Chapter 31
The girls celebrated the Cubs major victory in St. Louis that night, and stayed one more day. Afterwords, they headed back out on the road. They spent a few days in Arkansas, where they went down by the River Market District. They also rented bicycles and traveled across the Big Dam Bridge, which goes between Little Rock and North Little Rock. Following that, they took a tour of Dogpatch USA, which is an old, abandoned theme park that is no longer in operation. Then, they headed farther down south.
THE BAYOU – NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
The girls were walking along the Bayou.
CIARA: Man, it's muggy out here!
CLAIRE: yeah. Then again, it is the end of summer, which is often the hottest time of the year.
CIARA: Good point.
In the distance, they saw a large, white building.
CLAIRE: Wonder what that is.
CIARA: Wanna find out?
CLAIRE: Totally. Let's go.
The girls walked up to the building to discover that it is a large, white mansion.
CIARA & CLAIRE: Whoa!
A sign hung outside the door that read “Maison Blanche”.
CLAIRE: You know, that sounds really familiar from somewhere.
CIARA: It's one of Stefano's many mansions across the world. My parents were trapped in here for a while.
CLAIRE: When was that?
CIARA: From what I've heard, it was back in the 1990s, when Stefano brainwashed my mom into thinking she was some European princess and art thief.
CLAIRE: Sounds crazy.
CIARA: It was, from what Shawn told me. I thought this place got burned down.
CLAIRE: I guess someone must have rebuilt it.
CIARA: I guess. Either way, I'm not going in there. If it's still owned by Stefano, there's no telling what we'll find in there.
CLAIRE: Ci, Stefano's been dead for five years.
CIARA: Are you sure? Can any of us ever really be sure that Stefano is really dead?
CLAIRE: Good point, and I'd rather not chance it. Let's just keep walking.
FRENCH QUARTER
The girls made it back to the French Quarter and were walking around.
CIARA: I'm glad you decided to stop here.
CLAIRE: Yeah?
CIARA: Yeah. Ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to come to New Orleans. One summer, when I was a kid, I begged my mom to take me.
CLAIRE: Did she?
CIARA: Nope. She gave me some excuse like we didn't have the time or the money or something like that. I don't really remember what she said. So, I called up your dad and asked why. That's when he told me about mom and dad's experience in Stefano's house of horrors on the Bayou.
CLAIRE: Gotcha.
It was getting into the evening. As the sun was going down, the streets became more and more crowded with partygoers.
CLAIRE: This isn't Mardi Gras, is it?
CIARA: No, that's already happened this year.
They turned the corner and were hit by a strong, disgusting smell.
CIARA: What is that?
CLAIRE: I have no idea, but it stinks!
They continued walking, trying to ignore the smell. The crowd got deeper and deeper, until the girls were sandwiched between huge masses of people.
CIARA: How much farther is our hotel?
CLAIRE: I don't know. I think we've made a wrong turn, somewhere.
They looked up, trying to see a street sign, but were barely able to amidst the flashes of lights coming off of bars, clubs and stores. The girls were becoming uneasy, as some of the shops were voodoo shops, and the crowd around them was getting roudy. Finally, Ciara saw a street sign.
CIARA: Bear?
CLAIRE: Yeah?
CIARA: We definitely took a wrong turn.
CLAIRE: Why do you say that?
CIARA: We're on Bourbon Street.
Can't wait!