Bound, An Arelia LaRue Novel #1 YA Paranormal Romance (10 page)

“
That is one of the vilest
things I’ve ever tasted,” he spat out.

I clutched my stomach and let out a
laugh. “You’re so dramatic! How can you think these are
bad?”

“
Vile, just vile,” he
repeated as he handed me a glass of milk.

I took the milk from him, and our eyes
locked momentarily.

“
How’s your hand?” He
inquired gently.

“
All better,” I announced. I
raised my palm in the air demonstrating that it was all
better.

“
Amazing,” he looked
absolutely fascinated.

“
Yeah, I guess.” I stared at
my feet and suddenly remembered Sabrina. “We should get back to
Sabrina.”

“
I guess we should,” Lucus
agreed although he didn’t make any attempt to move. I took the
first step out of the kitchen and headed back to the
room.

“
She’s still sleeping,”
Lucus observed.

He was right, Sabrina was in the exact
same position we had left her in.

“
Why are you best friends
with her?” Lucus questioned. “Does it make you feel like less of an
underdog?” He asked referencing my love for Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory.

“
What? No!” I felt my face
turn red. “Why would you assume that? You think I’m friends with
Sabrina because of her money? Typical.”

“
I didn’t mean it like that.
I’m just trying to understand why you think you’re an underdog,” he
appealed.

“
Well, don’t. You have
everything handed to you on a silver platter, so I wouldn’t expect
you to understand!” I ran over to the door and opened it. “When
Sabrina wakes up I hope you have fun, just make sure she gets back
to our room safely.” I slammed the door shut before he had a chance
to say anything. What was wrong with me? Why was I acting like a
raving lunatic paying so much attention to what Lucus thought? He
was just some spoiled rich kid who knew nothing about
me.

I was angry at Sabrina for being so
irresponsible and even angrier at Lucus for being so smug and
thinking that he knew it all. I had been friends with Sabrina my
entire life not because we had everything in common, but we had
enough in common. Despite her seemingly lavish lifestyle, I knew
from the years that grand-mere Bea worked as her nanny that her
parents were never around. Given that mine were out of the picture
as well, we clung together under the protection of grand-mere Bea.
Sure, there were times when I was envious, but I knew that Sabrina
felt the same way about me at times too. So, for Lucus to assume
that I was friends with Sabrina because of her money was
ridiculous. Although he hadn’t said those exact words, it sure felt
like that is what he meant.

Anyways, they deserved each other.
Together they could obsess over brands that I never heard about and
do other things people with way too much money did. Besides, I
didn’t have time for this. The plan was to come here and earn money
not get caught up in whatever this was. Still, I had promised
Erzulie that I would talk to Ms. Mae, and I intended to only to
figure out what was going on with me, and how I could get out of
this mess. Maybe she could undo the so called blessing, and I could
be blissfully ignorant. It sure seemed like a welcome change from
what I was going through now.

Chapter 7

Show me the
Magic……Chocolate?

I woke up just as the sun started to
slip under the lace curtains. My body felt as if it had been in an
extensive boxing match and sitting upright proved to be quite a
challenge. The first thing that greeted me was the sound of Sabrina
snoring indicating that either she had found her way back to our
room, or Lucus had brought her there sometime during the night. I
couldn’t help but shudder at the thought that Lucus had been here
while I was sleeping. What if I had been snoring? There, I went
again. Why did I care?

After taking a quick shower, I
blow-dried my hair to relieve some of the inevitable frizz and let
it fall free in loose waves that were almost down to my waist.
After last night’s elaborate updo, my hair was hurting. Yes, not my
head but my hair, a rather strange phenomenon that happened every
time I wore it too tightly. Looking into the bedroom mirror, I saw
a very tired version of myself. The least I could do was slap on
some tinted moisturizer and concealer to spare the guests any
possible trauma. After doing so, I found our day-to-day Darkwood
uniforms in the closet. As far as uniforms went they were what I
had expected. A navy blue skirt that was slightly above the knees
and a white, cotton shirt with the name Darkwood embroidered on the
right-hand side.

Even though, we didn’t need to go until
nine, and it was only seven, I hoped to catch Ms. Mae before the
guests started coming down for breakfast, and the day got going.
When I got downstairs, I could hear my stomach growl. I was craving
a blended, iced, chocolate coffee and a chocolate chunk scone from
Lola’s. It was my usual breakfast whenever I had to work the
morning shift, one of the only perks of the job.

“
Ms. Mae,” I called. I
entered the already buzzing kitchen which was filled with the
delicious smell of Creole calas, corn fritters, cinnamon rolls and
pain perdu. My stomach growled louder as my nostrils were filled
with the tantalizing aroma. Seeing that Ms. Mae was nowhere in
sight, I decided to help myself to a cinnamon roll, an action that
annoyed the baker who was arranging the batch in a woven basket. I
didn’t care, as the roll made its way to my stomach, the only thing
I could think about was how fantastic it tasted.

“
Someone is hungry this
morning, what did you do last night?” Ivan asked in his usual
condescending tone. His eyes were bloodshot, and his hair looked
like he had jumped straight out of bed and rushed downstairs. He
was clearly not used to getting up early.

“
Nothing, not that it’s any
of your business.”

“
Did Lucus keep you up all
night with his incessant rambling?”

“
Okay, what exactly is your
problem with Lucus, do you guys have some sort of history or
something. Are you secretly in love with him?”

“
Hardly.” Ivan took a piece
of pain perdu from the counter and started to nibble on
it.

