Authors: Amanda Stevens
My father needed me, and I felt powerless to help him.
I don’t know how long I’d been sitting there, sensation after sensation flooding through me, when I began to
grow drowsy. The musty scent seemed to grow stronger, soporific. Perhaps it was because I hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, but my lids now seemed to drop of their own accord. I would close them only for a moment, I thought…
* * *
I woke up with the uneasy notion that someone was watching me. I’m not sure how long I’d dozed, but it was late by this time, and the office was full of shadows. Behind me, somewhere over the sea, the sun had set and dusk had settled over the island like a velvet cloak.
The sensation gained strength.
Warily, I glanced around the shadowy office, almost expecting to see my father standing before me.
No. The office was empty except for me. I was quite alone.
But the feeling persisted. It wouldn’t go away. I even whispered his name aloud. “Father?”
No answer. Just a faint echo of my own voice.
My skin began to crawl under the scrutiny of those unseen eyes. The sound of my heartbeat pounded in my ears.
Slowly, almost fearfully, I turned my head so that my gaze skimmed along the wall of windows behind me.
He was out there, hovering on the edge of the cliff that overlooked the sea.
It was misty outside, and at first, I thought my vision must be playing tricks on me. But as I continued to stare, the apparition took on defined proportions. A long white robe billowed in the wind, and a white hood shrouded the face.
As I watched, unable to tear my gaze away, one arm lifted slowly and beckoned to me. It was the specter from my dreams in Chicago, the recurring nightmare
which had presaged my visit to Columbé. Was I dreaming now?
I closed my eyes and opened them. It was still there, moving toward the window, gliding with the fog, floating, as though the earth was not beneath it. I could almost see the face now, two more steps and I would know—
And then, just before it reached the window, it stopped, as though wavering on the brink of some invisible abyss that could not be bridged. The mist writhed and coiled, the white robe fluttered in the wind, but the thing itself had ceased all movement.
Slowly, as if in a trance, I got up and backed toward the door, never taking my eyes off the figure. When I felt the doorknob in my hand, I started to turn.
Help me!
Whether I actually heard the call or whether my mind conjured the plea from my own terror, I never knew. But my hand slipped away from the knob.
The thing was still at the window, and the long sleeves of the robe flowed nearly to the ground as the arms spread wide in supplication.
Help me!
I stood there, torn between terror and an inexplicable sense of despair, which I knew wasn’t my own. As I watched, one arm lifted again to summon me.
The entreaty drew me against my will. The compulsion to go out there was almost irresistible.
Briefly—so very briefly—I looked away as I once again reached for the knob. When I looked back, the vision had vanished.
My heart still pounding in my throat, I slowly crossed the room to the window and peered out. Mist swirled over the edge of the cliff, and in the distance, the hazy
light of the rising moon cast an eerie sterling light on the waters of the Caribbean. Somewhere down on the beach, I could hear the normal sounds of laughter and music.
There was an outside entrance to the hotel just down the hallway, and for one brief moment, I entertained the idea of going out to investigate. But I knew I wasn’t that brave, and so I decided to see if Rachel was still in her office. Maybe she’d go with me.
I opened the door, and another figure lurked in the doorway. My hand flew to my mouth as I stifled a scream.
Angelique gave me a cool glance as she stepped past me to enter the office. She carried the scent of the sea on her clothes. “What’s the matter, Christine? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost,” she said slyly.
“Did you just come in from outside?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact. Why?”
“Didn’t you see—?”
The elegant brows rose. “See what?”
“There was something at the window. You didn’t see it?”
She looked bored. “I didn’t see anything. Perhaps you had a little too much to drink at lunch.”
“I didn’t have anything to drink at lunch. It was purely business.”
“Oh, really?” She sat down behind my father’s desk and ran her hand over the surface, much as I’d done earlier. But for some reason, her action seemed coldly calculated. “How do you know Lawrence Crawford?”
“I met him today at the police station.”
