The Curse Keepers Collection (98 page)

“You’re the bait, love.”

“That’s reassuring.” But true. “If things get too intense, maybe we can lure them to the water and Big Nasty will come save me.” I snorted. “It’s a sad day when you hope a giant evil snake will save you.”

“Indeed.”

When I got nervous, I got chatty. Obviously, David got quiet.

When we reached the middle of the English camp, I looked around. “I haven’t been here in years.”

He spun around, taking in the buildings. “I’ve never been here.”

I pointed to the south. “The sound is just on the other side of that brush.”

“So that’s our escape plan. Pathetic as it is.” He spun in a circle. “There doesn’t seem to be a high place around here like the lighthouse.”

“Well, there is,” I corrected. “The tents are worthless but the roof of the blacksmith’s building is a good two stories tall. It just isn’t easily accessible.”

He disappeared into a tent and dragged out a round table into the middle of the clearing. “This isn’t much, but it’s better than nothing. Climb on top of it after you finish marking your symbols.”

“What are you talking about? We aren’t going to try to get up on the blacksmith’s building?”

“Ellie, look at it. Even if you get up there, you’re liable to break your neck if you fall off. Besides, you need to be more tempting to them. So lower it is.” He walked over to the woods and grabbed a long stick, then handed it to me. “You work on the markings, and I’ll get started with the candles.”

I nodded and reached for the stick. Our hands brushed, and I looked into his eyes.

He smiled softly and leaned down to give me a gentle kiss. “You can do this, Ellie. Just stick to the plan, as arse about tits as it seems.”

I started giggling, relieved that he’d broken some of the tension. “Arse about tits?”

He grinned. “I have so much to teach you.”

I began marking symbols in a big circle in the dirt, using the same ones I used on the doors, while David set up candles around the perimeter and lit them. When I finished the outer circle, I started on an inner circle of markings while David pulled a container of salt from his bag and poured a thin line around the candles.

When I finished the second circle, I stood up.

“According to Cherokee and Algonquian tradition, we either need seven circles or four,” he said. “Nothing in between. We have four now, counting the salt and the candles. How’s your palm?”

I lifted my hand. “It’s fine. It doesn’t itch or burn.”

“Then make another circle and I’ll make two more salt circles.”

“Okay.” My job was easier since I had a smaller circle to mark and I finished just as he ran out of salt, halfway through his next to last line.

“Remember to stay up there on the table unless they break through. If they do, run for the water.” He pulled another salt carton from his bag and began to pour. “When both of them are in view, start the chant. Read it. I know you probably have it memorized, but in the Cherokee belief system, the wording has to be exact to make a spell work. We’re not sure what we’re dealing with here, so it’s safer to hedge our bets. Read it slowly and
don’t stop
. If you do, start over again.” He looked up at the sky, then back at me. “Use your torch even if you can read the text by moonlight. It may be cloudless now, but you know how quickly the wind gods can summon a storm.”

I dug the book out of my bag along with a flashlight and set them on the table, leaving the bag on the ground. “I’m scared.”

He looked up, his determination written across his face. “I’m past scared, love. I moved into scared shitless about an hour ago while we were waiting for Marino’s guy to show up. But just stick to the plan. You can do this.”

I nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” Why else would Daddy have told me it had to be tonight? I had to trust my instincts, but I had to admit that something about this didn’t feel right.

I climbed on the table as he continued with the line.

“I’m going to be up in the tree right here.” He pointed to a large oak tree next to my planned escape route.

“I’d feel better if you were in here with me.”

“Ellie, we’ve discussed this already. The temples were considered sacred and only priests and conjurers were allowed inside. We just made you a temple. If I went in there with you, I’ll dull or negate your power. Then all of this would be for naught.”

I climbed on top of the table and picked up the book and flashlight. “Make sure that you’re high enough in that tree so that they can’t jump up and claw you. One of them got to the top of the lighthouse roof.”

When he was halfway finished pouring the salt circle, my palm started to burn. A low growl rumbled in the woods, and my heart took off like a racehorse. “David, get in the tree.”

