Cursed

by Melissa Michelle Green

  When the fuselage began to dip backwards, he noticed the seats all began to shift.

  Holy fuck, the plane was tipping backwards. If it settled against the reef and blocked them in, they were screwed. He caught up with Jami, who had stopped at the ragged edge of the torn center of the plane. He moved past her, taking her hand, and tugging her along, but she yanked her hand back, gesturing at something behind her.

  He aimed his light where she was pointing and dammed if she hadn’t caught the line from her oxygen tank to her mouthpiece between two sharp pieces of the severed edge of the plane.

  Hell. If he wasn’t careful, he’d slice her hose. If he didn’t move fast, the plane would pull her down with it.

  The fuselage adjusted itself again with a creak and he saw Jami’s eyes go wide.

  He held his palm out flat, wait.

  Working as quickly as he could, he wiggled the hose out from between the two pieces of metal that seemed to be holding on to the rubber with teeth. He sliced his fingers a few times, and delicate tendrils of blood floated away from his hands like gossamer red spider webs.

  He almost had it.

  Jami touched his elbow and pointed up.

  The body of the plane was moving, he was out of time.

  In desperation, he yanked the hose the rest of the way free, hating to see the precious air bubbling and hissing its way out of the line, but he had to get her out from under the plane.

  He gripped the hose tightly, trying to keep some of the air in and less of the water from working its way up to her mouthpiece, and together they kicked furiously to swim free of the aircraft.

  Val was an experienced diver and he knew that panicking wouldn’t solve anything. He also knew that, as amazing as Jami was, it would be near impossible for anyone to not panic in this situation. He kicked a few more times, stopping only when he felt her resist. He turned and looked at her she made a motion swiping her hand sharply horizontally near her neck that indicated that she could tell she was running out of air. He checked her gauge and sure enough, she was almost completely out. She’d probably had to swallow a little water as well.

  He didn’t see panic in her eyes, not yet. Good. They did widen when they both heard and felt a furious rumble.

  They turned together to watch the rest of the plane tumble into the depths of the sea, out of their sight.

  OK…one crisis averted, next one up.

  Val turned to face Jami again. He pulled his mouthpiece out of his mouth, holding his breath. She spat hers out, understanding, and breathed evenly as he counted with his fingers where she could see them, one, two, three. He then tugged on the mouthpiece, relieved to feel that she wasn’t biting down on it in resistance which happened often with new divers who struggled to relinquish their only source of oxygen.

  He took his three breaths and passed the mouthpiece back to her. Now understanding the rhythm, she nodded when he used the thumbs up signal to indicate they were going to ascend as they continued to buddy breathe.

  As soon as the water began to brighten Jami handed him back his mouthpiece and kicked for the surface.

  Val exploded out of the water seconds after she did, gasping for air. He’d been able to breathe just fine, but the situation itself was always stressful, he’d had to do it a couple of times before, and being able to pull in deep sweet gulps of air was amazing. The most amazing thing in the world after you’ve had to control your breathing that carefully.

  Val watched as Jami steadied herself, amazed at her poise.

  “You doing OK over there?”

  Still a little breathless, she replied, “Yes. I think so.” Then she laughed a little. “I guess that’s one for you.”

  “Well, actually, we’d be even if we were counting freeing you from the plane and then sharing my oxygen with you as two different saves.”

  She laughed out loud, floating on her back. “OK, I’ll give you that, since I’m alive and all.”

  They only had to swim for about fifteen minutes before they were in sight of the boat. Illeana had apparently been watching for them, because even as the glow of the setting sun set the water on fire, they heard the boat engine start up. Relieved, they stopped swimming and floated, waiting for the boat to reach them.

  “Jesus, you guys, everything OK?”

  Stefano expertly pulled the boat up as close as possible without running over them and in no time Illeana had them on board, wrapped in towels, and then handed them both two overly full glasses of red wine. “Here, you look like you’ve earned this.”

