Hello beasties! It's been a long time hasn't it? Well, I'm finally getting back to this story, and in this chapter, some very interesting things will be happening to Cecily! Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter beasties!

Well, finding a new life so far on her own wasn't going as smoothly as Cecily had hoped it would go.  Of course it isn't. Did you really think it would go any other way? A nagging voice inside her head told her, but she pushed it away, sitting down on the hood of her car as her shadow appeared, seeming worried about her. Cecily waved it off, drawing her knees up to her chest, sighing.

Of course, when she left home after she'd been kicked out, she'd been so certain that she'd find an amazing apartment somewhere in the French Quartier,  get famous(for what, she didn't know exactly, but wasn't that what teens did in movies or whatever? She wasn't entirely sure, because she didn't watch a lot of those films. ), and never look back, but it seemed like fate had other ideas.

Sure, she had a little over five hundred bucks that Grandma Eva gave her, so she wouldn't  have to go begging to her parents to send any money to her(she was greatful for that), but as for finding an apartment, least of all one she could easily afford? That was a whole other story.

Apparently, five hundred dollars wasn't going to be enough to find a place of her own, as she'd clearly learned over the course of the very long, very frustrating day she had just had of apartment hunting.(and starting off the day by waking up to a stiff neck after sleeping in her car hadn't exactly helped her present mood)

Any place she had looked at today either: a. already sold, b. too expensive, and would have wiped her out completely of whatever money she currently had, c. affordable, but so horrendous she could practically feel the lice starting to form on her scalp(the rat hole in one of them didn't help things), or....

The landlord of that one apartment complex that took one look at her and her combat boots and holey jeans, and promptly said they were "not renting at the moment". But from the tone of his voice, he clearly meant: "not renting to punk kids like you, because from the looks of you, you'd probably invite all of your punk druggie friends to have all-night ragers and smoke your blunts in my rooms, so no."  But Cecily was a good sport about it, so she didn't snap at him like she normally would have done, she merely politely responded with a "Oh, thank you." and left. See, she could be polite and courteous when she wanted, she thought glowering slightly.

And the landlord tripping over his own feet and landing  his fat butt on one of the lobby's potted cactuses wasn't her fault at all, although her shadow may or may have not had something to do with it(hey, she didn't control her shadow really, and that little nod she gave to it didn't really entail anything....), she snickered a little, remembering how silly he looked, like a cartoon character with his eyes bugging outwards like that, and that yell of pain? Pure hilariousness.  Then her phone chimed from its spot in her hoodie.

A quick glance at her phone revealed a text message, being from Charlie. Cecily rolled her eyes and looked at her shadow. "What do you think, do I answer it?" Her shadow shrugged its shoulders, and Cecily sighed. "Okay, you're right. But I'm still mad at him, I'll just let him stew for a bit, then I'll talk to him." Her shadow seemed pleased at that, and didn't seem to hear Cecily mutter: "If he's still not being a bloody idiot." So, she texted back : "Busy right now, talk later".

Just then, her phone rang, the song(Black magic woman by Fleetwood Mac, a rather fitting song if she had to admit.) startling her shadow suddenly. It zoomed further away from her on the deserted streets, until it stopped a few feet away to gush over a sleeping dog tied up to a metal fence outside a brightly lit restaurant.  Cecily nervously pressed the talk icon, unsure of who was calling. Was it her parents, having somehow miracuosly changed their minds?(Yeah, and maybe she'd win America's next top Model, she thought sarcastically.) After a moment, she heard a very familiar, overly bubbly voice.

"Cee!"

Cecily forced some chipperness into her voice. Siobhan couldn't find out what Cecily was really feeling, if Siobhan found out, she'd just take pity on Cecily, and the last thing  she wanted was anybody's pity...... "Oh, hey Shi! Whatca calling for you crazy girl? Why're you back so early?" Cecily vaguely remembered Siobhan going on and on about some sort of convention about Wicca or something(she hadn't extatically been paying attention to Siobhan talking about that).

"Dad freaked on me when he discovered I wasn't actually doing my science project at the library, so he basically dragged me home, and I might, be sort of grounded." Cecily could hear Shibohan move nervously, shifting her position on the chair or probably her bed she was languishing on.

