Chapter One

A hand snapped out in front of me and landed on the wall. I almost fell backwards in shock. Someone else was down here?

“Don’t even think about moving,” a quiet voice whispered just next to my ear, I couldn’t tell whether the voice belonged to a male or a female. The tanned arm in front of me had a black snake tattooed from wrist to shoulder, with the tail snaking onto the person’s finger and the head disappearing up it’s arm and into the dark all around me.

“Can I ask why?” I said quietly, my eyes darting around, the flashlight in my hand flickered before coming back on with full force. I heard them sigh slightly and come into the circle of light next in front of me. It was a girl with spiky brown-black hair, and sparkling green eyes with just a hint of malice, she seemed to be fifteen or sixteen. She was frowning at me like I was scum. Her was tanned, but not excessively so, and she had a wide, almost African looking nose.

“No,” she finally responded. I looked her up and down again. Black loose jeans, black tank top with a faded Aerosmith logo plastered across her chest. She wore combat boots and had black dragon on her other arm. The heads of the two creatures were on either side of her neck, making her look even more terrifying than I already thought she was. She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at me, green eyes almost slits, glinting in the scarce light of the tunnel.

“Who are you?” I asked, backing up further. My flashlight was still trained on her, I knew that nothing in the dark could touch me, and it was her I was terrified of.

“Eve,” she said. Suddenly, I started laughing. My entire body shook with this laughter, I felt tears of mirth prick my eyes and I quickly wiped them away, training my eyes back on her scowling face.

“What’s funny?” Eve snapped, her earrings clanked angrily against her head and she twisted her head to glare at me again, scowling. I immediately stopped laughing; this girl was absolutely terrifying, I didn’t want to get on her dark side.

“My name is Adam,” I said, smiling lightly at Eve lightly.

“Absolutely hilarious,” she snapped at me, frowning. “Why are you down here? This is my family’s property that you’re trespassing on.” I noticed that she had a slight hint of a Creole southern accent.

“My dad and I moved into the house on the other side of the hill. My father decided to take early retirement and pursue his passion of researching New Orleans history,” I said, shifting slightly so that the light wasn’t directly trained on her face.

“My grandmother and I live at the house at the edge of the graveyard,” Eve explained quickly, examining my face. “Still, why are you down here?” She crossed her arms again, contorting her face into an unsightly scowl. I frowned slightly, raising my eyebrows.

“I thought this place was abandoned,” I said, touching the gravelly gray wall. “I wanted to explore.” Eve studied my face, before she grabbed my chin and made me look into her eyes. I could see my own terrified expression mirrored in those glowing green orbs. Suddenly a surprised expression flickered across her face, eyebrows up, eyes wide, mouth forming a slight ‘o’. It was gone as soon as it had come. I blinked rapidly, and she pushed me away slightly.

“Come with me,” she said, grabbing my wrist and tugging me down the long passageway in front of us.

“Okay,” I said quietly. I was only following her because I wanted to, or at least that’s what I tried to tell myself. Suddenly, Eve stopped and turned a corner I didn’t see. I rammed into the wall.

“Ouch!” I shouted, rubbing my nose with the knuckles of the hand that contained the old red flashlight. Eve stopped about halfway down the tunnel, and turned again, opening an almost invisible door. She then fumbled around in the dark, until a light clicked on. I flinched at the sudden light, and turned off my dying flashlight. Finally, she let go of my wrist. I sighed and rubbed it, knowing the worst was yet to come.

“Come on,” Eve said irritably, grabbing my wrist again and tugging me up the stairs.

“Okay,” I muttered, more than confused. After a minute of climbing the ancient wooden stairs, Eve opened a second door and tugged me through it. Her grip was too tight on my wrist; I was going to have bruises there. Sighing, I rubbed my wrist again, focusing on the floor. Had this crazy girl just brought me into her house?

“Grandma Rosa!” Eve yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. I glanced around; it appeared that we were in a large kitchen. The floor and cupboards were old, at least 1800, as well as the counters, but the appliances seemed to be straight out of the 1950’s, from the chunky, rounded fridge, to the minuscule stove and sink. The kitchen had one large opening that at one point must have held a door, but it was long gone, instead a long sparkling curtain was pushed to one side. Besides the door we just came from, it was the only other exit. I debated leaving, but my southern instincts told me to be polite and hear these people out.

“Evie?” a much quieter voice called from upstairs, before a loud clomping came from outside the door and a portly old African American woman clad in a long, flowing navy blue dress and dozens of sparkling sashes walked into the kitchen, smiling at Eve before training her eyes on me. Her smile wavered some and she walked over to me, right up close. I had to look down so she could peer into my face. I noticed this old woman, in her eccentric get-up, had the same snake tattoo that Eve had, on her right arm and the same piercing green eyes.

The woman pulled back, frowning at me.

“Who are you, boy?” she asked me, crossing her arms across her chest. “Full name, age, place of birth. Go on, explain yourself!” I was taken aback, but I cleared my throat, ran a hand through my blonde hair and put the flashlight on the nearest counter top before speaking.

“The name is Adam Isaac Du’Paul, ma’am,” I said. “Age seventeen, I was born in Savannah, Georgia, ma’am.”

“A’ight,” said the old woman, looking slightly more satisfied, she smiled lightly and adjusted her head wrap, glancing at Eve, before turning back to me.

