Bound, An Arelia LaRue Novel #1 YA Paranormal Romance Read Free Page B

curious. It’s like when you see a
dead animal at the side of the road, half of you wants to throw up
your lunch, but the other half wants to whip out your
camera.
    “ I’m her sister,” she
dramatically revealed. At that moment, it all became clear, those
eyes, they were exactly like grand-mere Bea’s just a different
shade.
    “ You’re my aunt?” That was
something I hadn’t expected.
    “ Great aunt,” she corrected.
“Who do you think sent Sabrina that invitation? I knew she’d bring
you along. That’s the only way your grand-mere would let you see
me.”
    “ How come I’ve never met you
before and why doesn’t grand-mere Bea ever speak about you?” I
asked.
    “ We had a very big
disagreement years ago and haven’t spoken since,” her eyes filled
with genuine sorrow.
    “ Well it must have been a
pretty bad fight if you haven’t spoken for that long,” I pressed
hoping she would give me some answers.
    “ Well it was, it was over
you. I believe that is a pretty important reason,” she
said.
    “ Over me, why would you guys
fight over me?”
    Ms. Mae hesitated for a minute and then
continued. “You hear the spirits, don’t you Arelia? They talk to
you directly even when you don’t call them, isn’t that
right?”
    “ So, everyone in New Orleans
sees ghosts and talks to spirits,” I reasoned.
    “ No they don’t child, most
of them just pretend they do. Others have to tempt the spirits to
do their bidding with bribes and offerings. Not you, you have been
blessed.”
    “ Blessed?” I asked. “You
think a bunch of spirits talking to me is blessed? What makes you
think that?”
    “ When you were just a baby
and your momma left you, your grand-mere was beside herself. She
never wanted you to feel like you didn’t belong. She only wanted
the best for you. I suggested that we make an offering to Erzulie,
so you would be protected. In voodoo, we know her as the spirit of
love. However, your grand-mere wasn’t so sure. You see, growing up,
we saw many folks who messed with the spirits and got into a lot of
trouble. Unlike your grand-mere, I always had a close relationship
with the spirits because I never feared them. Bea, she’s always
been scared as a mouse.”
    “ Go on,” I commanded hoping
she would finish before Sabrina got back.
    “ So one day while your
grand-mere was at work and I was watching you, I decided to make an
offering to Erzulie behind Bea’s back. For some reason, she took an
extra liking to you and made it possible for you to be a part of
her world. I suppose that was her way of protecting you. We didn’t
find this out until you were two or so. You would talk to people
who weren’t there and always had a way of getting what you wanted.
Once your grand-mere was sick with a terrible flu, and you were so
sad. You held her hand and told her that you could make it better.
Within minutes, she was completely healed. You told us it was the
spirits. Bea was confused because you were so young. Eventually, I
admitted what I had done. She was furious and told me that I could
never see you or talk to her again. I tried to explain that what I
had done was for your own good, but she didn’t see it that way. She
thought that I put you in danger.”
    “ Okay, let me get this
straight. Basically, Erzulie took pity on me and decided to help me
by making me into some sort of witch. How exactly has she helped
me? Grand-mere and I barely scrape by month after month. It hasn’t
exactly been easy. As for the spirits, they just mutter nonsense in
my ears. They’ve been useless as well.” It wasn’t like me to get so
confrontational with strangers, but Ms. Mae was really revealing a
lot all at once.
    “ You haven’t let them help
you Arelia. Your gift has unlimited potential to help people, to
help yourself. Of course, you can use it for evil, but I know you,
and I know your grand-mere, and that is never going to
happen.”
    “ I still don’t understand
why grand-mere never told me that