The Enchanting Bayou Witch and Her Bikers

Chapter 1

My name is Seneca Tempest Ledet. When my mom and dad named me, they chose Seneca after a place that they visited in West Virginia, Seneca Rocks. Mom said that she thought it was a beautiful place, and she and my dad go back every year for their anniversary. They have even taken us kids there as well, and it really is a beautiful and amazing place. I love it there.

For my middle name, Mom was having trouble coming up with one that they liked. So she looked to her cards for one that they could use. When the card of Temperance came up, she somehow got Tempest out of it. She said that she didn't want to use a name that was on the cards, but a version of it was ok. So that's how she came up with my middle name. Since Dad named the boys, he just went along with what she wanted.

Here is a little bit that you need to know about me. I am twenty years old, five feet tall even, and a size fourteen (you're not getting a weight out of me, a lady never tells). I have long red hair with blue highlights in it. And when I say long, I mean down past my butt long. I also have heterochromia, which is two different eye colors. One eye is light blue, and the other is grey.

I fit right in with my heritage. I always wear long skirts that drag the ground. The best part was that they all had pockets. My shirts used to be flowy and show skin, but not so much anymore. Girls in high school were mean, and my confidence took a hit. I love long, open sweaters and have them in many different colors and styles. I also wear bangles and bracelets on my arms and anklets on my ankles. I wear rings on my fingers and toes as well. I usually pull some of my hair back using hair things that snap in place. I have some with dragons and ravens. I'm sure that I give a hippy chick vibe, but I don't care. I love the way that I dress and look.

I come from a pretty big family. There is my Dad Justus, or Chains, as most people know him. And my mom, Rowena or Ro, and my brothers Ezra (Dice) and Elias (Circus), who are twins. And Gabriel (Hoops) and Grayson (Hippy), who are also twins. I'm the only single (and girl) child that my parents had. I also have two nephews, Tate and Koa. Tate is Dice's son and Koa and Circus's son.

I also have my grandparents. There were my dad's parents, Ivan (Legend) and Emily Ledet. Or pappaw and mammaw to us kids. And my mom's parents, Kayden and Sonnet Gauthier. Also known as Pap and Nanna. I also have many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Other than my family, I have two best friends who are like sisters, Winifred (Winnie) and Ruby.

Those are my family of the human variety. I wasn't a normal kid who had dogs and cats growing up. I always had an animal of some kid following me around. As I got older, it ended up being ravens. I love birds of all kinds, but for some reason, ravens are always flying around me. I even have birdhouses for them. I have two that are almost always with me.

My ravens are Ragnar and Mystic. Nine times out of ten, I have one or both of them with me. They like to perch on my shoulders. I had a special shoulder harness made for them to land and sit on. That way, I didn't get hurt by their claws. It fit me perfectly and was made so that I could wear it under my shirts and no one knew that it was there. The best thing was that I couldn't even tell most of the time.

I would take them to the store with me when I had to work, and they'd sit out back. Dad built a birdhouse and a perch for them out there. These birds loved me, and when I was in town and the high school mean girls were around, they'd fly over them. You always knew it too because you could hear them screaming because a bird s**t on them. It was funny as hell.

I have the power to see and speak to ghosts. And let me tell you, that can be annoying as hell. I have one that is always with me. His name is Octavius, and all he likes to do is b***h about everything. Technically, he was only twenty-five, but he died back in the fifties, so he would be over a hundred now. I don't know how I ended up with him; he's always with me, always around, no matter where I go. I also see ghosts at other places as well, but they stay put when I leave.

After graduating from high school, I decided to do my college classes online. I didn't want to move away from my home. So I continued to work with my mom and Nanna at Tarot. When I wasn't working or in school, I was busy writing my books. So far, I have eight best sellers, and I'm working on my next one. I have a motorcycle series that has three books in it so far, and everyone is loving them. Everyone loves them and keeps asking when more will be out.

I have all of the social media pages, and I run them. But no one knows that I am Maple Eclipse, not even my family- well, except for Nanna. She knows and supports me, no matter what. She is so proud of how far that I've come with my books, and she's proud of me. She buys my books and supports me by selling them in her shop. When mom asked her why she sold those books, she just said that she had read them and loved the author. I have a feeling that Mom may know that it's me, but she's not said anything yet.

When I graduated from high school, Dad wanted to have a party for me at the clubhouse. A couple of the other club brats were graduating as well. And they wanted to have a big party for all of us. I never got along with two of the girls that graduated because they were cheerleaders. They were some of the ones that liked to pick on me.

The boys that graduated were prospects in the club and were assholes most of the time. Even knowing my dad was the old VP of the club and my oldest brother Dice the new VP, they still liked to pick on me. I didn't tell anyone; I just stopped going around the club.

When Dad asked me about going to the club for the joint party, I thanked him but declined. I didn't want him to be upset, so I told him that I had plans with my friends. Which I did, I wasn't lien. They had been planning the party for the whole month before graduation. And I knew that my house would be done before I graduated. So, the girls and I decided to spend my first night in my new home by having a sleepover. So Mom and Dad had a small party at their house for me. I think that they all had an idea of why I didn't go to the clubhouse. But I refused to tell them for sure.

I had to get a boater certification to be able to prove that I could drive my boat and be safe about it. After I got the certification, my Pap and Pappaw went together to get my boat for me. Since they all helped my brothers all get a motorcycle, they decided to get my boat for me. I already had an SUV that I drove. I bought it myself with my "wages" from working at the store. I let everyone think that I saved my money up for it.

Since Pap had a boat and a dock at his house, I parked my car there and would take my boat to my house. So I picked the girls up, and we went to get junk food before heading out to my house. We picked up regular foods, junk food, sodas, and juice. And then got takeout for dinner.

