Almost There, page 14
“Where…where are you?” she stammered.
Facilier’s deep, awful laugh rumbled around the room. A moment later, he emerged from the darkness, striding toward her with that ever-present walking stick.
“Smart girl like you knows what’s best,” he drawled.
“I’m not here to make any deals,” Tiana said. “I’m here to tell you that you’d better stop whatever it is you’re doing.”
“And what is it you think I’m doing, Tiana?”
“Don’t play coy with me. You all but said you and your friends are behind this fog. I’m guessing you’re also the reason Buford thinks that Duke’s Cafe has been closed for a year, why Ms. Margery doesn’t remember making me a caramel cake for my birthday. And I’m pretty sure you set fire to Rudy Davis’s band’s instruments last night, and sent those mosquitoes to attack us this morning.”
Facilier paused, holding his grin. “I told you things would start happening if you didn’t do what I say,” he said finally.
“We had a deal. I’ve been adding that potion to my gumbo ever since we opened the supper club.”
He waved his hand. “This isn’t about the potion. We can take care of that later. This is about your contract. It’s time for you to sign the amendment.”
“Amendment?” Tiana put her hands up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What I do know is that I have been fulfilling my end of our bargain. You have no right to demand I do anything more than what I agreed to.”
“It seems you’ve forgotten part of the contract you signed.”
“What are you talking about?” Tiana balked. “I didn’t sign anything.”
“Except that you did!”
He snatched the lamp from her hand and strode to a rickety wooden desk on the other side of the room. He picked up a tattered scroll and stalked back to where she stood.
“The proof is right here.” Facilier held out the rolled parchment.
Tiana took a step back. “What is this?”
“It’s the deal you signed,” he said.
She shook her head and started to back away. “I…I didn’t sign anything,” she said again.
“Yes. You. Did.”
Facilier opened his hand and blew a cloud of iridescent purple dust into her face.
Tiana’s head shot back as if sustaining a blow. She lifted off the ground, suspended in a slow yet dizzying twirl high above the floor of the cavernous room. She started to spin faster and faster, her head swimming.
With a thud, she landed on her hands and knees. The ground underneath her was cold, the dirt and crumbling stone pressing into the fleshy part of her palms. Tiana lifted her head and found herself surrounded by towering catacombs and rusted wrought iron gates.
The cemetery.
Dread sluiced down her spine.
“Why am I here?” she whispered.
“That’s why,” came Facilier’s low growl.
Tiana’s head seemed to turn of its own accord, drawn to a scene playing out like the moving picture shows on the big screen at the Prytania Theatre.
It was her—wearing a sparkling white dress and glittery shoes.
Tiana suddenly realized what she was looking at. This was the previous year, when she’d made that deal with Facilier. She was unable to hear the words being spoken, but she remembered it all so clearly that she could almost recite them in her head.
She froze when Facilier pulled a scroll from his jacket and unfurled it.
But that part hadn’t happened!
A scream collected in her throat as she watched herself sign the scroll, then shake Facilier’s hand.
“No!” Tiana said aloud. “That’s…that can’t be right.”
“But it is,” Facilier said.
In a flash she was back in Facilier’s dark emporium, her mind muddled by what she’d just witnessed. How could she not remember that?
“You signed this contract, Tiana.” One corner of his mouth lifted in an ugly grin. “You just saw it with your own eyes.”
Facilier set down the lamp and picked up a long wand made of smooth purple stone. Threads of gold twirled throughout it. Tiana looked on in dismay as he closed his eyes and spoke in a language she didn’t understand.
The wand began to glow in his hand. As he glided it down the scroll, tiny writing appeared in gold lettering. He hovered the wand over the bottom portion of the document.
“Here,” Facilier said. “This is the section you seem to have forgotten. It says that you must agree to an amendment every year, or this city and the people you love will suffer. We’re coming up on the one-year mark, Tiana. If you don’t sign again by sundown on Mardi Gras, hell will rain down on this city.”
