Possessed (26 page)

“
I have to go. If you see
Lucus can you please tell him to come find me?”

“
They should be back
shortly. Lucus figured you needed some alone time with
Sabrina.”

I turned my back on him and opened the
door. I wasn’t looking forward to explaining this whole mess to
Lucus. For a second I dreamed of us being in a simpler situation.
Lucus would walk into Lola’s. I would take his order and scowl at
him. Of course he would be captivated by my blatant rudeness and
smile at me. I’d bring him the wrong order on purpose and scowl
some more and like a cliché romance novel he’d fall utterly and
irrevocably in love with me. For some added drama he’d have a
really annoying but superhot girlfriend. It would be so normal and
teenager-ish. But then it probably wouldn’t be as amazing. Nothing
worth fighting for is ever easy.

Chapter 41

Where the Wild Roses
Grow

I ran into the main bathroom and
managed to wash some of the slime off my face. I couldn’t face Ivan
looking like a monster and expect him to take me seriously. I took
a deep breath and glanced at myself in the large mirror. For a
moment fear crippled me and I couldn’t help but parallel my life
with of Marie. Was I going to follow in her footsteps? Had the
world really changed? I told myself to snap out of it. How was I
going to convince Ivan that he had to let go of his anger if I was
still partially addicted to my own?

I made my way into the kitchen where
blood-covered chefs were already preparing dinner. To calm my
nerves I took a few deep breaths and inhaled the sweet and clean
scent of vine ripened cherry tomatoes and basil before it had a
chance to turn metallic. I couldn’t see Ivan anywhere so I decided
to check my little garden.

The sound of a guitar greeted me and
for a minute I listened to Ivan play and mournfully sing as the
afternoon sun bounced off his golden hair red and flowers danced
around him:

mmm, around my
door

all around my
door

You sprinkled hot foot
powder

all around your daddy's
door, hmm hmm hmm

It keep me with ramblin'
mind, rider

every old place I
go

every old place I
go

I lightly tapped his shoulder. “Ivan.”
He didn’t respond. “Ivan.”

He glanced up finally. “Good afternoon,
queen. What the hell happened to you?”

“
I need to talk to
you.”

He stopped playing. “We don’t have
anything to say to one another.”

“
Yeah we do. It’s about your
mom.”

He froze as if taken aback by what I
had said. His eyes were furious as they met mine. “What the hell do
you know about my mom? If you’re here to make another plea on
behalf of Ken, spare your breath. I don’t want to hear it. Haven’t
you had enough abuse? Why are you so incredibly
stubborn?”

I clenched my fists and reminded myself
that Sabrina was in danger and hoped that the honey jar would kick
in sometime soon. “Just listen to me.”

“
Go away.”

I closed my eyes and bent over to
inhale the sad scent of my flowers. I thought of something,
anything that would help me get through to him. Then, I remembered
Marie’s rose garden and how it had been her sanctuary and her place
of hope.

I jumped up, grabbed Ivan’s hand and
pulled him up from the ground. He resisted but for the first time
in my life I felt stronger than him. Call it adrenaline or maybe
Erzulie had chosen to help me- whatever it was, I was determined. I
dragged him out of the kitchen, out of the front porch and to the
rose garden.

“
Queen, let go of me.” He
tried to shake himself free, but I was too strong for
him.

The roses bellowed mystically in the
afternoon breeze and instead of being covered in blood, they were
exactly as Marie saw them. They were yellow, pink and white.
Eternally hopeful, joyful and determined that tomorrow would bring
a better day. I stood on my toes and drew Ivan close to me; I
inhaled his John the Conqueror root and cigarette infused skin, and
whispered in his ear:

Hush-a-bye, don't you
cry,

Go to sleepy little
baby.

When you wake, you shall
have,

All the pretty little
ponies.

Blacks and bays, dapples
and greys,

Then I simply held him and tried to
transfer everything Marie had shown me. His eyes closed and his
lips quivered.

“
Do you see? Your mom never
left you. She loved you more than anything and she loved your dad
more than anything. He was the only one who saw her for who she
truly was. He planted this garden for her. It’s not built with
blood, it’s built with love. She never did this to you or to Lucus.
He’s your brother. She never wanted you to live in a world full of
meaningless boxes. She wanted you to live in a world that was free
and full of possibilities. Please help me free her and give her
peace. Help me save Sabrina. I won’t leave you alone in darkness,
Louis. I promise I’ll always be here fighting by your side. Tell me
where you placed the trick, let me tell Lucus about you and I’ll
take you to your mom to say good-bye. The good-bye you never got to
say. Let me help you.”

Ivan rested his head on my shoulder and
let out a weary sigh. I ran my fingers through his hair and held my
breath. His eyes remained closed for a minutes and I could feel his
energy. It was exhausted and defeated. When his eyes opened, they
were misty but he refused to shed a tear. Not one drop. I waited
for his answer. “Why are you so stubborn and annoying?” he
asked.

That wasn’t the big dramatic response I
was expecting. “I don’t know. I wish I did, but I don’t. It’s a
mystery.”

“
Ironic, isn’t it? I’m
nothing but a worthless bastard living under the prince’s rule.
Nothing but worthless and disposable.”

“
I don’t see you that way at
all. You can be a major ass, but you’re not worthless.”

“
Why are we in this mess,
Arelia? Why can’t anything in this pathetic world be
fair?”

I wanted to give him a great
inspirational message but the truth was I had no idea. What do you
say to someone who has it worse off than you?

“
I don’t know. I don’t know.
The only thing I do know is that we can’t give up hoping that maybe
just maybe one day things will be fair. The only thing we can do is
keep carrying on and fighting for what’s right.”

