~oOo~

“And now you have the facts, at least all the facts behind the legend that our team of investigators could uncover,” The man stood in front of the camera crew, the white Stetson hat shading his eyes from the bright sunlight. The large sign denoting the building behind him as being the Texas Ranger’s Hall of Fame museum. “Was there truly a ‘lone’ ranger? While there have been several Rangers over the years that worked alone and preformed feats of legendary heroism, none were known to wear a mask or use silver bullets.”

“Cut!” A man standing behind the camera yelled prior to walking out toward the man that they had been filming. “Get that to editing so we can wrap up this episode,” he ordered the camera crew as he put his hand on the shoulder of the man that had been in front of the camera, “Good job KC.”

Reaching up, Kevin, KC to his friends, took off the cowboy hat before rubbing his forehead with his other hand, “I just hope whatever myth you have us chase down next time is better than this one.” KC looked over at the man with his hand on his shoulder, “For heaven’s sake Bill, the god damn Lone Ranger? They air this one and we’ll be laughing stocks back in LA.”

“I think you’ll find the next location a bit more to your liking oh great ghost hunter of mine,” Bill chuckled. “And speaking of LA that is where we’re headed next.”

“We’re going back to Los Angles?”

“Nope, LA as in the state.”

“What’s in Louisiana other than swamps, mosquitoes and alligators?

“How about a special on Marie Laveau?”

“No legend there pal,” KC argued, “She was real, you can even go see her tomb.”

“True, but did you know that we have sources that say she never really died and every so many years she suddenly appears much younger, only to begin growing old again. Word is she just recently did the young again trick.”

“Damn Bill, we both know some younger woman maybe a daughter or granddaughter is just taking her name and place.”

“Well I guess if you’re truly against the Marie Laveau story, since we’re in Texas we could always hunt down the legend of Pecos Bill?”

Hearing that Kevin Cringed, “Let’s get packed up and heading toward New Orleans.” Kevin shook his head in defeat, “At least she is a real legend and not some comic book character. At the rate you’re going you’re going to have us in Albuquerque looking for the reason that Bugs Bunny makes wrong turns there all the time.”

Bill grinned at Kevin, “You know that might make for a really funny episode. Have to get Warner Brothers permission to use their character of course.”

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Kevin glared at Bill.

~~oOo~~

Kevin stopped in the middle of filming his monologue in front of Marie Laveau’s tomb when he heard the small girl’s voice. It wasn’t that the small child had interrupted as with their equipment her voice could easily be edited out, it was what Kevin thought she had said. Turning toward the direction of the child’s voice, Kevin saw a woman scooping up the small girl in her arms then turn and begin walking quickly away, “Hey… Wait!” Kevin yelled after her, “Please, I’d like to talk with you!”

“What the hell KC?” Bill, who had been standing behind the main camera shouted.

Turning back toward the camera crew, “Jim! Please tell me you guys got that!” Kevin ran off camera toward one of the crew filming with the smaller hand held cameras.

“Get what KC?” the man asked, lowering the hand held camera from his shoulder.

That dark haired woman with the little girl, the one that ran off. Did you get her on camera?”

“Probably, why?”

“The girl said the tomb has her name on it!”

About half way through filming their first season of, ‘Myths and Legends; Fact or Fantasy’ one of the crew had caught some great footage on one of the smaller hand held cameras while they were filming using the main camera. Ever since that occurred the team always had at least one other camera rolling, filming their surroundings. Kevin prayed that the cameras had caught a picture of the woman’s face. If what he had heard from the little girl was correct, they had just confirmed that a young woman did bear the same name as the legendary Voodoo Queen. Kevin did not believe the story about how the voodoo witch could regenerate and become younger. To Kevin that sounded like how the BBC explained new actors portraying their beloved Doctor Who character. Although he knew that finding and then interviewing this woman would provide key drama for their investigation, but all that depended on the cameras catching both audio and video of her and the little girl.