He turned to look into the trees behind me and then continued to pour salt. “I’m almost done.”

“David, get your ass into that tree now, or I’ll come over there and push you into it.”

“I’m not done—”

“If you think I’m lying, you don’t know me very well.” I moved to the edge of the table, ready to leap off.

“Ellie, don’t you dare! It has to be seven full circles or it won’t work.”

He was right, but I didn’t like admitting it.

He finished the circle and ran for the tree, tossing the salt container to the ground. He’d made it to the first branch when red eyes became visible in the woods. The badgers were on opposite sides of the clearing, hunching down amidst the trees.

Ukinim stepped out first. “Witness to creation, you brought me a snack.” His right eye glowed bright red, but the left one was noticeably paler. Was physical harm permanent to them? Did that mean they could die?

The wind picked up and clouds began to form on the horizon.

“An eye for an eye.” Ukinim sniffed the ground. “Or in this case, an eye for something of worth.”

Fear gripped my chest. “No!”

David was on the second branch when Ukinim bashed his head into the trunk, shaking the tree.

David lost his foothold and hung from a branch, his legs hanging over the badger. Ukinim’s claw made a large swing, digging into David’s thigh.

David cried out and pulled himself up onto the branch.

“David!” I moved to the edge of the table.

“Ellie, no!” David shouted. “Stay where you are!”

I tried to catch my breath. I had to keep my wits about me, but this wasn’t going according to plan.
I
was supposed to be the bait, not David. I needed both badgers to be close for this to work.
If
it worked.

Ilena appeared from the opposite side and bolted for the tree. She threw her body into the trunk, shaking the branches so hard that David began to slip.

I fumbled to turn on the flashlight and started reading the text, my voice faltering as the pages fluttered in the gusts.

“Louder, Ellie!” David shouted over the wind. “Start over.”

Ukinim leapt for the first tree branch, pulling himself up by his claws.

I started over, reading the ancient words in a booming voice.

The clouds billowed overhead and lightning shot from cloud to cloud, casting an eerie glow on the re-created village.

“That’s good, Ellie! Keep going.” David scrambled to the next branch, barely out of Ukinim’s reach, but the badger was on the move again even as his wife smashed the tree trunk.

I held the book vertically so I could keep an eye on David over the top of the pages.

A splitting sound filled the air. I forced myself to keep chanting. David had climbed up to the smaller branches at the top of the tree. Soon they wouldn’t support his weight.

I was more than halfway through the chant and nothing was happening. The vortex always started to manifest as soon as I started to recite the words of protection. The weather had changed, but it seemed to be the work of the wind gods rather than my own power. Were the wind gods here to protect me for Okeus? If so, that didn’t mean they’d protect David. In fact, it was in their best interest if he wasn’t around to help me.

Ukinim laughed as Ilena continued to ram the tree trunk. The splitting sound rent the air again, and the tree bent a few inches to the side.

All I had to go on were my instincts, and my instincts told me this wasn’t working. Even if I finished the chant, David would be dead—either by the claws of the badgers or the power of the wind gods. I threw the book down and jumped off the table, stepping over the first two circles of symbols. I needed to protect David from the most immediate threat first. “Hey, Ilena. Don’t you want
me
?” I walked over the third circle. “Come and get me.”

“
Ellie!
” David shouted, fumbling to get his backpack open. “Get back in the bloody circle.”

I had managed to attract Ilena’s attention. She sniffed the ground, eyeing me with wary suspicion and greed.

Ukinim’s nose lifted into the air.

“That’s right.” I held my hands out higher. “I’m out in the open. Don’t you want me? Won’t it piss Okeus off when he finds out you’ve killed his precious treasure? He cares way more about me than he does about that guy.” I stepped over the fourth circle of candles.

Ukinim jumped to the ground.

David was climbing down the tree when I heard a loud cracking sound. The tree fell the rest of the way to the ground, David deep within its foliage.

“
David!
”

The badgers bent their heads low to the ground, pacing around the outer salt line.

