Chapter Text
Scully opened her rental car door, eager to escape the damp, mosquito riddled air, even if it was just for the short drive. In the sun visor, she saw the mess Florida’s humidity had made of her hair.
“You look fine.” Mulder said without a glance in her direction.
Her frustration must’ve been palpable. She’d do a better job of repressing it if they were here for a case that actually had a chance of being solved. Shuffling through the case files in her lap, Scully skimmed over details she was already familiar with.
“I can’t believe Skinner is letting us waste our time like this.” She lamented.
“Waste our time?” scoffed Mulder. “It’s six missing people in the span of four months. Local law enforcement has no leads despite all the victims having a connection to the same woman, Azalea Galdur, a self-proclaimed witch doctor.”
“Mulder, all six of these people lived transient lifestyles. Most of them had drug addictions. Four of them were homeless. It’s not uncommon for people living high risk lifestyles like this to be reported missing. There’s also a good chance they left of their own volition and don’t even want to be found. This is hardly a case that needs F.B.I assistance, let alone an X-file."
Scully looked over to her partner incredulously. He kept his eyes on the road. Then, it dawned on her.
“You didn’t tell Skinner your theory, did you?”
Mulder initially stayed silent, but Scully’s persistent stare wore him down.
“I may have left that out when I presented the case.”
“So you admit it’s crazy to think some witchy woman has been using magic spells to turn these missing people into animals?”
Mulder held up a finger. “I didn’t say that. I just realized the most practical way to get this assignment was to not mention the aspects relating to a witch doctor practitioner. Once we’re back in D.C., our investigation will speak for itself.”
"I'm sure it will."
Scully leaded back in her passenger seat. This was about to be the most ridiculous thing she’d ever done, which was really saying something given the work she’d dealt with the past year.
The sight of a teal blue and bright yellow shotgun house signaled they’d reached their destination.
Outfitted with bars on the windows, a slashed screen door, and an obvious mold problem, this was the kind of place Scully was expecting when Mulder told her they were going to interview a witch.
Mulder knocked on the front door.
“Ms. Galdur?” he called.
“It’s open!” answered a voice from inside the house.
Carefully stepping over the crooked stairs, Scully followed Mulder inside. They were greeted with the smell of musk and marijuana, mixing in clouds of smoke. Colorful candles on every surface lit the small living room. A small Chihuahua lounged in the corner, unbothered by the agents entrance. A cage full of chirping parakeets was against the back wall. In the center of the room, a large terrarium housed an iguana. Scully met one of its eyes and felt unnerved.
A woman emerged from behind a beaded curtain. She was short and middle aged. Her long, white-ish blonde hair was braided with amethyst crystals which complimented her flowing purple dress. Each of her fingers was adorned with rings. Her forearms were barely visible due to all the bangle bracelets she wore. Scully wished her sister Melissa could see this woman so she could joke, “That’s you in 30 years”.
Mulder approached the woman.
“Are you Ms. Galdur?”
“Yes, my dear.” she answered in a tone which tried too hard to be ethereal. “But please, call me Azalea. What may I do for you today?”
“I’m Agent Mulder. This is my partner, Agent Scully. We’re part of an F.B.I investigation-”
“That smell is just incense.” Azalea quickly insisted, her mystic shtick slipping.
Scully suppressed a smirk as she eased Azalea’s worry.
“Ma’am, we’re investigating the recent disappearances of several men and women from this town." Scully pulled out photos of the victims held them up for Azalea. "Jennifer Brown, Ashley Allen, Nigel Harrison, Michael Long, Natalie Wallace, and Hillary Reeves have all been reported missing in the past four months. Do you have any information about that?”
“Oh no, I’m afraid not. You see, I don’t pay mind to the physical comings and goings of others. I’m more attuned to the journeys of souls.”
“Right…” Scully nodded. “But witnesses have seen each of the missing people at your home in the days leading up to their disappearances. In some cases, your home is their last known location.”
Azalea waved a hand dismissively. “That doesn’t surprise me.” She went over to the Iguana tank. She gazed lovingly at the creature as she spoke. “Wandering souls struggling to find their true path come to me for guidance. I remember each of the souls you mentioned, all troubled in their own ways.”
“And how did you guide them?” Mulder inquired.
“I showed them how to live as an incarnation of the soul they needed to be in order to gain the wisdom they required.”
Mulder stared Azalea down from the other side of the Iguana tank.
“Just how did you do that?”
“Are you interested in a session?”
Semi-afraid Mulder was going to say yes, Scully interjected, “We’re interested in finding out what happened to the six people who are missing.”
Azalea turned her back to the agents. “I wish I could help you.”
Scully studied Azalea’s body language. It was almost smug. There was definitely something this mystic fraud knew but didn’t want to say. Mulder and Scully exchanged looks, communicating how they’d each sized up Azalea.
“Ms. Galdur, if you’re holding back information pertinent to this investigation, you could be charged with obstruction of justice. Do you understand that?” Scully warned.
Azalea flashed a sickeningly sweet smile.
“If I caused any of those people harm, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I would never cause a soul to suffer.”
