The Curse of Jenny Greene

by Kimberly Loth

  “Seriously, never been found?” I smacked the counter next to where the book lay. I liked this guy even less. He didn’t know the pain and suffering her family must have gone through. I did. Leigh Kate did and poor Garner was just learning it.

  Below is the account of the child’s older sister, Hannah Greene Grimm.

  We had searched for Jenny for so long. So long. I missed my little sister so much. We praised the Lord for his faithfulness when she was found. But she was different.

  She became obsessed with fresh water, she spent hours sitting and singing songs in Abenaki near a particular pond outside the home of my affianced, Timothy Grimm. It was rumored that she could be seen talking with a demon that hid in the water.

  The inhabitants grew weary of Jenny and shunned Jenny because of her association with the Abenaki tribe and that the tribe had taught her to commune with the devil. She grew into a solemn young woman that kept to herself. When she was sixteen, a young man disappeared. My new husband’s brother, Foster Grimm.

  Chapter 28

  I looked at Foster.

  The names, Hannah, Foster. It was eerie to hear those names in this creepy old story. Foster had gone pale. He didn’t like it either.

  “Hey, let’s quit reading,” I said. His eyes had turned the darkest blue I had ever seen them.

  “It was a long time ago. I think we’re safe.” He smirked at me, but the smile didn’t reach those stormy blue eyes.

  I nodded.

  Many of the folk accused Jenny. It was said that she was smitten with young Foster and had wanted to be married to him. His body was never found.

  Four months later, after Jenny’s birthday, a child disappeared. A search party found the little boy in the pond she loved so much. He’d been drowned. Some believed that the child had been drowned by Jenny and some by the devil that she communed with.

  I believe that she had taken the child, only meaning to play with him. Foster had been our schoolteacher and loved children. It’s my opinion that she wanted to be like him. Since he’d gone missing, there hadn’t been a replacement for him. I don’t know how, but I’m sure the child accidentally drowned.

  Jenny subsequently vanished, and a manhunt was carried out. They found her hiding in a sea cave near the Wordstone Cliff, but not before five more children disappeared and were later found drowned in the same pond.

  Jenny was taken into custody. She hurled insults in Abenaki at her captors, and they labeled her a witch. Her mouth and hands were bound, and she was tossed into the pond where she had drowned her victims.

  She sank, a sure sign of witchcraft, but then, to everyone’s shock, she bobbed back to the surface, free of her bonds and gag. Jenny cursed the six families who had demanded her execution for the loss of their children. She vowed to live until those families had been wiped from the Earth.

  Hannah Greene Grimm was rather emotional and unable to speak after telling me about her sister. I understand her wish to believe that her sister was an innocent. But it is my determination that Jennifer Greene was indeed a witch, and I will be keeping a close eye on those families that Jennifer named.

  After much discussion. Hannah gave me the names of the seven cursed families: Hurst, Watson, Pennington, Jennings, Adair, Norton, and of course, Grimm.

  I leaned into Foster’s side. Both of us were silent, trying to take in exactly what we’d just read.

  “Why didn’t anyone ever leave?” I asked quietly. I didn’t want to break the eerie calm we were in. “The Penningtons or the Nortons, anybody. If they knew this was going to happen, why did they stay?”

  “Why did your Gram come back?” asked Foster.

  “She claims she had to. That she made a pact with Greenteeth.”

  “That’s insane.” Foster flipped through a few more pages.

  “I know. It’s the wild ramblings of a half-dead woman in my dreams.” I buried my head in my hands. “How will I ever find Sam?”

  “Here, check this out.”

  The final page had a scrawled inscription.

  Cotton Mather returned to Greenetown in 1707. Oddly, he couldn’t remember much about his visit when he returned to Boston. He said that Hannah Greene Grimm was a sad, lonely woman. Her husband, Timothy had jumped to his death from the cliff near their home.

  Reverend Mather spoke some other nonsense, but at night he would sing this verse in his sleep.

  In the wispy dark of a foggy night, the children come. The children die.

  Jenny Greenteeth croons to them, her keening call they cannot deny.

  To the pond across from the ocean, they come, seeking only to be her friend.

  Little do they know the salty air can’t save them, and Jenny will be their end.

  Abigail Willard - Daughter

  1729

  I shivered. Creepy little nursery rhyme. Like “Ring Around the Rosie” if you paid attention to the words.

  The front door slammed, and we both jumped like Jenny put her hands on our shoulders.