“No!” Tiana gasped, shaking her head. She put a hand to her mouth as her eyes read over the letters scrawled in glittery gold ink. “No, this can’t be. I didn’t sign any contract! I didn’t agree to any amendment! I’m not doing any of this!”
Her head snapped back with another blast of the purple dust. She was instantly dropped into the middle of her parents’ living room. Both her mother and father writhed on the floor, pain etched across their faces as they soundlessly screamed into the void.
Tiana tried to run to them, but her legs wouldn’t move. It felt as if she were stuck in quicksand. She reached for them, but they were too far away.
Watching them suffer was so excruciating, Tiana’s knees gave out, sending her to the floor. She squirmed around like a bug stuck on its back.
When she opened her eyes, she was once again in Facilier’s dreadful dungeon. He stood above her, his mouth screwed up in a twisted grimace.
“Is this what you want for Eudora and James?” Facilier asked.
“Where’s Mama and Daddy?” she screamed.
“They’re just fine. For now,” Facilier added. “I wanted to show you what could happen if you don’t sign this paper before Mardi Gras.”
It was one of his mind tricks again. But that didn’t mean it couldn’t be reality one day.
Tiana scrambled up from the floor and snatched the scroll from his hands. She tried to rip it, but it was tough as leather and barely crinkled.
That deep laugh rumbled from Facilier’s chest.
“It’s binding,” he said. “Sign it before Mardi Gras, or watch your mama and daddy suffer.”
There had to be a way out. She hadn’t agreed to this. She could not be indebted to the likes of the Shadow Man forever—under his thumb for the rest of her life.
“You won’t get away with this,” Tiana said.
“I already have.” He snatched a quill from a pot of ink and shoved it at her.
“No!” Tiana started to turn, but he caught her by the back of her coveralls. Jerking out of his grasp, she ran out of the dark room, then raced out of the alley and back into the fog.
Tiana ran like the wind. She ran until she was out of breath, until she was far away from the Shadow Man’s dreadful French Quarter dungeon. She didn’t stop running until she reached Canal Street. The wide boulevard teemed with people going about their day, as if nothing were amiss. As if they all weren’t in danger because of her actions.
Tiana flattened her back against the rough brick of a nearby building. She shut her eyes tight, wishing for a moment that she could shut out the world.
What had she gotten herself into?
If she could travel back in time, she would have never made that deal with the Shadow Man. She would have smashed his talisman to the ground and let the chips fall where they might.
Now she was tied to Facilier for life. Stuck playing his games.
As much as she loved having her daddy back, Tiana knew he would never want this for her. If he knew what she’d done—the power she’d given the Shadow Man—he would be so disappointed.
As for Naveen…
Well, she would have figured out another way to save him. Anything was better than the bind she now found herself in.
“Tiana?”
Her eyes popped opened to see the flower vendor in front of her. “Oh, Ms. Rose.” Tiana held her palm against her chest. “You scared me.” She took a moment to collect herself. “How…how are you doing?”
“It would seem I should ask you that question,” the woman said. “You look troubled.”
She blew out a sigh. “I’ve had a rough morning.”
“Oh?” Ms. Rose transferred the basket of irises she carried from one arm to the other. “How so?”
Tiana wasn’t up for rehashing what had happened, but she couldn’t bring herself to ignore Ms. Rose.
“I’m not sure if you heard about the mosquito attack at Congo Square,” Tiana started. When the woman shook her head, Tiana filled her in with a condensed version of the assault. “But that isn’t the half of it. Something…strange is happening to people around me—my friends and associates. It’s hard to explain.”
“Hmm,” Ms. Rose murmured. She reached over and patted Tiana’s hand. “Actually, it’s quite simple. There’s an old saying—”
“From your mother?”
“From my grandmother,” she said. “She would say, tanbou bat nan raje, men se lakay li vin danse. The drum is beaten in the grass, but it is at home that it comes to dance.”
