Chapter 2

Voodoo At Work

"Dreams that do come true can be as unsettling as those that don't."—Brett Butler

Two days later, Maggie and Lauren found themselves on the beach of an exotic Caribbean island.

"Can you imagine living here?" Lauren asked, picking up a seashell and pocketing it.

Maggie grinned. "Yeah… it would have sucked being stranded here alone, though."

Lauren rolled her eyes. "You watch too many movies."

The other girl only shrugged and continued to squish the wet sand between her toes. Maggie was dressed in her favorite pair of khaki shorts and a very worn out black tank top. Her long dark brown hair was piled on top of her head in a messy not. Her fingernails were polished a dark purple and beginning to chip. Her black flip flops had been used on many occasion and looked as though they were about to rip at any moment. In short, Maggie looked as she always did, a beautiful mess.

She looked out at the clear blue water and smiled softly. The island truly was a beautiful place. The warm weather, the white sand, the crystal sea… It all seemed too amazing to exist, and Maggie found herself quickly falling in love with it.

"Oh my god! Maggie!" Lauren shouted a few yards away. She was squatting in the sand, holding something she had just discovered.

She's like a freakin' Lara Croft, Maggie thought with a smile.

Margaret Jones shuffled over to her blonde companion and stopped abruptly when she saw what she was holding. Lauren was holding a very old locket. "What is that?" Maggie gasped, stepping closer to get a better view. Lauren handed the piece of jewelry to her. "It's broken," she stated sadly. "Probably not worth anything either. You can have it if you want…"

Maggie nodded, flipping the rusted heart over in her hand. "Wait, there's an engraving," Maggie said, softly scratching at the black gunk and rust that had filled in the lettering. A moment later and the word was exposed. As Margaret read it, her eyes grew to the size of tennis balls.

Lauren leaned in and read the locket, "Sarah." She looked at Maggie and grinned. "Cute! Wouldn't that have been creepy if it said Margaret?"

Maggie gulped, raising her eyes to the ocean before her. "Yeah… creepy…"

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The rest of their day was fairly normal. Maggie had managed to push the incident aside as a coincidence and thought nothing more of it. That is of course until they came upon a small community on one of their many stops to the tropical islands. Margaret and Lauren were not so interested with the tourist traps and attractions as they were with the culture they were surrounded by.

" We should head into the heart of the town." Maggie said, pulling her friend up the old cobblestone path and past a man carrying necklaces he was trying to sell. A short while later they found themselves in a rather rundown part of the island.

"Yeah, great idea Mags." Lauren huffed sarcastically. She was becoming very uncomfortable under the gazes of the locals peering from their windows. " Are you trying to get us killed?"

Maggie rolled her eyes, and upon doing so she rested her green orbs on a small mysterious shack. With little examination she discovered that there were shrunken heads hanging outside the door with an old and rickety faded sign hanging on one of its rusted hinges. The sign read, Voodoo Dalma. Something about that place beckoned to her. "How cool is that?" She whispered, walking towards the store.

Lauren turned from her defensive stares at the locals to find that her friend had disappeared into the tiny local shop. Her eyes narrowed in frustration and she ultimately ended up following her friend inside.

Once inside, she was hit with a strong smell of dirt. The place was dark, lit only by candles. The walls were lined with shelves filled with jars and random curious objects. From the ceiling hung empty cages covered in cobwebs, and she was surprised to find a monkey hanging by a rope watching her absorb all of her surroundings. With a startling screech he dropped to the floor and scrambled into the back room.

" I hear ya, Jack!" A woman called from the hidden area of the tiny store. A few moments later, a strangely dressed woman with long dark dreadlocks entered into view. "Wat is it you be looking for?" She asked kindly, eyeing Lauren. She hadn't noticed Maggie standing on the other end of the store, fingering a skull.

"Um," Lauren began nervously. This woman was beyond intimidating with her dark haunting eyes. " I-I just followed my friend in, actually."

