Chapter 10: Strollin' Through Swamps

A second ago, Nova Scotia was staring at a little voodoo figure with a silver cross pinned to the blue door. A second later, she was staring at a woman pointing some sort of rifle at her. The woman was tan, with freckles, bags under her eyes, and darker brown hair, tied in a loose ponytail with a white flower. She was noticeably chubby and not much taller than Nova Scotia.

"Can I help you?" Louisiana asked, moving her rifle so it wasn't directly pointing at the Trio, but kept her eyes guarded.

"You woulden happen ta be Renée, would you?" Nova Scotia asked, thinning her accent a little.

"Yeah... Who're you?"

"So yer Louisiana?" PEI asked. Louisiana stared at him in surprise. This wasn't a good morning for her, and now a mysterious woman with scars and tough-looking men were at her door, and somehow found out her identity.

"This is the Province of Prince Edward Island." Nova Scotia cut in. "I'm Nova Scotia and this is Cape Breton." The Caper gave Louisiana a 'hello'. "We're lookin' fer ar bro, New Brunswick. Have ya seen him?" Louisiana's eyes lit up.

"Oh, so you're all Brunswick's siblings. Well, pleasure to meet ya. I am Louisiana." The Louisianan smiled, shaking each of their hands. "Brunswick has told me a lot about yas." She stepped forward, closing the door behind her and placing a sign on it.

"Ah... I see." Was all Nova Scotia could say. "So, where is Brunswick?"

"Well..." Louisiana's smile faltered a bit. "You see... This morning Brunswick went for a walk in the swamp. He told me that he would be back by one-thirty. It's almost two now, so I'm gonna look for hi- SHIT!" In a flash, Louisiana was behind them, firing at the forest. The Maritimers whirled around just in time to catch a glimpse of the animal she was shooting at.

It was a large brown, furry creature. They only had a second to see it, but that was more then enough. Louisiana ran down the steps, shooting some more. Her eyes darted around the yard. Seeing no sign of the creature, she lowered her rifle.

"Sorry folks." She yelled to her guests. "A wolf has been hangin' around. Been trying to rid myself of her for a few days now."

"Mighty big fera wolf." Cape Breton exclaimed, staring down at Louisiana.

"Our wolves are different."

"Different 'nuff ta run on two legs?"

"It Oi'm not mistaken." PEI said. "Tha' looked ta be a werewolf!" Louisiana was silent for a moment.

"... Here, we call 'em Rougarous..." She said, just loud enough for the trio to hear. Nova Scotia raced down the steps and over to Louisiana.

"Ya mean ta tell me tha' thar's a friggin' werewolf runnin' 'round these swamps an' ya jus' let Brunswick walk out thar!?" She yelled at the Louisianan.

"I thought it wouldn't go after him!" Louisiana yelled back. She gave a tired sigh, rubbing her eyes. "Walk with me." She then turned around and started off into the forest. The others exchanged glances before following her. "A few days ago, me and this woman from another town had a little fight. She was fightin' with another woman over a dress. I sided with the other woman and even insulted the woman who lost when she started goin' at me. Turns out, that woman is a witch, and don't take humiliation too well.

For the last few days now, she's been comin' over to my yard at night and howlin' away, keeping me up half the night. One day I found two of my chairs on the porch here all broken up! She'd probably come in if I didn't protect my home, but anyway, I think that she won't bother with Brunswick. Even then, I asked him to stay in N'Awleans last night just in case... Needed it, too, he did: He looked almost as tired as I am."

"So, what's with tha gun?" PEI asked. Louisiana smirked.

"You never know what you'll find out here, cher, and I have a right to protect myself."

"D'ya really think she won't go afta Brunswick?" Nova Scotia asked, waving the mosquitoes away.

"Maybe... She did overhear us, and may go after him to spite me... You should go back to the house now. It would be bad if ya'll got hurt."

"Thanks, but we've tackled fierca things than some shape-shiftin' witch. We know a good bidda fightin', too."

"Oh, really?"

"You bet." PEI said from beside Nova Scotia. "Oi once severed a man's arms... Just by starin' at 'im." Nova Scotia rolled her eyes with a half smile while Louisiana stared at the Islander. Cape Breton, who couldn't help but smile at PEI's story, was mostly busy looking around and slapping at any mosquitoes that landed on him. His Grey-green eyes surveyed the forest. The scenery was rather nice: Despite the hot whether and the bugs, the forest was alive with different shades of greens, blues, and browns. There were tall softwood trees that were reflected beautifully in the bog water, due to the sky being mostly clear. Overall, it was peaceful and quiet.

Cape Breton couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at noticing that last part.

"Ye sure dis is da same direction Brunswick went?"

"If I remember so." Louisiana replied. She paused, just remembering something. "Brunswick has never been in this area, I think... I gave him a flare gun in case he got lost, so keep an eye on the sky."

A few minutes went by before Nova Scotia spoke up.

"How long has Brunswick been comin' down here?"

