Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 18 (Clarity)

Entering Nona's shop carried a surreal feeling as well as the sense of déjà vu. The first thing Jade noticed were the shelves of trinkets, of which the first she noticed was a jar of graveyard dirt. "Anyone else getting the creeps here?" Asked David as he walked in behind them. "What is this place?"

"A shop for wiccans, I believe," answered Gary. He was standing between Beck and David, and pushing his trembling hands into his pockets. "I've never associated with the type."

"There's nothing wrong with being wiccan," Jade replied. She didn't know much about the religion, aside from what little Nona told them about it. Still, she knew it was just another religion that people followed, and they weren't nearly as bad as some made it out to be. "But I don't know what to tell you here, I know you're not going to have the best thoughts right now…"

"What does that mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough." She focused on the desk towards the back of the store. Behind it was a vibrant jewel encrusted sheet hanging in a doorway. She walked towards it, smiling when she saw the familiar older woman sweeping the sheet away and walking into the area.

"Hello, how may I assist you today? Is there anything in particular you're looking for?" Jade nearly teared up when she saw Nona, and to her surprise, the woman was cradling a small infant in her arms. Her heart jumped from her chest and for a moment she wanted to hold the child in her arms.

"Cat is such a sweet child," she said under her breath. Nona's eyebrow rose and she shot Jade a glance of curiosity. Jade threw her hand over her mouth, covering up a sharp gasp.

"You know my granddaughter's name?"

Beck shook his head and started to chuckle. "Smooth, dear." She frowned at him and watched as he moved towards Nona. "Yes, what my wife meant to say is 'hello Nona, we've met before and you probably aren't going to believe a word of what we are about to say'." He slid his hand through his hair and let out a heavy sigh. "Thought I'd get that out of the way first." Nona looked skeptical, but her silence told Jade she was at least listening. "Your granddaughter is also the reason we've met, but she was much older."

"Older?"

"Yes, by about fifteen years, in which case we were younger by fifteen."

Nona looked down at her granddaughter, then back up with a suspicious glance. "You better begin making sense, boy."

Holly raised her hand and spoke out, grabbing Nona's attention. "It's hard to explain, even I didn't understand at first, but I think that's not the important part. Or at least, not why we're here." Holly placed the two hot chocolate containers on the desk and Nona looked down at them with a wrinkling brow.

"What is this?"

"A mixture I made. A ritual I wanted to perform on my sister out of anger…my boyfriend gave the wrong spell, and it sort of killed them." Nona's frown lines increased and her eyes drifted towards Beck and Jade. "I think their friend revived them some time in the future, where they met you and you sent their souls back into this present time."

"Let me get this straight." Nona placed her grandchild in a small carriage nearby and picked up one of the cups. The woman started to speak slow, and an ominous tension filled the air. "You were going to use a spell for dark purposes, and it failed?"

"Well no, not really, but yes it did." Holly scratched her head and Nona dropped her left hand to her waist. The woman's eyes were filled with scorn and judgement, and her nostrils were beginning to flare. "I was angry, but there's really more to it…Jade was told by you in the future to find you now or something."

"Jade is your sister?"

"That's me." Jade raised her hand and moved beside Holly. "And yeah all that happened, but the truth is Holly used a corpse spell and we need to release the man's soul. You're the only person we know that can do that…" Nona dropped her shoulders and glanced at Gary, who David and Beck were both pointing at.

For what seemed the longest time, the woman was silent, leaving Jade with a fleeting sense of hope that she might help. "How long has it been?" Nona's response washed Jade with relief, nearly dropping her to the ground.

"A couple of weeks. His…soul wouldn't be too damaged would it?"

"No, but it's good that you found me as soon as you have." Nona walked around the desk and pointed a ladle at Holly. "I will lecture you on messing with the arcane after this, but first let us deal with your walking puppet now, girl."

After releasing Gary's spirit, everyone was relieved to have dealt with it. Holly mourned for him at first, but in the end she was glad to have it done. Nona did give the girl a huge lecture over proper use of certain spells and rituals, then proceeded to burn Holly's spell book.

On the plus side, Nona introduced Holly to the pure and holistic side of Wicca, and offered to teach her what she could of the religion if she felt it was something she was interested in. Jade didn't know what her sister's decision was, but she agreed to stand beside Holly on whatever she decided.

The tough part came with Erwin's party, where Holly had to make an appearance. The girl was nervous, understandably, but more than she needed to be.

"I thought you guys said you couldn't come," Erwin said loudly as he hugged his two friends. When they hugged him, it was with such a tight embrace that he grunted with pain and held onto his back. "Damn, you guys are rough when you hug."

"Sorry." Beck pat Erwin's shoulder and started to smile at his friend, now clutching his sides. "I just wanted you to know, you're our best friend and you always will be." Erwin stammered with confusion and surprise, and eventually smiled back at Beck.

"I'm glad to hear that. I hope everything's going well for you today."

"Better than you know."

Jade shook her head and walked past them as she looked around the party. There wasn't a great deal of people, just a few of Erwin's drinking buddies and coworkers. The man never liked to be alone on Christmas, so these parties were tradition for him.

At her feet, Trina walked beside her, grasping the stroller to keep stable. Tori lay in the stroller, looking around with wide eyes at the people laughing and talking with one another. Christmas music filled the air, and the lights of the Christmas tree bore enough light to cast an amber glow across the room.