  Chapter 29

  “Do you kids ever go to school?” Hannah stomped into the kitchen, her arms full of grocery bags.

  “Hey, Hannah, Sophie’s here.” Foster jumped up and helped her.

  “School?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

  “We skipped.” He grinned. “Well, I did. Sophie’s dad called her in.”

  “Does he know you’re here alone with my charming nephew?”

  I laughed. She obviously knew his reputation.

  “We were over at Sophie’s friend’s house. His little brother disappeared last night.” Foster shoved a gallon of milk in the fridge. “The scene there got a little intense, so we came here for a break.”

  “Disappeared. Who?” Hannah frowned and glanced at the book sitting open on the counter. I slammed it shut, feeling slightly like a kid getting caught stealing cookies.

  “Chase Hurst. His grandmother is Della Hurst,” I said.

  “That is awful,” she said. “And soon. The second child went missing earlier this week, right?”

  “Yeah, and then, um, something crazy happened upstairs.” Foster joined me back at the bar. He flashed Hannah a thousand-watt smile. I bet that’s how he got the lady-killer reputation he claims he doesn’t have.

  “Keep going.” Hannah rolled her eyes. She was immune to his charm. That made me like her a little bit.

  Foster turned to me, and I shook my head. I had no idea how to tell his aunt a ghost had wrecked her library.

  “A strange storm blew in?” The question in his voice made me want to giggle. I bit my lip. If there had been damage to any other part of the house, it might not have been so hard to explain.

  “A strange storm?” Hannah asked. Her eyes darkened.

  Foster nodded. A strand of hair slipped into his eyes. He appeared boyish and innocent. I would have believed him.

  “The window blew out in the library, and a powerful wind . . .” He wiped his hands on the knees of his jeans. Nervous Foster was adorable. “It pretty much destroyed the library.”

  The color drained from Hannah’s face.

  “The library?” She took off like a shot and pounded up the stairs.

  “She hasn’t screamed yet.” Foster drummed his fingers on the table. I took a sip of soda. I’d not felt this awkward around Foster since I’d first met him.

  He tapped his sneaker against the floor.

  “So, this?” he said finally and waved his hand at the small volume.

  “Quite a story,” I said.

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “I wonder what happens to the children she takes. They aren’t drowning in the pond anymore.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, we’d have heard about that.”

  “Makes me really want to get into the Inquisitor archives.”

  I reached for my back pocket to pull out my phone with every intention of texting Max. I hadn’t gotten to mention the interview to Leigh Kate, but after Mom’s outburst this morning, or whatever our talk had been, I probably was
n’t going to agree to be interviewed for his article.

  Hannah clomped back down the stairs and back into the kitchen, each slap of her boots punctuating her anger. Foster took a deep breath.

  “I know it looks bad,” he said. She held up a taut hand and stopped him.

  “I can tell by the one book that survived intact,” Hannah said as she picked up the journal, “that you are aware of Jenny Greene.”

  “Greenteeth,” I amended for her.

  Hannah studied me for several long seconds.

  “Greenteeth,” she acknowledged with a nod. “I’d say it was a myth, an old legend, but that’s apparently not true.”

  “Obviously.” Foster sniggered. His tone earned him a hard glare from his aunt.

  “So, you’ve read Cotton Mather’s report of what happened to poor Hannah Greene Grimm, a woman torn apart by grief for her sister and her husband.” Hannah tapped her fingers on the counter. “He was an irritating little man who got a lot of innocents killed. I think he was a closet pervert.”

  Hannah was irritated and angry at Cotton Mather? Not at me and Foster for getting her library wrecked. She hadn’t even asked what happened.

  I glanced at Foster, but he was staring at his aunt.

  “You sound like you knew him?” Foster asked as he looked away and loaded shelves of cereal. Seriously, like six kinds of cereal.

  “I’ve done a lot of research on him. The Salem Witch Trials were partially his doing. He wrote so many books about women who were evil just because their milk turned sour.” Hannah rolled her shoulders like she was trying to work off her anger. “He used personal tragedy to feed his insane theories. It’s a disgusting trait.”

  “You know all about Jenny, then?” I was surprised at the relief that flooded me. An adult. Someone credible, and not in their golden years, knew about Greenteeth and didn’t think I was a nutjob. I practically sank into a puddle of gratitude when Hannah frowned at me then gave me a curt, unpleasant nod.

