VooDoo Follies (20 page)

"Put it on speaker phone Sera," Trevor was
saying. I think I listened and did what he asked, because Tina
started talking louder now.

"I moved him... switched with another boy...
Trevor's body is fine... another room." The state my brain was in
left me hearing only small portions of what was being
said.

"Seraphine!" My Auntie Perrine's voice came
through loud and clear and I looked over at her. "Tell me what is
going on, now."

I had to fill my Auntie in on the vampire
situation. To her credit, she took it a lot better than I thought
she would. She also made sure to take care of Tina, when it
appeared I could not. Arrangements were made for Tina to fly here
tomorrow, so that she would at least be with us away from the
Vampire. Auntie also called my mom and warned her. Then, she turned
on me. "Seraphine Rose LaLande, I can not believe you didn't tell
me about this. What were you thinking? Trying to deal with a
vampire on your own. My Gods... you could have been killed. You all
could have been killed."

"We need to do the ceremony before the vampire
figures out what Tina's done."

"No." My auntie argued, "we can not do it
tonight. Joshua won't be here until tomorrow. We need three priests
or priestesses to conduct the ritual."

"We have to, you heard Tina. She switched
Trevor with a boy who's family will be pulling the plug tomorrow.
What happens when they don't figure out the switch occurred? What
happens when they pull the plug on the wrong boy?"

"Seraphine, it is too dangerous."

"Everything happens for a reason. You told me
that. So, what if the reason is to speed things up?"

"And what if the reason is because this wasn't
meant to be?" My Auntie countered. She had a point, but it was one
I didn't want to hear.

"Auntie Perrine, we must do this tonight. I
can feel it in my bones. I will try without you if you don't want
to help, but I would rather do it with you."

"Oh, Seraphine." My Auntie looked absolutely
defeated. "Fine," she agreed. "Get everything together and meet me
at the alter out back."

***

Everything Altered

We were all standing near the alter in my
Auntie's back yard. I made a large protective circle around all of
us and then two smaller circles in front of the alter that
surrounded Stephen and Trevor. Trevor's ghost was the embodiment of
his living being, while Stephen was the soul looking for a host. We
had the three circles set, the supplies were all where they needed
to be, myself and my Auntie Perrine standing on opposite sides of
the alter, the only thing we were missing was the third priest who
should have been at the center of the alter across from the boys to
invoke the rites we would perform here and lend power to the
transference. Instead my Auntie and I would be invoking the rite
together and then praying that we had enough juice between us to
get the job done. Everyone within the larger circle had the sense
to look nervous except Stephen, who simply looked anxious to get
where he wanted to go. His confidence in me, in us, was astounding
and hopefully not unfounded.

"We implore the Loa to hear us, to be with us
tonight under this moon so bright and full of potential," my Auntie
Perrine and I chanted together. We both raised our ceremonial
daggers up, extended both of our arms above our heads, there we
pricked our left fingers with the tip of the blade and slung our
arms forward, spraying the blood that pooled at our fingertips
across the alter. The circle surrounding all of us lit up and began
to glow, a steady, but pale comparison of the moonlight that washed
over all of us.

"We implore the Loa to guide the spirits
tonight, that they might hear their wishes and do what must be
done." Again our arms were raised, the daggers had switched to our
opposite hands and we followed through with the same steps as
before, this time releasing the blood from our right hands across
the alter.

I was hoping that the boys remembered to keep
their thoughts focused at this point in the ceremony because it was
crucial. Stephen was to think of nothing but finding a home inside
Trevor's empty body. He was to think of filling the empty vessel
with himself and becoming the boy who's ghost stood watching him.
For Trevor's part he was to think of relinquishing his body to
Stephen. He was to remember and visualize the freedom he felt as an
Unknown spirit and embrace that feeling. This was how the gods
would know what to do with them. We could not tell the gods
ourselves. My Auntie Perrine and I had a very specific part to
play, scripted down to the very words we could mutter. We were the
magic, the catalyst to get them where they wanted to be. They were
the vessels with the thoughts to take them there.

My auntie and I began circling the alter,
chanting the words that would bring the Loa back into our midst. I
felt them this time when they entered. They were a bit weary,
almost as if they did not want to be here helping their priestesses
do this work. I saw as Auntie Perrine came to the same conclusion,
a moment of panic flashed across her face, which I calmed with a
small smile. I continued chanting and so did she. We walked thrice
around the alter and then to the spirits that stood facing one
another. We both cut our hands simultaneously reaching through the
circles that now engulfed each spirit in a bright white light. "My
blood for your life, my blood for your spirit, my blood for your
travels, and my blood for your freedom." Auntie Perrine reached
through and touched Stephen at the same time that I touched Trevor.
I wanted to be the one to send Stephen on his way, but Auntie
Perrine talked me out of it at the last moment. She said that she
should be the one to push for Stephen to go into the body, because
it would take so much more effort, and that having been a priestess
for many years longer, she was more equipped.

I have never doubted my auntie before, but in
that moment, I knew I should have been the one to send Stephen
through and not her. "My blood to bring you," we both finally said
and then there was large, hot white flash of light, and
nothing.

I started panicking a little, because I was
blinded by the flash of light. My eyes wouldn't adjust and there
were a few tense minutes where I thought I had lost my sight. It
started coming back a little at a time. That's when I felt the
hands wrapping around me, trying to pull me up to my feet. "Whoa,"
I said, "That was intense. I still can't see yet."