“
I hate him. I’ll never stop
hating him and you can’t change that.”

“
No. I can’t change that. No
one can, but your mom would like you to try. Sabrina doesn’t have
much time. Help me, please.”

“
Your flowers. The stupid
flowers you’re always staring at and obsessing over.”

“
Huh?”

“
The trick is buried in the
chrysanthemum garden outside the kitchen.”

I let out a huge sigh of relief and was
a little taken aback. Out of all the places a trick could be
placed, he chose to bury in it my flower garden? That was a little,
well, sweet, in a twisted way.

“
Can you help me find and
destroy it, please? Sabrina doesn’t have much time and your mom… We
need to go find Lucus.”

He nodded. “This doesn’t change
anything between him and I. I’ll help you save Barbie and say hi to
Ken for my mom’s sake but I will never, ever think of him as my
brother. I will despise him until the end of time,” he said, as he
walked out of the rose garden.

Of course you will, because if you
didn’t it would make my life so much easier.

I followed him and we ran inside the
house and into the kitchen. When we got to the little garden, he
got down on his knees and started to dig.

“
Here,” he said, as he
handed me a clear bottle.

“
When did collect all of
this stuff?” I asked, as I looked inside the bottle. It contained a
piece of the ball gown I wore at the Darkwood Welcome Ball, a piece
of the silk kimono I wore a few weeks ago, strands of my hair, a
piece of used chewing gum, roots, herbs, a very realistic Arelia
voodoo doll complete with a miniature Darkwood uniform and scowl,
and bits of fingernails from when I painted my nails
black.

Marrassa’s words suddenly made sense
and they sent shivers up my spine: It’s so easy because most people
never pay attention. They aren’t aware of what they eat, what they
drink, how they sleep, where they walk. Most people are zombies
that repeat the same actions day in and day out without ever really
understanding what they’re doing or why they’re doing it. People
never seem to see a deeper meaning behind things and never look
beyond the surface. It makes everything so much easier. It makes
possession so easy.

I needed to start paying more attention
to what was going on around me. I shuddered at the thought of how
many strands of hair I shed and how many times I bit my nails and
randomly left pieces on the floor.

He shrugged and his grey eyes gleamed.
“You’ll never know.”

Those were not were comforting
words.

“
How can we get rid of
this?” I asked.

“
Haven’t you learned
anything? Of course not. Running water. We have to dispose of it in
the river.”

If this was Ivan’s soul on honey, I was
screwed. “Let’s go,” I said, as I ran out

of the garden and towards Darkwood
River.

Chapter 42

Hello Brother

The afternoon sun basked the guests in
an animated light as they carelessly splashed around in Darkwood
River. Sadly, they were still covered in blood, which made the
whole scene a little grotesque. Lucus sat at the river’s edge with
his head buried in a book. His dark hair glistened and there was a
small frown on his lips as he read. All of a sudden I became really
conscious of the fact I was covered in swamp slime.

“
Arelia.” He got up and his
face immediately brightened when he saw me.

I gave him a small wave but followed
Ivan into the river. I wanted to watch him get rid of the trick.
Would I ever really trust him? Probably not.

“
This is how it’s done,
queen,” Ivan said, as grabbed my hand and pulled me into the river.
He placed his hands over my head and thrust me into the warm water.
I heard him recite a chant and heard a splash as the bottle landed
in the river. When he released me, I gasped for air. I should have
been furious that he hadn’t given me a warning but I was elated.
The world was new. The guests weren’t covered in blood and neither
was Lucus. I felt free again. His voice disappeared from inside my
head and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

I turned to face Ivan and thought back
to what he had done at the St. Charles hotel and although I
probably should have gotten over it by now, I hadn’t. It still made
me sick to my stomach and at that second, Ivan’s smug face
infuriated me. “This is for trying to sell me into slavery,” I
said, as I slapped him across the right cheek. “This is for
whipping me,” I said, as I slapped him across the left cheek. “And
this is for trying to strangle me with snakes,” I said, as I
slapped his right cheek again. “This is for making me see blood
everywhere,” I said, as I slapped his left cheek. “Don’t you ever
dare try pulling that shit again. I have friends on the other side
too.”

He ran his fingers through his
disheveled hair and grinned. “You’re so cute when you’re
angry.”

“
Arelia.” I heard Lucus call
my name.

I ran to him, gave him a huge hug and
sniffed him. I thought about Marie and how Jacques had been taken
away from her in an instant. I didn’t want Lucus to disappear
before I had a chance to tell him how I felt. Even though I tried
to push the feeling aside, deep inside me, something told me that
he was going to get taken from me. I gathered my courage and
ignored the fact that I smelt like a dead animal and was soaking
wet. “I love you,” I whispered.

There was a short silence and Lucus
squeezed me tighter and I savored the feel of his sweaty
sun-infused skin. He tucked the wet strands of hair that clung to
my cheeks behind my ears and looked deep into my eyes. “I love you
too, Arelia,” he said, as he brought his lips to mine and gave me a
kiss so forceful that it left me weak.

It felt so good finally saying those
words and as much as I wanted to hang out by the river and forget
about everything else, Sabrina needed me.

I looked up at him. “I have something
important to tell you. I don’t know how you’re going to feel about
it.”

“
Whatever it is we’ll take
it on together.”

“
Do you remember when you
said that there were rumors that your dad may have had some
affairs? Well…”

I felt Ivan behind me and turned around
to face him and then looked at Lucus again. There was no easy way
to say it, so I took the ‘ripping a Band-Aid off’
approach.

“
Lucus, say hello to Louis,
bound in flesh and bone. Say hello to your brother.”