Belle's Adventures in New Orleans Part 6

The next morning, Belle woke feeling that it ought to still be dark. She hadn't had a wink of sleep for fretting about Tiana; and wondering about, well, if Tiana had been one of the frogs that had crashed Lottie's masquarade the night before, then who had the other one been? Another of the Shadow Man's victims; or just a frog?

She rolled out of bed, stretching her cramped limbs and dressed herself hurriedly. No time for breakfast; and she certainly wouldn't be able to get it at Tiana's workplace now! She wondered about Mr Gold; did he have any kind of plan? He must have; he had sounded so sure when he had dropped her off the previous night. She trusted him; of that mush she was certain, and if she couldn't trust Mr Gold, who could she trust?

Pulling on her shoes and seizing her cloak, Belle hurried out of the house and made her way into town. Halfway there, she wondered whether she oughtn't have caught the tram; she would have been at Mr Gold's shop a whole lot quicker that way. Turning a corner, she almost collided with someone and something thin, like a cane, caught between her ankles; and she fell into the gutter with a startled cry.

"Oh, I do beg your pardon, young lady," said a suave, New Orleans accent. Belle looked up to see who had accidently tripped her and her heart began to hammer in her chest at once. She had just run into the path of the Shadow Man himself!

"It-it's ok," she stammered. "My fault; I should have watched where I was going."

"Allow me." He offered her a hand and, remembering what her father had once told her about being polite to everyone she met, Belle reluctantly allowed him to help her to her feet. Did he know, she wondered, did he know who she was; and did he also know that she knew what he had done to Tiana?

"Th-thank you, sir," she stammered.

"Oh, please, no need to be so formal, ma'am!" He gave her an elegant bow. "The name's Facilier, Doctor Facilier."

Very well; if he could play along, then so could she. "Pleased to meet you, Doctor Facilier," she said, dropping a curtsey. "I'm Belle."

"Oh, I know who you are," Facilier grinned at her, wickedly. "Your my old friend Mr Gold's girl, right?"

Belle felt the colour rush to her cheeks. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean, sir."

"Oh." He seemed to realise and held up his hands. "Oh, I do apologise, Miss Belle; forget I said anything. Clearly I got the wrong end of the stick about you two."

"Mr Gold and I are just friends," Belle insisted, but her heart was racing. "Speaking of which, I have somewhere I need to be right now, so if you'll excuse me, Doctor Facilier."

"Oh, well, then you must allow me to escort you there." He offered her his arm. Belle opened her mouth to object, remembering Mr Gold's words, but before she could speak, he added "It's the least I can do to make up for knocking you down just now."

Trembling slightly, Belle took his arm, deciding quickly that she would lead him in the direction of the restaurant, pretend that she was meeting Big Daddy and Lottie there for breakfast and then give him the slip after he had gone. The last thing she wanted was to lead him straight to Mr Gold's shop. Together they set off, however Belle soon realised that he was leading her, rather than she leading him. Her mind was racing. No, somehow she had to get away from this man and get back to...to Mr Gold. Suddenly she could think of no safer place for her to be than with him.

"No," she stammered as Doctor Facilier suddenly turned down a side street and towards a small door in the wall. "It's this way."

"Oh, this is a shortcut, honey."

Now Belle knew that he knew what she and Mr Gold knew. "How do you know where I'm going? I didn't tell you that."

"Oh, you didn't need to, honey. You see...." The door opened as if by magic and he let go of her arm, wrapped one of his own around her waist and whispered in her ear "I already know!"

And with that, he gave her a shove. Belle shrieked as she toppled forwards into the darkness; and then suddenly the lights came on just as she heard the door close behind her. She looked around. She was inside what looked to be a voodoo warehouse; with all kinds of voodoo equipment. She shivered. This couldn't be good.

"See, darling," drawled Doctor Facilier, stepping in behind her. "I can tell when someone knows something about one of my...misdoings, and you, Miss Belle, are one of those people; the second is Mr Gold."

"Don't you do anything to him!" Belle cried, fear rising in her.

"Oh, you needn't fear, doll. He'll be too preoccupied with what's about to happen to you to give me much trouble!"

"What are you going to do to me?" Belle stammered, stepping backwards in fear. If she could just reach the door...

Facilier merely laughed and donned a skull mask. "Friends!" he commanded aloud. "I could do with a little bit of a favour, here!"

The masks on the wall came to life instantly and Belle felt a scream rise in her throat as several voodoo dolls, complete with pins, leapt from the table behind her. Facilier was chanting a voodoo spell that sounded like a load of nonsense and now smoke was rising in the air, all colours. Belle felt one of the voodoo dolls prick her ankle with a pin; she let out a yelp, stumbled backwards and fell on her back on the floor. Looking up, she watched them advance on her. Her ankle throbbed, even though the damage was minor. And then, in a blast of smoke, everything changed....