Let's Talk Magic

That afternoon two very important visitations took place, one in Doctor Facilier's Voodoo Emporium...the other in New Orleans Hospital.

Princess Cameron had overheard the tall black stranger utter a name that sent shivers throughout her body. For her grandmother had warned her once before of a mysterious and dangerous shadowman who nearly killed the father of her best friend. He was a remorseless and vindictive man who took the life of Ray the firefly after hatching his plan to take over New Orleans. Cameron's grandmother was the one who foiled his crime all those years ago and since that day had always told her family the story of how she met Prince Naveen and became Princess of Maldonia, although few truly believed her tale.

After time this Princess became a Queen when her husband rose to be king, but that was a long time ago and King Naveen, sadly, was no longer with us. However, surprisingly and thankfully the same could not be said for his true love.

"Grandma?" Princess Cameron leaned over the hospital bed where her old and frail grandmother laid. "Grandma Tiana, I need to talk to you."

…

I thought with Doctor Facilier's help I'd learn how to use my magic by the end of the day, but it was looking hopeless. I'd been at this for two hours, trying to use my magic to will an object towards me but nothing had happened.

I was sitting at the table in the chair I occupied last time and I was staring across at my rose which laid at the opposite side. I kept looking at my notes where'd I'd written upon dozens of lined sheets of paper but none of the spells I had translated seemed to be working. I just couldn't do this.

"I can't do this." I was about ready to give up, again. "I don't even know what it is I'm supposed to be doing or feeling inside of my mind and body. I don't have the ability to fully translate the dead tongues that my book is written in. Maybe I'm not meant to be a witch. Maybe Suenamoon was wrong."

"Look, would you stop complanin' and wallowin' in self-pity?" It sounded like Doctor Facilier was getting rather annoyed at me even though I know he was only trying to help. "You know what you're problem is? You give up too easily."

"Please, don't tell me that I give up too easily. It's been three years since I was gifted with my magic and I haven't given up in all this time."

"Then try again. Go on."

"I can't!"

"You see what I mean?"

"Ohh…!" At that point I just folded my arms upon the table and felt myself starting to cry. I was so tired of all this trying. I didn't want to do this any more.

I felt a warm hand on my cold shoulder as Doctor Facilier leaned over my weeping body. "Come on now, darlin'." He cooed over me. "I know it's tough and I don't expect you to master this in one shot, but if you don't keep this up then you'll never know what magic feels like."

I started to lift up my head as I looked back out across the table at my glass rose which still had not budged an inch. I sighed through my nostrils as I settled my chin back down on my folded arms.

"Come on, don't you wanna find out what that magic of yours looks like?" Doctor Facilier encouraged me further.

"Will it look like my death daisy when it blooms?" I asked as I rubbed the tears from my cheeks. "Will it glow? Will it have a colour? Or will I not be able to see it at all?"

The doctor simply shrug his shoulders. "Heck if I know. I ain't ever laid eyes on your magic before so your guess is as good as mine. What are you hopin' it'll look like? Use that imagination of yours."

I rose my head up off my wrist and unfolded my arms. "Well, when I was a child I always thought magic sparkled like the pictures in my story books. I could never understand why all the witches were portrayed as evil and villainous. Not all witches are bad, as you and I both know. We're living proof…"

Something stopped me in mid sentence as I saw something out of the corner of my eye. My flower… it moved! It rose up off the table and there it was floating in the air.

"Oh my gosh… Look!" I pointed it out to the doctor. "It's working!"

But to my great surprise Doctor Facilier wasn't very enthusiastic. "Oh? No, sorry. That's just him." He extended an open hand towards the wall, gesturing for me to look in that direction.

"Who?" I enquired as I looked at the wall and wondered what on Earth the doctor was wanting me to see. "There's nothing there."

Doctor Facilier allowed a sly smirk to creep onto his face. "Look again." He brought his head close to mine and showed me the direction I should be looking in.

Once again I studied the wall carefully. "The rugs? The curtains? The masks?"

"Look harder."

I obeyed. The only other thing I could see was… "Your shadow?"

Doctor Facilier's silence with nothing but a smug smile meant I guessed right this time. His shadow? What could be so special about his shadow? I looked over to my own black silhouette for a comparison… and then I realised that his shadow was in the wrong place. Rather than blending in next to mine it was on the opposite side of the shadow belonging to the table. But how? Was someone else there? No, no-one else was there. Then did it have a mind of it's own? ...Then I saw the silhouette of my levitated rose in the hands of the doctor's shadow. And then his shadow waved to me...Oh my gosh! His shadow was alive!

I threw my hands onto my lips as I let out a slight shriek. "Ah! Oh my gosh."

"Don't sound so surprised." Doctor Facilier sounded surprised himself at my reaction as he stood up straight once again. "I'd of thought you'd be used to sights like this, seeing as how you spend most of your time with ghosts back home."

"Oh, I'm certainly used to dead people. But I've never laid my eyes on anything like this before."

"Well then, why don't y'all introduce yourself?" Doctor Facilier took me by the hand and swiftly yet gently pulled me up off my seat, I wish he wouldn't touch me like that.

"Introduce myself to a shadow?" I asked a question that maybe didn't sound so ridiculous now that I think about it.

I heard Doctor Facilier laughing at my apprehension. "He's not gonna bite cha. Go on."

I took a few steps forward towards the mysterious being. "So, um. Nice to meet you." What do I say to a shadow? Probably the same thing I would say to one of my ghost friends. "Do you have a name?"

The shadow simply shrugged as he shook his head.

