Chapter 15:

A New Friend

"Gleeps, Honey, would you please slow down?!" Trixie panted, struggling to keep up with her friend. The two girls were following the bike route, running alongside the main country road which led to Saint Estelle. Their single-speed tourist bikes were designed for leisurely outings, not cross-country races.

Back peddling on the break to slow her pace, Honey replied, "I'm sorry, Trixie. I just wanted to get away from that awful thing as fast as I could. That poor, poor chicken! How could someone do such an awful thing to one of Mr. LeBlanc's hens?!"

"Honestly, Honey, I don't think that foot came from one of Papa's missing chickens," Miss Belden replied as she coasted up to the young lady on a downhill. "The foot on our door looked old to me. It was all leathery and dry. There wasn't any blood on it."

"Thank goodness for that!" Miss Wheeler returned. "I nearly fainted as it was, Trixie. And I still don't understand why you didn't want to tell Aunt Liz about that terrible thing."

Trixie had insisted the girls leave the chicken foot hanging on the door knob. In the movie Voodoo Paradise, she recalled that someone had nailed a similar foot to the heroine's cabana door. The leggy brunette had buried the cursed item in the backyard to get rid of it. Only, the foolish young lady didn't know there was a cemetery not meters away, and in putting the chicken's foot in the ground, she raised a Zombie from the dead!

Of course, this wasn't a movie. But to be safe, Trixie decided the young ladies ought to leave the creepy claw where it was for now. She didn't want to make matters worse. Not that they could be much worse.

"That chicken's foot wasn't on our door knob when we left for Papa's this morning," Miss Belden said. "Aunt Liz was the only person in Camp other than you, me, and Mart at the time, Honey. I'm wondering if she's in cahoots with her husband, and Aunt Liz put the gruesome thing on our door as a warning not to meddle in family business. While fixing breakfast, Mrs. LeBlanc asked me if we'd had any breakthroughs in our case. She seemed awfully interested."

"Aunt Liz was just being nice," Honey disagreed. "And you're forgetting about Bernie, Trixie. I heard him coughing in his cabin as we passed it on our way to take care of the chickens. Maybe Beau told his father how you turned down his invitation to the Harmon's party last night. For all we know, the chicken's foot could be part of some bizarre voodoo love ritual?!"

As Trixie brought her bike to a stop at the last intersection before entering town, she grunted, "I highly doubt that. But you raise a good point, Honey. We really have no idea what the severed claw is supposed to mean. For all we know, Mama Marie could have snuck into the resort without our knowing it and left as a warning to stop shoplifting, or the next hand you find dangling by a ribbon will be your own!"

The curly-haired girl started across the cleared intersection, but Miss Wheeler didn't follow. "Aren't you coming?" Trixie called back.

"Maybe returning the poppet isn't such a good idea after all," the less brave girl returned.

Trixie laughed despite her own fears. "Stop being such a scaredy-cat," she hollered. "I honestly don't think Madam Dupart left that foot, Honey. Now that I think about it, she would have been at work. Besides, Mama Marie is the perfect person to ask about the chicken's foot. I bet she can tell us the best way to get rid of it, too."

Joining her friend, Honey certainly hoped so.


However, upon arriving at Swamp Mama's, Trixie was having second thoughts about facing the shopkeeper with the evil eye. The store seemed darker from the outside than she remembered, and as the young ladies went in, they didn't see a single soul. There were no customers shopping. And Madam Dupart was nowhere in sight.

"Hello?" Honey called out nervously after Trixie suggested the store might not be open.

Only as a teenage girl with a warm smile came out of the backroom, the Sleepyside young ladies emitted sighs of relief.

"Good morning!" the teenager said brightly. "May I help you with something?" The girl was striking. Maybe sixteen? She had caramel skin and lovely green eyes.

"We came to see Madam Dupart," Honey said, boldly taking the lead. "Yesterday, while my friend was shopping, I'm afraid her cousin took a poppet from the store without paying for it."

Trixie withdrew the red doll from her purse and held it out to the clerk. "Hallie, my cousin, stuffed it in my bag without my knowing," she explained awkwardly. "I'm really sorry."

Taking the talisman, the girl with the green eyes laughed. "Mama said you'd be in to return the item," she replied. "My name is Olivia. I'm her granddaughter. Mama is taking an early lunch today, so I'm helping out."

"An early lunch?" Trixie thought. That was suspicious. It meant Ms. Dupart could have snuck into the resort.

