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.

I will not be able to talk to you or call you or even write to you again until I have completed my mission. It is painful for me to be away from the ones I love. I am doing it only because I love you all more than I love myself. My pain is nothing if it will buy happiness and health for my family.

I love you.

Ruby

I lowered my hands and gazed at Daddy. Hot tears were streaming freely down my cheeks and dripping from my chin.

He stared for a few moments and then sat back. 'Well,' he finally said, 'there you have it. Just what I feared and suspected. Who knows where she's gone to or what she's going to do?'

'We've got to find her, Daddy, and bring her home.'

'Find her,' he said angrily. 'Those people close around their own like clams. They won't talk to us; they won't tell us anything.'

He reached for his nearly empty bottle of bourbon and poured himself another drink. 'Maybe she'll come to her senses and call us or come home,' he muttered.

'Daddy, we've got to call the police. She's not in her right mind after all this sadness and tragedy. They'll understand and they'll help us,' I said.

He shook his head. 'Waste of time.'

'No, it isn't,' I insisted. 'I can't stand the thought of her under the influence of these people. If you don't call them, I will.'

'What are you going to tell them? That your mother wandered off to practice voodoo rituals someplace?' he asked disdainfully.

'Yes.'

'They won't take you seriously, Pearl. They have a great many more urgent problems to deal with in this city.'

'It's worth a try, Daddy.'

He took a long gulp of bourbon.

'Daddy! You can't just sit there all day and night and drink yourself to sleep,' I cried.

'She's gone, run off, returned to her bizarre past, and my son is dead,' he said. 'My little boy is gone. My other little boy is catatonic. What did I do to deserve this?'

'Stop this self-pity, Daddy. Mommy needs us.'

He lowered his chin to his chest. I felt heat crawling up my spine. What had happened to Daddy and Mommy was terrible. No parent should endure such tragedy, but if Daddy didn't find a well of strength from which to draw new energy and determination, more terrible things loomed over us. Mommy had asked me to be strong. If that meant being cruel first, so be it, I thought.

'Is this the way you handle all your crises, Daddy? You wallow in them?' I sneered. 'Is this why you ran off to Europe when Mommy was pregnant with me?' He looked up sharply, knitting his brows as if a sharp pain had cut across his forehead, as if my words were tiny knives.

'No, I—'

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