|
Part IV: The Rolling River
Chapter 4: Up In Smoke
Widgit became a cyclone of motion and lightening bolts, as wind and fire whipped from her body and assaulted the ship, setting drapes and chairs and rugs afire.
"Stop her!" yelled Ursula, trying to dodge the explosive staff and tackle the queen witch. But Widgit just laughed and jumped on the table tops, dancing from one to the next like a child at play.
The longer she held the staff, the more youthful she appeared and the stronger she became. While many fled the boat, Emerald, suddenly calm, approached Widgit as if invincible, seeming to float upon the air. Widgit saw her coming and aimed the staff at her, but it wouldn't fire. Emerald smiled, as if she could read Widgit's panicked thoughts.
Then Widgit jumped down from the table and attempted to flee, but Josefina and Aphrodite seized her and held her captive, knocking the staff to the ground. Grasping it, Emerald stood up quietly, pointed the staff directly at Widgit, and calmly said: "You are a frog."
Puff. Widgit became a frog, suddenly bolting between and around the feet of her surprised captors and escaping off the boat and into the muddy Mississippi River.
"We gotta get outta here!" Luis yelled, soliciting Roberto and Jannie to help him carry Stone and the resurrected Rosalita off the boat as the flames grew around them.
Ursula grabbed the staff from Emerald and tossed it to Oliver, with instructions to take it as far away as possible and bury it where no one would ever find it again. Oliver wound his way through the melee and disappeared.
As smoke billowed throughout the doomed boat, the former mariners made their way to shore, where they collapsed on the rich, wet grass and watched the boat burn. Stone and Rosalita each held onto one of Luis' arms. Jannie hung onto Roberto. Ursula hung onto Miguel. The rest found someone or something to keep them focused, and all felt their hearts sink with the grand boat. Only Emerald seemed strangely unaffected, which surprised them all, given she was the actual owner of the boat.
"It's a relief to see it go," she said at last. Then she turned and walked slowly up the embankment and back into town.
When they found her later, she was in the kitchen of the brothel, humming softly to herself and cooking dinner.
That night, as the group gathered together for one last time, Rosalita asked Emerald why she was so happy, after she'd lost so much.
"Because I finally have the one thing I wanted," she said, then she mysteriously continued humming.
"And what's that?" asked Aphrodite, impatient to know Emerald's secrets.
"Oh, you'll see, soon enough," she said.
The others stared at her until interrupted by Luis.
"We," he said, indicating himself, Stone and Rosalita, "think we should get out of here. I don't know about you, but I'm not so sure Widgit won't come back."
"Oh, she will come back," said Emerald. "Count on it."
"How do you know?" asked Stone.
"Because a spell doesn't work for good unless it's cast three times," Emerald explained, casting a sidelong glance at Roberto.
"And when she comes back, she's going to be madder than hell," Ursula commented. "Getting out of here might be a very good idea."
"Where will you go?" Roberto asked, not willing to let his brother depart so easily.
"I've heard there are lots of opportunities to be had in a place called California," said Luis. "It's still pretty wild out there. I don't think they'd object too much to another large family moving in, do you?"
"Large family?" Roberto asked.
Luis smiled. Stone smiled. Rosalita smiled.
"Okay, what gives?" asked Wickeddoll.
"We're pregnant," Stone said, indicating both her and Rosalita. "Two spirits, one body. Two mothers, carrying twins."
Wickeddoll whistled, amazed.
"So am I," piped in Jannie, hugging Roberto even closer and driving a few people green with jealousy. His mouth fell open and he stared at her. He wondered how he was going to explain all of this to Eva and Baby Smile.
Emerald smiled at Jannie. For once, she could afford to be magnanimous.
"And so am I," she said. "With triplets. That's why Widgit's power wouldn't work on me. I'm now four times stronger than her."
"You?" Miguel demanded. "How?"
"Magic," she said, smiling broadly.
"But who's the father?" Miguel asked.
"You'll see," she said. "I'm carrying three boys, and once they're born, they'll look just like their father."
"How do you know?" Roberto asked.
"Because I have the gift," she responded, then she continued humming.
Roberto was silent for a few minutes, then he turned to Luis.
"California sounds like a good place to go," he said. "Mind some company?"
"No. Not at all," Luis responded. "Anyone else care to go?"
Around the room, hands shot up, including Emerald's. It was decided, then, that almost all of them would go to California. A few would stay behind, of course, including Telamarine, who had been released from prison but was planning on helping the former mayor escape; and Josefina and Aphrodite, who'd decided to open up a saloon; and Rusty, who liked New Orleans; and Oliver.
And, in the end, the former pirates and mariners said their tearful goodbyes and headed out into a wilderness filled with new adventures, new dreams, new hopes, and new beginnings.
Widgit the frog watches the boat go up in flames and plots her revenge .....
|
