Shae Basheau knew of Cajun folklore -- thanks to her Dad -- the great bedtime storyteller. He passed down tales of monsters, ghosts and voodoo magic conjured up in the backwater bayous and haunted swamps. One mystical creature he particularly liked to send her to bed terrified of -- was the magical ROUGAROU. Shae shivered every time she heard the story because they lived at the edge of a bayou that flowed directly to the heart of the Forbidden Swamp.

      Shae knew the Rougarou was a Shape-Shifter -- transformed by witchcraft to take on animal traits -- such as a panther, wolf, a deer, an owl, or whatever it wanted to become. Sometimes human -- sometimes animal -- but sometimes monster! Shae's Dad had warned her that it possessed super-human strength and could change at will, not only by moonlight. While in this cryptic form, it was forced to wander the bottomlands until a human recognized them as the monster and drew blood. After blood was spilled, the beast could become human again. Neither person could ever speak of it to anyone, or else they both would be cursed again.

      Forced to grow up at the edge of an eerie swamp, it was a good thing Shae did not believe in monsters, magic -- nor the Rougarou -- until she realized she was in love with one!

CHAPTER 1

(DESTINY)

      It was the most adventurous thing Shae Basheau had ever done in her whole life, though she was only on the verge of sixteen and had plenty more adventures ahead of her. It was the beginning of summer in Southern Louisiana, but the humidity was low that day and the gnats and mosquitoes were not biting yet. But it was still early. Trekking through the thick, rugged, wet terrain was a piece of cake, so she thought at that moment, because the only other thing she could think about was Remy Dejas who was leading this adventure with his best friend, Wes Rudae. Shae had a secret crush on Remy that she hoped was still a secret. She planned to keep it that way until she found the courage to let him know about it, or figure out a way to stop it before he ever found out. All he had to do was look in her direction long enough and he would figure it out sooner or later. Especially now that Shae began to feel things for Remy Dejas that she had never felt before. She knew it was more than a crush when she began to notice things that she never paid much attention to -- like hard muscles on his biceps and the shape of his strong thighs. The slight growth of soft hair down the center of his stomach to areas she wasn't supposed to think about yet. The way his golden brown hair curled on the tip ends when it got wet. The way he smelled after he sweated all day. A smell she didn't mind because it was his. His green eyes that she had looked into a zillion times, but now they looked greener for some reason and definately could cast a spell on her with one glance. Her heart ached at the mention of his name when someone said it in school or the grocery store, or the skating center, or anywhere she was on earth that he wasn't. The problem was that he had just turned eighteen years old and was considered a grown man and she was still jail bait, according to Wes, who had a crush of his own on her. She knew about it, but didn't ever acknowledge that she did. The only one she wanted to love was Remy. She could wait it out and hoped he would also, if he only knew how she felt.

        Wes was seventeen and just as handsome in his own right. But, he knew his chances with Shae were slim to none as long as she had that weird look on her face when Remy was close to her.

        Remy and Wes were true swampers, who had explored, hunted and camped in that swamp a hundred times. But never that far without an adult. Never to the other side of the Pipe Line where the old timers warned them never to go. They were headed to Remy's Paw Johns cabin deep in the bottomlands. Paw John spent most of his time there before he got too old to get out there on foot. Then before he died, he told Remy it was his, if he could find it again. Remy had not tried to find it until that day. He remembered going there with Paw John many times as a young boy and even as a young teen. He had an idea of the whereabouts, but did not know if the old cabin was still standing.

        Remy had his beagle dog with them that he called Bud. Bud was from the last litter of Paw Johns prize hunting dog that passed on shortly after Paw John did. When Bud was not hunting, Remy kept him on a leash to keep the hunter from taking off in the woods after detecting a scent of something, no matter how big and mean it was. The swamp had many mean things, some big, some not so big. Some existed and proven so by science, but some of the creatures reported by eye-witnesses, were monstrous beasts. Some of the reported sightings were considered a prank, or an illustion. Perhaps people started these rumors to keep outsiders away from prime hunting territory. Paw John used to say that a person's mind could conjur up all sorts of creatures after being in a swamp for too long? Though he never denied his belief in such creatures. He just never talked much about them. When the subject was brought up, he'd just smile and say, "You Boys should always watch your back, because there's plenty things out here that will get you!"

