Voodoo Queens of New Orleans - Vol. I | ✓

Chapter 49: Auntie Dearest

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"Sorry about that there dock. Been meaning to get that thing fixed for ages."

Mikael and I were inside Sajida's treehouse, following Sajida through the hall. Our steps were slow and gracious; careful. I was still shaken up by the shadows in the water. I thought that they were going to seep through the walls or come up the ladder. The door was closed now, but I couldn't get the image of them out of my mind, and I couldn't get the way they said my name out of my head, either. There was a yearning in their voices. It sounded almost like a cry for help. This haunted me the most. Not that they were animated shadows, but they sounded desperate and hopeless as they held onto me. I wanted to ask Sajida about them. Not only was she familiar with these shadows, but this was her bayou - she controlled everyone and everything here.

However, I already had other pressing matters that I needed to talk to Sajida about.

Mikael was watching me as we walked further into the house. He knew I was bothered and tense from the incident that happened outside. But I wondered if he worried about me to get his mind off of the fact that we were actually in Sajida's house?

We were now in what looked to be the living room. Everything was dark and gloomy, the walls deteriorating and close to collapse, yet somehow full of strength and ferocity; they almost looked alive. There was no couch or television, and no photos on the walls like a traditional living room. There were candles everywhere; I was careful where I walked because I was fearful I would catch my shirt on fire. There were large tree roots vining around the ceiling and on the floor; we had to watch our step. Sajida had many ancient relics that sat upon shelves - it wasn't as decorative and 'sentient' as her study, but it was still mystical in the sense that everything she owned either served a purpose or once did.

"Y'all hungry?" Sajida asked us, keeping her eyes forward. We both declined, in which Sajida laughed, finding our opposition stemmed from fear comical.

At the corner of the living room by the staircase, there were six women - three I hadn't seen before, and the other three being Sajida's 'daughters' who went by the names Sasi One, Sasi Two, and Sasi Three. The Sasi's were happily sewing together a patch on what I assumed to be one of Sajida's dresses. I had forgotten just how hideous these girls were - green, sickly skin, decaying teeth, and stringy black hair that was missing in spots. They all had black painted numbers on their head that corresponded to who they were - Sasi One having a number 'one' painted on her head, and so on. Mikael couldn't help the disgust surfacing on his face when he saw the triplets. Disgust and confusion, rather.

Sasi One looked up from her patchwork and gasped when she saw me. A smile - a rotting, empty smile - stretched across her face. Sasi Two began to clap excitedly when her eyes landed on me, whereas Sasi Three looked extremely confused at what her sisters were reacting to.

"Mère!" Sasi One said to Sajida with shortness of breath. "She came! She came like you said she would!"

"Mère is always right! Our sweet, lovely, beautiful Mère is always right!"

The triplets were ecstatic. Why? The reason was still a bit unclear. They beamed with joy and praised Sajida for prophesying my arrival, then praised her for being all knowing and all powerful. Mikael watched in awe at what happened in front of him, however, my eyes became fixated on the three other girls that sat on the floor with needles in their hands and pins in the cloth in front of them. They were normal - well, normal is subjective, however, compared to the triplets, they were normal. But something was strange about them - their eyes. They were a cloudy, ivory shade in the irises, the pupils hazily glossed over as well. There was a discomforting familiarity with them; this eye shade belonged to the bayou, it seemed. The triplets had the same, bright colored eyes that were a murky, dirtied shade of white like elephant tusks. I also remembered these same eyes in the shadows in the water.