“I told you, lil’ froggie baby, ain’t got no time for you today,” rang a deep male voice from inside a dark room, lit only occasionally by flickering lights.
“It’s just a little search mission. What’s the harm?” asked the croaking, shrill voice. As its owner stepped into the room, however, he found himself flung back through the small musty lobby of the shop, dolls and masks of various African designs shuddering against the wall. Under the light of a candlelit chandelier, the speaker was a three-foot tall warty toad, dressed in gaudy fashions, with a broad-brimmed hat adorned with a single purple feather. He grumbled as he stood up, dusting himself off, reaching into a coat pocket and dangling a small bag in front of the darkened room, smiling maliciously as it jingled.
Suddenly a tall, pencil-thin dark-skinned man appeared from the room, dressed in a black suit with long coat tails. His eyes were piercing, as though he could look deep into your heart and soul. “I’m listenin’.”
The large talking toad nodded. “First thing’s first – I’m a toad, not a stupid, slimy frog. Second, here’s enough gold to get you that thing you always wanted.”
The man chuckled. “How could you possibly know what I want?”
“Let’s just say I’m used to feeling as you do,” the toad replied coolly. “I know what it’s like to see elegant debutantes pass you by, to see arrogant souls make your family beg for the right not to die that day.”
The man grit his teeth, his neck pulsing with a seething anger.
The toad grinned, hopping up onto a table. “Just a quick search through the realms of darkness, a little ‘shadow’ operation. Nothing too complicated – just looking for a boy.”
The man huffed and turned his back on the toad. “Got plenty dem down in N’Awlins. Take your pick.”
The toad raised a single finger. “Don’t go dismissing my idea just yet. This has got to be played real quiet-like. You don’t want us to show our cards just yet, right? I mean, we gotta --.”
The toad found himself hovering in the air, struggling to get free. The man was in the doorway, but his shadow was nearly choking the amphibian to death. “You assume jus’ ‘cause I get you outta Mama Odie’s lil’ swamp trap, Ah’m jus’ s’posed to help ‘Good Ol’ Wandah McMooch’ as though we were the best of friends?”
“Y-yes, ‘friends on the other side’ and all that,” Wander groaned, trying to free his scrawny neck, his thick long legs flailing in the air. “Don’t limit your alliances, Facilier – think of your soul!”
Facilier’s shadow dropped McMooch and sighed, hanging his head. “You lookin’ for someone real specific?”
McMooch limped over to a small table and sat on a stool. “There’s a world called the Enchanted Forest. Guy over there by the name of Rumplestilskin. Fool traded his own kid for darkness.”
Facilier sat down at the same table and laid a deck of cards on it. “Sounds like your kinda friend.”
McMooch chuckled and brushed him off. “No no no – a mammal who looks reptilian – it gives me the shivers. My own mother would sell me off. It’s a family tradition!” He stared at the man, his voice turning deadly serious. “But there’s a bounty quickly going up for this kid of his, and I want him first. That means I gotta find him first.”
“And that’s where I come in,” Facilier offered, beginning to cut the deck.
“It can’t be Underground magic and it can’t be magic from the Enchanted Forest. Anything like that will set off huge warning bells across the magical worlds. I need – I need someone into something no one’s really likely to think of.”
Facilier nodded. “The cards will tell the past, the present – the future as well. If that boy’s to be found, my cards will give you exactly what you need.”
Facilier drew the first card. “The Fool – kid’s got great potential, but a bad direction an’ it’s all over.”
He drew another card. “The Hanged Man – kid’s fortunes inverted. Got on a journey, got all turned around. Wanted his way up, only to find himself down.
Another card plopped onto the table. “The High Priestess,” Facilier intoned, “means the kid’s gonna have to talk to someone –.”
“Thanks,” Wander declared, standing up.
“The readin’s not done,” Facilier noted with irritation.
“It is for me!” Wander shot back. “The kid’s not in this world. Not yet, anyway. Worst yet – I’m willin’ to bet ten whole dollars the identity of that Priestess, and I’m not gonna let her win, not this time!”
With a whoosh, Wander was gone.
Facilier seethed, but glanced at the table, where a small bag lay.
He smiled. He’d be able to get that talisman after all.
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