Voodoo

Chapter 8

Valva Dubois stood slowly from the table, her frown evident. Miles felt her stomach churn and she did not know whether she'd chosen correctly. What did a bone mean? What was happening?

"Take this." Valva lifted the green bottle she had moved across the table and set it softly in front of Miles.

"Take it where?" Miles asked, still reeling from the bone disintegrating at her touch.

"Put a drop on your tongue, Chile. It will activate your third eye." Valva Dubois sighed to herself in agitation, "you will get what you desire tonight."

"But you do not know what I desire." Miles looked closely at the ¾ filled liquid. The sight of the amount left made her wonder if Adele or her mother had taken it. She didn't want to end up dead or missing like them.

"So?" Valva Dubois rested her knuckles on the table, her body imposing, carrying an air of intimidation.

"I am not taking something I don't know what it is. I don't know you." Miles felt her strength returning. This was all an act after all. The bone must've been a parlor trick, she surmised.

"I'm not going to force you, chile. You came to me for healing. I am prepared to help give you something you want and yet, you won't even take the first step to get it. It's quite simple, you don't deserve what you are seeking." Valva Dubois said and walked to the closed door, turned the knob and opened it a crack. Her eyes bore holes into Miles.

"You haven't told me what I seek yet. How can I trust this is the right thing for my mother?"

"You can lie to me as you wish but Papa Legba knows your deepest fears and desires. He never deals if there is nothing to gain. So be careful with this game you're playing." Valva Dubois opened her palm to the door but Miles stayed seated, holding the green bottle in her lap.

"Who is Papa Legba?"

"He is the Father of balance. The barter and sales of desire is where his spirit lies in wait. He can do anything and everything." Valva answered matter-of-factly.

A quiet settled on the two. The sound of the air conditioning turning on, the whiz of its cold air through the vents above her head seemed deafening. The smell of sage deep in her nostrils made her feel heady.  Indeed, Miles had so many things she wanted but she also didn't trust Valva Dubois to deliver them, especially with her connection to Adele's missing mother. She had to try harder to get answers.

"Rosemary Martin sent me here for my mother." Miles' hooded eyes met Valva's.

Valva Dubois' face was steely at the comment but Miles saw the slightest hint of sorrow stretch across her brow. She said softly, "Rosemary is missing."

"Her husband told me you helped her." Miles rolled the bottle in her palm.

Valva Dubois closed the door softly and took her seat again. Her hands stayed clasped in her lap with poise but her eyes shown glassy in the dim light.

"I did." Valva looked down at her hands, took in the perfectly shaped nails and opal ring, "I tried to help Rosemary but she is not like you. Skeptical or cautious. She had strong desires and with that she made her own decisions outside of my counsel."

"What does that even mean?" Miles' voice rose an octave. Her confusion and frustration boiled within her.

"That means I could not help her." Valva looked up, her face unreadable.

Miles leaned closer to Valva, "But she was pregnant. Her husband said it finally worked."

"Papa Legba's doing." Valva Dubois brushed her long, dark braid behind her and stood again, "we've talked enough for today. You must leave before my next appointment."

Miles closed the bottle that had soothed her into her clasped fist. The heat from her friction radiated from it. Valva glanced away, turned to the door and pulled it open again. Miles pushed the small bottle into her pocket swiftly before Valva turned to stand beside the open door.

Miles looked around the space one last time upon standing. The shelves lined three walls, jars of all colors and sizes placed haphazardly beside and behind each other. The skull, missing a front tooth,  sat in a corner with a shrine of red candles around it. Miles felt like she wanted to stay, talk more. But she knew she had worn her welcome thin with her questions. She felt a thrill in shaking up Valva and hearing about this other world but felt she had very little answers about Adele. She slowly passed Valva Dubois in the doorway and felt a surge of cold pass through her body as she crossed the threshold into the hallway. She stood still as it washed over her from her belly to her chest, then to her neck until it reached the top of her scalp. She glanced at Valva Dubois one last time and could tell that she knew what she felt throughout her body but she closed the door softly without a word.