Their hisses became louder and their black, flicking tongues increased in speed and seemed very aggressive. The red one opened its mouth, baring teeth that could easily rip apart flesh and end their lives. Amy sobbed and Vree told her to hush and to keep still. Her sobs became violent and Lenny feared that any second the snakes were going to attack her and fill the ground with her blood.
Vree must have thought the same because she slowly inched her way toward Amy, who cried out, “How can this be? What hellish place has snakes this big?” As soon as she said this, the snakes stopped circling. They crouched low to the ground, readying to attack her.
“Don’t panic,” Lenny told her, though he said those words more to himself.
“We’re gonna die.” Amy wailed a horrible sound. Then she whimpered and cried miserably. She said, “Help me, Vree. I can’t take this anymore. Don’t let me die.”
“I’m coming to get you,” Vree said inching her way. “We can fight as a team, so please don’t make any sudden movements.”
The red snake saw Vree. It raised its head at her and hissed. She stopped.
“No,” Amy cried out, in a high-pitched voice. “Make this go away.” She repeated this several times. Then, “This isn’t real,” she screamed with determination deep in her voice. In a split second, she ran at the snakes. She made it only a few feet before the yellow snake head-butted her and forced her to the ground.
Her screams were gruesome. Lenny wanted them to stop, but he knew if they did stop, that would mean Amy was dead.
Vree shouted at the snake and demanded that it leave Amy alone.” The red one advanced a few inches closer. Vree flinched, stumbled, and fell on her backside. The red snake stopped and hovered over her. Next to it, the yellow snake hovered over Amy.
Amy stopped thrashing and screaming. Weakly, she said, “I don’t wanna die.”
Her eyes looked dull and almost lifeless. She wheezed when she inhaled. She said, “You can save me if you want to, Vree.”
“I want to,” Vree said. “Believe me, I would if I could.”
“You don’t love me anymore.” Amy whimpered.
“You’re wrong,” Vree said. “I do love you, Amy. I love Dave, too. But it’s you who don’t love me.”
“Do you truly love me, Vree?” Amy asked.
“Yes.”
Amy nodded and closed her eyes. The yellow snake tore into her tender throat. Lenny shut his eyes and put his hands over his ears to muffle the sounds of her last moment alive.
His stomach began to hurt with an acid feeling that intensified, as though something wicked churned inside his belly, burning and ripping its way upwards into his chest and pressing cold against his heart. His stomach lurched and he doubled over and vomited on the ground.
When he opened his eyes and saw what he had done, he felt sure and unafraid. He had changed within that moment and he knew that he had the power to change what he saw. He stood and stared hard at the red snake above Vree. It was almost grinning as it flicked its forked tongue and moved from her and closer to him. He grinned back at it and felt anger fill his heart. His voice roared as he told it, “Be gone.”
He aimed his anger at the snake and watched it explode in a cloud of pink dust that rose through the leaves and ascended the sky. He did the same to the yellow and black snakes, erased them from existence.
The forest disappeared, followed by Amy and Dave until he and Vree stood again on barren yellow ground beneath a blue-violet sky.
“You have the worst nightmares,” he said. His gaze locked on Vree as she came to him and embraced him.
“Any more scary stuff in that pretty head?” he asked with obvious interest. “I feel powerful enough to take on the world.”
“Too many to count,” she said, releasing him. Her gaze dropped to his chest. “It’s a curse, I guess, of being afraid,” she said.
“It’s okay to be afraid,” he said.
“I know, as long as I don’t let it cripple me.”
Lenny, who had made a point of watching Vree closely in this strange place, examined the tilt of her head, her slight frown, and the noticeable high pulse in her neck near where she pulled at and fidgeted with her shirt. He saw scratches on the back her hand. Her tongue wetted her lips and made her more beautiful. She was terrified, for sure. But in her eyes, he saw a Herculean mettle growing.
“I love you,” he said.
She stopped and peered at him. A frown creased her forehead. “What did you say?” she asked moments later.
