Chapter Five
Madame Jeanette leans over and keeps eye contact with Victor.
Victor doesn’t move until a cat jumps onto the table.
He breaks eye contact and looks over at the feline.
The cat is a tabby with black and gray fur and white mitten paws.
Victor feels the tabby’s grayish-blue eyes peering into his soul.
It sits close to Madame Jeanette and starts licking one of its front paws.
“Hello, my little Beignet,” Madame Jeanette smiles as she collects her cat in her arms. “Were you expecting a black cat?” she asks Victor as she starts to pet the cat’s head.
“To be a little honest, yes,” Victor responds as he keeps looking at the fluffy feline.
“Not all cats have to be black,” she giggles and makes small kissing noises while scratching the cat’s chin. “This is Beignet, and she is very special to me. She came to me one night when I felt alone, and she helped me find my way back to the living.”
“Back . . . to the living?” Victor asks with a crack in his voice.
Madame Jeanette giggles again as she picks up the cat.
“I was in a dark place many years ago. I felt lost and broken after many loved ones had left me.” Madame Jeanette nuzzles her cheek against her feline.
“She came to me in the middle of the night, just meowing outside my window. I opened my window, and she just made herself at home. And she hasn’t left my side ever since. ”
Victor looks down at the cards and sees the “Tower” on the left. She did have a tragedy in her life. The “Wheel of Fortune” is at the bottom. Victor begins to realize that her reading is similar to his. Unlike Victor, Madame Jeanette isn’t afraid to let her troubles be out in the open.
Victor tries to look at the other two, but his eyes start to go blurry.
He rubs his eyes, trying to get them to refocus, but it doesn’t work.
He rubs them again, hoping this strange feeling will subside.
When he opens his eyes, the cards are no longer in front of him.
He blinks a couple more times, trying to make sure he isn’t hallucinating.
When he looks back up, he’s startled when the Latin man from earlier is sitting next to Madame Jeanette. He gives Victor a corner-of-the-mouth smile as his hand is placed on top of the cards, gently rubbing his thumb against the side of the deck. He holds a neat glass of whiskey in his other hand.
The man is now wearing a dark charcoal vest with matching slacks. His shirt is pale green, with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows. The top buttons are undone because he isn’t wearing a tie. Victor somehow remains calm, even though this stranger appeared out of nowhere.
After a moment of staring at each other, the man speaks with a Spanish accent. “Hello, I am Eduardo. But everyone calls me Eddie.”
“H-Hello, Eddie,” Victor answers with a bit of hesitation.
“I am very impressed with your reading skills. Why don’t you try reading my cards?” Eddie slides the deck back over to Victor.
Victor stops the cards with his hand. “I don’t understand.”
Eddie sits back in his seat, crosses his legs, and clasps his hands in his lap. “Tell me, what do the cards tell you about me? Show me what you find.”
Victor picks up the deck and starts shuffling. He looks between Eddie and Madame Jeanette.
“Focus on me and not her or the cat. You should know this about tarot,” Eddie remarks.
Victor starts to put the cards down; the first card is the “Emperor.”
“Ahh!” Eddie says gleefully, slapping his leg, “A strong card. That’s definitely me.”
Victor places the “Moon” on top of the Emperor. Madame Jeanette giggles. “Looks like you’re acting a little cocky, ah, Eddie?”
“Would you like me to continue?” Victor asks.
Eddie scratches his chin and then takes a sip of his whiskey. “I think you’re good. But not ready.”
Victor is confused, “Ready? For what?”
“Where do you live, chéri? Do you still live in the desert, or is your heart elsewhere?” Madame Jeanette asks without hesitation.
Victor is baffled by her question. “What do you mean?”
Eddie snaps his fingers. A maroon business card with silver writing appears. He tosses it to Victor, and it stops perfectly before him. “When you get home, call this number.”
Victor picks up the card and studies it.
It only has a number written in silver foil font, no name or address.
The border has an elegant design. Victor looks at the back and sees nothing.
He is confused by what was given to him.
When Victor looks up, only Madame Jeanette is sitting before him.
She rests her chin on her clasped hands while giving an almost devilish smile on her lips.
Victor is so focused on Madame Jeanette that he doesn’t notice Eddie appearing beside him.
Eddie blows some black powder into Victor’s face.
Victor coughs a little as he inhales the odorless powder.
Victor’s eyelids start to flutter as he slumps over into his seat, knocked out from the powder.
The mystery man appears from the darkness of another room.
Behind him stands a slender Japanese woman with shoulder-length, straight black hair, wearing an asymmetrical, bright red dress and matching red high-heeled shoes.
“Boys,” Madame Jeanette starts as she puffs her pipe, “take him back to his hotel room. And make it look like he never left. We don’t want to startle him right away.”
Victor sits up quickly in his bed. His entire uncovered naked body is covered in sweat.
He looks rapidly around his dark room, breathing heavily.
What happened? he thinks to himself. Was it a dream?
Did that actually happen? He turns on the lamp, reaches for a bottle of water on the nightstand, and starts chugging away.
