The Curse Keepers Collection (72 page)

I released a heavy breath. “It will protect us when we’re on the inside. Outside we’re fair game.”

“Maybe we should head inside then.”

I opened the door and David glanced down at the spatula lying by the front door.

For the first time since I’d started my tale, a smile cracked his lips. “Were you planning on flipping it over?”

I laughed. “Shut up. At least I cleaned it up. You just watched.”

He shook his head with a derisive grin. “Why do I have a feeling you’ll never let me live that down?”

“Probably because I won’t.” I picked up the spatula and tossed it into the sink after we walked back into the apartment. “I’m going to go clean up. I feel disgusting.”

He set his bag on the coffee table. “Don’t worry about me. I have some unfinished work to tend to from before I left Chapel Hill.”

I held onto the doorknob of my bedroom door. “You’re welcome to help yourself to anything in the kitchen, although I have to warn you that there isn’t much there.”

“Thanks.” He sat on the sofa and pulled out his laptop.

I struggled with the strong desire for a shower versus the need to make my tattoo last as long as possible. In the end, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer to shower because I needed to wash my hair. I put on a pair of shorts and a tank top and wandered out to the living room to find David focused on his laptop.

“You’re still here,” I said.

He looked up at me and lowered his reading glasses.

It struck me again: David Preston was a very good-looking man. I wondered how all those college girls ever took notes in his class during his lectures.

“You think I would miss the chance to meet an Algonquian god?” There was a teasing lilt to his voice, but his eyes were serious.

I picked up the wine glasses and took them into the kitchen. Thank God I’d cleaned the apartment up a few days ago during one of my bouts of insomnia.

“I e-mailed my friend, and he’s agreed to FedEx the books to your mother’s bed and breakfast.”

“Oh.” I stopped wiping the counter. “You remembered.”

“Honestly, I almost forgot with all the excitement. He’s also promised to thumb through some passages to see if he can find the symbol before he sends them off.”

“Thank you.”

He shrugged. “I figured you were pressed for time. One day could make all the difference.”

“So you believe me now?”

His eyes locked with mine. “I’m getting there.”

I offered him a tight smile.

“I’ve been searching for anything about a badger in the Algonquian legends.”

I shook my head. “I’ve searched every which way on the Internet, and there was nothing.”

He grinned. “I’m a professor. I have access to papers online that you wouldn’t have been able to find.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

He put his glasses back on his nose. “Do you have any coffee? I’d like to stay up awhile and spend more time on this.”

I finished cleaning the kitchen as the coffee brewed. I poured us both a mug and took them out to the living room, setting David’s on the coffee table.

“Is that it?” he asked, looking at my shoulder blade.

My hair had tumbled over my shoulder, exposing my back. “My henna tattoo? What’s left of it.”

“Can I get a closer look?”

“Sure.” I sat on the sofa next to him. I had stripped down to my bra when Collin applied the tattoo, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that with David. Instead, I turned away from him and pulled down my tank top strap, exposing my back.

“Have you checked this recently? Okeus’s mark is barely visible.”

My shoulders stiffened. “What about the rest?”

“It’s just as faded.” He studied my back in silence. “Do you know why it was designed the way it was?”

“No. It’s identical to Collin’s as best as I can tell, except mine is henna. Like I told you, Collin said all the Keepers in his line get this tattoo on their eighteenth birthday, so I think it’s been handed down for years. Maybe centuries.”

“Why is yours henna?”

“Collin knew I’d never agree to a permanent one. After Wapi attacked me, he was worried the other spirits would realize I was a pure soul, and I’d be on their most-wanted list. He marked me that night after I got off work.”

“So you need to duplicate this?”

“I think so . . . except for Okeus’s mark, of course.”

He pulled the strap back onto my shoulder. “Would you e-mail me the photo you showed me? I’d like to send it to one of my friends and see if he can give me an opinion.”

“Sure.” I sank back into the cushions next to him. “Do you want to take a shower or change clothes? You’re welcome to use my bathroom.”

He picked up his coffee mug and took a sip. “You don’t mind?”

“Of course not. I hope the shampoo isn’t too girly for you.”

He laughed. “I have some in my bag. I’ll just finish this up first.”

I propped my feet on the coffee table and listened to the clicking of laptop keys—an oddly relaxing sound. My eyelids grew heavy, and before I knew it, I fell asleep.

The animals were back, like always, calling out to me for help, but tonight was different. The air was full of static, making the hair on my arms stand up. In the distance I heard the faint sound of my name, “daughter of the sea, witness to creation,” but instead of the usual pleading, it was slurred and threatening.

My heart sped up as I walked through a marshy field. The faint odor of salt stung my nose and the water came up to my thighs, making the folds of the dress I was wearing cling to my legs.

“Daughter of the sea and witness to creation,” a different voice called out. “You have abandoned us.”

I pushed through the last section of reeds—to find the gate to Popogusso.

I tried to take a step back and hit a wall that hadn’t been there before.

Chip was standing behind the black metal gate, his guts spilling out of his abdomen. The cat I’d found on my porch was next to him, along with half a dozen other animals in varying states of decay.

The stench of rot and dank blood filled the air, and my stomach roiled in protest.

Chip lowered his face. “I was sacrificed for you, witness to creation. Will you save the others?”

My tongue felt thick. “I’m trying.”