Cecily rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Yeah, but clearly security is just as high as ever, since the warden's allowing you outside calls." Siobhan's parents didn't exactly understand what "grounding" entailed(being a too busy english- lit. professor, and a self named free spirit), so Siobhan didn't have any of the normal restrictions of grounding, other than being under house arrest.(Lucky..... Cecily thought enviously.)

Siobhan giggled a little. "Yeah, but anyway, what's new with you? You didn't call me last night, when we were supposed to hang out an, you know, do our "homework" together....."

Cecily gulped and considered lying for a moment, but really, what good would that do? Shi was one of those people who could easily tell when a person was lying, so she'd be able to see right through Cecily in an instant.

"I..... my parents kicked me out."

Siobhan let out a tiny shocked gasp, making Cecily flinch slightly at the sudden sound. "No! That's awful...." Then Siobhan paused for a moment, before she spoke. "I've got an idea. You can stay with me!"

Cecily tried not to let the expiration show in her voice. Great, this was going just as well as she thought. "Shi, you know I love you, but where'd I even sleep? And I doubt I can survive your three younger brothers for longer than five seconds at a time-"

Siobhan cut her off. "Cece, you can stay in the guest room, I'm sure my parents won't mind, though I'd probably have to run it by them, and I'll make sure that my brothers don't give us any problems-"

Okay Cecily had enough of this by now. "Shi!" She practically yelled, cutting her friend off suddenly. "I appreciate what you're doing, but I'm fine, I'm going to find my own place soon, so I don't need your guest room or your help!"

Shibohan paused for a moment. "You think I'm trying to take pity on you aren't you?"

Cecily didn't respond, confirming that, yes, that was in

"Oh." The sudden sadness in her voice chilled Cecily to her very core. Great, she'd messed up again.

"Shi-" Cecily began, but Shibohan cut her off.

"It's fine!" But from the tone of her voice, she was clearly not fine in the slightest. Then, she calmed down some. "Look, I've got to go. Don't call me, I'll call you. I just.... need some time to myself."

And with that, she hung up. Cecily mentally cursed herself. Why did she keep doing things like this? Maybe her parents were right and there was something wrong with her. But she couldn't come back to them now, that would just give them the idea that they were right! Maybe she'd give it some thought after....

She spent the night in her car, again. Cecily groaned at the very thought and her spine ached at the idea of sleeping on the backseat of her car.

Her gaze drifted up to the night sky above her.  Despite all of the bullcrap she had went through over the day, it was a beautiful evening in New Orleans, the near empty streets bathed in twilight, and the first few stars appearing in the night sky.......

And there were two very familiar stars right in Cecily's field of vision.....

Cecily instantly remembered her great-grandmother's old stories. If you wished on the evening star, your wish would come true, which was what great-grandma Tia used to say. But this was real life, and things couldn't be solved by doing something as simple as wishing on a star.......

An idea came to Cecily, but then she tried to shake it off. "What am I thinking? I'm nineteen years old for Pete's sake, far too old to be wishing on stars...." She muttered to herself.

But after she looked around, making sure that the streets were truly deserted, Cecily gazed up at the star.

"Um, hey, Evangeline. And Ray I guess." She started, making sure to address the second star too. Cecily thought for a moment before continuing "Please, please, just let my luck change, just this once. I mean it is New Orleans after all, right? Anything can happen....." After several moments, she sighed and brought her gaze down.

"Oh, who am I kidding...." She muttered to herself. That was just as pointless as she had originally thought it was going to be. Cecily felt her shadow back at her side again, but through her current mood, she didn't look up. At least she still had her money, seeing that the whole wishing on a star thing clearly wasn't going to work, hidden in the front pocket of her hoodie.....

Just then, the wind picked up slightly, instantly ruffling Cecily's brown curls. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a certain envelope sticking out of her hoodie pocket....

Her eyes widened, and she made a grab for the envelope, to keep it from blowing away, but it slipped out of her grasp, instantly blowing down the street.

Cecily's eyes widened. No! That was all the money she had, she couldn't lose it now! She leapt up from her car and started the chase, her shadow close behind her.....