  Val laughed and caught her up, Illeana’s eyes widening as the story grew more harrowing.

  “Wait, you found it?”

  Val’s face was comical in its surprise. “God, I almost forgot, we may have.” He dug it out of the pouch at his waist. Inspecting it, he frowned. “Well, I need to have it cleaned to be sure, it’s got all kinds of gunk all over it, but I think this might be it.” He looked at Jami. “I only have my memory of my mother’s sketch to compare this to, do you have any kind of photograph?” Jami shook her head slowly.

  “Not here. But we’ve got one back in Colorado.”

  “Well,” he said cheerfully, “I guess it’s time for you to take me home to meet your family.”

  Hours later, they were full, and Val was pretty sure Jami was a little drunk. He couldn’t blame her. He kind of wished she wasn’t. Maybe then he might take advantage of the drama of the situation and corner her for a make-out session. As it was, he knew she needed to rest. Stefano and Illeana stood up from the table and begin clearing the dishes, and Illeana told Jami to go ahead and go on to bed. “I’ll be down in a few minutes after I have this cleaned up.”

  Jami had a relieved look on her face. “Thank you, normally I would help clean up, but I think maybe I’ve had a little bit too much to drink,” she said with a slight slur to her words.

  He stood. “Um, hang on, would you?”

  She wobbled a bit, but she stopped and turned.

  “Would you take this? I’m afraid I’m going to lose it, and after going to all this trouble…”

  She smiled and took the pendant, sloppily waving goodnight at the door to the cabin.

  He returned her wave and as soon as she was below deck, he turned to Illeana. “I know you guys hadn’t planned for a fourth passenger so I can sleep up here on the deck.”

  Illeana cast a doubtful look around the boat but Val insisted. “No really, I’ve definitely slept in things less comfortable than these lounge chairs. I’m all good.”

  The young woman agreed and after taking the rest of the dishes to the galley, she and Stefano said goodnight as well.

  Val lay awake under the stars for a few moments, the events of the day running through his head. He didn’t think he’d be able to sleep, but the next thing he knew he was startled awake when a rough hand covered his mouth.

  “No sound. I don’t care about any of you. They want to ask you some questions but if you give me trouble, I am authorized to return without you. I’ll start with the ladies. Nod if you understand.”

  Val nodded helplessly as he watched two tall, burly shapes move across the deck, separating to go into different cabins.

  18

  He turned the handle on her door slowly, sometimes it squeaked and he didn’t want to wake her if she was resting. It was the middle of the night and she should be sleeping, but she’d been restless lately, with a fever that swept in like a roiling storm then faded away leaving so much damage in its wake.

  She was so small, lying there twisted up in the sheets. Her dark hair was no longer the long sweep of glossy color that had reminded him of her mother, but rather a lank, thin shadow of its former glory. Her skin was pale, with sweeps of grey under her eyes that looked extreme, like stage makeup. Her cheeks were hollow, her pale skin stretched taught over the sharp lines of her collarbone, and the inside of her right arm was scattered with scabs in various stages of healing, with an IV line taped to the latest invasion of her body. He had
paid for the best in-home care, and the equipment in her room was top of the line…but none of it would save her. ‘Prolonging the inevitable’ was the phrase the last physician had used.

  But he wasn’t going to give up. He was so close. He’d spent years working with doctors and clinics, but when he’d finally understood that traditional medicine wouldn’t be able to save his daughter from the mass growing in her brain he’d reached out to other sources. For most of his life he’d been involved in smuggling rings, moving artifacts out of Iran, Egypt, Syria, Jerusalem - anywhere his crews could find them…and into the hands of collectors and private auction houses that had less scruples than money. His network was so tight that even the American and British teams that had been established for the sole purpose of shutting him down hadn’t been able to penetrate into his circle, and he’d made a lot of money off of being reliable, secure, and harsh. No one messed with Teagan Victors. But now his enemy didn’t care who he was, what he was willing to pay, or who he was willing to kill. His enemy was spreading sickening tendrils inside his daughters brain. He sometimes woke with nightmares, picturing creeping threads of green and black moving inside of her. So he’d diverted all of his resources to research, and to finding what he needed to save his little girl.