"Oh Beck…" She caught a glimpse of an older dark skinned woman with frantic eyes. The woman had a stroller of her own that her thin hands were grasping the handles of for dear life. In the stroller was a tiny baby, no more than a few months Tori's senior.

She smirked as her husband turned his head. "What is it honey?" His eyes fell onto the woman and her grandchild, and horror flashed within them. "Is that-"

"Someone dear Erwin met at a bar, perhaps? Why yes, I'm almost certain of it." She pushed her stroller forward and made eye contact with the familiar elder woman, much to her husband's dismay and chagrin. "Oh ma'am, can we talk? How do you know Erwin?"

"Jade," Beck hissed, "Get away from them." Jade threw her head back, laughing whimsically as the woman approached her with a peculiar shyness. Beck hurried over, muttering in defeat.

"I'm sorry," the woman said, "I didn't come to socialize but Erwin insisted that I do." She extended her hand and Jade shook it. "My name's Beverly, and this is my grandson, Andre. My daughter's boy."

"Where's your daughter, if I can ask?"

The woman bowed her head and gazed down at the baby with a mournful look. Sensing she was approaching a tough topic, Jade started to apologize, but the woman cut her off. "My baby girl and her family were visiting New Orleans a few months ago. They were murdered…I haven't really gotten out of the house since."

Beck cupped his hand over his chin and peered at Andre. "That's terrible." Jade was shocked to silence. They never knew the kid suffered such a great loss, and she already knew from what they saw in the future that Beverly was paranoid and suspicious of everyone. This, mixed in with a lack of parents was a dangerous environment.

Jade reached out to the woman, being as careful as possible as she placed a reassuring hand over Beverly's. "I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but if you want to talk about it, I'm willing to listen." Beverly started to smile and shrugged in response.

"You're too kind, really."

"Come on." She waved her hand and walked towards an empty area. Jade looked back to ensure the woman was following her. "Let's chat for a bit." Beverly nodded and sat down with her.

Beck remained in place with his hands on his hips. He shook his head slowly and turned away. "My wife just befriended Andre Harris's grandmother. Great, just great." He rolled his eyes and made his way towards a group of men sipping on champagne.

Amid the men was a sharp dressed man with curly, jet black hair and thin wire framed glasses resting above a strong nose and heavy moustache. The man raised his glass at Beck and raised his thick lips into a smile. "Ah Mr. Oliver, you're the friend that Erwin's always talking about. Come, have a drink and share in the merriment."

He raised an eyebrow and shrugged, thinking little of the offer as the man poured him a glass. "Okay." There was something oddly familiar about this man, but he couldn't put his finger on what that was. "Have we met before, by any chance?"

"I don't believe so." The man handed him a glass. Beck took a sip and closed his eyes, delighting in the wondrous taste of a kind of drink that he felt he hadn't drank in ages. "My name is Thomas, I'm the family attorney for Erwin and his sister."

"Oh." He lowered the glass and smiled faintly. "Well it's nice to meet you, nonetheless." He'd heard very little of Erwin's family attorney, other than the man was busier than most. "It's good that you found time to come out."

"I felt obligated. I had to find a babysitter at the last minute for my son, since I didn't feel comfortable bringing him to a party like this."

"Why not? Some parents have brought their kids."

"Yes, there's nothing wrong with that, but children have their place I think." Beck sipped on his drink once more, shrugging in reply. He didn't agree with the lawyer's view, since it sounded like that of a busybody with little time for his kid, but it wasn't his place to judge.

Just then they heard a yell, followed by a crash in the kitchen. Beck looked up in time to see his oldest daughter watching with amusement a five year old boy performing a karate chop on a now broken plate.

"Oh no." Beck visibly paled and almost dropped his glass when Erwin ran to pick the boy up from the ground. "Oh no. No, no, no…" Trina started to mimic the boy, emitting a tiny yell her small palm landed flat on another plate.

Beck set his glass on the counter and ran for his daughter, sweeping her up into his arms and glaring at the young boy with short brown hair. Trina extended her arms, laughing jovially.

"That's my nephew," Erwin said with a nervous laugh. The boy was no more than five years old and had been entered into a children's karate course, Beck already knew this and had only met his friend's nephew a few times in the past. Erwin flashed a sheepish smile and pointed at Trina. "Hey your daughter seems to have picked up on the karate already, maybe you should enter her when she's old enough."

"I'll leave that up to my daughter…" He cleared his throat and continued to glare at the small boy. Jason looked up at him with high eyebrows and a friendly smile. Beck twisted away, moving his child protectively out of view. "I'll be watching you very closely for the next few years, Kid. Mark my words. Closely."

"Beck." Jade approached him from behind. Her eyes were closed and her gentle hand caressed his right shoulder. "Sweetie. What are you doing?"

"She's too young!"

"Dear. They're just children…" Trina poked her head around Beck's side, laughing as she looked at Jason. Jade took her from Beck and set her on the ground. "Look, she's already making a friend."

"Yes…" Beck watched as Erwin let his nephew on the ground. The boy proceeded to the back of the room where Trina followed. In the back was a small area with a tiny, standing bag used for karate exercises. Trina sat down and watched as Jason started to practice on the bag. "She's making a friend. Nothing wrong with that."

"Exactly. Just give it a few years, dear. No need to be protective daddy now."

Oh Beck, his daughter is almost three years old and already he's pushing the boys away. What are your thoughts on this chapter? Seeing Andre here is interesting, wouldn't you say? Then there's the attorney with a familiar face. Nona's dealt with Holly, and Trina's already taking an interest in Karate. Let's see what unfolds, shall we