"It takes some time to adjust." It was
Trevor's voice I was hearing. He was so close, I could feel the
hands on me still, "Seraphine, open your eyes now." He sounded like
he was right there with me. The excitement inside me began
building. I thought I knew what happened now. None of us ever
suspected that Trevor's body would be transported to us. We had
made arrangements for Stephen to call us from Baltimore if it
worked. Tina had left a disposable phone with Trevor's body when we
asked her to. This was so much better. I wouldn't have to wait to
see him now. Once my sight came all the way back that
was.

"Oh wow, it worked," I said as I tossed my
arms out and jumped forward to hug him. "It worked!"

"Yeah, I think it did, but
Seraphine..."

"No! I don't want to hear anything negative,
it worked and we are going to celebrate, just as soon as I can see
something." I opened my eyes again and strained them a bit, trying
to see the world around me. It all started coming into focus again,
fuzzy at first, and then it began to clear and sharpen. I was
indeed in the arms of Trevor, or at least his body. That
realization made me hug onto him tighter. "I can't believe it
worked."

"Seraphine..." His voice trailed off as a
phone started ringing. I let go and turned around, looking for the
phone. That was when I saw Auntie Perrine on the ground, crying.
She crawled to the phone that had apparently been flung onto the
grass and she picked it up, immediately hitting the speaker
button.

"Oh my God, it worked!" Came Trevor's voice
from the phone. "Seraphine, it worked! I told you it would. You are
amazing. I can't wait to be able to see you, and touch
you."

"Stephen," my Auntie Perrine began to say,
"it's Perrine."

"Perrine? Where's Seraphine?" I stared at my
aunt and watched as she looked from the splotch of grass in front
of her to the fallen lump of a body on the ground beside me. Then I
looked up at Trevor, who was standing beside me, still holding onto
my hand.

"What's going on?" I said as I took another
look around. Stephen was gone, Trevor was holding my hand, my
auntie was talking on the phone to someone who sounded like Trevor,
and my body was laying on the ground beside me.

"Stephen, she's gone."

"What do you mean, she's gone? Did she get
excited and leave already?"

"No, she's gone," my auntie began wailing and
dropped the phone. She crawled over to my body and scooped me up in
her arms. "Oh, my baby girl..."

"NOooo" The guttural scream that came through
the phone was a primal one. Stephen realized what had happened at
just about the same time that it finally sunk in for me.

"No, no, no." I was beyond worried now. "This
can't be happening," I turned to Trevor, "why is this happening?" I
forced his hand off mine when he wouldn't let go and I ran over to
my Auntie Perrine and my own body. I tried to lay down, to put
myself back in, but it wasn't working.

"It won't work, Seraphine." Trevor was coming
towards me, with such a sad look on his face. "I'm so
sorry."

Trevor went over to the cell phone that had
been abandoned on the ground and kicked it towards Perrine. She
looked up for a moment, then back down at the cell phone. Then she
got angry. "What do you want me to do with that?" She was screaming
and uncontrollable, a side of my aunt that I had never seen before.
"My Seraphine is gone now, so the two of you could have what you
wanted and you would ask more of me?" Auntie Perrine picked up the
cell phone, and shut it, effectively hanging up on Stephen if he
was even still there, and then she threw it in the direction it had
been kicked from. It probably would have gone right through Trevor,
but he made it bounce off of him instead.

"Why are you tormenting my Aunt?" I
asked.

"I'm not doing it torment her, Seraphine. We
need to make sure Stephen gets out of the hospital."

"Why? He's safe now, they can't pull the plug
if he's up and making phone calls,now can they?"

"They may not be able to, but have you
forgotten about our good old friend, Vampire Dave?"

"Oh my god, Stephen!" I thought about Dave's
threats that he would make us all pay. "What do we do?"

"We go there now, and make sure he gets
out."

"How are we supposed to do that? He won't be
able to see us."

"What about your mom? She will be."

"First of all, I don't know where my mom and
Roger went to hide. And secondly, how do you think she would take
seeing me pop up to her? Do you think that's the way she will want
to hear about her daughter's death?"

"I'm sorry, Seraphine, I didn't think about
that."

"Apparently not."

"Well, let's go and see if I can get Stephen's
attention by throwing things around the room or
something."

"I don't even know how to do it. How do we get
there?"

"Take my hand Sera, I'll get us
there."

***

A Light in the Dark

Dizziness swept over me as Trevor and I
stopped. I'm not quite sure how to describe our travels, other than
it was like moving super fast through a swamp. Everything felt
thick, almost like it was trying to block our path, but at the same
time we moved from New Orleans to Baltimore in seconds. The minute
the room stopped spinning I looked around and saw the Trevor that
was holding my hand still and the Trevor that was screaming and
crying on the bed in front of us.

"Stephen!" I yelled, as I realized that it
must be him in Trevor's body. He didn't hear me, he didn't look up,
so I got closer and watched as he shivered violently. That got his
attention. He looked up from the bed and right through
me.

"Seraphine?" He croaked out through a hoarse
voice. My heart broke. Everything in me broke. I wanted to go to
him, to hold him, and tell him everything would be okay. I wanted
to bring him comfort, even though I wasn't sure how I felt about my
situation.

I wasn't sure how to let him know I was there.
Trevor was though. He slid the chair beside me a few inches. And
Stephen lost it, "Oh my God, Seraphine! If I had known what would
happen, I would have never let you do this." He buried his face in
his hands and continued mumbling through his tears, "How could I
have done this? How could I have been so selfish?"

"No!" I was saying, but of course he couldn't
hear me. "Trevor, what do I do? How do I talk to him?" I looked
around, frustrated that I couldn't do anymore. "At least the other
way, I could see him and talk to him and he could see and talk to
me. This is just beyond cruel. He's there and I can't do anything
about it."