          Then there were others who were true believers in the legends and lore. Wes' Grandpa Danielson was one who claimed an encounter. He told a tale about a horrid beast not to reckon with, that terrorized him while he had gone crawfishing. Shae had heard the same tales from her Daddy. She refused to believe in anything she couldn't see with her own two eyes.

          So, after Paw John passed away, Grandpa Danielson reminded the boys never to go to that side of the swamp alone without adult supervision. Remy and Wes decided that since Remy was considered an adult at eighteen years old, they were going to find out one way or another what was really on that side of the untamed swamp and hopefully find Paw John's cabin. They agreed to take Shae along with them that Saturday morning because they had no choice really. Remy was asked to keep an eye on her while her Mom was at work.

          Mrs. Louise Basheau trusted Wes and Remy because they had been neighbors ever since Shae was still in diapers. She thought they were good kids, though they were no longer kids. They were tough young men, worked hard around their small cabin homes that stood on pylons at the edge of the bayou. They weren’t scared of much and respected their elders. She was particulary impressed with Remy, who had to grow up fast after his Mom left him with his Paw John when she escaped her backwoods reality for the finer things in life.

          Mrs. Basheau knew about the extreme crush that her beautiful, still innocent daughter had on Remy Dejas. When Shae was younger, Mrs. Basheau used to kid her about it and make a big deal in front of company. She thought it was so cute, but Shae would turn four shades of red and race to her bedroom to hide out until the subject changed or until her Daddy came home from work and would put a stop to it. Then the day came that her Mom wanted to have the talk. She explained to Shae that boys were only interested in one thing until that one thing got them into big trouble at the health clinic or delivery room. But, Shae’s Daddy had already told her about the birds and the bees in a much less horrifying scenario. He explained that being in love could be a beautiful experience if a person was fortunate enough to find the right person to love. Shae knew Remy was the right person to love, because he was the only one she loved, and had been ever since she realized that boys were made to dream about or lay awake at night wishing for the day he would kiss her on her lips and it would not gross her out. That is what Shae confided in her Daddy not long before he passed away from a long, drawn out case of lung cancer. She had no idea that her dying Father had the talk with Remy about his impressionable daughter, and in the nicest way possible he asked him to keep his hands off of her until she was at least old enough to have a drivers license. Shae could always talk to her Daddy about anything, including things that most girls wouldn’t dare talk about with their Dads. He was the coolest Dad on earth and she missed him every day that he had been gone, which was almost a year.

          Shae wished that she could talk to her Mom the same way, but her Mom was just not that easy to get to anymore. She was always working and when she wasn’t at work, she was so tired that she just couldn’t think and wanted to be left alone. So Shae left her alone. She knew it was nothing personal. Her Mom put up a wall around her because she missed her husband and every time she looked at Shae, she wanted to cry. She was also trying to carry the load that he once carried and she was just wearing herself down. Shae hoped that one day her Mom would slow down and listen to her like her Daddy listened. Until then, she just kept her questions to herself.

        “I'm gonna get in trouble for coming this far,” Shae mentioned to Remy and Wes, though she suddenly wished she hadn’t. She didn’t want Remy to think she was a cry baby like Wes called her once when she was nine years old after he told her she had buck teeth. It was a good thing that her Daddy carried a dental plan, because braces were the first thing Shae ever begged him for and got without being told he had to think about it. He wanted his daughter to be happy. That was the last thing he ever said to her. Be happy no matter what the consquence.

        “Not unless you tell somebody,” Remy replied with that daring smile that melted her insides and caused her to quickly look away before he noticed something was wrong with her.

        “We should have known better than to bring a nagging female with us,” Wes added, trying to hide the fact that he also has had a secret crush on Shae ever since the day she threw a live crawfish on him. Wes and Shae were closer in age, but not in maturity -- at least she thought so. Wes came from a Spanish descent, not Mexican Spanish, but from Spain. His great, great grandfather had settled in Louisiana and married a Canadian French settler. So Wes was also considered a real Cajun.