Again the brows soared. “Police station? I didn’t think he’d go near that place,” she mumbled. “What did you talk about with him?”
Her cross-examination was beginning to annoy me. “We talked about my father, but I don’t see why that should concern you.”
The blue eyes pinned me with icy scorn. “No. I don’t suppose you would. But take my word for it, a lot of things concern me. Tell me something.” She got up and walked around the desk, her gaze drifting over me with insolent precision. “Have I underestimated you? Is this Mary Poppins act for real, or have you snowed us all?”
“I’m not the one putting on an act, Angelique.”
“Ooh. So you
do
have claws. I thought as much. You just may have to use them before this is all over.” She drifted toward the door, casting me a feline glance over her shoulder. “There’s a voodoo ceremony on the beach tonight. Everyone’s going. It might interest you to know that Reid will be there, too. You might learn something, if you come. If you
dare
come….”
* * *
When I finally went looking for Rachel she was nowhere to be found. Reid’s office door was closed, but I thought I heard voices coming from inside. Whether he was talking on the phone or someone was in there with him, I had no idea.
I wanted to tell him about the white-robed figure I’d seen at the window, and yet something kept me from knocking on his door. Something about the way he’d looked at me at lunch, the anger brewing in his eyes. It had been a disturbing reflection of the temper I’d witnessed earlier, and it made me realize just how little I knew about him.
What would he say if I told him someone had been staring at me through the window of my father’s office? Someone wearing a white robe so that I couldn’t even determine if it had been a woman or a man? Would he
believe me? Or would he dismiss it as another product of my imagination, like he had the other incident? Would he think I’d been dreaming? Sleepwalking?
And truthfully, I wasn’t even sure myself if the image had been real. Like everything else, I could no longer distinguish between dream and reality. If I had any sense remaining at all, I’d get on the first plane back to Chicago, before I completely lost my mind.
But even there, the dreams had plagued me. Even there, I hadn’t felt safe. No, the thing to do was stay and find my father. Maybe then I could regain control of my life.
I left Rachel’s office and walked slowly down the hallway. Most of the offices were deserted this time of day, and I remembered Angelique’s invitation to the ceremony on the beach. I thought I could hear the faint echo of drums. The sound, as always, lured me even as the thought of the rituals repelled me.
I knew I shouldn’t go, and yet something inside me urged me on.
“You might learn something.”
What could I possibly learn at one of those barbaric rituals? I certainly didn’t believe in voodoo.
“It’s a mind game as much as anything else.”
“It might interest you to know Reid will be there, too.”
“A voodooist can be sly and cunning. He can pretend to be your best friend…or even your lover….”
Bits and pieces of conversation swirled in my head. Almost as if I wanted to prove to myself I was stronger than superstition and magic, I found myself on the steep wooden steps that led down the mountainside to the beach.
The sound of the drums drew me to the place where
twenty or thirty tourists sat in a wide circle facing a fire. I stayed back, away from the group, sliding my gaze over the crowd, searching, but I saw no one I knew. Not even Angelique.
The soft murmurs of the crowd quieted as a young woman wearing a white, flowing dress came out of the dusky shadows. Her back was to me as she placed a white candle on the ground, lit it, then traced a symbol near it with something that looked like cornmeal.
As in the ceremony in the woods, the drums began to build. As the tension rose from their penetrating beat, the woman started to dance, gracefully in spins and whirls, arms outstretched, face raised to the heavens.
The drums intensified; her movements became more frenzied. But the spinning and whirling never ceased. The crowd, including myself, sat spellbound by her movements as her dancing drew us deeper and deeper into the trance.
Her thick black hair spilled down her back, as glossy as a raven’s wing. Her arms reached for the heaven in divine supplication as her feet relentlessly pounded against the sand. Her movements mesmerized me, but still I couldn’t see her face.
On and on the dance went, her spins taking her ever closer to the fire until, with one sudden leap, she bounded into the flame.
