Bound, An Arelia LaRue Novel #1 YA Paranormal Romance (20 page)

“
I’ll try, but I can’t make
any promises.” I was fully aware that he wanted me to use my powers
to start the boat.

“
It’s the ghosts!” Ben was
having the time of his life rather than being terrified that two
seconds ago it had been broad daylight and now we were cloaked in
near darkness.

“
I can’t believe it’s going
to rain.” Sabrina was unhappy that her hair was about to get
wet.

“
I don’t understand. This
boat is supposed to be good as new.” Henri was still struggling to
get the air boat running.

“
I see it, I see!” Mr.
Dumpty wildly started snapping pictures of the clump of cypress
trees on the horizon.

“
I see it too!” Mrs. Dumpty
chirped in as the rest of the guests stared at the shadow moving
amongst the cypress trees and turned their attention away from the
altar. The shadow they saw was most likely a bird rather than a
ghost. The dark sky and lightning were obviously making them see
things that were not there.

Sabrina leapt up from her seat and
threw her arms around Lucus. “I’m scared,” she
whimpered.

Lucus shot me a nervous look. His eyes
were pleading that I help them get out of there. “Everything will
be fine Sabrina,” he reassured her and gently unwrapped her arms
from around him. It was an action that Sabrina did not approve of
especially since she knew that I was watching.

“
Whatever.” She slumped back
down into her seat and took out her Chanel compact to check her
hair.

Lucus moved towards me and leaned in so
that the guests wouldn’t hear. My heart picked up pace as his
fingers made contact with my forearm. I felt my mouth get dry. “Can
you help?” He asked.

“
I’ll try to get the boat
moving, so we can hopefully escape the storm. I can’t actually stop
the storm if it’s been conjured through sacrifice,” I admitted. “I
need you to distract the guests and make sure no one sees what I’m
doing. I don’t want the guests to think I’m some crazy person
muttering to myself.”

He grinned. It was the first time I had
seen him beam in a while. “I’ll do my best to protect your sanity.
Thank you Arelia.”

“
Don’t thank me yet.” I
headed to the back of the boat praying that Bade would listen to me
and get us out of this mess alive.

While Lucus and Henri distracted the
guests, I attempted to call Bade. Of course, he showed up whenever
he wanted, but would he actually come when I called him and would
he be willing to help me? “Bade,” I called out in caution. “Are you
there?” No answer. “Look, I’m sorry that I was rude to you when I
first got here, but we could really use your help right now. Would
you be able to push the boat back to the shore?” No answer.
“Please.”

“
I can help you Arelia,” he
finally spoke. “What is the price you are willing to
pay?”

“
Price? I don’t have
anything to offer Bade.”

“
Silly Arelia, you know
there is always a price to pay, something must be
offered.”

“
Okay fine, what do you
want?” I asked.

“
Bring me the fat
man.”

“
What, are you serious? You
want Mr. Dumpty?”

“
Yes, I want the fat man. He
is too greedy, and selfish he must sacrifice himself for the good
of the group.”

“
Bade.” I tried to remain as
cool as possible. “You know that’s not fair. You know that would be
black magic. Human sacrifice is only used to bring back the dead,
not make boats move. Do you see the difference between what I’m
asking from you and what you’re expecting?”

He laughed, and a bitter chill came
over me. “So you’ve been studying I see.”

“
Yes, I have. Please try to
be reasonable.”

“
Okay fine,” he paused. “I
want the egg.”

“
You mean the egg on top of
the flour?” He had to be kidding.

He responded in a perfectly rational
voice. “Yes, I want that egg.”

“
But the shore is almost a
mile away, and who knows what’s lurking in these waters.” Even
though, the swamp water only came up to my knees, I knew it was
infested with alligators, snakes, and not to mention sand
pockets.

“
If you’re not interested,
you don’t have to do it,” he taunted knowing that I had no other
choice.

“
That altar isn’t for you,
it’s for Damballa.” I tried to reason with him.

“
He’s already accepted the
offering, and that is why your boat has stopped, and the sky has
turned dark. You don’t belong in the swamp. If you want the boat to
move, go to the egg and crack it open in my name.”

“
Why do you need that egg?
Who cares about a stupid egg?”

“
Arelia, do you work for
free?”

“
No.”

“
Then why should
I?”

“
Fine,” I reluctantly gave
in. “I’ll go and crack the egg open in your name, but as soon as I
do, you promise you’ll deliver the boat safely to
shore?”

“
You have my word, but you
better hurry, there’s not much time.”

He was right. I could feel raindrops
starting to slide off my skin and knew it would only be a matter of
minutes before there was a full-fledged thunderstorm. Whoever
wanted us out of the swamp had to be awfully powerful. Lucky for
me, the guests were still busy snapping pictures of the shadows in
the cypress trees that they didn’t notice as I slipped into the
murky water.

The water had turned icy along with the
wind. Goosebumps invaded my body, as I tried to ignore everything
else around me except for the egg. I needed to crack open that egg
and nothing was going to stop me.

“
Arelia are you insane?”
Sabrina had followed me into the water.

“
Go back”” I snarled without
even turning around. What did she want? We hadn’t spoken in over a
week, why should I listen to her now?

“
Just because, we’re not
speaking right now, doesn’t mean I want you dead,” she pleaded.
“Some alligator is going to snap your arm off, and grand-mere Bea
is going to blame it on me.”

“
Listen to me Sabrina; I
have to get that stupid egg.”

“
No, you don’t.” Her voice
took on a peculiar tone, as she clutched my wrists. “You’re not
going anywhere.”

“
What’s your problem?” At
this point, I was frantic. I turned to face her.

“
You see Arelia, you need to
be cracked open not the egg.”