  He’d found Muriel first, the psychic that said she could find a way to save Sophia. He was naturally skeptical, as much as he’d wanted to believe, and it had taken months for her to prove herself. Once he’d seen her link herself mentally to one of his contacts and find information she’d have had no other way of knowing he began to believe. She’d told him about the power she could sense coming from an object that seemed to have just been found - as though it had been veiled and was now showing itself. Once his man had delivered the chalice Muriel had been able to hold it and use its power to find the other two items - or at least, to feel them, somewhere out there in the world. Then he’d dug up the story of the Spanish princess and the curse, and Muriel said she’d be able to use the power of the three items together to fuel a ritual that might save Sophia. Feeling as though he was on to something, he’d concentrated all of his efforts on the final two items, the dagger and the pendant, while Muriel pieced together the components of the ritual.

  The chalice, the dagger, and the pendant. A place of natural power. And the sacrifice of a bloodewitch.

  He had the chalice. He’d almost lost the dagger in Spain, thanks to those meddling Americans, but his investment in Sabrina had proven itself and she’d delivered it to him. He’d wanted to hire her again for the pendant but she was not taking his calls. He needed that pendant, now. The autumn equinox was in seven days, and there wouldn’t be another alignment this powerful until March of next year, and Sophia didn’t have that long.

  He smoothed the sheets over her frail little body, wishing her mother were here to comfort her. He never felt as though anything he was doing was enough, and now he might lose her, forever.

  19

  Jami pushed her face into her pillow. Oh God. She’d had too much wine. Her head was pounding. She tried to open her eyes.

  Ugh, she might still be drunk.

  She heard Val urgently whispering her name.

  “Jami. Jami, wake up. Jami.”

  She managed to mumble something that she hoped sounded like go away, but he didn’t go away. In fact, it felt like he was right behind…was he in bed with her?

  “What the hell!”

  She jerked upright but was immediately yanked back down, was she tied to something?

  “Val? What the hell is going on?”

  “Oh, thank God. You’ve been out for hours; I was beginning to think they’d given you too much.”

  “Giving me too much what? Who?”

  “Hang on, I’m trying to work on the ropes around our wrists. Stop wriggling around. I’ll catch you up while I work on this.”

  Jami forced herself to lie still and blinked rapidly, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Oh my God. Her head was pounding.

  “We’re not on the Ulysses anymore. I woke up at about two o’clock to find a group of guys boarding the boat. I didn’t have a chance to do anything about it.”

  She could hear the frustration in his voice as he continued, “They were on me before I was properly awake, and I think they drugged us with something, probably chloroform, I’ve been awake for about an hour, but I don’t know how long I was out before that, they took my watch. I hope Illeana and Stefano are OK, they didn’t bring them with us, unless they’re in another cabin. I’m hoping they just knocked them out and left them on the boat. They’ll be confused but they should be able to get back to the marina. Only thing I’m worried about is that they wouldn’t have wanted them to report us missing, so that doesn’t bode well for them having been let go.”

  “Do you have any idea who these guys are? Is this one of those pirate things I’ve read about? I didn’t think that happened out here.”

  “No, I don’t think it’s pirates. They grabbed you, they grabbed me, they probably left Illeana and Stefano, and as far as I can tell, they knew exactly who they were looking for. The guy who grabbed me said something about the pendant. After what you told me about the guy who’s been collecting these items, this has to be him, he has to have paid these guys to find it.”

  “But how could they possibly know that we even found the pendant?”

  She felt him pause for a minute then continued working on the ropes. “I was thinking the same thing. They may not know that we found it, just that we are after it. If that’s the case, at some point they’re going to come down here and ask us some questions. That could get pretty difficult. I want you to tell them whatever you know, give them whatever they want. Don’t give them an excuse to hurt you.”