The woman's eyes widened and her eyebrows rose. "Yer friend?" She turned slightly to see Maggie almost drop the skull she was holding and quickly try to replace it in hopes nobody was watching. When she turned to the other two women she blushed upon realizing the scene she had just enacted.

"Oh!" Maggie started. "Sorry, I was just…looking around. I hope that's okay?"

The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment and didn't reply. She only stared with what looked like a smirk turning the edges of her black stained lips upward. She took a couple steps toward Maggie and stopped, dropping her gaze to the front pocket of Maggie's jeans. The mysterious smirk turned into a wide grin. "He be waitin' fer ya." She said, locking eyes with Margaret.

Maggie gave Lauren a questioning look before turning to the woman. " I'm sorry, who is…waiting?"

The woman could only laugh as she grabbed Maggie by the wrist and pulled her into the back room. "Jack is waitin!" She pronounced, reaching for a jar of sea water. Maggie gulped. Recent events were beginning to make her think she was going insane. "Jack? You mean the monkey?" she asked hopefully. Surely, this woman couldn't know of the dream she had endured only recently. The woman slammed some strange plant against the table and shot a look at the disgruntled customer. "NO," she demanded. " Not de monkey. I be talkin bout de man ye love."

Lauren produced a snort from the doorway. It was typical that a local resident would try and trick a tourist into a fortune telling, one that would cost a pretty penny in the end. "I think we should be going, Miss. I don't think you have the right person." She walked forward and reached for Maggie's arm, but suddenly stood still. Completely still. Maggie suddenly realized that Lauren wasn't breathing or blinking. It was as if she were frozen in place.

"What did you do to her?" She shrieked, snapping her fingers in front of Lauren's face. "What did you do?" she demanded, turning to the woman.

The mysterious woman did not look up from her ministrations. The plant she had been holding was now ground up into a fine green powder. She then proceeded to dump the powder into the jar of seawater. "Give me de locket." She said, holding her hand out to Maggie.

Maggie looked at her incredulously. "What? No! I want you to fix what you did!" She exclaimed, turning back to her friend.

"She will be fine, Sarah, just do what I say!"

Maggie's heart began to race. Surely this couldn't really be happening. "Am I dreaming?" she muttered to herself. She slowly turned back to the woman who was now walking towards her with a dark and knowing smile. "De locket?" She asked.

Maggie reluctantly reached into the front pocket of her pants and produced the item. The woman held the jar out to her, indicating that she wanted Margaret to place it inside. Maggie hesitated for a second, but then let it drop into the water with a soft plunk.

The woman turned her back to Maggie and began speaking in a language that she had never heard before. "Are you going to help my friend?" She asked, wondering what on earth was going on.

The woman whipped around quickly. " Drink," she ordered, handing her the jar.

"But my friend?" she replied urgently. "Don't you understand what's happened to her? She's frozen! Look at her!"

The woman sighed and shoved the jar into Maggie's hands. "All will be well if ye drink."

Maggie highly doubted that this was in fact the truth, but she would do anything to get onto the path of helping Lauren, even if it meant humoring the crazy woman for a moment. Margaret sighed and brought the jar to her lips and took a sip. An intense wave of tangy salt hit her taste buds. She puckered her lips and lowered the jar.

"I can't drink this! It's disgusting!"

The woman only looked at her and smiled. Somehow Maggie didn't think that was a good thing. "So…what's supposed to happen?" Maggie asked, glancing between the shopkeeper and her friend. "Is this going to help Lauren?"

The woman shook her head. "No, but ye might want a pillow," she replied with a smile.

Before Margaret could scrunch her face in confusion, she found herself feeling sucked downward in a speed that seemed to be unearthly. Her heart seized for a moment and the world went black. The hard heavy beats of Maggie's heart were the only sound to be heard pulsing through her head. A moment later and a swift wave of boisterous noise and bright light shot through the air, just as Maggie fell backward against the earth, slamming her head onto a very hard rock. It wasn't more than a moment later that darkness overcame her again.

A/N:

Well folks, that is all I have for you today! Reviews would be much coveted, if you catch me drift! Arr. lol.