away from her and that she needed to be stopped. "Go on, I'm listening," Melanie murmured as she stared blankly ahead.
"Celeste I have been looking for you," the voice of Will said. He was coming through Sinta and he was coming through strong. Ava couldn’t take her eyes off of Sinta and thought about what to say. It was obvious to both she and Magnus that Celeste had not come through her but it didn’t matter to Will because he was there and in his mind, so was Celeste.
"Tell him how much you love him," Magnus whispered.
"I love you Will. I've never stopped loving you," she said with sincerity.
"Then why did you leave me Celeste? Why did you go?"
The scent of Gardenias filled the room and even Gavin took notice of the strong scent.
"I was forced to go Will, something bad happened to me and I need your help. I need your help in getting rid of the horrible man that hurt me."
"Celeste, come away with me now, we can run away and head north to Canada. You can be free Celeste, now that I've found you I won't let you go."
Ava sat quietly for a moment before speaking. "I was murdered Will and until my death is avenged, I cannot leave."
The expression on Sinta's face had turned very grave.
"Celeste, who has done you such harm, I demand that you tell me," Will's voice commanded.
"Will, it was…"
With the lightning came the wind, and it took all the light from the room leaving everything pitch black. Even the fire that was flickering brightly only moments before had been completely extinguished. Ava wanted to scream out but she held onto Magnus for support.
"No one break da circle," Sinta was back and she was speaking in her own voice.
"We must thank Will for comin', then afta 'dat we can break the circle."
She was all seriousness now and no one sitting at the table doubted her words.
After thanking the spirit for making an appearance, Sinta said a short cleansing prayer before releasing her hold on Magnus and Gavin's hands. Gavin reluctantly unclenched his hand from Ava's. The room was still cloaked in darkness and it was eerily silent.
"Mel, you okay?" Gavin spoke out to her. He was comforted by the sound of his own voice, at that moment, they all were. "Mel?" He spoke out again. When he didn’t hear a reply he began feeling his way towards the other side of the room.
"Gavin wait, let me turn on the light," Magnus said to him. He'd tried turning on a nearby lamp. "The fuse must be blown," he told them. "Let me light the candles again, who's got the matches?"
Soon, they were all feeling around the table for the book of matches that Sinta had placed there earlier. "She's not here," Gavin said. He'd managed to find his way in the darkness but it was to no avail, because Melanie was gone.
"Where the hell did she go?" He spoke into the darkness. "Did anyone see her leave?"
"Found them." The sound of Magnus lighting the matchstick made them all jump in their seats.
Sinta was the first to see them, the two figures standing in the open doorway illuminated by the lighting. They sat frozen as the dark figures encircled the round table, Melanie was among the two. Gavin meekly called out to her but she didn’t respond, her face was contorted in such a way that it scared him. Her bright blue eyes had turned coal black and her skin looked sunken and had a gray appearance to it. He squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment thinking he was seeing things, but when he opened them she was standing directly in front of him and was now staring down at him. Frightened, he inclined back.
The other figure never moved from the table, it stood like a statue watching Ava and Magnus. Magnus kept a firm grip on Ava's hand and as the figure leaned in between the two, they both gasped in terror. A penetrating coldness surrounded the figure and from the corner of his eye, Magnus saw that it was a man. Ava was already well aware of whom it was and as he leaned down even further, she could feel his breath on her and it made her skin crawl. Gavin was being held in a trance like state by Melanie while Ava, Magnus, and Sinta sat unmoving in terror.
They all couldn’t help but notice the strong resemblance Magnus held to his descendant and neither could he as they stared at one another. "Magnus," Ava whispered through bated breath. She was shaking now and was terrified. Through cruel and violently possessed eyes, the figure summoned Melanie and her feet barely touched the ground as her body willed itself over to the figure of John DuPonte and just as violently as her counterpart had done earlier outside in the bayou, launched a verbal and physical assault onto Ava.
"You know what you are?" Melanie said. Her voice had changed; she now had a southern drawl. "You're nothing but a nigga whore who tried to seduce my son and because of your foolishness, my boy killed himself," she shouted and using inhuman strength knocked Ava out of her seat sending her onto the floor. Magnus was held back by the heavy hands of his descendant. "Ava!" He shouted and sat helpless as the wrath of Amelia Montieu continued. "My boy is stuck here and it's all because of you. You couldn’t have him then and I won't let you have him now! I should have buried you myself and I will right after I let John have his way with you." While Melanie knelt down next to Ava, Sinta continued asking the spirits to intervene, without their help she would not be able to drive the evil doers away; they were too strong.
