Echoes in the Bayou (11 page)

When she
finished reading, Magnus could see that she had tears in her eyes. He
remembered that he had said those exact same words to her the night before.

"
Well if there was any doubt in your mind that Will was
possessing your body before, there certainly shouldn’t be now," she said
sounding quite resolute.

Magnus
nodded his head in agreem
ent, there was no denying
it. Will’s spirit was still inside the house and was using him as beacon to be
reunited with his Celeste.

"Ava,
why is he still here? I mean doesn’t it sound odd that he made no attempt to
find her, track her down?

"
He may very well have tried but from the sound of it
Magnus, I’d say that his mother prevented him from doing so."

Magnus
began to get frustrated.
"We’ve sure got
our work cut out for us then don’t we? We need to uncover so much of this
mystery."

Ava gave
him a reassuring smile.
"We can do it
Magnus, it’s slowly coming together and the more information we find, the more
we’ll be able to use it in order to reunite them. Something tells me that we
are well on our way."

Chapter
Nine

While Magnus plunged into his writing, Ava took to
exploring the mansion in search of anything that would help them uncover the
truth, sometimes Sinta would stop by and help. More than a week had passed by
and so far, their incessant searches had turned up nothing. When they weren’t
checking the books in the library, they were pressing against old doors and
walls, hoping that one would open up and reveal a secret passage or room that
would help them uncover every hidden secret about the Montieu family.

They were
in the attic one day, searching and just as Ava was beginning to lose hope, she
uncovered an intricately decorated large trunk. The chest was one of many that
seemed to be left abandoned in the enormous attic. Ava had been determined to
examine them all and besides housing a tattered ball gown, some yellowed lace
fabric and a couple of porcelain dolls, the first two had turned out nothing
that could be of use to them.

 
 But this trunk was different; it stood alone in
a far corner away from the others. The top of the trunk bore the initials A.M.
The moment Sinta saw the dusty old trunk, she murmured something. "That
there is the mistress’s trunk, I can smell the evil, "she said with
frightened eyes.  Ava too sensed that there was something sinister inside
the trunk, but it was something that they needed to open. "It might hold
the answer that will allow us to set Celeste free," she told Sinta. When
she saw the look on her face, Ava immediately called for Magnus, she wanted him
there when she opened the trunk. "I don’t know what we are going to find
when we get this open Sinta but whatever it is, I hope it helps us," she
said as Magnus stood in the doorway.

 
   It took only a nudge from the wrench to
make the rusted lock fall to the floor and as it did, the chest made a
creaking, scraping sound that made them all take a step back. "Probably a
mouse," Magnus said and slowly kneeled down to open the chest.

"
Be careful," Ava whispered. He gave her a
comforting glance before lifting the lid. Piled to the rim was layer after
layer of delicate lace fabrics, several pairs of ladies gloves, an umbrella, a
pair of satin shoes and nothing else.

"
Well that’s strange." Ava sighed. "I was
sure that there was something of significance in this trunk."

"
Don’t give up yet Ava." Magnus had emptied the
contents of the trunk and saw that there was a hole in the bottom, and when he
reached inside he didn’t touch the floor, but rather a false bottom.

Both Ava
and Sinta stood nervously by as he pulled the false covering out. Hidden
underneath the false bottom was yet another diary. This one was much more
sophisticated than the one Ava had found in the pantry. This diary was covered
in black velvet and written inside was the name Amelia Montieu. An old envelop
was stuck inside one of the pages, the word:
Mother
written neatly on top.

"Looks
like we hit the jackpot," Magnus smiled and carefully flipped through the
pages. Both Sinta and Ava marveled that after all this time, the items that
they were finding were preserved beyond belief. Besides the velvet covering
being intact, the envelope which housed some kind of letter was yellowed but
otherwise unsullied.

"
Can we get out of this hot attic now please?" Ava
was fanning herself briskly, all of a sudden she couldn’t get cool fast enough.
The air inside the attic had grown even more stifling. Magnus helped Ava up
from the floor and he and Sinta helped her out.

 
She thought it odd that neither Magnus nor Sinta had
gotten overheated. "Are you feeling okay Ava? You don’t look so
good," Magnus placed a hand on her cheek, she was burning up. Sinta
immediately saw that the air around her was somehow trying to suffocate her.
Sinta made her way into the kitchen as fast as her old bones would carry her
and filled a large bowl with ice. On her way back to the sitting room, she
whispered words of protection and healing before wrapping the ice in a towel
and running it along Ava’s parched skin.

 
"Thank you," she smiled at Sinta before
sitting up. "Now let’s get back to searching."

Magnus
placed his arms around her.
"Oh no you
don’t Ava, that’s enough searching for today. You two have been up there for
hours and it’s time for you to get something to eat and get some rest."
Ava was too tired to argue, she was tired and she was hungry. Being up in the
attic had taken its toll on her, even more so when they’d opened up Amelia’s
trunk. 

"
You listen to Mister Magnus Miss Ava; mistress still
got a strong connection to her personal items. And I reckon that since you the
one who found her secret things, she gonna be very angry.  But I done
placed protection on you, so you just get some rest now and come back to deal
with the livin’, we got time to figure it all out, don’t you worry. And
besides, you better git to askin her Mister Magnus," Sinta gave them both
a wink and headed out the door.