Tiana was much too distressed from her confrontation with Facilier to decipher Ms. Rose’s idioms. “What does that mean?”
“It means that acts that are done outside the home can have repercussions for all those inside the home. Your actions affect more than just you, Tiana. It’s something to remember.” She patted her hand again. “You take care.”
Tiana mulled over the woman’s words as she watched her walk away. Her shoulders slumped as she experienced something she never allowed herself to feel: hopelessness.
Her head still reeling, Tiana started walking again, heading to the only place she could think of where she felt in control. Where she felt safe.
When she reached the supper club, she went directly to the pantry and retrieved the ingredients for her beignet dough.
“Tia?”
She stiffened at the sound of Charlotte’s voice coming from the dining room. Her friend entered the kitchen a moment later. “Hey, Tia, do you know if I left my shawl here or—?” Charlotte stopped midsentence. “Tiana, what’s wrong? Is it the bugs from this morning? They were scary.”
“N-no, but—” Before she could utter another word, Tiana burst into tears.
“Oh, my goodness, Tia! Is it Ms. Eudora? Is she okay?”
“Mama’s fine. It’s nothing”—she hiccupped—“nothing like that. But, Lottie. Oh, Lottie, I’ve messed up something awful.”
Charlotte rushed over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She guided her into the dining room and urged her to take a seat. Using a dish towel she’d grabbed from the kitchen, she wiped the sticky dough from Tiana’s fingers.
“Now, now,” Charlotte crooned. “It can’t be worse than what we all just went through at Congo Square.”
“But it is,” Tiana lamented. She picked at a piece of fuzz on the tablecloth as she tried to come up with a way to describe the pickle she was in without betraying the terms of her and Facilier’s deal. “Do you…do you know who the Shadow Man is?”
Charlotte’s head jerked back. “You mean that man with the emporium in the Quarter? I’ve heard he’s bad news, Tia.”
“I know he is,” she said. Oh, how she knew.
How could she explain the situation to Lottie without her friend thinking she’d gone off the deep end? She couldn’t very well tell Lottie that Naveen had once been a frog and would have remained that way if not for Tiana’s deal with Facilier. And her daddy? Could she honestly tell Lottie that her strong, vibrant daddy had passed away, but was now back because of the Shadow Man’s friends on the other side?
She looked up from the table and into Charlotte’s confused eyes.
“I can’t go into any details, but I got involved with him. And now he’s threatening to ruin my life.”
“But, Tia…why?” Charlotte asked.
“I had no other choice,” Tiana said. She fidgeted, scraping at bits of dough that remained on her fingers. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“I can try,” her friend said. She pulled at one of Tiana’s hands until Tiana looked at her. “Tell me.”
Tiana chose her words carefully, knowing that one slip of the tongue could prove to be dangerous. She didn’t want to involve Charlotte in this mess with Facilier in any way.
“I came into possession of something the Shadow Man really wanted, and in exchange for it, he offered…well, something that I couldn’t pass up. But then he changed the terms of our deal,” Tiana continued. “And lately he’s been hounding me to do more. He says that I have to keep doing whatever he asks or he’ll hurt the people I love.”
“Why, that…that’s awful, Tia.”
“I need a way out, Lottie. I can’t allow him to have this kind of hold on me for the rest of my life. And I can’t allow other people to be hurt because I was foolish enough to get involved with the likes of him.”
“What are you going to do? There has to be something—someone that you can go to for help. Maybe I can ask Big Daddy.…”
Someone she could go to…
That was it!
Tiana plopped her palm to her forehead. “Why didn’t I think of this before?” she whispered.
Her heart pounded against her ribcage as the first bead of hope she’d felt all day began to blossom in her chest. “There is someone!”
“Who is it? I can have our driver bring us to him right now.”
“It’s not a him, it’s a her,” Tiana said. “And you can’t get there by car. She lives on the bayou.” Tiana stood and began to pace between the stage and the table. “I need to go to Mama Odie.”