Kevin rushed everyone to pack up and head back to their RV. Inside the large RV the front third of its interior was packed with computer equipment allowing the film crew to perform the miracles of editing on site, saving them from any return trips to retake and scenes. While the main studio would make a second pass over the footage removing all extra scenes they disliked and cutting the run time down to fit the 48 minute time slot before preparing it to air on network TV.

Uploading the footage from the three cameras they had been using, Larry, their lead cameraman synced all three together and put each video up on its own monitor. The main camera of course was focused on Kevin, but Jim with the shoulder held camera was off to Kevin’s left filming from an angle, had caught the woman on video.

In Kevin’s eyes it was unusual how the crowd parted so easily to let the woman walk up to the front of the narrow cemetery street. People in crowds like this normally ignored those trying to push their way to the front, but the people trying to get a glimpse of them filming had quickly stepped out of the woman and child’s way as soon as they recognized her.

“Damn, you’d think she was some kind of royalty or something,” Larry chuckled.

“You see the look on those faces?” Jim pointed toward the monitor, “See how some are leaving after getting out of her way? I’d swear they’re afraid of her.”

“It’s coming up,” Kevin stated, “Turn the audio down on the main and turn it up on Tony’s cam.” Pointing at Tony in the Jim’s video, “He’s closest to her and should have audio of her and the kid.”

In the video from Jim’s camera they saw the small girl point toward Kevin, at the same moment they could hear the audio of the little girl from Tony’s camera, “Mommy! That man says you are buried in that thing behind him.”

The woman knelt down and told the girl, “He’s making a TV show sweetie, it’s like when you are playing with your Dolls or the animals.”

“Like when I play that Henry’s a dragon?”

“Yes my little dragon rider. Just like that.”

Then Kevin’s voice could be heard, “Hey… Wait!” The woman glanced up at Kevin before scooping up the child into her arms and walking quickly in the opposite direction, almost immediately obscured from sight as the crowd filled in the gap behind her.

“Scroll back and print some high rez pics of that woman so we can show them around,” Kevin ordered. “The way those people acted she must be fairly well known and should be easy to find.”

~o~O~o~

Kevin sat with two pillows behind his back against the wall, lounging on his bed in the rear of the modified RV with his laptop resting on his lap as he looked longingly at a still of the woman that had interrupted the shoot earlier that day. The woman had a darker skin tone, dark enough to be a very light skinned African American although her facial features looked more along the lines of European ancestry. Possibly a bit of Asian mixed in there too with her straight black hair. It was her eyes he found so entrancing, she had the most radiant amber eyes, eyes that drew you in so that you couldn’t focus on anything else when looking at her.