“Who are your parents? Got any brothers?” the old woman asked, still scrutinizing me.

“Elane and Abraham Du’Paul, my mother is deceased, and I’m an only child, ma’am,” I responded quickly, brushing my shaggy hair out of my face.

“Dear Lord, help us,” the old woman breathed, suddenly, she turned to Eve and tugged her out of the room, beyond my hearing and sight. I leaned forward, trying to listen to their conversation, but to no avail. Suddenly, I heard them reenter the room and I pulled back, trying to look as innocent as possible. Eve glared at me as if she knew I was eavesdropping. I shrugged lightly at her, as if saying whatever.

“I’m Madam Rosalie Evrianah, you can call me Madam Rosa,” the old woman said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Adam.” She smiled at me, before turning to Eve. The difference between the two women was astounding. Eve was taller and much thinner, her skin paler, hair lighter and straight, but the eyes were the same and that surprised me.

“Eve,” Madam Rosa said. “I need you to take Mr. Du’Paul to the shop, and I need you to talk to him, until I can make it.”

“What?” Eve said, looking appalled and confused at Madam Rosa’s statement.

“Follow my orders, Eve,” Madam Rosa said threateningly. “He might find the shop interesting, after all.” Eve sighed, glanced at me from the corner of her eye, before shaking her head and turning to me.

“Come on,” she muttered. I waved pleasantly to Madam Rosa, grabbed my flashlight off the counter and followed Eve outside, not able to spare a glance to the house.

I found Eve leaning against a rusty, old and dented black VW Beetle. I glanced behind my shoulder, stumbling at the sight of the house behind me. It was crumbling and looked almost derelict. The wooden wrap-porch was falling apart, and the white paint that covered the broken bricks of the front of the house, was chipping and dirty.

“Stop staring and get in the car,” Eve sighed, tugging open the passenger side door for me, before walked around the car and climbing into the drivers seat. I took a deep breath and climbed in. It was a pleasant surprise to find the car clean, smelling of mint and lemons. A dream catcher shook when I slammed my door and Eve started the engine. Small beads hung from every available surface of the car, catching the light in a rainbow of shades.

“Who’s Madam Rosa?” I asked when we pulled out of the driveway.

“My grandmother,” Eve sighed. I spluttered for a moment before recovering.

“But she’s black,” I said, confused. Eve glared at me, looking both ways before pulling out onto a dirt road that was clearly well worn and much used. Trees lined either side of the road, shading a decent part of the road.

“So?” Eve asked, tapping one of her fingers nervously on the steering wheel and speeding up slightly.

“You’re…not,” I said after a moment. I had meant for it to come out suavely and much nicer than it did. Eve scowled at me.

“I’m a quarter African American,” she snapped, enunciating the last two words carefully. I took the hint, nodding.

“Okay,” I said. “Where are your parents?” I turned slightly, the seatbelt cutting into my neck. Eve kept her eyes on the road, scowling.

“They died, a long time ago,” she said finally. I faced front again, sighing. I pushed back the memories that threatening to surface and blinked rapidly, keeping my eyes on the green blur that was the bordering trees.

“I know how it feels,” I said quietly.

“I know,” Eve said, I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye, surprised.

“I heard you tell my grandmother that your mom was deceased,” she explained quickly, yanking the steering wheel and turning onto the main road. I watched the scenery change from trees to strip-malls in silence.

“Oh,” was all I could muster up. We sat in silence for the remainder of the trip, until she pulled into the only empty parking space in front of a narrow shop in downtown New Orleans. The sign on the door was hand painted and read:

Witch Doctor and Fortune Teller
Madam Rosa’s
Shop of Magic

“Is this the shop your grandmother was talking about?” I asked; as Eve pulled a key out of her pocket and opened the wooden door, pushing it out of the way and putting a large glass ball on the floor to keep it open. She flicked on lights and flipped the closed sign in the window to open, before she turned and sat behind the counter, and gestured for me to sit on the second seat next to her.

Cautiously, I followed her and perched myself on the well worn wooden stool and glanced at her face. She was much more serene now and she examined my face with interest.

“I’m bet you’re really confused,” she sighed finally. “I’m really sorry, my grandmother can have that affect on people. So can I.” She flushed slightly. The defiant, cold girl I met in the underground tunnel was gone; in her place was a normal teenager. I tried to keep myself from staring at the tattoos snaking around both her arms, but ended up looking at them anyway.

“You wanna know the story behind these, don’t you?” she asked, poking herself in the arm. I nodded, looking up and meeting her green eyes.

“This one,” she pointed at the long black dragon. “I got last year, for my birthday. The snake is a birthmark.”

“What?” I asked, surprised. “That can be a birthmark!”

“If you aren’t as stupid as I think you, I bet you noticed that my grandmother had the same one. It isn’t a tattoo, Adam. It’s a birthmark,” Eve said. She reached under the desk and pulled on a sweatshirt, even though it must have been at least ninety degrees outside, and humid.

I opened my mouth to say something when customers started arriving, walking up tot Eve and asking her question after question. I sighed and picked up a book I noticed under the desk, and pulled it out, brushing the dust of the well-worn cover. A faded black title in an old-fashioned curly script greeted me as I brushed a layer of dust off the red cover. The Life and Times of Madam Eve it read. Frowning I opened it to the title page.