"So your Grandmother was expecting us?" Honey asked with surprise. "My name is Honey, and this is my friend Trixie, by the way. We're visiting from New York."

"Mama mentioned the two of you were staying at Anglers' Landing," Olivia returned. "My my grandmother has the gift of knowing, Honey. She knew before you came into the shop yesterday that your friend's cousin would steal the poppet. The young lady is Mr. LeBlanc's granddaughter, isn't she?"

Trixie nodded and glanced up at the statues of angels lining the shelf above her, wondering if they whispered to Madam Dupart as the deer head back at the cabin did to Trixie. "Do all voodoo high priestesses have the gift of knowing?" she asked.

Olivia giggled. "Mama's not a voodoo high priestess," she said. "She's a Rootworker. It's a type of green witch, kind of like Miss Izzy, who made the poppet your cousin stole, Trixie. Mama uses the power of roots and other natural ingredients to heal and bring positive change into people's lives. She is highly respected in the hoodoo community."

The Sleepyside girls exchanged uncertain glances. "Isn't hoodoo the same thing as voodoo?" Miss Wheeler asked.

"Oh, no," the young shopkeeper returned. "Voodoo is a religion, and hoodoo is a magic art. Some voodooists do practice hoodoo, however. "

Trixie admitted that Mama Marie had mentioned that voodoo was a religion the last time the girls had been in the store. "But I always thought hoodoo had something to do with black magic and was evil," she said.

Olivia moved to rehang the red doll with its friends. "Hoodoo is neither good nor evil," she replied. "That depends on the person using it. Mama warns if you use hoodoo for ill, it will come back to bite you."

Honey had been carefully examining the clear apothecary jars behind the front counter, which contained various herbs and mystical items. Spying one particularly large container, she pointed to it and asked, "Are chicken feet used in Hoodoo, Olivia?"

Madam Dupart's granddaughter nodded as she joined the inquiring girl. Removing a shriveled claw from the jar, she explained that the feet were most often sold as talismans of protection. "Some people hang them over their door or in their car to guard against evildoers and would-be thieves," she said. "The claws are believed to scratch back with powerful magic if someone tries to harm you."

Trixie took the chicken foot as Olivia extended it. It looked very similar to the one dangling on the girls' cottage door. "You say most often used for protection," she noted. "Are there other uses for the feet, Olivia?"

As Trixie returned the creepy item to the Creole girl, a customer entered the shop, and Olivia dropped her voice. "I've heard they can be used as warnings not to talk or else bad things will come your way," she said. "Usually, the person making the threat will leave the chicken's foot on the porch of the person they are trying to hush when they aren't home or are sleeping at night."

Honey gasped and told Olivia about finding the chicken's foot hanging from the doorknob of their cottage. "How do you suggest we get rid of it?" she asked.

Olivia fidgeted, thinking it over. "If the chicken's foot has been cursed, the only safe way I know to rid yourself of it is to burn it, Honey," she said seriously. "For extra protection, you could pour salt counterclockwise around your cabin. But there's always the chance that someone is trying to protect you from something evil you know nothing about," the musing girl added. "So you and Trixie might want to think twice before removing it."

Only Trixie had already thought twice about leaving the chicken's foot where it was. And Olivia, though very informative, was being of little help when it came to knowing the right way to proceed. What were the girls to do?

Knocking her head, Miss Belden forced herself to think. "Are chicken's feet ever used to ward off Rougarou?" she wondered aloud. When the girls had been at Josette's, Hallie had told Beau that Mama claimed the "big bad wolf" was coming after them. Maybe Beau had told his father about the incident, and Bernie had hung the charm on the young lady's door to keep the beast away. Mr. Benoit did seem genuinely fearful of the creature.

But Olivia laughed at Trixie's question. "I've never heard of a chicken's foot being used that way," she admitted. "But it might work. You'd have to ask Mama. She's the expert on Rougarou. Usually, people place thirteen coins outside their door to keep the creature at bay."

Honey blushed, feeling a bit silly. "That's what Trixie and I did last night," she confessed. "We were afraid, after finding the poppet, that the Rougarou would come after us. Your grandmother warned it might."

Miss Dupart's eyes twinkled. "I'm sorry if Mama put the scare in you," she said. "She was letting you know she knew you had the doll and wanted Mr. LeBlanc's granddaughter to think twice before shoplifting again. My grandmother would never really wish the beast on anyone."