"For awhile..." The Pelican state answered. "His last visit was 2 years ago. Visited me for a day, then drove off to walk aroun' the next county, then we spent the next coupla days in N'Awleans. He is very curious about the Cajuns."

"Cajuns?" Cape Breton echoed. "Ye mean Acadians?"

"We call 'em Cajuns down here. I hear they originally came from yo' area. Might be why he's so curious about them: Must still feel an attachment to 'em..."

'... An attachment to 'em...' Nova Scotia thought, feeling that there was more to that, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. A light caught her attention a moment later. Looking to the left she caught of a half-transparent man in ripped overall walking by.

"Hey, mister!" Nova Scotia called out to the ghost, catching the attention of everyone. The spectre turned, surprised to see someone approaching him.

"Were ya talkin' to me, Miss?" The ghost asked her.

"Yes, I am. You woulden've happened ta see a man walkin' around here, woulju? He was carrying a hikin' stick, an' has reddish-brown hair in a pony-tail."

"Anna few bits of hair on tha roite are straight." PEI cut in, pointing to the side of his head.

"Hmm..." The ghost man thought, scratching his chin. The group stared at him in mild suspense as they waited for his answer. "... Ouais... I tink I seent 'im... He went in dat direction." The ghost pointed to the swamp laid out behind him.

"Thank you." Nova Scotia said as the group walked on.

~ Meanwhile ~

A red car drove up to Louisiana's house, parking beside her porch, a few meters from the other two cars.

"Renée!" America yelled as he jumped out of the driver's seat, jogging to the door. Spotting the sign on it and recognising the hand writing belonging to his state, he read it out loud:

"'Gone for a walk in the swamp. Be back soon.

-Renée'."

By now the Canadians were beside him, reading the note as well.

"Great." Ontario said sarcastically. "Now what?" America looked over to Louisiana's backyard, which merged with the swampy forest. A smile donned on his face.

"We follow her!" America declared to the Canadians. "I see footprints over there! I remember watching the weather channel last week. There was a lotta rain in this part of Louisiana, so all we gotta do is follow her footprints in the mud!" Without waiting for their replies, America dashed down the steps and off into the forest. Canada and, reluctantly, Ontario, ran after him.

America stopped to look at the footprints, frowning slightly.

"That's odd... There's more than one set."

"That must mean the Maritimes have already met her." Canada announced when he and Ontario caught up to America.

"Why would they go into the forest?" Ontario asked aloud.

"No clue." America answered. "But we'll find out when find 'em, 'cause I'm the hero!" And with that, the trio continued into the forest.

~ Somewhere else in the Forest ~

New Brunswick wiped his sweaty forehead, then wiping his hand on his green T-shirt. He was walking, sorry, limping slightly, using his hiking stick to help, through a swampy part of the forest when he checked the time and realized it was almost two o'clock. Sighing with disappointment, the Brunswicker turned around and started back tracking. It was easy for him, all he had to do was look for certain things, flowers, particular rocks or trees, that he passed by before.

Sometime later, however, he figured that he had made a wrong turn: There were no parts of the scenery he recognised. He didn't see any of his footprints, either. Just a bayou. Sighing again, New Brunswick turned around and decided to backtrack. However, he still didn't find any of his chosen landmarks after walking- or better say, limping- around for a few more minutes.

New Brunswick's frown deepened; He hardly, if ever, made a wrong turn when out walking anywhere, even if he didn't know the place too well. Finding himself back where the bayou was, New Brunswick decided to take a break. Approaching a nearby tree and making sure there were no mysterious creatures close by, he leaned on it, as there were no rocks to sit down on instead. Taking out his water bottle, the Brunswicker took a couple of large gulps. Screwing the cap back on, he placed it back in his satchel, his hand rubbing across something. Pulling it out, New Brunswick found the flare gun Louisiana gave him.

'May as well use 'er now...' He thought aiming it to the sky.

Suddenly, a strange smell was in the air, followed by a wave of nausea that crept over him. The world started to spin slightly. He put the gun back into his satchel, not wanting to accidentally shoot it, using the now free hand to hold his head, his other hand tightening it's grip on his hiking stick to keep himself balanced.

"Feelin' a little under the weather, 'Brunswick'?"

New Brunswick turned just in time to see a werewolf about to pounce.

[A/N- What will happen now, I wonder?

I guess some headcanons to explain:

For Louisiana: I imagine she was born white, but the sun happened, and she got a beautiful tan! I kind of got the idea of making her chubby after looking a few OCs. Also, not all of that chub is fat: This is a woman whose dealt with gators/crocodiles and other dangerous creatures through the years! She doesn't mind getting rough when push comes to shove. She also has the sight and knows some magic, in particular, voodoo (anyone heard of Marie Laveau?). Sorry, that's all I got on her for now...

If you ever get lost anywhere with someone, you'll be lucky if it's New Brunswick. I imagine that he has a bit of a photographic memory and has trained himself to be perceptive and to memorize landmarks when he is in unfamiliar territory, thus he hardly gets lost.

That's all I got for now, till next update.]