When we got to Nanna and Pap's, we loaded the food up into the cooler on my boat. And then, once everything was loaded up, we headed out to my house. We spent the weekend eating our weight in junk food and watching movies. It was way better than a clubhouse party with my bullies.

After graduating from high school, my life became so much better. I graduated with top honors and could go to any college that I wanted to. However, since I didn't want to go out of town for college, I decided to do an online degree. I decided to get two full degrees, actually, with a few minors. I enrolled to get my business administration degree with minors in accounting and marketing. And a degree in English in creative writing.

I wanted to be able to help Mom and Nanna expand the business. But I also wanted to continue to write my books and one day open up my own book shop. I wanted to be able to sell the eight that I have written already. And I also wanted to sell books for authors who are trying to make it on their own. It's amazing how many authors are independent today. They self-publish and do what they can to make it on their own. I want to be able to help with that. With the minors in accounting and marketing, I won't have to hire outside help for any of it. I will be able to do it all myself.

I also have merchandise for my books that I want to sell in my shop as well. So far, I have only sold it online with my books. Nanna and Pap let me set up shop in their pool house for now. So when I have book boxes that I need to make up and sell, I do it there.

Pops doesn't go out to the pool house, and he knows that I use it for something. He just doesn't know what. But I know that he'd keep my secret if he did. It's easier doing it all there than it would be to haul it all out by boat to my house. I don't want anything to get ruined.

I know that I need to tell my family, and I will soon. Maybe, possibly, who knows if I actually will or not? I've tried to tell mom many times but keep changing my mind. I'm afraid of what my family will think if they know that I write smutty books. Nanna said that Mom had read them and loved them and would be proud of me. But if she's read them, then she knows how smutty that they get. It makes me nervous.

I decided years ago, when I was small, that I wanted to build a house on my Nanna and Paps' property. It's accessible if you go through the woods, but the main way to it is by water. It's a beautiful spot, and I loved it, so Pap said that when I was ready, he'd have a house built there for me. I was most comfortable when I was in the woods, surrounded by water. It was my favorite place to be.

Before I graduated from school, Dad, Pap, and the rest of our family got my home built. It's a cute two-story house with three bedrooms. It had two and a half bathrooms, a master bathroom and another upstairs between two of the guest rooms. Downstairs is the half bath. My downstairs is an open concept kitchen, living room, and dining room. The only other rooms downstairs are my office, the bathroom, and a big pantry.

I have a wrap-around porch with a dock that goes out to the water, where there is a spot to park my boat. Dad built a carport-like structure over the water to go over my boat to protect it from the rain. The setup of my house is different. I wanted to be able to see the water from my living room and kitchen.

When you walk into my house, the kitchen and pantry are on the left and the living room on the right. My dining room is on the left at the back of the house. And my office and half bathroom are on the right side of the back of the house. I also have a closet that is for the cleaning supplies. The steps to go upstairs are between the living room and my office and are spiral steps.

When you go upstairs, you step out into my hallway. Right beside the stairs is a linen/storage closet. It's where I have my extra blankets and pillows. On the right, towards the back of the house, you have the guests' bedrooms with a jack-in-jill bathroom between them. On the left of the house, you have my master bedroom with the master bathroom and a walk-in closet. I wanted my room to face the water. I love to be able to hear the water when I go to sleep at night. I even had a balcony built onto my room so that I could go out at night and sit.

The tub in my bathroom is a huge garden tub, and I have a stand-up shower big enough to fit eight people. It has lots of jets and shower heads in it, the garden tub has jets as well. I love taking bubble baths, so I wanted a tub big enough for me to soak in. Both of them face the water, and on the other side of my bathroom is the double sink, and in the back corner is the toilet room. I also have a closet in there for towels, shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, and other bathroom products.

Outside on my porch, one side of it is wider than the rest on the front. That's so that I could have a swing bed. I wanted to be able to lie outside at night and enjoy the evening. My dad even built me a few big birdhouses to put in the yard on each side of the porch. They are on each side of the steps and up high enough that they are level with my porch. Since I now seem to have a couple of raven friends, Dad figured that I'd need them.

On the back side of my house, I had Dad build me a gym. I wanted to be able to work out, but I didn't want the gym in the house. So, we connected it with a walkway. It goes from the back porch out to the gym building. It's as high as the porch and even has a roof so that I don't get wet walking to the gym. While it has rails most of the way down, it also has steps on each side to lead down to the yard. And those spots have gates on them.

The gym has everything in it that I need to work out. I have a treadmill, weight bench, exercise bike, leg press, heavy bag and speed bag, and so much more. I've been going to the gym for the past few years, and I wanted to be able to continue to work out. I also picked up yoga mats so that I could do yoga as well. I wanted to feel good about myself again for me, not because of s**t that those bitches said. But for me.

Dad also built me a big greenhouse so that I could plant fruits and vegetables and not have to worry about animals getting into any of it. I've been growing fresh foods in it for a while now. I take Mom, Nanna, and Mammaw a basket every time that I see them. The walkway to the gym spits off right before you get to the gym. One walkway goes to the gym and the other to the greenhouse. It's to keep me protected from alligators.

I love my house and the fact that I am so far away from people. It's so peaceful out here, and I don't have to worry about dealing with bullies. I'm able to get my schoolwork and my writing done in peace. Well, mostly, I usually have to listen to Octavius' bitching and moaning. But most of the time, he's outside, running his mouth to Ragnar and Mystic. He doesn't like the birds being so close to the house. So he's always running his mouth to them and me about it. He can be a bit annoying for a dead guy.

But that is my life. Welcome to my little corner of weirdness. Straight jackets are to the left, and crayons and coloring books are to the right. Come and join the weirdness and madness with me.