Trixie cocked her head sideways as a question popped into it. "Olivia, can witches…let's say like Miss Izabella… command a Rougarou to do their bidding?" she asked.

"I don't think so," the teen returned carefully. "Though Mama does claim there are witches who have the power to put the curse of the Rougarou on a person? If this happens, the person under the witch's spell is said to transform into one of the wolfish creatures at night with the rise of the moon and then return to its human form with the sun. The incantation lasts for one hundred and one days. And it can only be broken if someone draws the Rougarou's blood while it's in the beastly state or kills it with fire. But the Rougarou isn't the witch's zombie, Trixie. It is said to have free will."

The customer who'd come in not minutes before called out to Miss Dupart requesting help at the jewelry case. Trixie and Honey, wishing to hear more about the Rougarou, decided to wait and browse in the meantime. When Olivia returned, the girls resumed their conversation.

"What happens to the Rougarou if someone draws its blood?" Trixie asked, thinking about Mr. Benoit's alleged encounter with one of the beasts.

"The creature is believed to revert to its human form, and the curse transfers to its attacker," the knowledgeable young lady explained. "The person who made the creature bleed can't reveal the identity of the Rougarou for a year and a day, or they will become one of the monsters themselves."

Trixie got a bad case of the goosebumps. "That's chilling," she said. "Is there any way to know if someone carries the curse during the daylight hours?"

Before replying, Miss Dupart motioned the girls over to the checkout counter, where she lit a fresh cone of musky-smelling incense. "I've heard the afflicted can sometimes become weak or sickly if they refuse to feed at night," she went on, now more at ease to talk. "The Rougarou has an overpowering animal appetite, you see. But Mama says they retain their human soul, Trixie. For that reason, their loved ones are usually safe from harm. If the creature attacks a human being, it's normally an enemy or someone they wish to punish. Most beasts are said to flee to the swamps at dark where they can hunt small animals without fear of being seen until the curse has passed."

Having learned more about the Rougarou and its eating habits, Honey was feeling a smidge better. The New Yorkers surely hadn't had time to create enemies since they'd been in Louisiana? And a random attack by one of the creatures, if they did exist, seemed unlikely. In fact, Honey's heart almost went out to the pathetic beast.

Yet, something in the information Olivia had given the girls had caused Trixie to tense up. She couldn't put her finger on the source of her disquiet. But whatever it was that bothered her, it had the young lady thinking about the tuft of gray fur in her pocket; then again about the claw hanging on the girls' cabin door. "Olivia, has anyone purchased any chickens' feet from the shop lately?" she asked.

"I haven't sold any," teen revealed. "But Mama may have. I can check the receipt book if you'd like?"

"That'd be great!" Trixie jumped as Honey checked her watch. The young ladies had to keep track of the time. They still had laundry to do at Camp.

Pulling out the ringed ledger, Olivia paged through the most recent entries as the Sleepyside girls leaned over her shoulder. "Oh, my goodness!" she said with surprise. "Someone bought seven of the feet yesterday afternoon. "

"Does it say who?" Honey asked, equally stunned. "That sounds like quite a few."

"It is," Madam Dupart's granddaughter agreed. "And the purchase was made with a charge card. Let me take a look at the slips."

Going through the cardboard box where Mama Marie kept the charge slips, Olivia found one that matched the purchase. "Here it is," she announced victoriously. "The feet were purchased yesterday at two-fifteen, using Anglers' Landing's credit card. I'm afraid I can't make out the signature. Not to be funny, but it looks like chicken scratch."

Trixie snatched the receipt as Miss Dupart held it up for the girls to see. "This signature has got to be Aunt Liz's," she said as Honey gaped at the slip with disbelief. "She must have run to town after we left Papa's yesterday, Honey! Mr. LeBlanc certainly didn't make the purchase, and the rest of the staff was off alligator hunting."

"Oh, Trixie, I know what you're thinking," Miss Wheeler said after regaining her senses. "But if Aunt Liz is the one who put that dreadful foot on our door, I'm sure her intentions were good. Why, knowing what we do now, I'm guessing she probably did it for our protection."

As the woman who'd needed assistance at the jewelry case came up to the counter to complete her purchase, Trixie handed Olivia back the charge receipt and pulled Honey off to the side and out of earshot. "Maybe so, Honey," she said. "But protect us from what? And what did Aunt Liz do with the other six claws? We can't forget for a minute that she's married to Uncle Zach. After finding those papers in her husband's desk this morning, I think we should watch our step around Aunt Liz."