David groaned, pulling himself up through the branches. “Ellie, get back to the inner circle!”

“It didn’t work!”

“I know. Now you need to protect yourself.”

But even if I listened to him, I wasn’t sure how long it would help. The badgers were kicking dirt over the salt, breaking the outermost circles.

The clouds overhead rolled furiously and thunder rumbled long and loud as if in protest.

“Hey, you wankers!” David shouted, holding the bottle of holy water in his hand. “Look at me!” He stood on the fallen tree trunk, waving his arms in the air.

“David! No!”

But the badgers had turned to face David, who was seemingly easier prey. His leg was dripping with blood, which had to only increase their interest in him.

He held out the bottle of holy water and shook it toward the nearest badger. Ilena squealed in pain and bolted backward, crashing into a tree as the scent of singed skin and hair filled the clearing.

Ukinim stopped charging David and turned toward his mate, sniffing her back and licking her face.

I knew David’s intention was to distract Ukinim and Ilena so that I could get back to the table, but I needed another plan, since the first one had failed. Right now I needed to get the badgers away from David, or I needed to use the words of protection to send them away temporarily. Which meant we would be back at square one.

Daddy had told me I had the resources to send them away. Why hadn’t my instincts kicked in yet?

Ilena was still howling but Ukinim turned toward David, his menacing growl filling the air. “I will make you pay,
tosh-shonte
.”

I headed over to the path that led to the replica of the
Elizabeth II,
which was docked several hundred feet away. “Hey, Ukinim!” My voice was barely audible over the blustering wind.

“Ellie!” David shouted in irritation. “Stop!”

But Ukinim’s attention turned to me.

Rain began to pour from the sky and lightning struck the ground on the other side of the park, filling the air with the stench of burnt wood.

“Come and get me!” I walked backward. I was leading the badgers away from David, but what would protect him from the wind gods? He couldn’t run on his injured leg.

The circle
. It had protected me from all the gods and spirits except Okeus at the gate ceremony.

“David, get into the circle!” I turned around, making sure the badgers were following, and sprinted for the ship that was anchored in the cove, hoping he would listen.

I had no idea how fast giant badgers could run, but I had a feeling it was faster than me. The wind shifted direction, pushing me forward instead of impeding my progress. I scrambled toward the ship as they chased behind me, smashing the wooden floor as they went.

I only realized what they were doing when it was too late to change course—they were destroying my escape path.

I made it to the dock and ran over the gangplank onto the boat. Now I was really trapped unless I jumped into the sound. I knew they could swim, but all the information I’d found indicated that they preferred not to. Of course, they might decide I was worth the effort.

Where was Mishiginebig when I needed him?

Ilena walked along the edge of the dock and growled. A large bald spot covered her back where the holy water had doused her. “We have you now, Curse Keeper.”

I flexed my hand, ready to use my power. I knew that I should. My instincts had yet to kick in. But stubbornness won out. If I sent them away, they’d only come back again . . . and the next time they’d be even angrier. Daddy had said to do this tonight. I had to trust him.

Ilena leaped over the gap between the dock and the ship, landing on the deck, while Ukinim blocked any attempt I might have made to jump back onto the dock.

Crap.

I started climbing the rope ladder up one of the masts.

“You’ve got nowhere to hide, Curse Keeper,” Ukinim slurred.

Movement at the side of the dock caught my attention, and the torrential downpour slowed to a sprinkle. “You are the
biggest
pain in the ass,” Collin shouted, climbing over the edge of the dock.

“
Collin?
”

Ukinim turned toward him. “Son of the land.”

Collin stood on the wooden platform, cocking his head to the side. “You and Ellie have more in common than you think.” He took a step closer to the ship. “You both hate Okeus. Just let her go.”

“
Let her go?
” Ukinim lowered his head and turned his good eye toward Collin. “Okeus stole what was most precious to me. My humanity,” he growled. “And now I will take what’s most precious to him.”

“Goddamn it, Ukinim. Okeus will never let you get away with this,” Collin spit. “It’s not worth it. Just let her go.”