"
She’s right you know you really do need to rest."

 
Ava looked at him suspiciously. "What did she
mean by you better get to asking Magnus? Ask me what?"

A
n innocent grin came across his face; he hadn’t had to
ask anybody out in a very long time, not since Jeanette and that was a long
time ago.
Well here goes nothing
, he told himself as he sat down next to her.

"
Ava I’ve been invited to a writer’s award ceremony
down in New Orleans, I'm to be given an award for staying true to the
historical significance in my writing and I thought that maybe you would like
to go with me. And before you say no, I know that we haven’t known each other
long and that you didn’t come down here to get romantically involved. But I
need to go to this ceremony and I’d very much like it if you would go with
me," he stammered.

 
Magnus had blurted it all out and when he was
finished, he felt like a teenager asking for a date to the prom. Ava could
sense his childlike nervousness and fought hard not to laugh, he looked so damn
cute like that.

"
Magnus DuPonte, are you asking me out on a date?"
She teased.

"
Yes, that’s exactly what I'm doing, and I have no
doubt that you are well aware of this. It’s giving you great pleasure to see me
sweat isn’t it?"

"
Why I declare," she let out a feminine giggle.
"It would be my pleasure to be your date for the evening kind sir. And
you're getting an award to boot? That's wonderful Magnus, I'm very proud of
you," she said enthusiastically.

 
Magnus smiled again and repeatedly thanked her for
accepting the invitation. "Ava, you won’t regret the evening I promise
you. And I thought we’d make a weekend of it and stay at the same hotel where
the ceremony is being held. The Omni Royal Orleans, it’s one of the best hotels
in the French Quarter, separate rooms of course," he smiled.

"
Sounds perfect Magnus, but you failed to mention just
when this award ceremony is supposed to take place."

Magnus
looked away shyly before answering.
 
"Uh, this weekend." He’d hoped that she wouldn’t harp about it being
short notice. But something about her told him that she was far from being
upset.

Ava
smiled grandly, she loved the idea of being spontaneous and it was something
that Gavin had never been, at least not with her anyway. He’d always had to
make plans, write things down, and make arrangements. Never once during their
relationship had he sprung any surprises at her.
And Gavin called me the predictable one,
she scoffed.
This man is
full of surprises
;
she thought to
herself and smiled.

"
Well then I guess you better reserve our rooms before
it’s too late."

Magnus
released a devilis
h grin. "I already
reserved our rooms," he said. "When I spoke to Sinta about it, she
told me that you’d accept so being the believer that I am, I took the liberty
of reserving our rooms," he gave her a wink.

Ava
couldn’t help but grin.
Here he was, mister
skeptical asking a woman who has clearly come from another time and place about
whether or not I would accept an invitation. Can this all be happening?

"
Magnus, ever since I got here, I have felt like I’ve
been on the craziest ride of my life. I can’t explain it, but I like it. My
body told me to run for the hills the first time that I encountered that
horrible spirit, but my intuition told me to stay, stay and stick it out. And I
am so very glad that I did Magnus," she smiled a cheerfully.

"
So am I Ava, so am I," he said and returned her
smile.

Magnus
didn’t have to think twice about his response to what she’d just said; the
supernatural events weren’t the only thing that was becoming more and more
intense around the old house. He was growing quite fond of Ava, and in some
strange way, his affection for her was far stronger than any he’d ever had with
Jeanette. The more he thought about it the more he realized that what he and
Jeanette had was fake. There was nothing genuine about the relationship.
Jeanette was all glitz and glam; he knew that she had been the kind of woman
who if her own mother had a heart attack, she'd think it was less important
than finding out whether or not her own name was listed in the society pages.

But Ava
was different; there was no comparison between his ex and Ava. Ava Montgomery
was incredibly sexy, and one of the most down to earth, good natured woman that
he has ever had the pleasure of meeting. Finding a woman who was sexy and down
to earth had been exactly what he was looking for, but when he had a hard time
finding it, he settled on Jeanette.
What a mistake that was,
he told himself. Ava had this way about her, like no
matter how many people were around, she would make you feel as if you were all
that mattered. He’d never met anyone so full of life, so intrigued by things,
even things that would scare most people half to death. Yes, Ava was his equal
in every way, but he wasn’t sure if she’d felt the same. Oh sure she would spend
hours talking with him, and they’d gone on countless walks around the expansive
property getting lost in one another’s words. But it was clear to him that
there was something going on with her boss Gavin and although he had tried to
drag it out of her that was something that she obviously wanted to keep to
herself.
She’s not ready to tell me
,
he thought to himself.
Hell she may never want to tell me.

She said yes to be my date for the
ceremony and that’s a start. Now I’ll leave it up to
her to decide whether or not things progress.

The
morning of their departure to New Orleans, Ava found herself awake at the crack
of dawn. The sun was about to rise and she yawned and smiled at the new day.
Off in the distance, she could hear the sound of a rooster crowing. It was far
too early to wake up Magnus so she decided to get a few hours of reading in
before she took a shower and got ready to leave. She’d done all of her last
minute packing the night before and since she had nothing that even remotely
looked like an evening gown amongst her things, she asked Magnus if they could
stop at a boutique once they got to New Orleans. He told her not to worry, that
he had planned everything out already and he hoped that she wouldn’t be
disappointed.