“Hey, um…I need help. Traiteur help. I’m in a bit of a situation.”
“Are you okay?” he asked, concerned.
“Yes, I am now, but I was wondering if you could meet me and my sister out in Arabi. We need another Traiteur. I can explain it all when you get here.”
“Sure. Text me the address.”
“Great. Thank you. I really appreciate this.”
“No problem.”
Click.
It tookEtienne a little over thirty minutes to arrive at the warehouse, and during that time, Ophelia was only able to release one more soul. Ophelia was lying flat on the floor, exhausted, and Jolie was attempting to move the statue of Mateo out of the way. The sisters were still unsure of what to do with him.
Etienne barreled into the warehouse like he was on a mission, the door slamming shut behind him. Ophelia and Jolie froze where they were, staring at Etienne like deer in headlights.
“What in the world is going on here?” said Etienne, his deep voice echoing through the room.
Ophelia regarded the scene, and it did look absurd. Jolie looked like she was slow dancing with Mateo in order to move his heavy stone body. Ophelia was surrounded by naked statues, including one of herself.
Laughter bubbled up inside her. She was delirious. Jolie and Etienne stared at her like she was unhinged. She did feel like she was losing it. No, she felt embarrassed and hurt and violated and angry and exhausted. And her response to all of those feelings was this fit of out-of-place laughter that included a couple of snorts as well.
“I’m sorry,” she gulped. “I am out of it.”
Jolie looked at Etienne. “It’s been a long weekend.”
Etienne harrumphed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Well, are one of you going to explain what’s going on here?”
Ophelia peeled herself off the floor. “Let’s sit.” There were a couple of chairs next to a workbench that she gestured to. Etienne sat down, his line of vision directly in front of statue-Ophelia’s stone face turned in disgust. Etienne’s eyes widened as he sat up straight and looked down at his lap.
“Ophelia,” said Etienne, a blush creeping up his neck, “is that a sculpture of you?”
Something about that question caused Ophelia to crack, and tears began to fall swiftly down her face. Etienne placed an awkward hand on her back in comfort. Jolie was afraid of tears, typically manifesting her pain as anger, so she stayed put with her difficult task of moving Mateo.
Ophelia collected herself and started from the beginning. Etienne’s hands began to form into fists as her story progressed. Worried that his fists of rage would be unleashed on stone-Mateo’s smug jaw, Ophelia placed a hand over his. The anger radiating from him wasn’t scary but reassuring. He took a deep breath at her touch and nodded, signaling for her to continue.
After she was done, Etienne agreed to help Ophelia release the statues’ souls. He was much faster at it than Ophelia, completing three in the span that she completed one. She clearly had a lot to learn. When they were finished, they were both exhausted beyond belief.
“I need to eat,” Etienne announced. “But what are we gonna do about the soul goblin over here? And what about the other statues?”
“I suppose we could just leave them,” said Ophelia.
“Hell no,” Jolie protested. “What if another crazy, evil, magical person finds them and resurrects Mateo? And then he seeks vengeance on us? Have you not seen enough horror movies?”
“Fair. Then what do you propose we do?” Ophelia asked.
Jolie smiled maniacally. “You two can head out whenever, but I’m going to stay here and go HAM on these statues. He’s got all sorts of equipment in that closet. I plan to have fun with a sledgehammer.”
Jolie rummaged through the closet as Ophelia and Etienne gawked at her. She walked out with a giant sledgehammer in one hand and a hand saw in the other.
“Anybody wanna crack at him first?”
“No, but…” Ophelia walked over to her statue. She placed her hands on it, testing its weight against her strength. Then, with the force of her whole body, she pushed the statue over, and her head tumbled off.Not good enough,thought Ophelia. “Give me that thing.”
Jolie passed the sledgehammer over to her. “And the goggles,” demanded Ophelia. Jolie passed her the goggles she had found in the closet, and she fixed them to her head. The sledgehammer was heavier than she expected. Her arms struggled to raise it above her head, but when the sledgehammer reached its pinnacle, she swung down hard, cracking the statue into pieces. A final burst of adrenaline coursed through her. She swung three more times until she was satisfied with the mess she made. That disgustingly beautiful statue would never haunt her again.
“Nice,” whispered Jolie in appreciation of her efforts.