Time skip

The wind eventually stopped, leaving the perfect moment for Cecily to grab the envelope with her exhausted hands. When she had safely stowed the envelope away(this time in the zip-up inside pocket of her hoodie), she slumped against the nearest wall of the alleyway she had run into after her envelope, completely out of breath. Her shadow looked up at her, concerned, but Cecily managed to have enough energy to wave it off, trying to catch her breath.

Before long, when she had caught her breath, Cecily glared up at the visible patch of sky she could see from her current position. "Seriously? I thought wishing stars were supposed to help people, not-" Before she could finish, what sounded like whispering, many voices whispering, all at once cut her off.

Confused, she met her shadow's gaze. "Okay, you haven't learned to talk have you?" Cecily's shadow shook its head, clearly unnerved by what had just happened. If it wasn't her shadow, then who could it be? There was nobody around here, the streets had been practically deserted from what Cecily had seen before the wild goose-chase she'd been sent on, so who could that have been?

Curious, Cecily  began to walk further down the alley, but something yanked her arm, trying to get her to turn back. Cecily shot a glare at her shadow. "Come on, it's nothing that bad, I promise you." Just then, the whispers started up again, coming from the direction Cecily had been heading.

Gearing up her courage, she continued down the narrow passageway, her shadow cautiously following behind her. The whispers seemed to grow ever louder as Cecily drew nearer, goading her onwards until, she was smack dab in the middle of somewhere she'd never seen before, in all of the nineteen years she'd been exploring the streets of New Orleans.

A courtyard, maybe something from an duplicated apartment complex-really old, judging by some of the posters on the wall beside her(She was pretty sure that nobody could buy a "steak and eggs special" for fifty cents anymore), maybe from the nineteen twenties?- and clearly, nobody had been around these parts for quite some time. Even the tree in the center was vaguely unnerving, with its long-dead branches twisting towards the twilight sky.

As Cecily gazed around, half in awe, half terrified, something caught her attention. A door.

A washed-out, time-faded pale violet (maybe originally a bright purple) color, she probably would have missed it otherwise, glossing it over entirely, if the whispering hadn't seemed to be coming directly from where the door was located....

Cecily approached. "Weird." She muttered to herself. "It looks as if nobody's lived here for years...." Surely, there wasn't anything to fear in this abandoned place, was there?: Cecily thought. Surely the chill running down her spine was just because of the light breeze blowing through, not because she was scared or anything......

And why did she feel a shiver run through her body when she put her hand on the door?

The whispers stopped, but nothing seemed to happen. The door remained tightly shut, much to Cecily's dismay. Of course it wouldn't open, Cecily chided herself, there's no doorknob for crying out loud!

She let out a sigh. "Well, that was pointless." But just as she turned to leave.......

A loud whoosh was heard, making Cecily nearly jump back five feet in surprise. Regarding the door again, it was clear that something had indeed happened.....

Were there always those skull-shaped lanterns hung overtop the door? And how in the heck did they go on fire all of a sudden?(Overtop of said lanterns, there was some sort of sign, cracked and weathered with age. It appeared to be done in the shape of a top hat, although whatever was originally written on the sign was completely illegible by now.....) And the door she had previously tried opening, now opened with an audible creak......

This time, both Cecily and her shadow shared a look. After a moment Cecily shrugged. "Well, I'm going to check it out." But quickly noting her shadow doing a "seriously?" pose, she quickly replied: "Hey, if anyone's in here, we can just say we got lost or somethin'. And that isn't too far from the truth, so we wouldn't exactly be lyin'."

And with that, they approached the now vacant space in front of them.

Okay, it was pretty dark in there, Cecily had to admit. She could just barely make out the various shapes of unknown objects in the room, vaguely silhouetted in the dim outside light. Instinctively, Cecily reached for a light switch before she could stop herself. Who was she kidding, this pace looked like it had been abandoned for years, who knew if the lights even worked?

But just as the two of them officially stepped inside, the door closed with a bang, startling her shadow off across the room(Cecily rolled her eyes. Great, it'd take her forever to locate her friend, and now they were possibly stuck in a dark room, with maybe no way out. Really great.), probably to find someplace to hide.

Just as soon as Cecily let out a sigh of mild annoyance, a light from the back of the room turned on, as if by magic (maybe it was, something inside her whispered), illuminating the room she was in, with a steady rose-colored light.  And what was in the room, made Cecil's jaw drop in amazement.