“Who’s Mama Odie?” Lottie asked with a frown.
“You don’t know her,” Tiana said. “But she’s the only person I know who can help me get out of this mess. I’ll have to find a boat. Maybe I can rent one from one of the fishermen at the dock.”
“A boat? The bayou? Tia, this doesn’t sound safe.” Charlotte moved closer. “Listen, Big Daddy knows lots of people—”
“No.” Tiana clamped her hands over Charlotte’s shoulders. “Trust me, Lottie. I know what I’m doing.” She pressed a kiss to Lottie’s cheek. “Thanks for lending an ear. I appreciate it.”
“Of course, Tia. You know I’m always here for you.…But I can’t let you go traipsing off to this Mama Odie person, either.”
“I’ll be fine, Lottie,” Tiana said as she moved to grab her bag. When she turned, Charlotte looked ready to put up another argument. “Don’t,” Tiana said. “Mama Odie is the only person who can help.
“The quicker I get to her, the better off we’ll all be.”
Naveen stood in front of his desk, mumbling the words he’d practiced over and over again. Too much hinged on this meeting with Mr. LaBouff for him to screw it up. He absently rubbed at the welts on his arm, remnants of the mosquito attack earlier that day. Somehow it felt like a million years ago now.
He’d come to the mill after leaving Congo Square—assuring Tiana and Charlotte that he would clean his wounds as soon as he got there, since the mill was closer than home. And to his surprise, he’d found John Dugas waiting for him.
The man had countered with several uncustomary demands, stipulations that the mill’s other customers would never dream of requesting. But Dugas Candy Company would not be an ordinary customer. It was Naveen’s job to convince Mr. LaBouff of that.
If he could not, he just might have to give more thought to that invitation from his parents.
Naveen glanced over at the missive on his desk. It taunted him, silently insisting that he pack up and return to the life of luxury he had once lived. Asserting that he was a fool to think he could handle anything on his own.
But he could do this. He would show Mr. LaBouff that partnering with the candy company was in the sugar mill’s best interest. And maybe even help Mr. LaBouff notice the contributions of the guys on the floor like Randy, see that they had more to give.
Naveen resumed his pacing. He stuck out his hand and engaged in an imaginary handshake.
“Thank you for seeing me, Mr. LaBouff. Have I got a proposal for you.” Naveen shook his head. “No, no. That is all wrong. Not enough enthusiasm. Maybe if I—”
“Naveen! Naveen, sugar, where are you?”
Naveen ran out of his office at the sound of that very distinct voice calling his name. A moment later, he saw Charlotte climbing the stairs to the balcony.
Was she wearing…trousers?
Naveen was so shocked that he could have knocked himself over with a feather.
Wait. Was he supposed to knock himself with the feather? That didn’t seem right. These American sayings still baffled him.
“There you are,” Charlotte exclaimed as she made it to the landing.
“Charlotte, what are you wearing?” Naveen asked.
“Forget about my clothes,” she said. “I need you to come with me. Now!”
“No. No. I can’t,” he said. “I have an important meeting with your father.”
“There is nothing more important than this!” Charlotte said. “Then again, I don’t know if I should even tell you. She told me not to tell anyone.” She wrung her hands together, dismay evident in her worried eyes. “Oh, but I have to, because somebody needs to talk some sense into that girl.”
“To who? What girl?”
“It’s Tiana,” Charlotte said. “She’s in trouble.”
Panic instantly knotted in his chest. He thought about the picnic, about the look in her eyes when she’d spoken about the strangely aggressive insects. “Trouble? Where? What has happened?”
“That’s just it. I’m not even sure. She gave me bits and pieces, but I’ve known her far too long not to understand when she’s not giving me the full story.”
She began to relay what Tiana had shared with her, but Naveen had a hard time following. Something about her getting involved with a man known for cheating folks around the French Quarter out of their money.
