VooDoo Follies Read Online Free

My
momma would tell me it’s my karma. My Auntie would tell me it’s the
Loas and Orishas trying to get me to pay attention.
    No matter what it was, I knew I had to figure
things out before Stephen, with his lovely doe brown eyes, could
talk Adrianna out of being put to rest peacefully again. I
remembered I had my cell with me and turned it back on so I could
call my aunt now, before anything else could happen. “I’m calling
my Aunt Perrine, she will know what to do.” I saw the worried
glance that Stephen tossed my way and the indifferent confusion
that I had begun to associate with Adrianna. “My house is just up
this way.” We turned down the road and cut across to the other side
of the street.
    My conversation with Auntie Perrine did not go
as well as I had hoped. I didn’t actually have any more of the
special powder I had to use to raise Adrianna, and apparently I
would need those same ingredients to put her back. If I had done
everything correctly last night I would have had enough juice in
the fresh ingredients to send her back to the ground, dumping the
ashed remains of my ceremonial bowel over her grave to seal
everything back up. The problem was, I didn’t do everything right
and the magic had already grown cold. I basically had to perform
the ceremony again over Adrianna’s empty grave and then perform the
sealing ritual to put her back at rest. This was getting more and
more complicated. I had to make a trip into the city to get the
supplies I would need and I couldn’t risk taking a zombie and a
freaked out teenage boy into a magic shop. They might panic, or
worse, someone might recognize them.
    “Hey, my Auntie Perrine told me what I need to
do, but I have to run into the city for some supplies. I don’t want
too many people to see Adrianna and get freaked out, so is there
somewhere quiet you trust to go for a little while?”
    They both looked over at me, Stephen with his
worried eyes trying to penetrate deep into mine, as if he were
looking for my secrets and Adrianna with an almost vacant look. She
seemed to be loosing her ability to reason and think even faster
than Auntie Perrine told me she would. Soon she would be mindless
and the only person she should accept commands from was
me.
    “The graveyard.”
    It tumbled in a dry, cracked mumble from
Adrianna’s lips, but I heard it. I think Stephen heard it too,
because I saw him stiffen beside her. “The graveyard?” I questioned
her quietly, but she never answered me. The vacant look was back
again.
    “Stephen, I’m going to drop you guys off on
the corner down by the Bohemian Cemetery. Do you think you can keep
an eye on her long enough for me to go to Grandma’s Candle Shop and
get the supplies I need?” At his wide-eyed glance I added, “it
should only take about thirty minutes.”
    “Yeah, okay.” He looked down at his feet as I
opened the door to the little blue Ford Fiesta we were standing
beside. Here, you guys get in.” I waited for the two of them to get
in the car and then I shut the door and went around to get in my
side. My thoughts were racing. I was scared to death to leave the
zombie, Adrianna, alone. I also had no choice. I drove them over to
the Carrol F. Cool Rec. Center and dropped them off. I didn’t want
to just drop them off at the graveyard and have them standing
around too long with people who may ask questions. They were going
to slowly meander their way over there. Meanwhile, I had an occult
shop to go visit.
    ***

Falling to Pieces
     
    “I can’t. The words are all gone.” My mind was
blazing at the speed of light, every time I tried to say something
to Stephen the words were gone before they could come out, replaced
by five more thoughts, all just as fleeting. I wanted to cry
somewhere deep inside for this horrible thing that was happening to
me, but I couldn’t. My body wouldn’t work right. Stephen made
things better. I looked at his face, he tried to smile, but worried
eyes looked back at me.