“
What the hell are you
talking about?” My annoyance was quickly turning into
confusion.

“
You’ll see.” Her wicked
laugh filled the air. “Guys I got her!”

“
Good job Sabrina!” Lucus
was pleased.

“
What the hell is going on?”
I shouted to Lucus.

“
You need to be cracked open
Arelia,” he responded. “Doesn’t she?” He turned to the
guests.

“
She sure does.” They
replied in perfect harmony. One by one they got off of the boat,
and made their way through the dark water. Before I knew it, they
had me surrounded. I tried to run, but my feet were glued to the
ground. I stood there frozen unaware of my fate.

“
Get her!” Mr. Dumpty
commanded as the guests moved closer. I could smell their
determination.

Mrs. Scott’s normally kind eyes had a
look of vengeance in them. “I’m sorry dear, but I have grand kids.
I can’t stay stuck in this swamp on your account.”

“
Mrs. Scott, please. I’ll do
whatever you want, just let me go.”

“
Hush dear, you’re going to
be sacrificed, and that’s the end of the story. Didn’t your mother
ever teach you to respect the elderly?”

“
You crazy old bitch!” I
spat back.

“
Get away from me!” I
screamed. “Sabrina, help me!”

“
I can’t Arelia. It’s too
late, isn’t it? She turned to Lucus.

“
Yes it is my love.” He
pulled her closer and gave her a long kiss. What? No. This couldn’t
be right.

“
Bring her to the altar!”
Lucus commanded the group.

My eyes jerked open. A dream. It had
all been a stupid dream. My body was shaking, as beads of sweat
poured down my forehead. It had felt so real. Pale moonlight
illuminated Sabrina’s face, as she slept and snored away without a
care in the world. I decided that I needed fresh air, so I got out
of bed and made my way downstairs. Ms. Mae had taught me that all
dreams had a meaning. All I got from my dream was that the guests
are insane, Lucus and Sabrina must be hooking up, and I had no idea
what I had gotten myself into. Maybe Ivan had been right, and I
wasn’t strong enough to be a voodoo queen. Something told me that
he knew a lot more than he was letting on, but what?

I was still shaking uncontrollably, as
I got to the bottom of the stairs. The house was silent except for
someone playing the piano in the ballroom. Figuring it must be a
guest, I decided to see who it was. The music was beautiful but at
the same time undeniably haunting and melancholy. To my surprise,
the mystery pianist was Ivan. He was so immersed in the music that
he didn’t even notice me enter the ballroom. Moonlight glistened
off his hair and even at a distance I could tell that his brow was
furrowed in concentration.

After a few minutes, he sensed that
someone was watching him and stopped. “What are you doing up?” he
asked.

“
Couldn’t sleep,” I quietly
said not wanting to get into another argument with him. It seemed
that whenever Ivan and I were placed in the same room, we always
wound up quarrelling. I had been careful to avoid him after the
incident in the garden. It wasn’t exactly professional, or anything
to be constantly at battle with your coworker.

“
So what are you doing
here?” He got up from behind the piano and walked across the
room.

“
I just heard the music and
wanted to know who was playing. It’s not a big deal or anything,” I
shrugged. I turned my back on him and headed to the
kitchen.

“
You had a nightmare, didn’t
you?” He asked coming up behind me.

I wanted to tell him that it was none
of his business, but I was supposed to be playing nice. “Yeah
maybe.”

It was distinct, but I heard a soft
gasp escape from Ivan’s lips. “So what was it about?”

“
Nothing you’d be interested
in.” I wanted him to stop hounding me with questions, but at the
same time I was so freaked out by the scene that I had dreamt, I
really wanted to talk about it.

“
Try me.” His tone was more
menacing than it was curious.

I grabbed a glass and filled it up with
water. “Fine, it was about the swamp. The dream was about the
swamp. I think that maybe there is something out there.”

Ivan’s face grew tense as he crossed
his arms and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Yeah
well then you better stay away from there. What else happened?” He
intently pressed on.

“
What do you
care?”

“
You know, I bought one of
those interpret your dream books from Amazon dot com, and I’m
wondering how much I’ve learned and all. Thought it would be a good
opportunity to test out my skills. So what else happened?” He
repeated his initial question.

“
I don’t remember,” I
covered the truth.

“
Sure you do.” He came
closer. His grey eyes were probing me for answers. They made me
tremendously uncomfortable.

“
Look, I said I don’t
remember.” I regretted saying anything at all.

It became clear to Ivan that no matter
how hard he insisted that I remember, I wasn’t going to tell him
anything. “Fine, I believe you.” He finally stepped
back.

“
Goodnight Ivan.” I rushed
out of the kitchen and back into my room before he could follow me
and ask me any more questions. Somehow, I knew that he was
connected to the dream I had, but that was just a hunch. I couldn’t
prove it. He wasn’t even in the dream or anything, so I couldn’t
run around making any accusations. The only person who could help
me understand was Ms. Mae, and it was too late to go barging in on
her at this hour. I would have to wait until tomorrow.

Chapter 15

Dance with Me

“
Arelia, help me glue this
on,” Ben commanded pointing to a hot glue gun. It was ceaselessly
raining, so all of the guests were stuck indoors for the day. After
lunch and afternoon tea, Henri had suggested that it would be a
perfect opportunity for the guests to make their own masks for the
Darkwood masked ball that was taking place in a few weeks. It was
an offer that only Ben took him up on. All of the other guests were
lounging around the house either in their rooms or hanging by the
kitchen waiting for whatever new pastries the cooks whipped
up.

“
So what’s the theme of this
ball anyways?” I eagerly asked Henri when he came over to see how
Ben’s mask was coming along.

“
I know, I know, the theme
is ghosts!” Ben blurted out.