"The Loa never gave him one." The doctor explained. "I just call him Shadow...Among other things." He raised a brow and frowned slightly in his shadow's direction. "If he manages to tick me off."

I resumed. "Can you talk?"

"My friends never gave him a voice neither. But he has ways of telling you what he wants."

I felt a cold finger and thumb grasp hold of my hand, and these digits certainly didn't belong to the doctor. I looked across at the wall to see the doctor's shadow taking hold of my hand. I shivered a little at first, not from the cool sensation, but from the invasion of personal space by touching me. Although I assumed he was only being friendly. He then placed my rose onto my upturned palm and pushed my fingers closed around the glass flower.

"I think he's trying to tell you somethin'." Doctor Facilier approached me once again. "If you ever wanna master this magic of yours you can't keep giving up like this."

I knew he was going to say that. But I was too tired of trying for one day. I turned round to the doctor and raised my head to look him in the eye. "What sort of magic were you hoping to see from me anyway?"

"Well, since you happen to ask I might as well come out with it." He placed a hand on my shoulder and gently guided me off the stage and into the hallway. I still didn't like being touched in such a way but I knew his intentions were to make me feel relaxed, even if all he did was make me more nervous. "Darlin', I can't tell ya how much I appreciate you finding me somewhere to stay at such short notice, but I'm afraid I'm gonna need somethin' more permanent in the long run."

I saw him wave his hand and gaze down the hall of his precious Emporium, tattered and broken after so many years of neglect.

"You want me to restore this?" It seemed like that was what he was implying. "All the way back to how it was in the twenties?"

"Twenties? All the way back?" He placed his free hand on his forehead, almost in a moment of disbelief. "Doll, you're making me sound old."

"I'm sorry." I was quick to apologise. "I didn't mean to..."

"Hey, I was only kiddin'." He removed his arm from around me as he gave me a friendly look.

"Why don't you use your own magic to restore your Emporium?" I questioned.

"I'm afraid my magic's not as flexible as yours, Charlie doll." Doctor Facilier explained. "I'm bound to voodoo, remember? That means I can't conjure up a single thing for myself."

"Oh yes." I was reminded of that rule in the art of voodoo. It was probably the only downside to that method of magic.

"So, think you can pull it off?"

"I don't know. I would have to look it up." I had a brief moment of thought. "Wait, I remember reading about a spell only last year when my sister spilled coffee all over our mum's paperwork. It was an age reversing spell that's supposed to turn back the time on inanimate objects. So long as nothing here is made from living organic matter it should work." As I started talking about the spell that might help Doctor Facilier I noticed he had an unsatisfied expression on his face. "Is this spell not enough?" I asked.

"No, it's not that. You're just so technical the way you talk about magic." He then compared my way of magic to his own. "I don't talk that fancy then I conjure stuff up."

"My guide, the Book of Astaroth. It's a delicate balance of science and sorcery." I tried to explain my reasons. "Sometimes it is that technical."

"You know I think that's part of your problem, you rely too heavily on the written stuff. You talk magic, but cha don't feel it."

"I don't understand." I was forced to admit. I then let out a disappointed sigh. "Maybe I'm not meant to be a witch."

"Come on, now. Don't talk like that. I saw it in your future. Remember the beautiful enchantress staring right back at you?" The doctor tried to talk me out of my melancholy mood, but it was to no avail.

"It doesn't matter anyway. Unless I can find the magic Suenamoon gave me then there won't be any difference between witch Charlie and ordinary Charlie."

The more I mentioned Suenamoon the more Doctor Facilier seemed to have a problem with her. "What's up with that master of yours, anyways? Why isn't she doin' this job for me?"

I tried to explain it to him. "Suenamoon has always told me that the magic she gave me is something I have to discover for myself, and that it's all part of becoming a witch."

But Doctor Facilier was far less than impressed at my master's judgment. "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard." He said in his honourable opinion. "You know for somebody who's watched over the world for three million years it sounds to me like that self righteous queen of the dead has got a lot to learn about people."

I had to admit, his outburst was starting to sound slightly offensive. I held Suenamoon in high regard just as Doctor Facilier did with his friends.

"What was she thinkin'?" He continued. "Giving you a gift like that and then abandoning you for the next three years, leavin' it up to an old sinner like myself to set you on the right path. Maybe she's been spending too much time with dead guys. I hope she treats those poor souls better than she treats you."

That hurt. It was like every knock at my master was a knock at me.

I hung my head and tried to fight my emotions that wanted to make it obvious that I'd been disturbed. But despite my efforts Doctor Facilier was not fooled, he saw right through me.

"I'm sorry, Charlie doll." The doctor tried to put his arm around me, but I shuddered away. I didn't like it when he touched me. "I didn't mean to upset ya. I just don't see why your master doesn't take better care of you."

"She will." I was suddenly reminded of my debt. "Once she knows how much trouble I'm in."

"Then y'all gonna need some practice if you ever hope to-"

"-I'm tired of practicing." I quickly interrupted him. "I should go home."

There was a short pause before either of us could say anything. I think he was trying to be as careful as he could around me with my emotions being as sensitive as they were. "As you wish. I ain't gonna stop ya." He kindly stepped aside and bowed with his hands pointed towards the door. And no, he wasn't being sarcastic or anything, he was actually being really nice and polite.

I know I didn't trust him yet, I don't open up to people easily, but so far he hadn't given me any reasons not to. He'd been nothing but patient and understanding with me. And even though what he said about my master upset me I knew he only said it because he cared about me.

I decided that I wasn't going to give up, even if I gave myself a rest first before resuming my lessons. He needed my magic as much as I did and I didn't want to let him down.