  Jami felt a sudden rush of tears prick at her eyes, and she blinked them back hurriedly. The last thing she needed right now was to turn into a crying mess. That wouldn’t help Val, and it certainly wouldn’t help her. It was starting to sink in though, and she was having a hard time separating her memories of her kidnapping from this feeling of hopelessness that closed in on her.

  She focused on Val’s voice. “Jami? Are you still with me?” She nodded and he continued, “OK, I’m almost done here, I’ll have us free in a few minutes. I’m sure that door is locked but I’ll check it anyway. I’m thinking the best plan will be to wait behind the door, I’ll jump whoever comes in see if I can overpower them. The tricky part is, we’re still on a boat, we’re gonna have to overpower everyone else as well.”

  She felt the ropes loosen and Val gave a grunt of triumph as he finally freed them.

  Jami sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her head was killing her, and she felt a little fuzzy. Probably the chloroform.

  Val sat next to her on the bed rubbing her wrists. “I know, my head’s all fucked up too. It should pass pretty soon though; I’ve interviewed people that have had chloroform used on them.”

  “I know I’ll be fine. It’s what he used on me too.”

  “Fuck.” Val uttered the words from between credit teeth. “Hey, are you OK? Hanging in there?” He let go of her wrists and moved her hair away from her face tenderly.

  She nodded. Trying to distract herself she looked down. “Well, this is going to be interesting, we’re going to have to escape with me wearing pajamas.” She choked out a laugh when the reality of the situation sunk in and she waved at her black cotton pyjama shorts and matching tank top with a kiss emoji on the front.

  “Well, at least you had clothes on. Gotta tell you, that’s not something I ever thought I’d say to a woman.”

  She was snickering, when another thought occurred to her. “Holy shit!” she gasped out loud, her hand at her throat.

  “What?” Val worriedly asked, but she was already breathing a sigh of relief.

  “Oh, thank God. I hadn’t thought about it, but I’m still wearing the pendant. They must not have searched us.”

  “You’re shitting me? You’re weari
ng it?” She nodded and pulled it out from underneath her top. “I assumed it was on the boat with the rest of our things. You’re fucking amazing!” He grabbed her face in his hands and planted a kiss right on her lips.

  “You realize what’s going to be a problem though, right?” She tucked the necklace away, trying not show how dizzy that kiss had made her.

  “Overpowering all the men on this boat, figuring out where the hell we are, and getting back to Kefalonia safely?”

  She snickered again at the snide tone in his voice. “No, dork, passports. We’re definitely going to need passports.”

  “Well, one problem at a time.” He lowered his voice, “I hear the door, you sit here on the bed and look confused, I’ll jump whoever comes through.”

  Jami sat, looking confused she was sure. Why did this feel like a bad plan?

  No, not a bad plan. An incomplete plan.

  The rattling at the door stopped and the latch lifted.

  Jami stood, moving to the wall on the opposite side of the door from Val, pressing himself flat between a tall dresser and a desk area.

  The expression on Val’s face would have been funny if she weren’t busy trying not to have a heart attack. What the hell was she doing?

  Val didn’t have time to do anything about Jami, he braced and hoped they wouldn’t notice her behind the bulk of the dresser until he had control of the situation. If two of them came in, he didn’t know what he would do, but he didn’t have a choice.

  He attacked the man from behind as soon as he was a foot into the room. He was already looking around with a confused expression on his face, having not found his captives on the bed where he left them.

  A punch to his right kidney from behind left him dazed enough that he stumbled, and Val was able to crouch and get his arm around the man’s neck.

  He knew if he could apply pressure steadily for long enough, the man would pass out. But the smaller man was stronger than he looked, and he twisted out of his grip and let out a shout for help. Val managed to get in a pretty solid right hook but had the wind knocked out of him when his opponent lashed out with a kick to the stomach. Val was seeing spots, but he was coherent enough to notice the other man’s attention had been drawn to Jami.