Leaning forward he peered out the narrow open door to make sure everyone was either busy or not in the RV before minimizing the still of the woman before clicking on the start menu and entering some text into the search bar and hitting the enter key. A small window opened in the middle of his screen prompting for a password which he quickly entered. A slide show of women in various outfits began on his laptop. While there were some modeling lingerie and swim suits, most were in very nice tops and skirts or nice dresses. After almost ten minutes of watching the slide show on his laptop Kevin turned off the slide show and with a heavy sigh wiped the tear away that had run down his cheek. Turning off his laptop, Kevin laid it beside him on the bed, repositioned the pillows then turned over to get some sleep. Tomorrow would be a long day walking around with the woman’s picture trying to get someone to tell him where he could find her. Yes his team would film every step and every person they spoke with, but only the very best three or four segments of that footage would be saved for the show, the rest as the saying was, would end up on the cutting room floor.

~~~oOo~~~

Kevin was awoken by banging on the RV’s small bedroom’s door then Bill’s voice, “Come on KC, up and atom, we got that woman to find and maybe shoot a bit more footage today.”

Rolling over on his side Kevin looked at the digital clock that sat on the small shelf beside the bed that read ‘6:07 AM’, “I’m up!” Kevin replied loud enough to be heard through the closed door as he sat up in bed.

Kevin had spent the last three days going from one business to the next showing the picture of the woman asking if anyone knew where he could find her, most just shook their heads while a small handful had demanded he leave immediately. Yesterday the crew had decided that they had plenty of search footage and split up to cover more ground, each member taking a different section of the French Quarter. He had discovered that while many of what appeared to be stores bore the word Voodoo or Witch in some form or fashion in their name, most of these had turned out to be bars. While he did find several stores that sold voodoo paraphernalia most of these were really only places that sold souvenirs to the tourists. The next storefront he walked up to had ‘The Dark Lady’ painted in an artistic arch on the large display window. Looking through the large glass he couldn’t tell what it looked like inside due to blinds being down inside the store, making him wonder if the place was even open. Thinking it was probably just another bar or pub Kevin walked up to the door and turned the knob.

The door opened inward with the tingle of a bell over his head. Looking up Kevin saw a small bell attached to a metal arm that held the bell within the doors path. Closing the door behind him he watched at the door caught the bottom edge of the small bell making it ring again. Looking around at the dim interior, the only light was that which bled through the lowered blinds, Kevin thought the place looked like some kind of swap shop or cluttered antique store. That is until his eyes became accustomed to the dim light and he spotted what had to be voodoo dolls, crude homemade candles of various colors, Crucifixes and other items that had to be for practicing magic.

“Can I help you?” Kevin turned to the voice to find an older woman, sitting in rocking chair knitting, beside a counter near the rear of the store.

Clearing his throat, “Um yes, I hope so.” Kevin Fished the picture of the woman out of his sport coat’s pocket. Walking past what he hoped were fake human skulls on a shelf he handed the photo to the old woman, “I’m Kevin Cadwell, host of ‘Myths and Legends: Fiction or fact’ we’re doing a show on Marie Laveau and I’m trying to locate this woman to interview her for the show.”

Taking the picture the old woman looked at it carefully, “I reckon I’ve seen her round.” Looking up from where she sat at Kevin, “You don’t be meaning her or her little one any harm do you?”

“No ma’am, I wouldn’t dream of causing her any trouble, I just want to speak to her.”

The old woman peered into his eyes for several breaths, “I give you directions where you can find her and time she be there.” Reaching over to the counter the old woman picked up a piece of paper that she held out toward Kevin, “You be there at nine a.m. tomorrow.”

Taking the paper Kevin saw it had hand written directions, “thank you.”

Cracking a toothy smile at Kevin the old woman warned, “You do exactly what she tell you and it be good for you. You do not it be very bad for you.”

Kevin could barely hold in his excitement as he left the store and began walking back toward their RV.

Moments after the door closed behind Kevin, a small girl no more than 5 or 6 years old came out from the backroom of the store followed by the woman Kevin had been searching for. “Who was that man Grammy?” the small girl asked.

“Someone that be needing your momma’s special kind of help,” the old woman reached over stroking the child’s hair.

~~~~oOo~~~~

Kevin, Bill and the rest of their crew left Tony with the RV when the road became too narrow and rutted to proceed further in the large vehicle. Both Jim and Larry carried the shoulder cameras and taped the half mile journey on foot that ended at the edge of the water where an old hut sat on stilts out in the water with a wood planked ramp leading up to it. On the small covered porch a robed figure sat in a wooden rocking chair, the hood of the robe pulled up and forward obscuring the face of the wearer.

“I see you found your way here Mr. Cadwell,” the hooded figures voice unmistakably female.

“We followed your directions to the letter,” Kevin held up the paper the old woman had given him.

The robed figure stood up out of the old wooden rocking chair, “Good, bring it in with you.” Bill and the others began to follow Kevin toward the ramp. “Stop!” A small feminine hand shot out from under the robe, “Only Mr. Cadwell.”

