CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Grandfather, have you felt a spirit near that might be holding dark magic?” asked Trak.
Nathan stared at his grandson. They spoke daily about many things, but rarely about anything to do with magic. Trak held some of the magic that he’d taught him, and had magic of his own that he didn’t speak of, but he never outright asked about it.
“I feel many spirits in this area. Louisiana, New Orleans, especially, has had many men and women who understood magic and how to make the earth their own.”
“Grandfather, I don’t know what that means. The spirit we are trying to help, he was hanged in the Square in the city. His plantation owner was cruel beyond imagination. We think that it’s possible that someone placed a spell on his family, cursing them for what they’d done.”
Nathan nodded his head, closing his eyes. Trak didn’t interrupt the moment of contemplation. He knew better. Whatever his grandfather was seeing was important.
Suddenly, Martha appeared, gripping Nathan’s shoulder.
“What are you doing? Why are you thinking of those people?” she asked. Nathan stared at her as Trak frowned.
“You knew who he was thinking of?” asked Trak.
“He doesn’t know who he is thinking of,” said Martha. “He could feel them. Don’t bring that evil here.”
“Miss Martha,” said Trak, “there is a young man, a former slave whose spirit is held captive in the Square. We believe that this man, Hamp-“
“Stop! Do not say his name here.”
“Martha, he would have been dead by the time you were running Belle Fleur,” said Nathan.
“He was, but his son was not. He tried to court me, tried to get our land to merge, and I refused him. I knew the stories of his father, and his stories weren’t much better.
I bought more than fifty people from him, most of whom I got to the North so they would never have to face a man like him again. ”
“I bet that angered him,” frowned Trak.
“More than you could possibly imagine. He was one of the men that tried to accuse me of witchcraft and voodoo. I had too many people that knew me well enough to know that was a lie, but he was determined to ruin my reputation.”
“We knew that the family was evil,” said Trak, careful not to say the family name. “What we need to know is if there was anyone capable of placing a curse on the family?”
“Pfft!” scoffed Martha. “Hundreds. Thousands! No one liked them and what they did. I believe his granddaughter was committed to an asylum.”
“It seems many of their family members were. We believe they might be haunted by the spirits of those they killed,” said Trak.
“I can’t say I blame the spirits,” frowned Martha.
“I didn’t know those on the plantation early on, but there could be records or stories in the library.
My mother and grandmother often visited other homes to deliver baskets.
As much as they disliked those people, they still would have been kind to a wife or daughter. ”
“I’ll see what I can find,” said Trak. “Thank you both.” Martha watched as he ran toward the big house, entering through the library doors.
“This evil spell is powerful,” said Nathan. “I couldn’t see who put it in place.”
“The spell is nothing compared to the evil of that land,” said Martha. “I hated going there and eventually refused to set foot on the property. You could see it in the faces of those poor people. Abused, starved, and beaten.”
“Why starve them if you wanted them to work for you?”
“Because hate-filled people know nothing else, Nathan,” said Martha with a sad tone.
“Archie visited the site after the war. He said the house was burned to the ground, and the slaves were dead. They’d left the home when they knew that the Union soldiers were coming but didn’t free the slaves.
They chained them to the buildings, leaving them to starve. ”
“We must help this young man to be free of his chains,” said Nathan. Martha nodded, squeezing his hand.
“Then let us help him.”
Trak rifled through dozens of family bibles, diaries, and logs to try and find the information that could help them free Grover. Marcel came in, happy to help, and began rifling through the same.
“Have you reviewed the store logs?” he asked.
“The stores? Why would it be there?” asked Trak.
“The store logs would include medicines or herbs purchased for illnesses on the property. It’s possible that my family consulted with someone, perhaps someone with magical gifts, to know what was needed.”
Trak turned and walked along the shelves filled with books. He climbed the steps to the second level and found the row of books that held the logs for goods purchased.
“1771 through 1798,” he whispered. He pulled the log from the shelf along with the next one that covered through 1827. “This will take a while.”
Marcel grinned at him.
“Not if you know what you’re looking for.”