She walked up to Scully and tried to hold Scully's hands. Mulder gently pushed in front of her, blocking Azalea.
Her many rings and bracelets clanked as Azalea folded her arms and looked the agents over. It would pain Scully to admit it, but Azalea did have a glare that made you feel as if your soul were being searched.
Azalea reached forward and placed a hand over Mulder’s chest. With her eyes closed and voice an octave lower, she proclaimed, “You are two souls lost in an abyss, clinging to theoreticals instead of the truth that’s right in front of you.”
Mulder met her gaze with equal intensity.
Scully felt uncomfortable, like she was watching something intimate. She thought it had gone on long enough, and broke the tension.
“Ms. Galdur, please don’t leave town. Agent Mulder and I will be back if we have any more questions.”
“I hope I’ll be able to give you answers.”
The Florida humidity was actually refreshing when Scully and Mulder stepped out of the house.
“She has to be responsible for these disappearances, Scully.” Mulder immediately said.
“She’s certainly suspicious, but don’t tell me you were falling for her smoke and mirrors.”
Mulder coughed.
“Emphasis on the smoke.” Scully joked. Her partner’s sense of humor had rubbed off on her.
“Did you see all the animals she had in there? And the way she was looking at them when she talked about imparting wisdom and guiding lost souls? Transmogrification is her way of doing it.”
Scully couldn’t suppress an eye roll.
“Look,” Mulder pleaded. “Each of the victims were struggling with something. Drug addiction, poverty- Natalie Wallace had a criminal record for petty theft right?”
“So what, she turned Natalie Wallace into an iguana to teach her 'thou shall not steal'? Mulder, even if that were possible, it makes no sense.”
“Multiple Eastern religions believe in different forms of reincarnation. Souls taking the form of animals to spiritually evolve before they can become human. Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism-”
Scully interrupted, “But, the concept of reincarnation involves the death of an individual before they’re supposedly reborn in a different form. We don’t have any evidence these victims are dead.”
“That’s what makes Azalea Galdur so interesting. I don’t know how she’s doing it.”
Too tired to argue further, Scully busied herself with the map and directed Mulder to their motel. When they walked to their adjoining rooms, Mulder brought up the case again.
“Tomorrow, I say we stake out Galdur’s house. See if anyone she has a session with ends up disappearing.”
It wasn’t a bad idea. Scully agreed and they wished each other a good night.
When morning came, Scully took a shower under the motel room’s poor water pressure and tried to tame her frizzy her. After she’d given up, she got dressed and went outside to meet Mulder.
He was usually an early riser (does it count as being an early riser if you never went to sleep?) and Scully would find him waiting outside her motel room door. This morning, Scully was surprised to not see him. She figured he was still in his room getting ready.
After a few minutes passed, Scully knocked on his door.
“Mulder, it’s me. Are you awake? We should get going.”
No response.
“Mulder, can you hear me?”
Still no response. This was unlike him. Scully wondered if he’d wandered out to do some investigating on his own in the early hours of the morning.
When she tried his cell phone, she heard it ringing on the other side of the motel room door. Scully peaked through the window and saw Mulder’s cell phone and wallet sitting on the dresser.
Suspecting trouble, Scully went to the motel lobby and had the clerk give her a key to Mulder’s room. She kept one hand on her sidearm as she opened the door.
“Mulder?” She called out.
Ribbit
Scully passed her partner’s discarded shoes and clothes on the floor. His suitcase sat next to the bed, only half unpacked. The sheets were tousled, the bed looked slept in.
Images of Mulder being attacked in his sleep crept into Scully’s mind. She was getting scared. She tried to fight the fearful scenario playing out in her imagination with logic. Yes, she was a light sleeper, but she would have woken up if there was a struggle happening in the next room.
Ribbit
Scully pulled the covers on the bed back. A small, grayish-green tree frog sat in the center of the mattress. Its throat inflated and deflated as it croaked.
Ribbit
Scully moved on to the bathroom. Mulder’s toothbrush sat on the counter. The bathtub was still wet. If Mulder did leave, it wasn’t long ago.
Ribbit
Ribbit
Ribbit
Ribbit
Scully turned and saw the frog had followed her.
“Shoo!”
The frog wasn’t deterred. In fact, its vocalizations became more insistent.
Ribbit
Ribbit
RIBBIT
It leaped onto Scully’s leg, making her shriek.
“Get off! Get off!” She yelled at the frog, kicking her leg erratically.
Finally, the frog fell to the floor with a splat.
Ribbit
Scully sighed and internally cursed Florida. She took another look around the vacant motel room and considered what she would do now.
“Damn it, Mulder, where’d you go?”
Ribbit “Scully” Ribbit
Scully glanced down and saw the frog was back at her feet. She looked into the creature’s big eyes.
Ribbit “Scully” Ribbit “It’s me” Ribbit
Scully blinked. She feared the heat was disorienting her, because she could swear she just heard the frog speak English.
Ribbit “Scully” Ribbit " It’s Mulder”
Scully thought about the day before: Azalea Galdur, Mulder’s theory that she could turn humans into animals, the strange moment between them.
Scully looked back at the frog and laughed.
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.”