        Remy's Mother's people were from Southern Louisiana and his Father's ancestors were also French Canadian Settlers who settled somewhere in the same Louisiana locale. Remy was also part Cajun and the older he got, the more breath-takenly handsome he became.

        “Her Mom asked me to keep an eye on her while she was working,” Remy reported with coolness.

        “Since when did you become her baby-sitter?” Wes teased.

        “I’m not her baby-sitter!" Remy rendered. "She is just hanging out with us.” Remy hoped Wes would just drop it. But he didn't.

        “She is a female and she will get us in hot water,” Wes assured him.

        “Has she ever got us in trouble before?” Remy questioned in her defense, because he knew Wes couldn't name one time that Shae told on them for something.

        Then the worst thing that could have happened in a million years, happened when Wes ratted her out. “She only wanted to come along today because she is madly in love with you,” Wes announced to Remy and every living critter in the bottomlands.

        Shae could have crawled inside one of the hollow cypress trees to conceal the embarrassment that she thought she would have for the rest of her life.

        “Dude, she is only fifteen,” Remy reminded him.

        After that reply, Shae definitely wanted to find a hollow log to crawl inside and die. She wondered if it was really that obvious? Did Remy already know she was head over heels in love with him? But, how could he not know? He had to have had a hint. The way she would hang on his every word. The way she fiddled and twitched with nervous energy when he approached her and could hardly stare directly into his eyes anymore because she was afraid he would discover her secret. She hadn't yet decided a time to spill her heart out. She just dreamed that he would just know and feel the same. What she didn’t know was that Remy liked her, too. More than just the buddy kind of thing. But, he didn't want Wes to know about it yet. He didn't yet confide that one day out of the blue, he saw Shae approaching and suddenly thought she was taller, had more curves and was prettier -- especially after she had her braces removed. She was no longer just the girl on the bayou who was cool to hang with -- who wasn't scared of the woods and would try to prove she wasn't scared of the dark either, nor snakes and big hairy spiders or all the folklore she was forced to learn of during bedtime stories. She could climb a tree, play baseball and throw a punch as good as any guy. They once saw her nail a bully right smack in the nose after he tripped her best friend, Rhonda. Shae made the Bully's nose bleed. From that day on, Remy and Wes thought she was cool enough to hang with them -- which was perfect timing, since Rhonda moved way up North. Shae didn't hang with the city girls, because they lived too far in town and their parents didn't drop them off in her neck of the woods, that to them literally were the woods. And Shae's mother didn't think it was a wise idea to just drop her daughter off in town somewhere to hang out, especially after the time she tried it and Shae got herself lost in the shopping mall and could not find the exit where her mother was waiting a nervous wreck. She finally had to be escorted to the exit with a security gaurd. That did it until she had a better sense of direction and old enough to drive herself there and back.

        After Remy discovered his manhood and began noticing other pretty girls around town, in school, at church, and any other place he came across the opposite sex, he realized males were supposed to be attacted to females. He found himself wondering things about Shae -- like was her long, brown hair as soft as it looked. He liked the smell of the sweet, vanilla scented body lotion on her skin that she bought down at the Dollar store. When she started acting more like a female and dressing like one, began shaving her legs and wearing pretty sandals and painted toenails, Remy wondered if she would slap him if he ever tried to kiss her. But, he would not yet admit it to Shae or to Wes, because he knew Wes wanted to know these things about Shae, almost as much as he did. Remy didn't want to challenge Wes. He knew who she wanted. There was no questions about that in his mind. He would just have to abide his time.

        “I'm almost sixteen,” Shae decided to blurt out in her own defense.

        “Yeah, but until then, she is jail bait and her Mom would kill you!” Wes reminded them both.

        "Some things are worth dying for," Remy confessed with a particular smile, one she had never seen on him before. That statement was not meant to be distasteful if Wes took it that way when he chuckled under his breath. That particular smile changed everything. Remy Dejas had finally told on himself. At that moment, Shae knew her world was about to change. But, she had no idea how much nor the other reason why.

END OF CHAPTER ONE

Sorry Novel is being revised so the entire novel is not available at this time.

Thank You.
Dana Holyfield
Author
danalouisiana@yahoo.com