“Nothing,” Lenny said, pushing away the emotion that wanted to burst from him. “I’m just glad you don’t have my kind of nightmares.”
“And those would be what?”
“Going to school and finding out I forgot to get dressed,” he said and laughed.
A smile cracked her lips. He held her gaze in his own until her smile faded and she looked up.
Above them, a burning meteor entered the sky and fell toward them.
“Another nightmare?” Lenny asked.
“Yep.”
“What does your faceless savior do this time?” Lenny asked as he watched the ball of fire fill the sky.
Vree pulled him into her arms and said, “Nothing. This is the one where I always wake up terrified and screaming for my daddy.”
Chapter Sixteen
LENNY AND THE meteor vanished.
Vree collapsed to the dream ground. Even in sleep, she was exhausted.
Except for a face that hovered above her, blackness overcame her. The face—her subconscious—said, “Hey, girly-o, now’s not the time to sleep.”
Vree groaned and told her subconscious to leave her alone.
“And let you hide from your problems all your life? No. You need to acknowledge your power and be strong with it. Stop being afraid.”
“Now you sound like every fantasy book I’ve ever read … every movie I’ve watched that has a hero who needs to stand up and face his fears.”
“Because that’s what heroes do.”
A white crow’s face appeared next to Vree’s subconscious one.
“The witch killed Sarlic,” Enit Huw said.
“No,” Vree cried out, but Enit Huw interrupted her mourning.
“Margga thinks you drained your magic power while you were fixing the Roualen ship. She is of no threat to you, your family, or your friend right now as long as you keep your magic at its current low level. She will leave at midnight and return to her incarceration in the abysmal darkness of Tartarus for another year, whence she will return to Myers Ridge and seek escape by magic again. Your magic. This event will play out for many years unless you stop it tonight by killing her.”
Vree shook her head. “Uh-uh, I’m not a killer,” she said. “As long as I keep my magic under wraps, no one else gets hurt tonight. When the witch is gone, I can fix the ship so the Roualens can leave. Sarlic would have wanted it that way.”
“As long as Margga is around, neither you nor your family or friends are safe. She has cursed your friend’s bloodline and has killed members of it. She will do the same to yours if she ever finds out you deceived her.”
Vree looked away and was silent.
“Margga will kill again as long as she is able,” Enit Huw said before vanishing.
“Heroes don’t hide from their fears,” Vree’s subconscious said before vanishing, too.
In the darkness, Vree struggled with the idea that her life and everyone’s lives connected to hers would always be in danger of a witch.
Even Daddy’s spirit is in danger, she reminded herself.
* * *
VREE SUCKED IN a breath, opened her eyes, and saw Lenny and Dave peering down at her. Awakened from her nightmares and sad to know that Sarlic was dead, confusion weighed on her mind as to where she was. She sat up with Lenny’s help and cried out in pain. Her knee throbbed. She looked at the tents and knew she was in her grandparents’ backyard. Someone had brought her here.
“How did I get here?” she asked.
“You were floating,” Dave said. His voice was accusing and he sounded angry.
“It looked like someone was carrying you,” Lenny said.
Sarlic.
Vree scooted closer to Dave and surprised him by embracing him. “I love you,” she said. She looked at Amy who sat behind Dave. “You too,” she said. She scooted closer to the fire. Her shoes, pants, and lower half of her shirt were soaked. Lenny joined her, sitting at her right.
“Was I really with you in your dreams?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
She reached out and touched the back of his nearest hand. Darkness overwhelmed her. She let go of Lenny’s hand. His surprised look told her that something had happened to him, too.
She asked him, “What time is it?”
“Ten thirty,” Lenny said. “Maybe later. Why?”
Vree stood with difficulty, favoring her sore knee, and hobbled to the brook. She saw no witch waiting for her, but she sensed a presence. “I’m here,” she said. “Release my father’s spirit like you promised.”
She thought she heard someone say “You are damaged and useless” but the words were more like the sound of wind passing by.
When nothing more came, she said, “I never did you any wrong. But you have done me many wrongs. You have made me your enemy.”
