"Oh Goddess, Savannah, this is gorgeous. Did you really grow up here?" I ask fascinated getting off the car that brought us from the airport, watching the massive two-storey house painted in a yellow shade with a grey slate roof surrounded by tall white columns standing in the middle of a dream landscape. There're old oaks, azaleas, pink myrtle and a pond where some ducks swim happily. It's amazing that we're so close to New Orleans: this place feels like a different world, far away from the asphalt, where they take care of the garden to show the full glory of Mother Nature.
"My family arrived in 1850 but they used to live on the other side of the property..." Annah points at her right. "The slave quarters were there..."
Suddenly, the day turns cold despite the sun is still shinning bright above our heads, it feels like the sky is covered in clouds and light has turned grey. The outline of the building, cars, statues and oaks become blurry, the green colour of the grass and the blue of the pond are less bright and the soil under my feet seems to be soaked in sadness, leaking through my sneakers and reaching my heart. I can hear them in the distance, in the direction my friend has pointed at: screams, pleas, children crying, I feel the exhaustion, hunger and desperation... My druid lowers her head and a tear runs down her cheek while the hunter remains quiet, socked by the depth of our sorrow. I think I'm going to pass out...
"Iselen!" Ruby shakes my shoulders hard snapping me back to reality. "Are you all right? What the hell was that? You were walking away from me emotionally again... You scared the death out of me." I blink to clear my mind and realize my friends are looking at me, worried and confused. Savannah is holding my hand and frowns, bewildered, but I can feel the warmth of the sun and colours of flowers are bright around me again. I take a deep breath, relieved, before whispering.
"Was it terrible?" My friend looks even more perplexed for a second till she finally understands the question and opens her eyes wide, surprised.
"Honey, I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget you're more sensitive to magic than we are and also to the atmosphere and the energy around you, apparently. I never thought the bad vibes of this place could affect you like that."
"Annah..." I reply frowning while Ruby puts her arm around my waist and tries to push me towards the house but I ignore her.
"It was terrible, Iselen, horrible... Worse than anything I could tell you, there aren't words to explain the suffering of my people... And Thyra's too..." The Jamaican girl lowers her head, leaning on the car while Ivy puts a hand on her shoulder sympathetically. "We lost lot of loved ones along the way but there was love too, children laughing and playing... Music and dance, sometimes... Not everything was pain and that helped us to survive, taught us to be strong and how to fight, we never gave up... And now, we're here..." Savannah points at the big house, smiling. "We're creating new happy memories in this place and one day we'll be able to get rid of all that sad energy you've felt, we'll never forget our ancestors and their sacrifice... But one day, a witch will arrive to this property and will only feel love and will hear Diana Siena's laugh while she feeds ducks."
"The Goddess guides us through strange paths sometimes..." I whisper pulling away from my girlfriend to hug her. "We don't understand her purpose but we must trust Mother Nature... There's a long way full of pain from the slave quarters to the big house..."
"But we made it," Annah answers proudly. "Come on, let's go inside... I'll show you the room you'll share with Ruby and we'll start creating new happy memories immediately."
"How did your grandma manage to buy the house?" I ask climbing three steps and looking at the rocking chairs on the veranda with a smile. "This is a perfect spot to read a book."
"It is, isn't it? Well, women in my family have a strong connection with loas, they're the spirits that act as an intermediary between humans and the gods like for example Erzuli, Baron Samedi or Maman Brigitte, and they provide advice and help when you ask them politely. But, above all, those women had a wide knowledge of healing herbs, they were midwives and knew how to fix broken bones and wounds of the slaves... They were really good at their job and the plantation owners trusted them when their doctors couldn't do anything else for them or didn't know what was wrong... I admit that made things easier for my family because it meant more food, a better hut and fewer punishments."