Kevin Turned and stopped Bill’s protests, “The old woman said to do exactly what she told us.” Putting on a fake smile to hide his own nervousness, “I’ll be fine.” Kevin turned back and headed up the ramp. Once on the porch the woman held open the wooden framed screen door motioning for Kevin to enter, following him in once he had done so. Kevin jumped then quickly turned around as an old spring attached to both the screen door and the door frame pulled the door shut with a bang of wood slapping wood.

~~~~~oOo~~~~~

Bill watched as Kevin walked up the ramp and went into the hut while both Jim and Larry filmed. Larry held his camera fixed on Kevin’s entrance into the small hut, while Jim was slowly panning his camera to show the alligators floating quietly in the water around the hut and under it among the stilts that held it several feet above the water. Moments after the screen door swung shut on the hut a very large alligator climbed up out of the swamp onto dry land beside the ramp.

“Holy shit!” Jim gasped, “Do you see the size of that thing?”

Larry swept his camera over to catch the massive alligator on his camera, “Jezzz-us, that thing must be eighteen feet long. I didn’t know alligators could get that big.”

“I heard a few years ago some guy killed one that scientists thought to be five hundred years old,” Jim commented.

“Was it this big?” Bill began backing up, pulling both Jim and Larry back with him.

“I don’t think it was this big,” Jim let the other man continue pulling him back as the alligator pulled its massive size out of the water then lay down on the ground at the foot of the ramp.

~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~

“You’ve nothing to fear from me Mr. Cadwell. The magic is always fitting for the individual that receives it,” The robed woman reached up with both hands pulling back the hood to reveal the face of the woman he had been searching for.

Kevin’s eyes widened at the woman’s confession of magic, “So you’re saying that you are a witch?”

“I believe the word you used at the tomb was Voodoo Queen,” the woman smiled.

“You, you’re Marie Laveau?”

“That is the name I was given,” Marie nodded.

“You were given your name?” Kevin quizzed.

“Just as you were given your name at birth, I was given mine.”

“You’re not going to try to tell me that tomb is empty and you’re over two hundred years old?”

“Would you believe me if I did?” Marie grinned.

Kevin shook his head, “No, I doubt you could convince me that was true. But the locals believe you are.”

Marie nodded, “Yes, some believe that I am. Others believe I am the reincarnation of her, which is closer to the truth.”

“What is the truth?”

“That is difficult to explain and even more difficult to believe,” Marie motioned at a chair for Kevin to sit in. “The part of Marie Laveau, the part of her soul that can work magic, still exists. I carry that piece of her soul now.”

“So you’re saying she taught her daughter, and the daughter taught her daughter and so on.”

“No, it takes a special woman to control the magic without its darkness consuming her soul. Receiving the magic changes you, not only mentally but physically too. Before I received the gift I looked nothing like I appear now, I wasn’t Creole. My skin, hair, eyes and body were that of another person.”

“Your right, that is difficult to believe.” Realizing something about her story Kevin asked, “So you wanted this power so much you would agree to be changed so drastically?”

“No, I never wished for the power. I never knew it existed.” Marie explained, “I was under the control and abused badly by an evil man. I was nothing more than a sexual slave for his deviant pleasure. My predecessor saved both Anna and myself from him.”

“Anna, that’s the little girl? Your daughter?”

Marie nodded, “Yes, she’s my little angel.”

“I guess my big question is why are you letting me know all this?” Kevin voiced his concerns, “You say that you won’t harm me but you know that all this will be aired on national television. Your secret will be out.”

“Most everything I have told you, you could learn from talking to the right people in the bayou. It would take longer, but eventually you would hear enough to put the pieces together.” Leaning over to her left, Marie reached over and picked up a small human shaped object that appeared to be made of dried grasses braided together.

Even at the distance Kevin sat from Marie he could see how intricately the plant fibers had been woven together to form the figure. This doll showed much greater skill and detail in its creation than the ones he had seen in the stores in the French Quarter. So much detail he could easily see the narrow waist and breasts created to make the doll appear feminine, “A voodoo doll?”

“A gift, a token of my faith that you will be discrete when you talk about me on your show.”