“
Arelia, I thought you’d be
up early,” Ms. Mae entered the room wearing a flowing, green dress
and layers of beaded necklaces. She interrupted my attempt at
stealing another piece of pain perdu. “Ivan, you are supposed to
look presentable for the guests. No one is going to be willing to
take any food from you if you run around looking like that. Child
go on upstairs and wash that handsome face of yours. Put on your
uniform and take off that ghastly black t-shirt. I can see three
holes in it from here.”

“
Sure,” Ivan grumbled as he
exited the kitchen leaving Ms. Mae to focus her attention on
me.

“
Good morning.” I quickly
moved my hand away from the pain perdu, but Ms. Mae had already
caught on.

“
We’re hungry this morning,
aren’t we?” She laughed. “I figured as much. Come with me.” She
lead me through the kitchen’s back door and to a small garden
filled with red chrysanthemums. “Sit,” she ordered pointing at a
white, square table where breakfast was laid out.

“
What are these?” I asked
noticing a stack of boxes in the middle of the table.

“
Those are for you,” replied
Ms. Mae with a smile on her face. “Go on, have a look.”

Curiosity got the best of me as I
grabbed the first, brown box tied with a pink ribbon.
“Chocopologie?” I ripped off the bow and opened the box. Inside,
there were rows of dark chocolate truffles laid on a white, silk
cloth. “But who?” I asked already reaching for the next box which
was identical on the outside but filled with white-chocolate
truffles in the inside. In less than two minutes, I opened the
remaining boxes and found myself surrounded by every sort of
chocolate I could imagine ranging from caramel-shaped hearts to
strawberry-truffle seashells. Without even thinking about how they
had appeared, I grabbed a fist full and hungrily shoved them in my
mouth. I closed my eyes and let the delightful flavors slide down
my throat. After I had eaten almost an entire box, I opened my eyes
to find Ms. Mae staring at me in amusement.

“
I take it that you really
have a passion for chocolate?”

“
I’ve never tasted any this
good before, who sent them? Did you make them? Can I learn how to
make them too or maybe you can teach me so that they magically
appear?” I stopped talking when I realized what I had
said.

“
So, you are interested in
learning more about your powers, are you now?” Ms. Mae was getting
way too excited over something that slipped out.

“
After what happened last
night, I guess they can come in handy.” I went on to describe what
had occurred with Ben and how I had cured the snake bite. Ms. Mae
listened in silence while nodding her head occasionally and
widening her green eyes as I revealed the details. “I know what
voodoo queen means, but I don’t know what any of this means,” I
said as I finished the story.

“
It means that you are a
very powerful voodoo queen, that’s what it means,” she explained.
“For some, it takes extensive offerings and rituals to heal, but
you did it so easily.”

“
I guess that’s what
happened,” I shrugged.

“
Are you willing to learn
how to develop your powers?” She asked me directly.

“
I am if you tell me where
these chocolates came from.” I popped another chocolate into my
mouth.

“
Here, this came with them.”
She handed me a small, white envelope which I tore open in a split
second. Inside the envelope was a hand written letter that
read:

I know it’s not Wonka’s chocolate
factory, but I truly apologize if I offended you in any way. That
was not my intention. I hope we can start over since you will be
spending the summer at Darkwood.

Lucus.

“
Typical, a rich kid trying
to buy an apology,” I groaned as I threw aside the card, but that
didn’t stop me from eating another piece of chocolate.

“
Why all of this hostility
towards Lucus?” Ms. Mae interrogated.

“
It’s nothing.” I didn’t
want to get into the disagreement we had last night.

“
Well, it must be something
to get you all worked up like this.” She had picked up on my angst.
“Lucus is a good man with a good heart. He has been through a lot
over the years.”

I snorted, “sure it must be difficult
being Lucus LaPlante.”

“
Not everything is as simple
as it appears.” Her velvety voice took on a menacing tone which
made what she said sound even more cryptic. “Promise me that you
will at least attempt to get along with him. He may just surprise
you.”

“
Okay, sure. I guess. I do
work here after all.” What was with all of the mystery around this
place?

“
So, I take it that I can
now trust you with this.” She handed me a thick, book with a brown,
leather cover with the words LaRue written on it.

“
What is it?” I eyed it
suspiciously as she handed it to me.

“
All of the spells and
potions that us LaRue women have used over the years. I want you to
read through it. I expect you to be down here every day at seven
sharp, so we can start your training.” She was joking
right?

“
Training? This isn’t
Hogwarts, is it?”

“
Very funny Arelia. By the
way, a school like Hogwarts does exist in Scotland. One of my best
friends attended it.”

“
Are you
kidding?”

“
I assure you, I am not.”
Her smile vanished, and her normally soft expression turned
severe.

“
Okay. I’ll take your word
on that and see what this training thing is all about.” Her pretty
face broke out in a smile and in an instant she looked years
younger.

“
Fantastic, I will put this
book in your room for you, so you don’t have to carry it
around.”

“
Grand-mere Bea isn’t going
to be happy about this though.”

“
Your grand-mere will
understand. She can’t protect you forever, you are strong enough to
protect yourself anyways,” counseled Ms. Mae.

“
I guess,” though I couldn’t
help feel like I was somehow betraying her. If she hadn’t spoken to
Ms. Mae for years, she must have had a pretty good reason.
Although, your sister secretly asking the voodoo spirit of love to
bless your grand-daughter and your grand-daughter ending up with
weird powers are pretty solid reasons.

“
You go on and finish your
breakfast, have some fruit and drink some freshly squeezed orange
juice to balance out all of that chocolate you just ate,” Ms. Mae
advised as she rose from the delicate, wired chair. “Guests will be
down any minute for breakfast, and I need you girls to keep an eye
on things and accompany them on the plantation tour. Where is
Sabrina, this morning?”

“
Probably still sleeping,” I
answered remembering her Hurricane/lingerie fueled attempt at
seducing Lucus last night which may have worked.