A hand gripped her left shoulder and turned her around.
“I don’t know why you’re talking to the thin air,” Dave said, “but I’m going inside and calling Mom to let her know you’re back. She’s out looking for you again. So are Grandma and Grandpa.”
“There’s a witch next door,” Vree said. “She’s holding Daddy’s spirit hostage.”
Dave shook his head. “I don’t care what you say anymore. Dad died; he’s gone. There are no spirits or witches. Just your farfetched imagination.”
“David, I need you to listen and not make fun of me. After I woke from my coma, I developed psychic powers. I saw things no one else could see. Well, except for Grandma. She was struck by lightning like me and was able to see them too.”
She paused when Dave sighed.
“There are creatures here called Roualens,” she said. “They’re from outer space and wear protective suits that make them invisible. But I can see them, which is bad because my ability shuts down their suits’ life support and kills them.”
“Stop talking like you’re crazy,” Dave said.
“You promised not to make fun.”
“No I didn’t.”
“Well, I don’t care whether you believe me or not. I was helping the Roualens fix their ship when we got a message that Margga—”
Dave spun around and headed toward the backdoor. “If you wanna tell Mom about your crazy hallucinations,” he called back, “go right ahead. Just don’t expect her or anyone else to believe your crap.”
He stopped when Amy ran to him and told him to wait. She sounded upset.
“I just saw them,” she said, pointing at the old property on the other side of the brook. “I saw those ghost dogs … a moment ago.”
“So did I,” Lenny said. He had followed at her heels. He turned and stared at the property behind Vree.
Vree turned and looked; she saw nothing but patchy darkness.
Then, a guttural howl came to her, starting like a deep moan that rose in pitch and volume and sent shivers across her back.
* * *
MARGGA STOOD ACROSS the brook and watched unseen. She stood over Sarlic’s body and seethed with anger. The girl with the strange name was unable to see and hear her; she had indeed drained most of her magic while fixing Sarlic’s ship.
The red ball of magic Margga held was useless.
Her hellhound Blood howled his impatience while he chased Reginald Myers’s silly ghost dogs around the cursed property.
Fuming and cursing, Margga stepped over Sarlic’s body and paced along the brook covered over with grass and old leaves and years of neglect. Rainwater managed to trickle through the clogged artery that separated her old house and Reginald Myers’s desolate estate.
She cursed his name and spat at the ground. He was the reason she was damned as a spirit to return here year after year. The Council wanted her to beg him and Cathleen for forgiveness. Never! He had killed her father while hunting, claimed it was an accident, and never showed any remorse. Oh sure, he had said to her repeatedly how much he was sorry, but her father had suffered in those wintry woods while he bled to death and his body froze, all because Reginald left him and pursued a large buck he’d shot at and missed.
She spat again. Reginald had claimed he never knew her father had been shot. But how does someone shoot a rifle and not know they’ve shot another person with it? It made no sense because it was a lie. A lie that had set her heart and mind on fire and turned her to seek out dark magic. She’d spent years traveling to wayward places until she found the ancient book of songs written in an old language that few can read. Magic helped her understand the text and sing the songs. She read the songs of good and bad spells that had died centuries ago. And from the wickedest spells, she added her own. Saw visions and added them, too. She grew with power and caused Reginald and his hunting dogs to freeze to death, and Cathleen to jump to her death at the cliffs of Myers Ridge.
Now, turning and watching the curse of her punishment unfold behind her, she swore vengeance and cursed the Myers name. Reginald’s ghost wavered in the waist-high field grass that had been a well-kept lawn of soft, luxurious bluegrass. Blood howled in pursuit of his dogs she called Chaos and Morbid; they ran past her along the bank. Cathleen’s ghost cried from Widow’s Ravine as it plunged repeatedly to the bottom. And all Margga had to do was say she was sorry and her punishment and imprisonment would be over. Her death would be final.
She turned back and saw the magic. It was weak, two faint beacons side by side across the brook. They touched, became one, and doubled in strength where Vree and Lenny stood, holding hands. Could their combined magic be enough to set her free?