“An evil doll?”

“Voodoo dolls can serve many purposes,” Marie grinned at his ignorance on the subject. “Hollywood only shows the bad side of voodoo. Yes voodoo can be used to punish, but that is only a small portion of what it can do.” Marie rose out of the chair she was in, “You and I have something in common. Although I did not wish for my change, I did accept it. In your heart you wish for a similar change. If your desire is strong enough I can give you that change.” Marie examined the man that sat before her, would he take the chance? “Give me you permission to finish this doll and it will make your greatest dreams come to pass.”

Kevin thought about his greatest desire, she couldn’t possibly know? He was so careful to never voice it even when he was alone. What if magic were real, could he afford to pass on the one and only chance he will ever get? And if she turns out to be just some crazy woman living off the shadow of a legend what did it hurt to humor her? “What do you need?”

~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~

Kevin looked around nervously to make sure no one could see him as he pulled the voodoo doll Marie had given him out of the fanny pack he always wore. Looking at it one last time he could see how she had threaded some of his own hair into the scalp of the doll giving it the resemblance of having hair, although the short hair stood straight out. Marie had also stitched together a white linen dress that she put on the doll. Glancing around one last time Kevin quickly placed the doll under his pillow just as Marie had instructed. Then stripping down to his boxers and tee shirt Kevin climbed into bed.

Kevin was awoken by banging on the small bedroom’s door then bill’s voice, “Come on Kacie, up and atom, we got footage to shoot this morning and we still have to reshoot the scene by the voodoo witch’s tomb.”

Rolling over on his side, Kevin saw the digital clock on the shelf that read ‘5:32 AM’ half covered by a beige bra, “what the…” Kevin’s eyes widened at the sight of the female undergarment. Rubbernecking behind him on the bed half expecting to find another body in bed with him although knowing that he hadn’t drank anything and would have remembered meeting a woman that he brought back to the RV.

Everything felt off as Kevin sat up in bed, including his balance, so much that he almost fell forward onto the floor. Feeling a strange pulling on his Chest Kevin looked down to see two mounds pushing the tank top out that he was wearing. The low cut of the tank top also revealed female cleavage. Jumping out of the bed to his feet, Kevin fell forward into the wall, barely catching himself with his now much smaller hands before face planting into the wall.

Kevin heard Bill’s voice once again, “Kacie you okay in there?”

Realizing he had to answer Kevin yelled, “I’m fine.” Immediately bringing one of his delicate feminine hands to his throat when he heard his now much higher pitch soprano voice. Grabbing the door handle, Kevin threw the door open and staggered out into the short hallway to the bathroom.

With both hand on the sink Kevin stared into the mirror. The reflection he saw wasn’t completely unfamiliar, although it wasn’t one he would normally see in the mirror but at the same time not that unfamiliar as Kevin could see the family resemblance of the face in the mirror. If anything he thought it looked like a younger version of his sister, although with his hair color. The hair of course was no longer in the short businessman style cut he preferred, with the loose curls he now wore hanging down past his shoulders.

Kevin’s eyes widen in the mirror as the thought of what all this meant. Stepping back from the sink, Kevin grabbed the elastic waistband of the pink and gray sleep shorts, pulling them forward as he tried to look to see if that had changed too. Trying to look past his new breasts proved too difficult forcing Kevin to desperately reach into the sleep shorts only to confirm what he knew he would find or rather not find.

“Girl are you sure you’re okay back there?” Kevin heard Bill once again.

“Maybe it’s that time of the month?” Kevin heard Jim’s voice.

‘Princess? That time of the month?’ Kevin thought to himself or rather herself. His eyes widening once again in the reflection as he whispered in a now very feminine voice, “They know!”

“Girl you best hurry up,” She heard Larry’s voice, “I don’t think Bill is going to be able to protect those pancakes from Jim much long that he’s saving for you.”

“They’re buckwheat!” She heard Jim laugh, “You know how much I like buckwheat pancakes!”

After dealing with his bladder Kevin scrambled back into the bedroom to find a robe to hide his body before going out into the front of the RV where the crew were sitting around the computer stations.

