Adelaide Knight had just turned 21 years old and her mother still insisted on that childish tradition involving Addy, a grown up adult who had brought her boyfriend and friends to the familial party, blowing candles and making a wish.

Addy blew the candles, but wished nothing. It wasn't that she didn't have goals – she wanted to graduate from the history class and she wanted to gather courage to break up with her boyfriend who had been cheating on her for three weeks now -, it was just that she knew better ways to achieve what she wanted.

When the party was over – her grandparents slept early, so it was still 9 p.m. when they cleaned the balloons and the food -, she and her friends went back to the campus. They were trying to drag her to some college party so she could get drunk for the first time, but she had other plans.

After she finally dissuaded them, she was left alone with her boyfriend. She and her "friends" almost had a physical fight, although Addy loathed fights – You never have any fun, A. You're such a killjoy. Stop acting like a grandma. It was time for Jake to be useful.

"So", said he, "what do you wanna do now?" He had a devilish smile on his face, suggesting second intentions.

"I wanna go to St. Louis."

Jake rolled his eyes.

"Again? We went there last week."

"It was for a homework. I want to do something different now."

"Kinky sex? I'm all for that, but you know, a cemetery isn't the most romantic place on Earth."

Now Addy rolled her eyes. He only ever thought about sex. It wasn't surprising he and Emily got along so well.

"No, I want to visit Marie Laveau's grave."

"Her again? You have to stop being obsessed with that woman."

"I searched for that legend I heard on class. I told you about it. Everybody agrees that when you draw three Xs on her tomb wall, she grants a wish."

"Why would she, though? You're fouling her perpetual home. It doesn't make any sense."

"Most myths don't. They just exist. Sometimes you believe them, sometimes you don't. But Marie really lived, which is more than most legends have on their favor, and she was truly a voodoo queen. So executing wishes isn't the most unbelievable part of the story."

Jake sighed. Addy knew he hated when she spoke like that. It made his brain hurts.

"Okay then. Let's go. But only because it's your birthday."

The cemetery was known for the floods. When it happened, decades ago, the water took the caskets and they got exposed, so people had to build graves above the earth. Marie Laveau was a celebrity there; people all over the world came to visit her.

Addy brought a piece of red chalk with her. Jake dragged himself behind her, whining every two steps. The night was dark, there was no moon on the sky. Addy's flashlight lighted the path. The place was empty. The crypts were on sight, spying on them.

On the center, occupying a special place, was Laveau's mausoleum. It wasn't as impressive as Addy had thought, there were flowers and candles on the floor, but the sepulcher was narrow and white, even though it didn't look like it with all the graffiti there. Lots of Xs, like Addy had thought. Not as much as you would have guessed with the legend being so popular and all. Even though many people knew about it, not all of them had the guts to come here – especially at night, when it was hard for the gravedigger to spot them and stop them to do this – and mark the place.

Addy picked up the chalk. Jake was impatient, snorting and muttering. She drew the three Xs and waited for Marie to appear after she had thought about her wish: I want Jake out of my life. Minutes passed by. Nothing happened. Jake kept hurrying her, I'm cold. Let's go home. She lost hope. She made her walk back to her car parked outside the cemetery, annoyed and frustrated.

"I can't believe it", she whispered. "You were right, Jake."

She expected him to get all cock-a-hoop and never let this night go. He would always remind her of her failure. Told you. We should have stayed on your room, warmed and pleased.

I really wish he would go away, she repeated. Then she noticed he didn't reply. Was he so pissed with her he would never talk to her anymore? Oh, you wish, you silly, she thought, mocking her own optimism.

She turned around to check on him. But he wasn't there.

"Jake? Where are you?" she asked out loud. Such a baby. He was probably pulling a prank on her. Well, he would be disappointed. St. Louis was practically a second home for her. She had spent many hours there, doing research for her history classes. If someone was afraid there, it was him, who calculated the seconds to get out of there since the moment she had asked him to go with her.

"I'm going back to campus without you", she warned him, like a mother fooling around a kid who didn't want to cooperate. Then, she heard a sound. It seemed like steps. It could only be Jake or the gravedigger. Either way, it was better for her to check on it. If it were Jake, she would scold him; if it was the gravedigger, she could ask if he had seen a man who looked like an adult but acted like a child.

She followed the sound back to Marie's tomb. Her flashlight was weakening. The batteries were probably about to die. Still, she saw a silhouette hiding behind one of the walls.

"Jake, c'mon! Stop playing with me."

Then, a female voice whispering so soft it could be leaves moving with the wind:

"You're welcome, child."

She turned the corner of the tomb.

Lying there motionless was Jake's corpse.