The Cards Will Tell

Around people I know I'm not so bad. But being the centre of attention is probably my greatest fear, especially when it's attention from someone I've never met before. So when I came face to face with the gentleman I had saved I couldn't help but be consumed with anxiety. However, he soon managed to calm any fears I had when he revealed to me that he was a witchdoctor. I couldn't help but feel a little excited as I had never met another witch before in my life. But when (like an idiot) I started talking about my magic book and my master I held back. I'd been sworn to secrecy about the origins of my witchcraft, and when Doctor Facilier wanted to read my cards I faced a difficult decision. Should I let him look into my past? My life? I didn't want to disappoint him and have him not believe I was a witch, but I wasn't sure about letting him do this with me either.

An impressive and almost intimidating display of tarot cards was presented to me in the form of a fan by the witchdoctor, offering me the chance to prove my witchdom by reading my tarot cards.

"I don't know if I should." I hesitated and looked away.

"What are you worried about?" Doctor Facilier shuffled the cards around as he circled me like a vulture, staying close to my body. "I ain't got nothin' to hide. What about you?"

"No… I'm..." I shook my head. "I've made a promise to someone. Some things that I'm never to tell anyone."

"That's not gonna be a problem. You don't need to say a single word." He made everything sound so easy. "The cards will do the tellin', that way you can keep your promise."

I was still apprehensive and unsure. "Why do you want to learn about my magic anyway? Don't you already possess magical abilities yourself?" I don't know whether he was acting suspicious or if I was just acting paranoid. I was too anxious to think straight.

Doctor Facilier folded the cards back into their pile and placed them down upon the table. A gentle smile of reassurance stretched his lips as he let out a sigh and relaxed his body. "Charlie, sweetheart. I know you don't trust me yet. But if you let me take a look into your heart and soul I swear, I will prove to you that I'm a trustworthy man."

I still didn't know. I was still unsure. I wanted to just turn my back and run away, I was so scared. But I also wanted to satisfy some of my curiosity about this gentleman witch. I wanted to see some of his talent as much as he wanted to see some of mine. (Gosh, that almost sounded rude! You show me yours and I'll show you mine. I didn't mean for it to sound like that).

I didn't want him to not believe me. I really was a witch, and without being able to use my magic as of yet this was the only way to prove it. "Alright." I spoke through a deep and relieving sigh. I suppose there was nothing in my heart and soul that a magician like him hadn't seen before.

A defined grin grew upon Doctor Facilier's face as he pulled a chair out from the table. "Have a seat, Charlie doll." He hummed in that deep voice of his. "This is where the magic happens."

My heart was pounding the entire time as I sat myself down and set myself up for what was about to take place. The confident witchdoctor sat opposite me, I could not tell you the expression he had on his face for I couldn't bring myself to look. I was too nervous to make eye contact so I just kept staring down at the pile of tarot cards until he retrieved them from the centre of the table.

"No need to be nervous, darlin'." He spoke softly to me again. "I've done this before, a thousand times over."

That, I did not doubt. It was clear enough to me that he had far more practice than myself. I started to feel humbled. He was so professional and I was so inexperienced. Would he mock my inability to perform a single spell or shake his head at the little power I had in comparison to his own? I felt completely overshadowed by his very presence.

I saw him fan out the cards in my direction, this was the first time since I sat down that I was able to look up and allow my eyes to meet with his. "Just three, darlin'."

"Three?" I was slightly confused. "But the Cross of Truth requires five."

"This is just a Three Card Spread." The witchdoctor explained. "Nothin' too complicated."

I was still perplexed. A Three Card Spread is only a brief overview of a person, normally to show their current feelings and desires. To discover the truth about a person surely you would need a truth spread. "You can tell whether or not I'm a witch by solely looking at my desires?"

His smile vanished, but only for a moment. It soon returned accompanied a quiet chuckle. I didn't know if he was laughing at my confusion or my unexpected knowledge. "You know I'm startin' to believe you. You know your stuff." With that compliment I started to sense a slight relief to my nervousness.

I did as I was told and pulled out three cards from the fan and passed them back to the doctor. This was it. My heart started pounding once again in quick succession as I braced myself. I really didn't want to do this, but at the same time I did. I don't understand it myself, it's so confusing. I was breaking my promises by allowing this to happen, but I felt like all that I had promised to hide from the world he would already know. And besides, I really wanted him to believe me, and I also wanted to see what he could do.

He turned over the first card. The first thing I noticed was the number eighteen, the Moon. It was different to the cards I had back at home, but then I supposed these ones were from the nineteen-twenties. I saw a giant blue moon shining in through a bedroom window and in the foreground was the silhouette of a little girl sitting on the bed. It reminded me of myself when I was a child. I used to sit on my bed and gaze out of my window at the moon and wonder whether or not magic really existed... Wait. Was this...me?

"Always been fascinated with magic, haven't cha Charlie?" His words gave me chills that vibrated throughout my body. "You surrounded yourself with fairytales and fantasies, story books and little old gizmos that your mommy got for ya because somebody at the junk shop told you they were magic. You used to sit on your bed in the dark with your nightlight on and pretend you were a little witch, singing spells and incantations, lettin' your imagination run away with ya. And despite all the fake magic you fabricated your world with you never lost hope in findin' real magic. Even when times got tough."

