Etti

Etti felt it again as soon as she stepped through the narrow doorway into the voodoo shop. The strange foreboding pull tugged at her veins as she moved through the cluttered store. The space was small and littered with accouterments of the occult. Trinkets crowded every surface—even the ceiling. Wes had to duck to avoid hitting the low hanging baubles. With the five of them in the shop there wasn’t much room to move around.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Wes asked.

“Indeed, mon cheri. We’ve been waiting for you.”

Etti spun to see a fit woman with skin the color of coffee behind a counter ablaze with candles. She wore her hair in a tight head wrap of jade and gold. It made the gold flecks in her honey-brown eyes sparkle as she smiled at Etti. She wore the garish garb of a voodoo priestess and radiated the power to use it.

The woman soundlessly stepped around the counter, her skirts whispering behind her. Etti reflexively angled her body so Izzi was hidden from the woman’s smoldering gaze, but it was no use. Etti felt the tug in her veins again and knew instantly that this woman could turn her into a puppet if she desired.

Instead she only smiled. “S'il vous plait, I mean you no harm.”

Etti faced the woman, squaring her shoulders as Grey and Wes flanked her.

“What do you want from us?” Etti growled.

“Only to verify what the elders have told us to be true,” the woman said.

“And what’s that?” Etti asked trying to keep her voice steady.

“That the rumors are true. The child to unite the wolves and witches has arrived.” The priestess came closer, her eyes locked on Izzi. “The child is called Fin-Malédi. Do you know what this means?”

“Curse breaker,” Etti whispered.

The woman smiled and gave a subtle nod. “Indeed.” She bowed to Izzi and returned to her spot behind the counter.

Etti glanced to her friends in confusion. She had expected more from this meeting and wasn’t sure what to do next. But before she could say anything, the priestess dismissed them with a flick of her wrists. “You may go.”

“But what about Esme?” Etti asked. “We need to meet with her to find protection for my child.”

A cunning smile curved across the priestess’s face. “You’ll find you already have all you need.” Then she extended her arm and the door to the voodoo shop blew open on an imperceptible breeze, making it quite clear it was time to leave.

* * *

“It’s okay, baby girl,” Etti murmured as she tried to soothe Izzi.

Her daughter hadn’t stopped crying since they left the voodoo shop on Bourbon Street. Etti couldn’t blame her. She couldn’t seem to put enough distance between herself and the shop to shake the dread creeping up her spine.

“I don’t get it,” Wes said. “I thought we were supposed to be getting a location for your crazy aunt Esme or whoever she is?”

“Apparently we already have it,” Etti muttered as she stopped to change Izzi on a park bench.

“Any idea what that means?” Grey asked, handing Etti the diaper bag.

Etti shook her head as she pulled out a diaper. She was starting to think maybe this trip to New Orleans was another wild goose chase when a tiny paper fluttered out from inside the new diaper she’d just pulled from her bag.

Cali saw it happen and stooped to pick it up. Her eyes widened as she examined the ancient looking paper before handing it to Etti.

Ice crept into Etti’s veins as she read the four lines scrawled onto the old parchment in a deep crimson hue.