"The Whoodoo lady?!" everyone exclaimed as Sincirce flashed a troubled expression on her face.

Lightning blasted itself far out at sea, causing the weaker hearted crew members to jump.

It was quite unlike the witch to betray a look of unease on her face. Aside from losing her diamond, it seemed to Elise that Sincirce had everything under the brim of her velvet hat except for this.

"Yes," Sincirce said with a defeated head nod. "The Whoodoo lady!"

Lightning flashed again at the mention of her name causing Sincirce to hiss at the sky, "Will you stop that?!"

"Who is the Whoodoo Lady, Sincirce?" Elise asked, trying to lighten everyone's nerves with her kind voice.

"The Whoodoo Lady," Sincirce began, "Is the oldest sea witch in the Four Great Oceans. Far older than yours truly and obviously a bit more gnarled at the skin. But that doesn't stop her powers from being less intimidating, for…"

Sincirce held her fingers around her eyes. "She can see into the future!"

"Now that's hardly a smelly feat!" Archibell said, suddenly intrigued. "I wonder why I never came around to finding her on my journey."

"The one thing I know," Sincirce remarked. "Is that the Whoodoo Lady can move her island around at ease so no one can find her. We only happened to come across her at the right time at the right night!"

"Excellent!" Sugar Southerncross said, holding her fingers together. "We can use her to help us find the Trident."

"No way," Tony exclaimed. "I don't wanna end up in her jambalaya!"

Sugar giggled like a whineying horse. "Unlike you lubbers, we folk of the Southern Sea are extremely cordial and friendly like! We'll charm the pants off this old witch doctor."

"Yeh," Tony remarked from Elise's head. "Much like you tried to whip the pants off our cap'm."

"That's it," Sugar responded. "All o' y'all are coming off and if the witch doctor wants a sacrifice, we'll offer the crew of the Lyre."

Elise gulped loudly in fear.

***

A thick fog coated the bayou in such a way the air had become a thick gumbo and everyone had to be careful to not find themselves stepping into a mire. The leaveless trees, like cracked and withered hands supplied a host of batlike creatures with singular, but large red eyeballs ready to swoop off the branches and attack. They did little to stop the buzzy mosquitos zooming around the swamp that ocasionally landed on their neck's to suck their blood.

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Elise, at this hour, would have been much happier writing in her diary, reading an old sailor's tale or most likely, sleeping, but she walked on for her dear old daddy's sake. This world and circumstances was completely alien to the cozy fishing town of Prospect Island. She hummed to herself softly when suddenly, she bumped into someone.

"Oof," Archibell cried and he turned around. "First mate Freckles," he said. "Is that you?"

"Indeed it is!" Elise said, but having stopped she caused a long line of people to bump into each other. It started with Tito and Sincirce, but was followed by Sugar Southerncross bumping into Sincirce and her men bumping into each other.

"Ooh wee!" Jimmy Wilson cried. "Someone bumped ma buttocks. Was it you, ma sweet lady pirate lord?!"

"It was me, you ijit," Bobby responded. "Y'all had a skeeter on yer rear."

"Aww dang mang!" the man sobbed. "And I thought I got lucky."

"We are lucky!" Archibell cried back. "I think I see a very well designed house up in the trees!"

Elise squinted hard and sure enough, there was a hut with an entire wood patio built into an enormous bog tree. A rope ladder dangled down inviting all who were daring to climb and meet the witch inside. "Who first?" Archibell asked and Sugar and her thugs all pointed their muskets and pistols at him. Archibell did five double gulps.

"The Lyre's crew," Sugar Southercross smirked "will be the first to test if this here house is booby trapped. We'll see if yeh lose your heads."

"I can't lose mine" Tony barked.

"Why not?"

"Cos it's attached to ma whole body!" the troutman said, and Sugar seized him.

"Wait a minute," Tony screamed, but Sugar hurled him to the top of the wood patio. "Oof!" he growled. "That's smarts."

"Are there any traps up there?!" Sugar demanded harshly.

"Uh, there's a No Pets Allowed sign," he said, his wall eyes surveying the house. "But I dunno if I qualify since I'm kinda my own fish!"

"That's debatable," Sincirce laughed.

But with no further signs of traps or warnings, the rest of the Lyre's crew climbed the rope. Much to their relief, none of them were speared or gutted. Though skull and grass decor that lined the house with burning eyes and rotten teeth sure made Elise want to go "eek!"

Once Sugar had reached the top, she aimed her musket right at the Lyre's crew again. "Yeh are going in first!" she growled and she pointed her head at Elise. "Let's have the useless little brat go first. She's the least valuable."

Elise hadn't forgotten how nasty Sugar was when she stole her necklace, but there was nothing she could do, she had to heed those words. She trembled as she walked inside the hut, picturing nothing but a withered hag of pure evil.

As she stepped through a veil of grass, a slightly creaky voice called out to her. "Yes come in child."

Elise squeaked. "Are ya gonna eat me?"

"Yes…" the voice gurgled before she cleared her throat. "No. What are you kidding me? Do you know what century it is?"

Once Elise had entered, things looked a lot different. For one, there was no skulls or animal guts anywhere. Second, once the candles were lit, the cabin was filled with well polished furniture, frilly knitted pictures of cats, and a pleasant smell of lavender perfume. There, sitting at a desk was an average sized middle aged woman with grey dreadlocks, and smooth dark skin. She wore a pink sweater embroidered with patterns of kittens and dark leggings. Her eyes were the oldest part of her, very wrinkly and cracked but still brimming with life.

"Are you the Whoodoo Lady?" Elise asked timidly

"Correction for your grammar," the old lady smiled. "I am the lady who does."

"Uhmm…" Elise squirmed uncomfortably. "Why is your house so neat and tidy on the inside but not on the outside."

"You are so precocious child," the woman laughed. "If you liked your privacy, you'd cover your house in a bunch of tacky voodoo knickknacks too. But you are perceptive...come closer..."

Elise hesitated.

"Come quickly now!" she ordered her. "For you may look like a helpless child, but once I tell you this prophecy, you will learn that you are an essential part in deciding the fate of the sea and of the only man who could ever undo that!"