667: Issue #2 "Activation"

Violet Eve

“Seriously, what’s with the gloves?” I joked with Adam as I pointed at the black ones that came up just past his wrists.

“I have sensitive hands.” He mockingly defended himself.

“Or you’re an X-Men.” I laughed at him. The gloves really weren’t that odd to me; everyone had their own style.

“Here we are: the Crescent City Shaman.” Adam held the shop door open for me like a gentleman and we both were greeted with the scent of sweet woods and smoldering resins.

“Adam. Come here and taste this.” A handsome dark-skinned man with short red locks was rolling something between his hands before he handed it to Adam, who popped it right in his mouth without even asking what it was.

“That tastes like strawberry ass. What is it?” Adam scrunched up his nose and let his tongue dangle over his full lips. I noticed then that the middle of his lower lip was pierced with a silver ring.

“It’s supposed to make you virile, but I don’t want it to taste too bitter because of the Horny Goat Weed.” He went back to rolling herbs in a fruit paste and then in powdered sugar.

“Well, that’s not what I need right now… Henri, this is Violet.” Adam introduced me and Henri’s head snapped to where I was standing.

“She the girl you saved last night, Captain America?” Henri studied me intently.

“Yes, she is.” Adam kicked up in front of the bar and left me to look around the huge shop. There were rows and rows of books, herbs, totems, dolls, and a large assortment of occult items all around me. I had always been interested in the magical, metaphysical, and supernatural: all my stories had those themes. We had Witchcraft shops in Ireland, but Voodoo was something new to me entirely.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Violet. Have a seat and I’ll make you something to calm your nerves and help with that jet-lag you are still feeling.” Henri began snatching pinches of herbs from the glass apothecary jars behind the bar. It was almost set up like an ice cream parlour, but instead of ice cream, there were magical herbs and resins.

“Nice to meet you too.” I climbed onto the stool next to Adam and sat down.

“You’re Irish, hm? Always wanted to go over to the UK and see the sites. I hear Stonehenge is beautiful.” Henri continued to mix and mash herbs before smearing what looked like a guava paste onto his cutting board and began rolling it all together.

“Yeah, I’m from Belfast.” I nodded, watching him expertly make the squishy herbal candies. “You both from here?” I figured as much, but I wasn’t very good at making conversation.

“Henri is, but I was adopted. They think I was born here, but they aren’t sure.” Adam answered.

Adopted. I hadn’t expected that.

“Our mother worked for an adoption agency for years. She saw Adam and just fell in love with him. After me, the doctors told her she couldn’t have anymore, so Adam was her miracle baby.” Henri smirked, winking at Adam.

“Brothers. Your mother must be a very lucky woman.” I smiled. I loved to see blended families; mine never seemed to work out that way.

“What about you; any siblings?” Henri asked, finally rolling up at least a dozen herbal candies before piling them up inside a parchment lined box.

“I had a few step-siblings over the years, but none blood. My mum re-married a few times.” I nodded, taking a loose piece of candy that Henri offered me. I popped it in my mouth and chewed; it was most certainly guava.

“And where’s your mom?” Adam asked me.

Instant rage…but I quelled it.

“She passed away about six months ago.” I drew my lips into a thin line.

“I’m so sorry—I had no idea.” Adam looked as if he felt terrible for even asking.

“Don’t be sorry; not your fault,” I assured him that it was alright; I was going to have to learn to control my anger.

“Is that what brought you over this way? Her passing?” Henri kept asking more questions and I was oddly ok with that.

“Pretty much. My best friend since forever moved down this way about ten years ago. I had no one left over there anymore so she insisted I come here.” I explained how I had even ended up in New Orleans in the first place.

“She’s worried about you; you haven’t been sleeping well.” Henri handed me the box of candies.

“Does it show on my face?” I was sort of embarrassed that he had even noticed.

“No; your face is perfect. I can sense it in your energy field; it’s weak. Having nightmares?” Henri started mixing a new batch of something as he spoke to me.

“Uh—well, I do. I do have nightmares.” I was too baffled to deny it. Adam was now looking at me oddly as he chewed on a tea tree stick.

“What about?” Henri apparently had no boundaries, but his intuition was spot on.

“Stuff. I don’t usually remember. I just know that I generally wake up terrified.” I tried to skirt the answer, but Henri caught my attention.

“I want to try a little thing with you.” He dusted the powdered sugar off his hands and started going through the dusty bottles on the shelf behind him. He grabbed a glass orb that swirled with an indigo liquid; how it got in the seamless globe was beyond me.

“What is that?” I wondered what the orb was used for.

“I call it the Destiny Diviner. It’s this fancy thing I whipped up a few full moons ago; very intense stuff.” Henri came around the counter with the globe in his hand and stepped right in front of me, offering it for me to take.

“This is going to divine my destiny? A snow globe?” I was skeptical.

“She may not be ready for that.” Adam sneered. He started to laugh as Henri pulled the globe into his chest.

“I know the first one didn’t work, but this one is different. I made sure I got it perfect this time.” Henri waved Adam off and turned back around to me.

“Just try it. Maybe it will give you some insight into your dreams.” Henri urged me to take the orb.

“What could it hurt?” I lifted my shoulders in indifference and reached out for the Destiny Diviner.

My fingers had barely grazed the glass when I felt like an explosion went off in my brain.

Images of war and famine, of pestilence and death whirred around in my head. Leathery wings, fire, bloodshed; these images were unlike anything I had ever seen.

Flashes of children, happy children that grew up to be monsters. Fire rained down from the skies and the seas ran red with blood. And then I caught a glimpse of myself.

I wanted to let go of the orb, but it just kept showing me more terrifying images...

I was in the middle of a cemetery, knelt down in front of a gravestone as I laid a flower I couldn’t identify on the plot.

Then I seized up.

I watched as my body began to twitch. I was alone, having some sort of seizure and no one was there to keep me from choking on my own tongue. I flailed back on the ground and started to scream, clawing at my face.

I could tell that I was in immense amounts of pain just by looking at myself, but I physically didn’t feel a thing.

When the seizing finally stopped I witnessed myself roll over so I could finally see my face…

I screamed, almost dropping the orb as I snapped back to reality. Henri had torn it from my hands before I could let it go and I just stood there drenched in sweat, eyes wild with fear.

“Keep that thing away from me,” I whispered, raising my tone at the end as I batted Henri out of my face. What kind of fucking game was he playing?

“What did you see?” Henri’s eyes were wide with wonder.

“You’re a sick bastard. I don’t know how you did any of that. Was there something in the candy?” I began to gag at the thought of it being laced with LSD or something worse.

Before Henri could answer me, I had turned heel and ran out of the shop with Adam calling my name as I fled.