As Olivia's customer was preparing to leave, a strange, arresting woman entered the store. The newcomer wasn't young by any means –maybe Aunt Renee's age. And her dress was casual, if not workaday. But the woman's long dark hair, which was streaked with gray, was most unordinary. It rose from a sharp widow's peak in the middle of her forehead before falling to the woman's waist. Her eyes were also the palest blue Trixie had ever seen.

"Who's she?" Miss Belden whispered to Olivia as she rejoined the girls. "Is she some kind of witch?"

"That's Ms. Camille," the Creole teen returned softly. "Mama says Ms. Camille's Pa was under the curse of the Rougarou when his daughter was conceived. Ms. Camille has the blood of the wolf flowing through her veins. Men find her irresistible, and women hate her for it."

Honey, selecting a book on herbs from a nearby shelf, pretended to leaf through the pages as she studied the woman out of the corner of her eye. Miss Wheeler had heard the name Camille before. And she doubted it was a common name, even in Louisiana. "Is that Mrs. LeBlanc?" she quietly asked Olivia. "Papa LeBlanc's brother Terrance's wife?"

"You mean Uncle Sam's ex-wife? Lt. Hebert's sister?" Trixie exclaimed, causing the woman with the animal eyes to glance up from the candle display at her.

Once Ms. Camille had gone back to her shopping, Olivia nodded. "One and the same," she whispered. "Ms. LeBlanc comes in now and then if someone has been pestering her. My grandmother usually recommends she use banishing candles. I better go see if I can help her."

Rechecking the time, Honey noted that she and Trixie ought to be going too. "It's been wonderful meeting you, Olivia," she said. "Do tell your Grandmother how sorry we are that we missed her. I hope she'll be able to forgive us for the incident with the poppet."

"We honestly didn't know Hallie had taken it," Trixie added.

Miss Dupart smiled and told her new friends that she imagined Mama already knew. She then wished them "blessed be", and went to assist Ms. Camille.


Outside, Trixie climbed on her bike and deeply breathed in the thick, smothering air. Slowly exhaling, she forced out the worst of her anxiousness. It would be a temporary reprieve. But for now, it felt good just knowing the poppet was no longer in her purse. Sometimes, wanting something was more fun than actually having it.

With its feathers and beads, the love charm had indeed been enticing. But Miss Belden certainly didn't need any help in the love department as of late. In fact, Trixie hoped returning the doll might break the spell that she seemed to have over Beau.

"What do you say we stop at Dinky Pinky and get something to drink?" Honey suggested as the pair started down the shady lane. "The store is on our way out of town. And there are a couple of items I wouldn't mind picking up while we're there."

Trixie pushed back her dropping ringlets with one hand and guided her bicycle around a stray sandbag with the other. "That's fine with me as long as those two items aren't clam juice and food coloring," she chuckled.

"No, no," Honey replied, her face flushing. "I'm simply feeling a bit parched, and well…I don't think it would hurt to pick up a container of salt to pour around our cabin." Despite what the girls had learned at Swamp Mama's, Miss Wheeler was still concerned about the chicken's foot hanging on their cabin door back at Anglers' Landing. She couldn't quite believe someone as sweet as Aunt Liz had left it there – even if well intentioned. Maybe someone had stolen one of the resort's credit cards and made the mysterious purchase? It was possible, wasn't it?

Trixie, however, was certain Hallie's aunt was behind the grisly talisman. But until she and Honey knew why Aunt Liz had put it on their doorknob, Miss Belden figured salting the earth wasn't such a bad idea. That's what the heroine in Voodoo Paradise had done. If the ritual could keep a Zombie at bay, maybe it'd work on Rougarou - or even better, Goldilocks' late-night tree-climbing friend. "Sounds good to me," Trixie agreed with a laugh. "What else do we need to get at the Dinky Pinky?"

"Chocolate mints," Honey returned with a giggle. "It was awfully nice of Mart to stay at Camp and fix the chicken coop for us. I thought we could thank him by leaving a mint on his pillow when we make his bed in the morning. You know – like he suggested."

Trixie scoffed. That's just what the girls needed. Honey creating yet another monster. "Whatever," she said. "But don't expect me to go pitching in on the candy, Hon. That purchase is all on you."