This place was packed with Voodoo stuff. Strange looking liquids packed into bottles. Drums. Statues. Shelves packed with books. Little dolls.  Beaded necklaces......  Voodoo stuff as far as the eye could see....

Cecily let out a happy little squeal of excitement. Okay, now this was purely amazing! Her own semi-mediocre collection of Voodoo trinkets paled in comparison towards this stuff for sure!

This was Voodoo paradise!

She wandered around, in a little daze, exploring the place. Her shadow poked its head out from where it had been hiding, clearly amazed by its new surroundings.

"And you thought this would be a waste of time..." Cecily teased(Well she was right after all, might as well rub it in a bit). Her shadow gave a tiny sigh, and shrugged, before Cecily pulled out a book from a nearby shelf, eager to see what was hidden inside.

The worn-looking, leather covered book seemed to detail spells? Remedies? Cecily wasn't entirely sure, the writing was just the tiniest bit hard to read. With a increasing sense of glee, she poured over the tome, noting various things she was interested in, because who would pass up an opportunity like this to improve their skills? In the margins of the page, someone had clearly added some notes of their own to the book, a spidery yet elegant script, written in a kind of purplish-black ink. (Things like: Twice the normal dose works in this case, whoever wrote this book was obviously damn stupid, and note: the fresher the blood, the better it works to summon the "friends". Who the friends were, she had no clue. )

Then the center of the room caught her attention. A type of raised stage, partially hidden by moldering red-velvet curtains, there lay a table surrounded by three chairs, and directly behind it.....

One of the largest assortments of creepy masks she'd ever seen. At least twenty to thirty of them, just glaring into her soul, with their blank stares. Cecily shut the book with a snap, and moved closer, vaguely curious.

"Wow, whoever lived here seriously had a fetish for ugly masks...." She tried to joke but her attempt at humor fell flat. Something about those masks just felt wrong, she could feel a presence-no several- presences around her, almost as if there were things living in this place with her....

Her shadow, which had been doing some exploring of its own, suddenly backed up from the masks, obviously terrified.  Cecily tried to calm it down. "Hey, they're just masks. There's nothing weird about them." But if she had to admit it, she was trying to convince herself as much as she was of her shadow. "And hey" She picked up one of the tarot cards from the table, and drew it. "Hey, wheel of fortune, that means our luck's going to change."(She wasn't exactly sure of the true meaning, tarot cards weren't part of her specialty.  But hey, if it made her shadow feel better, it would be fine.)

Her shadow slumped a little, maybe from relief, then seemed to remember something. It pointed excitedly over to a partially hidden door, nearly hidden by a wall hanging.

Cecily didn't catch the meaning at first, but then her face lit up. "No way...." She whispered.

Her shadow nodded, sensing her excitement.

Cecily could hardly believe it. Her shadow had found her an apartment. One of her own, and she wouldn't have to pay an arm and a leg for it! And it was located over a veritable Voodoo paradise, so what more could you want?

But, there were a few things she was worried about. If the outside of this place(most likely a shop and an overhead apartment, had looked so abandoned and duplicated, then why was there nary a speck of dust on anything in here? Surely a place like this which had been abandoned for so long, would be covered in dust and cobwebs? It was almost like someone had preserved this place for future use.....

And what of the original owner? Surely they weren't coming back, right? This place looked as if nobody had used it in years, so surely nobody would mind if she simply set up camp here?

Cecily shook off the thought. Never mind that. She had a new place now, she'd worry about it tomorrow, after some shut-eye. Or rather, after she got her car and her stuff near here. But not after she checked out this apartment first....

But as she clambered upstairs, she said a silent thank-you to  a certain wishing star. Guess wishes really do come true after all, she though happily.

Little did she know, how horribly wrong she was going to be....

Well beasties, I'm finally done this chapter! Did you catch the references to a certain location from a certain villain song? *hint hint*

https://youtu.be/RXnv9jE9dWM

(Yeah, I paid real close attention to this video) Anyway, next chapter, I think it's high time for the Shadowman himself to enter the story, don't you think? After all, he has been gone so long, why not bring him back.....*hint hint*

Anyway, I'll see you soon beasties.......