“Wow look what the cat dragged in,” Tony laughed.

“What?” Kevin looked questioning at Tony.

“I can’t remember you ever leaving your room without brushing your hair or fixing it in some way before.”

Bill looked over at her, concern written on his face as he handed her a plate filled with a stack of three pancakes covered in butter and syrup, “You feeling okay girl?”

Taking the pate he offered, Kevin sat down in an unoccupied chair, “Yeah, just slept weird last night or something.”

“Well once you eat go get yourself ready so we can re shoot the cemetery scene at the tomb,” Bill instructed.

Kevin looked up from the plate of pancakes she had sat in her lap, “Mind if I go revisit one of those voodoo shops this morning before we shoot?”

“Why?”

“Oh,” Kevin quickly thought up a believable story to tell Bill, “Woman that was there said she only ran the shop a couple days a week to give the real owner some time to run errands and such. Said the owner was a wealth of information about Marie Laveau.”

Kevin ate in silence, finding herself full before she made it a third of the way through the stack of pancakes. “I’m full, anyone want the rest of these?” Kevin held the plate out.

“Me, me, me!” Jim reached across snatching the plate from Kevin. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Jim grinned at Kevin before picking up the fork from the pate she had been using and digging into the pancakes like he hadn’t eaten in days. Kevin found herself giggling at Jim’s antics as she walked back to the small room she used at the back of the RV.

Closing the door behind her, Kevin let out a long breath as she plopped down on the bed. “They act like I’ve always been like this,” she whispered to herself. Spotting a purse on the floor beside a pair of tan leather hiking boots, Kevin picked it up and began digging through its contents. Removing a wallet from the purse, she opened it and began looking through the cards, finding a driver’s license. The picture matched her current looks although it had a different name, ‘Kacie Cadence Cadwell’ Height: 5’6”, Weight: 126, Eyes: Blue, and of course Sex: F. While she was looking at her driver’s license one of those clear accordion style wallet picture inserts fell open.

Looking at some of the picture she found one taken of her and her sister. Kevin or Kacie as she should get used to thinking as her name now, could clearly remember their mother taking the picture of the two of them when his or now her sister had graduated college. Instead of Kevin the boy with his sister in the picture, it was an even younger version of Kacie standing there with her sister. Kacie began looking through all the pictures for any that he would have been in, only to find in every picture Kevin had been in, Kacie was now in. It was as if Kevin had never existed.

~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~

The small bell jingled as Kacie walked into the small shop full of voodoo and witchcraft paraphernalia. Although this time around Kacie had Larry behind her with a shoulder camera. She had wanted to go alone but Bill flatly stated that it would be a cold day in hell when he let her wander the streets of a strange city alone, who knows what she could run into.

“Hello again Ms. Cadwell,” Kacie tracked the voice to the same old woman from before, sitting again in the same rocking chair near the counter.

“Um hello,” Kacie greeted, “I’m sorry I never caught your name the other day.” Kacie thought to herself, ‘She remembers me this way too!’

“Everyone calls me Granny dear,” The old woman smiled. “I take it my Marie was able to help you.”

“Um yes I, I can’t believe the results.” Kacie smiled warmly, “I was hoping to thank her for everything.”

“She’s in the back,” Granny stated the turned her head toward the open doorway that led into the back, “Marie someone out here to see ya.”

Marie came out from the back through the open doorway, “Well hello Ms. Cadwell. I hope my gift turned out to be everything you desired?”

“You knew?” Kacie couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “But how?”

“One of my abilities is to be able to see a soul,” Marie explained. “Souls cannot lie and Ms. Cadwell you have a good soul, one that is capable of giving so much love to the children in your future.”

“But I don’t understand.”

“It’s simple Ms. Cadwell, magic will always give a soul what it deserves. Bad souls are punished, good souls are rewarded. As I said you have a very good soul. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get back to what I was doing. You know, all the, ‘Double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble stuff’ that I do.” Marie gave Kacie an evil grin.

Kacie chuckled, “Quoting Macbeth?”

“It seemed appropriate,’ Marie turned and walked back into the back room of the shop.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.