Facilier Untold (English Version)

6. There aren't easy roads

Five years passed after the quarrel between James and Facilier. The latter became more and more adept at wielding black magic and manipulating others to force them to do what he wanted, making false promises of dreams made for his personal gain and he had a lot of fun cheating and cursing his clients. Unfortunately for him, in New Orleans everyone began to mistrust the Shadow Man, he only managed to scam people who came from out of town, since they still didn't know anything about him. He earned less and less from his scams and became more and more indebted to his Friends of the Other Side. Also, one day his eyes turned purple, due to the continued use of that type of magic. That was probably why Doctor Samdi always wore dark glasses. Facilier, on the other hand, did not intend to imitate him by covering his eyes and, on the contrary, he liked them.

One day, while on the street he was trying to attract new customers to read their tarot cards, he saw a five-year-old girl pass in front of him. The little girl turned to look at him, smiled at him, approached him and said: "Hello, sir. What are you doing?", "Hello, baby", Facilier replied smiling, "Do you want me to read you the future?". The child laughed. She was fascinated by his kind ways, she found him really nice and she liked to see him handle his cards so skillfully. Suddenly, a man called her from across the street: "Tiana, come here immediately! How many times have I told you that you don't have to talk to strangers?". The little girl turned to her father and said, "Sorry, dad. I'm sorry". Facilier looked up and saw James. Yes, that little girl was his daughter and James, seeing her close to him, immediately he pushed her away and then told Facilier: "Leave my daughter alone, are you understand? If you even try to put one of your weird ideas into her head, I swear I'll call the police!", "I wasn't doing anything wrong, I'm just reading the cards! Now disappear or you will make all the customers escape!", "I don't care at all! Woe to you if you still get close to me or my daughter!", having said that, he took Tiana by the hand and he ran away. Facilier heard James say to his daughter: "You must never get close to that man again, Tiana! That's the Shadow Man, everyone in the city stays away from him! He is nice at first and promises you whatever you want, and those who fell for it have lost everything! He deceives you in a thousand ways to convince you to do what he wants, but you must never fall for it, you must resist his temptations in every way!". Facilier gritted his teeth in anger at hearing him speak like that. If there was still a small part of him that still loved James, it was definitely gone now. 'Oh, you'll see James, one day I will deceive so good your beloved daughter and her soul will be mine!', he thought furiously.

Another fourteen years passed. Facilier learned of James' death in the war but, seeing how their friendship had broken, he felt absolutely nothing for him. Besides, he had other problems to think about. His debts continued to grow and he no longer knew what excuses to invent for his Friends of the Other Side to postpone the payment due to them. One day like many others, after yet another scam against a poor fellow who had arrived from out of town, he saw Mr. Eli La Bouff (he had now become the mayor of New Orleans after his father's death) in his expensive car that wasted money on every what, he even gave a lot of money to a little boy who sold him the newspaper. Facilier's shadow pointed out to him the only coin he had earned that morning, making him understand that this was just not good. The sorcerer cursed Mr. La Bouff. 'It's not fair, all these years and I'm still here to scrape together a few pennies while he has so many that he almost throws it away!', he thought angrily. A few minutes later, she saw him drive back and stop at a restaurant with his daughter. He sneaked in and went into a corner of the restaurant hiding behind the menu and straining his ear to hear their speeches, hoping to find a way to have his luck. He was able to hear from his chatty daughter that Prince Naveen of Maldonia had arrived in New Orleans that morning and his father had invited him to their home as a personal guest. When they left the restaurant, Facilier took the newspaper they had left on their table, he went out and returned to his store. He summoned his Friends from the Other Side with a spell and told them: "Friends, I have finally found a way to pay your debt quickly! I'll just have to cast a spell on the prince to have him in my power to get the luck of the La Bouff! I just need a talisman to complete it all!". Having said this, one of them handed him the talisman he requested from the Other Side. As he touched it, he felt a shock go through his body. By touching it, his life was connected to the talisman, so his Friends they could be sure that he wouldn't try to cheated them off and that this time his plan would really work. It absolutely musted not break, otherwise he would never be able to pay them back and that would be the end for him. Facilier, although a little frightened, carefully placed the talisman in the Other Side and then he would take it back when he needed it, then immediately set out in search of the prince. He found him playing and dancing jazz music with street players, while his valet tried to tell him that they had to go straight to Mr. La Bouff's house and that, if he didn't want to find a job, he had to marry his daughter to be supported from her. Prince Naveen was truly spoiled and rude and this annoyed to Facilier a lot. He then noticed the frustration of his valet and this gave him an idea for his new plan. As soon as Naveen and his valet Lawrence were alone, Facilier introduced himself to the prince and gave him his business card, then he secretly accompanying him to his emporium, making sure there were no witnesses. As they walked, Facilier pretended to read his hand: "Were I a betting man, and I'm not, I stay away from games of chance, I'd wagare I'm in the company of visiting royalty", he said with cordial and nice ways. Naveen was pretty naive, being the first time he was outside his palace, and he fell for it, as well as being impressed by Facilier's charismatic ways. His valet noticed the morning paper in his back pocket and told Naveen: "Sire! This chap is obviously a charlatan! I suggest we move on to a less...", he didn't have time to finish the sentence that Facilier, furious, yelled at him: "Don't you disrespect me, little man!". Lawrence was frightened by this sudden outburst of his. Facilier could not stand insults and disrespect, and being called 'charlatan' from him, he went into a rage. Soon after he regained control, he smiled at Lawrence and Naveen and, singing and dancing, invited them to enter his emporium. He did so with a lot of insistence, but his nice and charismatic ways enchanted Naveen, except Lawrence who was truly terrified of everything inside that emporium, but was still forced by Facilier and his own shadow to sit and stay where was. Soon after, the sorcerer made them choose three cards each and began reading them to Naveen. He read his past to him, which came from a royal family and that there was royalty in his blood. Before reading the present, he told him, showing him his mother's shriveled head: "I'm a royal myself on my mother's side!".