I wanted to cry out in protest, to rescue her from what I was certain would be a horrible burn or death. But I was transfixed by all that was happening. My legs and arms were deadweights; I couldn’t move, couldn’t take my eyes off her.
She called out, not in pain, but in some ancient tongue that called forth the
loa.
After an impossibly long time, she jumped from the fire, sending embers and ash flying
upward into the gathering darkness that soon would be night.
The drums stopped, and the woman turned toward me, a look of triumph on her features. Even in the light from the fire, it took me a moment to recognize her. Then I gasped. Angelique. My God, it was Angelique.
I stood for several long moments, reeling with shock as my senses slowly returned. Vaguely I became aware of the crowd around me standing and milling about, talking in low whispers. Almost against my will, I moved toward the fire. I stretched out my hand and felt the heat against my skin.
“Did you think it was a trick?”
Angelique stood beside me. She looked different, transformed. Everything about her had changed. In the light of the flaming torches planted around the beach, her eyes and skin and hair seemed to catch fire. No wonder I hadn’t recognized her.
“How did you do that?” I asked in amazement. “It had to be an illusion.”
“Yet you saw it with your own eyes.” When I didn’t say anything, she smiled luminously. “The
loa
embrace the fire. They command the elements. They are one with heaven and earth. Even hell, some say. Nothing can harm them. A true believer can have that power, as well. The power of the elements. Just imagine it!”
I
was
imagining it as I watched her drift away. I was thinking about what Mama Vinnia had told me earlier.
“A
malefacteur
who wishes to use your father to gain more power.”
Could she be right? Could someone actually believe they could somehow gain power by harming my father? Could Angelique believe that?
I didn’t begin to understand anything about voodoo, about the strange belief that worshiped a deity in the
image of a snake, that could give one strength enough to walk on fire and not be burned. I didn’t understand anything. But I knew someone who did.
Mama Vinnia. First thing in the morning, I would go see her, and I would ask her to explain the mysteries of voodoo to me.
“You can’t stay away, can you? The
myste`res
draw you.”
I spun at the sound of the deep voice behind me, and found myself staring up into Reid’s deep blue eyes. I shivered, remembering the anger that had been smoldering there earlier.
Now the firelight softened his features, made his eyes shimmer with some deep, dark promise.
“I came because Angelique invited me.”
“Did you find it entertaining?”
“Much more so than the other one,” I admitted. But even so, there had still been something primitive about the ritual, something powerful and…dark. “Did you know that Angelique could do that?”
His smile seemed a little wry. “There’s not much Angelique can’t do when she sets her mind to it. That’s a St. Pierre trait, I’m afraid.”
“Afraid? Most people would consider it admirable.”
His eyes flashed—with amusement? I couldn’t quite tell. “And do you?”
“I don’t know either one of you well enough to make a…a judgment,” I stammered.
“Don’t you?”
Where was the anger, the rage I’d glimpsed earlier in his office and later at the restaurant. All I saw in his eyes now was something that had me trembling….
The night seemed so unreal. Torches flickered up and down the beach, casting leaping shadows on the sand.
The moon rose over the water, and the sound of the tide was almost as rhythmic and hypnotic as the drums.
And there was Reid, his handsome features so dramatically highlighted by firelight, looking at me as though he wanted to—
“I should go now,” I said, and turned toward the beach steps. He caught my arm, and where his fingers encircled me, my skin tingled with warmth, with desire.
“Not just yet.”
His voice was as smooth and rich as whiskey—and just as potent, I thought. “But Rachel is probably looking for me,” I said. “She was going to give me a ride.”
“I sent her home hours ago.”
Finally I lifted my gaze to his, and the impact was staggering. Something was happening between us. Something very real and something very frightening, that had me trembling with emotion. “Please let me go.” My voice was barely a whisper, and I’m not even sure why I said it. Perhaps some vestige of sanity that yet remained had prompted one last appeal before I was lost forever.
His hand on my arm dropped away, but the blue gaze held me. He smiled knowingly, and my heart threatened to thrash its way out of my chest.