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"Wait!" I screamed, but she didn't hear me. I ran up the street after her. When I turned the corner, she was heading toward the streetcar. "Wait!" I shouted. The streetcar rumbled down the tracks to the station. "Please, mademoiselle, wait."

I ran as fast as I could. She turned as she stepped up to the car and looked my way, but she didn't hesitate. She got in, and the car door closed just as I approached. I saw the girl take a seat by an open window in the rear. She gazed out at me. I waved the letter and ran alongside the car.

"Where is she? It's my mother! Where is she?" I cried.

The girl stared out at me without speaking.

"Please!" I cried as the car began to pull away from me. Suddenly the girl threw something out of the window. It bounced on the grass in front of me as the streetcar made a turn and disappeared. I stopped to catch my breath. My heart was a wild frantic animal in my chest, thudding so hard that my ribs felt as if they would burst. Gasping for air, I stepped forward until I found what she had thrown. Whatever it was, it was in a small cloth sack. I picked it up and undid the string, pausing to look in the direction of the streetcar. What could this have to do with Mommy?

I felt something hard in the bag and pulled it out carefully. The moment I set eyes on it, I screamed and dropped it. It was the head of a snake. My heart seemed to jump out of my chest and into my throat. I felt my face turn crimson, and for a moment it was as if I had stepped into a hot oven. People driving by slowed down to gaze at me. I'm sure I looked wild and hysterical, gasping, crying, shaking my head. Finally, after I got control of myself, I turned and hurried back to the house.

As soon as I entered, I hurried down the hallway to Daddy's study. He was seated behind his desk, but had turned his back to the door and was gazing up at a portrait of himself and Mommy, a portrait she had painted from a photograph. He had a tumbler of bourbon in his right hand.

"Daddy, Mommy has sent us a letter!" I declared.

He turned slowly. His face was streaked with tears. He wiped them away with the back of his hand quickly. "What's that? A letter?"

"Some girl just delivered it. I tried to run after her and question her, but she got on the streetcar before I could stop her. She threw something terrible out the window at me when I screamed for her to tell me where Mommy was."

"Terrible? What?"

"A sack containing the head of a snake," I said, crying.

"Head of a snake? How sick."

"And there's red powder on the envelope," I said, holding it up for him to see.

"Red powder. Another voodoo thing," he said with an expression of disgust. "Where is she? What does the letter say?"

"I don't know. I haven't read it yet."

"Well, read it," he ordered and sat forward. I turned on the lamp near me and opened the letter.

My precious husband Beau and my precious daughter Pearl,

By the time you read this, I will be long gone. I tell you that so you won't go searching wildly over the city to find me and bring me back. That's why I waited until now to write and deliver this letter.

I know that you do not believe as strongly as I do in the powers of the unknown, but the two of you were not brought up in a world in which such things dwelt. I am the granddaughter of a true traiteur, and as such I have some spiritual insight. I know that more than ever now.

Last night I spoke with the dead. Nina's voice was clear, and her spirit was in me. She regretted not having been able to speak with me before our tragedy. She thinks it might have been prevented.

"What a state of mind she is in," Daddy commented. "These people have poisoned Ruby's thoughts, taken advantage of her while she is in mourning, weak, and vulnerable. I'll have them all arrested," he raged.

"There's more, Daddy," I said, my fingers trembling as I held up the paper.

"Go ahead," he said, lowering his head like a flag of defeat.

Although I couldn't prevent what happened to Jean, I can prevent any further bad luck from entering our lives and hurting my loved ones. Nina has given me specific instructions to peel away the layer of evil that has been spread over our home and our lives, evil that was born out of my sins.

These instructions require my leaving our home, maybe forever. That's up to Fate, I suppose. I didn't want to leave so abruptly, but I knew if I told either of you any of this, you would try to stop me.

Already we have seen what these rituals can do for us. Pierre will mend as long as I continue to pursue the path I've been instructed to pursue.

I beg you both not to try to follow me or stop me, but I want to assure you both just how much I love you and how difficult this will be for me.

I am depending on you, Pearl, to be the strength I couldn't be. Stay by your brother and your father and help them.

Beau, my darling, please find it in your heart to forgive me and believe in me. If I have your trust, I will be that much stronger in the days to come and during the battle that is to follow. I will feel your faith in me.