His eyes narrowed and glowed yellow. “You must find a way. Tonight he is moving on to bigger prey.”

The horrified screams of a woman filtered through the darkness.

My chest burned with fear. “
No!
”

“You must save them . . . ” Chip’s voice trailed off as the light behind the gate faded.

The screams still echoed in my ears.

C
HAPTER
F
OURTEEN

Something touched my shoulder and I jumped, shrieking in fright. David’s anxious face was bent over mine when my eyes flew open.

“Ellie, are you all right?”

I sucked in deep breaths to control my panic. “We have to stop it.” I tried to get up, but he grabbed my arm and held me down.

“You’re okay. It was only a dream.”

The woman’s screams still haunted me, and I shook my head as a new fear was added to the long-standing ones. “No. No, it wasn’t. I need my phone.”

David released me as I jumped up and grabbed my cell phone from my purse on the kitchen counter. I fumbled for Claire’s number with shaky fingers.

David moved next to me. “Ellie, who are you calling? It’s two o’clock in the morning.”

I ignored him.

Claire answered on the fourth ring, sounding panicked. “
Ellie?
What’s wrong?”

I collapsed onto the bar stool. “Thank God. You’re okay.”

“What happened?”

“Do
not
go outside. Promise me you won’t go outside for any reason at all tonight.
Do you understand?
” I knew I was coming across as angry, but I had to get through to her.

“Okay, I won’t. But what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

“That thing that’s ripping out animals’ hearts is going to have a human victim tonight.” My voice shook. “I had to check on you.”

David gasped beside me, his eyes widening.

“Oh, God,” Claire whispered. “What can I do?”

“Just stay inside.
Please
. I have to go. I need to check on Myra. I called you first because I figured you were more likely to be out at this hour.”

“I’m okay, Ellie. I promise I won’t go outside until daybreak.”

“Not until you see the entire sun.”

“Okay, I promise.”

I hung up and pulled up Myra’s number next.

David leaned in toward me. “How do you know for sure that it’s going to kill someone tonight?”

“My neighbor’s dog told me.” I knew it sounded absurd, but worrying about whether Dr. David Preston believed me had gone down a few notches on my priority list.

“Ellie, are you okay?” Myra’s anxious voice filled my ear.

“Oh, thank God you’re okay.”

“Ellie. What’s going on?”

“Promise me you won’t leave until the sun comes up . . . and you can’t let anyone else leave either.”

“What’s going on, Ellie?”

I explained the situation, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

“Oh, dear God.” Myra’s voice was faint. “I don’t want you to be alone. Either come over here, or I’ll come over there.”

“No, Myra. Don’t leave the inn.
Promise me you won’t go outside!
”

“Okay, I won’t. I’m just scared for you.”

I looked up at David, wondering if I should tell her that he was with me. “I’m not alone,” I finally said. I bit my lip, searching his face for permission.

He nodded, his eyes wide.

“I’m with Dr. Preston.”

She hesitated. “Where are you?”

“I’m in my apartment. I walked with Dr. Preston to Poor Richard’s for dinner, and then we came to my apartment so he could help me with some research on the curse.”

“He knows about it?”

“I told him.”

“And he
believes
you?”

I sighed. “He’s getting there.”

“Why didn’t he come back here for the night?” I was a grown woman, and Myra was still trying to keep track of the guys I took home.

“We were doing research, and I fell asleep on the sofa. I’m going to make him stay the night because I don’t want him to go out in the dark with that thing on the loose.”

“Okay,” she relented. “I just worry about you, Ellie.”

“I know, Myra. And I worry about you. I’ll see you in the morning.”

I hung up the phone and rested my head on the counter, overcome with exhaustion.

“What happened?” David said.

Lifting my head, I searched his face. “I told you that I have dreams every night. The animals beg me to save them. Then I usually get a visit from a monster. Tonight I got Chip and the cat.”

David slowly sat on the stool beside me. “I’m going to ask you a question that’s not meant as an insult. It’s just . . . a fact-gathering type of thing.” He paused. “What type of medication are you currently taking?”

I shook my head with a snort. “I wish it were that simple.”

He still looked unconvinced, not that I blamed him. I wasn’t surprised he’d fallen back into disbelief. For a while, I’d wobbled back and forth looking for a logical explanation too. If he was like me, it was going to take a visit from a god or spirit to settle him firmly in the believer category.

“Did you find out anything about the badger?”

“No, not really.”

“Which is it? No or not really?”

His face scrunched in irritation. “Bloody Christ, Ellie. I’m sleeping on your sofa with you snoring next to me, waiting for some unseen boogeyman to show up. Then I’m awoken by you moaning and crying in your sleep. Why don’t you give me a chance to come to my senses? You scared me half to death!”

“I don’t snore!”

He tilted his head to the left and lifted his eyebrows. “Out of everything I just said
, that’s
what you chose to fixate on?”

I scowled. “Well, I don’t.” I got off the stool and began to pace. “I’m sorry. But I have to stop that thing before it does any more damage.”

David leaned his elbow on the counter and shook his head. “You keep saying that, but I’m still not convinced it’s up to you.”

I stopped and swung around to face him. “I helped set it loose.
I’m
a Curse Keeper, and it’s my job to make this thing go away. Ideally, I’d do it with Collin, but Collin won’t help. He thinks we should let these things run amok until they settle down. But it’s hard enough to watch animals die. How can I stand back and watch it kill people?”