Melanie had lowered her voice to a whisper, but the southern drawl of
Amelia still came through. "You know Celeste; I always wondered what it was about you that made Mr. DuPonte so fond of you, and I finally figured it out. He is a creature of habit and deep down, all men are dogs aren’t they? And what do dogs just love to do Celeste? Why they love digging through the trash, garbage, and waste and that's exactly what you are, you're nothing but a pile of garbage. And I'll be damned if you think you are going to get your hands on my son, you no good nigga."
The spirits had heard Sinta's plea and all at once the lights came back on, the fireplace was lit again and the room had returned to normal. The only signs that anything had gone wrong were the marks on Ava's face and Melanie lying next to her unconscious on the floor. Finally able to move after being restrained by his evil descendant, Magnus quickly made his way over to Ava and held her in his arms.
Gavin who was still in shock sunk down into the arm chair that sat in the corner. The only one concerned about Melanie was Sinta. She knelt down and felt for a pulse.
"She be okay in a minute o' two Miss Ava, she just need to catch her breath. You alright Miss Ava? Miss Amelia mean business don’t she? But don’t you worry none, once we reunite Will and Celeste, both she and Mister John be banished forever from 'dis world."
Ava rubbed the side of her face and looked angrily at Melanie before turning back to face Sinta. "I think we need to read some more of those diaries Sinta. And how come Will didn’t reappear? I mean surely he knows that his mother is here right?" Ava questioned her.
"Now not necessarily Miss Ava, seem to me that Mister Will done crossed over but keep coming back for Celeste and when he can't find her, he go back, he what we call repi…"
"Repetitious?" Magnus asked.
"Yes," said Sinta. "Repetitious, thank you Mister Magnus. He relive a lot a things and he won't stay crossed over 'til he have his Celeste. Now you understand how strong they love was Miss Ava? Mister Magnus?"
"Yes," they both nodded.
Sinta went on to warn Ava about reading the diary of Amelia Montieu alone. "An Miss Ava, you's got to stop readin' Miss Amelia diary by yoself, 'er time you's read it alone makes her stronger. Hatred Miss Ava is a very powerful thing and you's gots to understand 'dat. It like you bringin' her backs to life Miss Ava. And if you do 'dat, she aint never gon' go away," she warned her.
"What the hell happened?" Melanie had awoken and although she had a pounding headache, she remembered nothing. After Gavin and Magnus filled her in, she only looked at Ava and without so much as an apology turned and went into the bedroom.
"I'm sorry about that," Gavin sounded regretful. "And I am sure she is too, she's just tired," he said to Ava.
"Gavin, there is no need to make excuses for her," Ava was sitting on the sofa now. Her own head was throbbing and she needed a drink. Magnus gently massaged Ava's shoulders.
"I want the both of you out of here tomorrow, even if I have to hire someone to come and get you," Magnus spoke with such indignation that it made Gavin cower down and head to his room without saying another word.
"Come on, let's get you to bed," he said and led her up the stairs. "Sinta, you're more than welcome to stay in any room in the house and thank you for everything," he smiled warmly at the old woman before turning his attention back to Ava.
When they made it to her room, Magnus told her that he'd be right back.
Ava sat down on the bed and wrapped her arms around herself. The evenings activities had been exhausting, not to mention crazy.
Between Gavin and Melanie showing up and the séance and talking to Will Jr. she was physically and emotionally drained and to make matters worse, it looked like she was going to have to sleep alone. A soft knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts. "It's just me," Magnus grinned as he stood in the doorway, he was dressed in nothing but pajama bottoms and he looked incredibly sexy.
When Ava frowned, he stepped further into the room. "Ava, I know what you're thinking and no I don’t expect to make love tonight, I'm exhausted and I know that you are as well, I just want to sleep next to you." He kneeled down in front of her and took her hands in his. "Ava, after what's happened, I cannot and will not let you out of my sight. I am not going to let anyone or anything hurt you, is that understood?" He asked.
Her body had begun to ache even more and she swore it was in retaliation for denying it the feeling of Magnus's touch.
"Sleeping next to one another sounds like the perfect idea," she told him and got ready for bed.
She brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas quickly. She wanted to delight in the feeling of having him lying next to her before either of them fell asleep. The rain had stopped completely and as the clouds parted, the moon shone brightly through the window. Magnus watched as she made her way over to the bed. She stopped suddenly and grabbed the writing chair that sat in the corner and wedged it under the doorknob.