She called for Blood. The Rottweiler stopped his pursuit and bounded to her.
“Bring me the girl and boy who shine with magic,” she said.
Chapter Seventeen
VREE HAD LEFT the brook and now stood with Lenny beneath the light at the backdoor. They were alone. Dave and Amy had gone inside, away from the visions of Chaos and Morbid. She wondered if Dave was on the phone, telling their mother that he and Amy had seen ghosts. She hoped so. Let them be the freaks for once in their lives.
She stood at Lenny’s side and looked for the ghost dogs that had run and vanished inside the high grass. She barely felt his hand holding hers until he tightened his grip. Warmth filled her.
But a growl behind them turned her cold.
Lenny let go of her hand and they turned together. Vree saw nothing there.
Something pungent and foul smelling like rotten eggs—hydrogen sulfide?—pushed her backwards. She barely kept her balance. Her sore knee caused her to cry out.
Lenny stumbled next, as though an invisible force had pushed him too.
The awful smell returned and pushed her again.
Again, she kept her balance and cried out.
“It’s pushing us to the brook,” Lenny said when he stumbled backward again. He caught his balance, turned, and darted toward the tents. He took five steps and sprawled to the ground, as though he had been tackled. His right leg lifted and his body slid across the wet ground, heading toward the brook. He thrashed and yelled for help while Vree watched.
“Stop it,” she cried. She followed as fast as her knee would allow without causing her to fall. She wished she hadn’t tired herself while fixing Sarlic’s ship. Her powers were still weak, but not enough that she didn’t see the hazy shape of a big dog dragging Lenny by the pants leg across the brook.
Vree followed, careful not to lose her balance on the uneven ground.
She found Lenny on the other side, scrambling to his feet.
She ran to him.
* * *
MARGGA AIMED CAREFULLY before she released the red ball of magic.
Its forceful flash of red light struck Vree and knocked her off balance. The light engulfed her and made her sick to the stomach. She kept down the bile that rose in her throat, plunged through the red cloud of light, and found Lenny on the ground, lying on his back, his eyes closed. His face was pale but he was breathing. She touched his forehead and cheeks; his skin felt hot.
He opened his eyes, looked at her, and said her name.
Vree fell on him and asked if he was okay. Lenny’s lips moved against her cheek. She lifted her face and he said, “I hurt so much.”
“Where does it hurt?” she asked.
His chest raised and lowered as he breathed. He looked at her and smiled. He looked handsome despite the early stage of acne that seemed bright along his cheeks.
“Where do you hurt?” she asked.
“The sky is gorgeous,” he said.
“What sky?” She turned her head and could barely see the night air beyond the blanket of red light.
His whispered laugh caused her to turn back and shiver. He reached out, touched her lips, her chin, and her neck. “I love you,” he said. He ran his hands over her mussed hair that fell on his face when she leaned in and locked her gaze with his.
“Can you get up?” she asked before he closed his eyes and stopped breathing.
“Lenny?” She practically screamed his name.
He did not move.
“Come back.” She fell on him once more, but only for a second. She began CPR the way she had learned in Health class at school. “Come back,” she cried again as she applied external cardiac massage.
Moments later, she stopped and closed her eyes at the sight of his lips becoming blue and switched to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but he remained collapsed with no pulse and no breath.
The red light vanished but she barely noticed until she saw moonlight against his lifeless face.
“No,” she wailed. “Don’t be dead.” She looked heavenward. “Please, don’t let him die.”
A hawk flew overhead. She watched its liquid motion as it glided across the seemingly airless sky. She directed her prayers toward the hawk and imagined the mighty bird soaring to the secret reaches of heaven, her prayers following its wake.
She closed her eyes and wept.
An electric hum filled her head.
She heard Lenny snort and saw him draw in a deep breath through his mouth. He opened his eyes and she fell on him, pressed a cheek against his chest, and listened to his steady heartbeat.
Margga's Curse: A Vree Erickson Novel, Book One Page 13