I was truly and utterly speechless. How in the cosmos did he know all that? He truly was a master~ All the memories of my childhood that he caused to surface made me a bit emotional. I could feel the chills tingling over my shoulders and down my spine.

"And all your hopin' and searchin' finally paid off when you laid your eyes on your master for the first time. Now your made that master of yours a promise when you accepted your apprenticeship, didn't ya? I wonder what kind of promise you made?" He asked himself this mysterious question as he revealed the next card.

The Ace of Wands was next and for some reason the presence of his new card stunned Doctor Facilier for a moment or two, almost like looked at the card and couldn't believe what he was seeing. He didn't raise his head, but he looked up at me with his eyes just visible under the rim of his top hat.

I was slightly scared by his body language and the look he gave me. I wondered just what he had read in my cards that had made him react this way.

"Your master gave you something. Something besides that tattered old book. Somethingreal special and you promised her that you'd put it to good use. Now you're supposed to be helping her look after dead folks who've gotten themselves trapped in this world, but you can't get your magic to do anythin'. You can't even turn apple into an orange, never mind help the dead find their way out."

I looked down with a worried frown upon my face as I thought about my vow. I rose my head slightly to see the card representing my presence. I saw my spellbook, the Book of Astaroth, with a wand resting upon the cover and a bright could be seen shining from behind it. The Ace of Wands.

"Now now, darlin'. Don't you be feelin' down." He cooed in his deep voice. "Maybe your future might shed some light on how to solve this little problem of yours." Doctor Facilier turned over the final card to reveal number two, the High Priestess. "Now this is somethin' special, right here."

The High Priestess. She was me! Wearing a tudor-like dress, black and ultramarine. In my hand was my death daisy rose, glowing with all its power in full bloom.

"I don't see an apprentice witch in your future, Charlie doll." Doctor Facilier began to explain. "You know what I see? I see a Enchantress! Beautiful and powerful~!"

I took hold of the card and brought it closer to my eyes, almost unable to believe what I was seeing, as well as what I was hearing.

"She's a stunner, isn't she?"

I was speechless. All I could do to reply was nod my head as I continued to stare.

"You wanna be her? All you need… is me~"

My hand suddenly started to tremble as my fingers relaxed and allowed the card to slip from my grasp.

The witchdoctor seemed to simply ignore my sudden change in body language as he left seat and he carried on elucidating exactly what he meant by his last statement. "Darlin', I'm already a master at what I do. I know magic like the palm of your hand and I have all the voodoo expertise I need help you out, if y'all give me a chance." He walked up behind where I was sat and spoke softly and enticingly over my shoulder. "Just one little chance, that's all I ask."

I listened cautiously as every word he uttered gave me chills of both excitement and anxiety. I was still scared, I didn't trust him yet. "What would be your intentions?" I dared to ask.

"Spend a little time with me, let me figure out why this magic of yours ain't workin'."

I rose up from my seat and took a few steps away from the table. I was rather taken back by this suggestion. "You're still just a stranger. I don't even know you that well."

"Not yet." The doctor followed me as I backed up away from the table. "But cha know, sweetheart, every new friend you make starts out as a stranger. If y'all don't give me the chance to be a friend, a stranger is all I'll ever be."

In the midst of my nervous uncertainty I had a sudden change of emotion. What Doctor Facilier had just explained to me made perfect sense. He was right, unless I gave him a chance to prove himself trustworthy then I would forever be afraid of the stranger that he was.

"Have we got a deal? Miss Crawler?" The great Doctor Facilier held out his hand towards me and beamed a friendly grin.

This was all too much too soon. I still didn't know what I wanted to do, what choice I should make. "I… I can't. I need time to think about this."

The same hand Doctor Facilier extended to strike a deal with me was withdrawn and held up as if to show that he had no bad intentions. "Of course. Take all the time you need. I ain't goin' nowhere."

"I, on the other hand, am." I regretfully had to admit. "If I'm not back in my hotel bed before the sun goes up then my mother will have a fit." It wasn't just an excuse to leave, I really did need to start making my way back.

"Do ya have to leave so soon, darlin'?" He sounded almost sad to see me go. "We were just gettin' to know each other."

"I'll be back. I think." I was still not sure.

"You think?" He raised a brow.

"Well, I do have a reason to return, do I not?" Even if that reason would be to turn him down when the time came, since I wasn't sure whether or I wanted what the doctor had to offer. "You will be here when I come back, won't you?"

"Nothin' could stop me." He smiled at me once more as I made my way down the hall, passed all the enchanted objects that still fascinated me since the night I discovered this place.

His smile haunted me yet left me curious at the same time. If it wasn't for my anxiety around people and my issues with social situations then I would be leaping at the chance to have another magician help me with my own magic. If only Suenamoon was here, she would be able to point me in the right direction. If there was only a way for me to contact her. Here I was, an apprentice lost and alone without her master and look at how much trouble I'd already gotten myself into. A debt. I owed my soul to voodoo spirits after freeing a gentleman who scared me and intrigued me at the same time. I was so afraid. I didn't know what to do.

Suenamoon, help me!