"There," she said triumphantly.
"Ava, what did you do that for? I'm right here," Magnus couldn’t help but chuckle.
"I know you are," she said. "But It's just a precaution, if anything human or inhuman tries getting in, the chair falling over will wake us," she said trying to reassure herself.
"Ava, I promise you that I will not let anything bad happen to you," he told her again.
"And I won't let anything bad happen to you either," Ava replied. She loved the feeling of having him next to her.
The moment she lay down next to him, he felt his whole body go warm; he looked at her in a whole new way. He wasn’t used to being told by someone that they wanted to protect him, he knew that Ava meant it though. She wasn’t a woman who was frivolous and full of fantastical lies, Ava was a woman who he could see himself falling in love with. In fact, he thought to himself, I think I already am.
"Come closer," he said and edged her towards him. He slipped a hand around the back of her neck and gently massaged her before leaning in and giving her a long, lengthy kiss. Ava gave a restful sigh and her arms came around his neck. Magnus soon moved from her lips to her neck and whispered, "Good night Ava."
"Good night," she whispered back.
As the sound of the loon birds lulled them to sleep upstairs, the same wasn’t true for Gavin and Melanie downstairs, they had spent most of the night having a heated discussion.
"I just don’t get it Mel; I mean how could you not apologize to her? You smacked her across the face for god's sake; don’t you think you owe her an apology?" Gavin argued.
Melanie sat at the dressing table and was brushing her hair. "Gavin, it wasn’t me who smacked her, it was that Amelia woman and if you ask me she had it coming, now can we please go to bed? The sooner we fall asleep the sooner it'll be morning and I for one cannot wait to get the hell out of here!" She argued back.
"When we get back, things are going to change," he murmured. He was beginning to think that maybe Melanie wasn’t the one for him after all. The more time he'd spent there with Melanie, the more he started to realize just how much he missed Ava.
Melanie fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow but Gavin lie next to her wide awake. It took the séance for him to see that Ava was one hell of a woman. She'd never take me back, he thought to himself as he watched Melanie sleep. This isn’t even a relationship, he thought. What I had with Ava was a relationship and a good one too. But what did I do? I fucked it up, that’s what I did. This here is nothing but a fling. I'm tired of flings, he thought as he punched his pillow before resting his head upon it.
In the darkness of the kitchen, Sinta sat at the table and slowly and methodically recited another cleansing prayer. She wanted to make sure that neither Amelia nor John DuPonte would make any more appearances, at least for the night. Tonight she wanted Ava and Magnus to rest, they had been through so much already and she was hesitant to tell them that they would have to go through a lot more, and soon because summer was fading away. She was afraid that the longer it took to find out the truth, the stronger Amelia and John would become and it was known that the stronger
unearthly spirits became, the harder it would be to send them back through the veil.
A rooster crowed off in the distance waking them up. "Magnus, I know where the family cemetery is," she sat up in bed with a start.
He had barely woken up himself and had to open and close his eyes a couple times before he could see clearly. "God you're beautiful," he said as he stared at her.
"Thank you, but I'm just average," she replied and went on to tell him about the dream she'd had in which Will had taken her for walk around the plantation and shown her where he was buried.
Magnus was sitting up now and propped the pillows behind him. She scooted over to his side of the bed and was cuddled up against him. "We'll get to the cemetery location in a minute, but did I just hear you call yourself average?" He asked her.
"Not in my book," he said and leaned in for a kiss. "You are breathtakingly beautiful Ava."
Suddenly his hands were wrapped around her waist, and he was pulling her against his erection. "You are so beautiful and this feels so good," he moaned.
Ava loved the feeling he gave her, she plunged her fingers into his long hair. What she wouldn’t give to feel his soft hair brushing between her thighs. But now wasn’t the time, and she knew she had to stop it before things got out of control, before her body got out of control.
"Magnus," she moaned. "We've got work to do, another day won't kill us," she smiled as she kissed him and got out of bed. "Maybe it won't kill you but it just might kill me," he said staring down at his erection.
"Magnus," she gasped and her breathing became shallow.
"That was just a joke Ava, but I …"
"He stopped mid-sentence when he saw that she was standing there and pointing at the chair.
"That can't be the same chair that …" He was dumbfounded.
Ava could only nod her head frantically as the two stood astonished and frightened staring at the wooden chair that she had lodged underneath the door knob last night. It now sat upright and was facing the end of the bed.
Echoes in the Bayou Page 13