When he finishes drinking the water, his breathing and heart rate start to slow down. The room no longer feels like it’s spinning. He continues to look around, but no one is present. Victor gets out of bed and heads to the bathroom. He walks over to the sink and proceeds to wash his hands and face.
As he dries off his face, he looks into the mirror and sees the slender Japanese woman standing behind him. He makes eye contact with her piercing blue eyes. She looks up and down at Victor’s naked body and gives him a smile and a wink.
Victor turns around and sees no one there. He looks back and forth between the mirror and where the woman stands. He takes a deep breath to try to calm his nerves. “I really need to stop coming to New Orleans.”
Back at Madame Jeanette’s table, Eddie sits to her right, and the mystery man is to her left. The Japanese woman sits across from her. Another older woman and a man smoking a cigar sit in the other seats. Madame Jeanette is now dressed in a tailored suit, as the rest of the audience.
“Well, what did you think, Chiyo?” Madame Jeanette asks the Japanese woman across from her.
Now dressed in a bright red suit, Chiyo taps her matching red fingernails on the table, “I can sense a lot of magic coming off him. It needs to be trained soon.” She turns to Eddie, raising an eyebrow. “He was a little startled when I saw him naked.”
Eddie snickers, “I took him for a guy who likes to sleep naked. And I was told to make it seem like he never left his hotel.”
Chiyo rolls her eyes. “I’m saying he has much potential. I can sense there are many avenues he can take and accomplish each of them.”
Madame Jeanette holds her pipe close to her lips and mentions, “He knows his way around the tarot. That is perfectly clear.”
“Do we know if he is part of a coven?” Chiyo asks.
The mystery man places a folder on the table. “He is not. However, many of you might remember his grandmother.” He opens the folder and slides it over to Chiyo. “It was such a shame she never got to pass on her teachings to her daughter and grandson.”
Chiyo picks up the folder and examines its contents. “Do we know what really happened to her?”
“She died from cancer,” the man responds. “At least that’s what the autopsy will say. But we know it was more than that.”
Chiyo looks over at Eddie and hands him the folder.
“What about his mother?” Eddie asks as he looks over the files inside. “I remember when she was young but never heard if she kept up with her lessons.”
“His grandmother died before she could pass anything of great value onto his mother,” The mystery man responds.
“But that was because his grandmother pulled his mother out of her studies at an early age. His mother then passed away before she turned 40. He was barely 13,” the man stated with a hint of sorrow.
“He’s practically been off our radar since his birth.
How that was possible, your guess is as good as mine. ”
Eddie hands Madame Jeanette the folder, and then Madame Jeanette gives the folder back to the mystery man. “I remember his mother and grandmother,” Madame Jeanette says. “His grandmother was an amazing witch. I wish Victor were able to learn from her. Do you think you will be able to guide him?”
The mystery man returns the folder to his satchel, “I believe so. He definitely has a gift that needs to be tapped. I could feel the strong energy coming from him during my encounters.”
Madame Jeanette takes a long and heavy puff from her pipe. She exhales the thick smoke around the table. The smoke starts to curve into a dome. The others cannot see anything in the smoke while Madame Jeanette sits back, examines, and informs them what she sees.
“Victor seems to have great potential; that is correct,” Madame Jeanette begins.
“But we must proceed with caution when we engage with him. He is already tightly wound up from our encounters.” She looks over at the man sitting between Eddie and Chiyo.
“He is not afraid but will question every step of the way. He might struggle and lose focus, so we must be patient.” She brings her attention back to the cloud.
“He can accomplish so much, possibly more than his grandmother. But is Victor the one we need?”
Madame Jeanette looks to the woman sitting next to Chiyo. “What say you, Akisha?”
Akisha is a dark-skinned woman of African descent with short silver hair.
She grew up in London after her family immigrated there when she was three.
Her eyes are intense, seeing many great things, but more tragic.
She is the eldest at the table and is respected among the covens.
Many covens come to her for approval or guidance even though she does not hold the official title of “Superior” or “Elder” within her own coven.
“I vaguely remember his grandmother. What I do recall about her is she was mighty. She never wanted to be feared because of this. She was kind and generous in her teachings. It was a tragedy when she was taken away. If Victor holds anything in his blood like his grandmother, we must ensure he is on the right path and will not be persuaded onto another.”
“Are you sure the council will approve his training? Being that he is not part of a coven?” Eddie asks.
The man sitting next to Eddie looks deeply into the smoke on the table, even though he can not see anything beyond it.
“Let me handle that part,” he says in his Texas drawl.
“In the meantime, let’s keep all this to ourselves for the time being.
Victor has been off our radar for a reason.
If it was something his grandmother did to keep it that way, we must proceed carefully. ”
Madame Jeanette turns her attention to the mystery man.
“Well, looks like he will be yours soon enough. Keep an eye on Victor and take care of him. If we play our cards right, he will be the warlock we hope he can be.” She looks back into the smoke fading away on the table.
“But if we lose sight, he could be our worst nightmare.”