  “The Greene family and the Grimms were united when Hannah Greene married Timothy Grimm a few years after Jenny’s death. Each generation of the Greene-Grimms has heard this story and promised to help with Jenny. We’d like to find a way to put her to rest.”

  “Haven’t done a great job there,” I said under my breath, but they both heard me. “Sorry.” I stared at the counter.

  “No, you’re right. We’ve never been successful. She’s beaten us at every turn. Always snatching another generation of children.” Hannah grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water.

  “Your brother was first this time?” she asked me.

  “Yes. He was. Four months ago,” I said. “But our name isn’t in this book.”

  “And your family name?”

  “Howell, but my grandmother is Callie Briggs,” I said.

  “I knew you were going to be trouble.” She frowned. “There’s no other connection?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  I’d have argued with her that I wasn’t trouble. With her library in tatters, though, that wasn’t quite true.

  “And Greenteeth has taken two kids this week. Everything you’ve talked about said she waited about a month between each,” Foster added.

  Hannah ran her hands across the top of her head to the tight bun in her hair. “I know.”

  “What are we supposed to do?” asked Foster.

  “That I don’t know.” Hannah sighed.

  “Would Foster’s dad know anything?” I asked, searching for any bit of knowledge that might help us.

  Hannah toyed with a leather cord she wore around her neck and shook her head. Foster looked away, out the window.

  “He’s never been interested in the family legend,” said Hannah, but I got the distinct feeling there was more to it. Foster’s family dynamic wasn’t as boring as he’d made it seem.

  I wondered if Hannah knew about Titan or Gram’s role in the whole mess.

  “Why don’t you take Sophie home?” Hannah said to Foster. It wasn’t a request. “I’ll go upstairs and see if there’s anything other than the one book that’s salvageable.”

  “Don’t you want to know what happened?” asked Foster. I hoped that she’d say no. I wanted to get out of this house.

  “I can see what happened. Either you were close to finding something, or Jenny was mad that Sophie was here.” Hannah crossed her arms and looked at me as if I were something she’d scrape off her shoe. “As a matter of fact, Sophie, I don’t think you should be spending any more time out here.”

  “Hannah,” Foster started to argue.

  “It’s okay. Your aunt is right,” I said. After the damage that my presence had caused, I certainly didn’t blame her. Hannah didn’t want me here, and neither did Greenteeth. I hopped off the stool and tiptoed out of the kitchen.

  They argued in low voices, but I knew what Hannah was saying. Their home might have been destroyed because I’d been here. On the other hand, as terrifying as it had been, I’d learned more today about Greenteeth than I had in all the time since Sam had been taken. None of Gram’s nighttime ramblings had yielded this much information. In fact, I wondered how much of the history she knew. I slipped my coat on and stepped outside. The cool air was a relief on my cheeks. Inside had been tense and hot.

  Chapter 30

  I pulled gloves out of my pocket. The gray day soothed me since the fog was gone. The mix of multicolored sky and heavy cloud cover spoke to me. My family had lived in the area for more than three hundred years; those wispy clouds were in my bloodstream.

  The door closed, and I didn’t have to turn to feel Foster’s warmth.

  “I’m sorry about all that,” he said, his breath on the back of my neck.

  “No worries. I understand.” I walked over to the passenger side of his car. He caught up with me in time to open the door.

  He drove out of the driveway and turned down the road. When we passed Greenteeth’s pond, he stopped and put the car in park.

  “Hannah says I should stay away from you,” he said, staring at the pond.

  “Oh,” I murmured. I figured she didn’t want me coming back out to the house, but permanently off-limits stung. I could understand it, though. I’d been nothing but trouble for Foster. I wondered how much of recent events Hannah knew. Had he told her about our midnight escapade last night or that I wrecked my car into a ghost child?

  “This whole mystery keeps getting weirder,” he said, his gaze glued to the murky water.

  I stared at it, too, thinking if I looked long and hard enough, I could see Greenteeth’s black hair flowing under the surface. I was sure it was only moss or water grass moving with the current.

  Then it dawned on me, and I frowned. Ponds don’t have a current. I remembered being in that cold, rotten water. It’d had a strong undertow. Somehow, Jenny’s pond had a current.

  “Do you know where that cave is?”

  Puzzled, Foster looked at me. “The cave off Wordstone Cliff?”

  I nodded. “The one from the book,” I said.

  “I do, but it’s not easy getting there.” He gripped the steering wheel. I didn’t want to cause problems for him and his aunt.

  “If you could mark it for me on a map, I’ll find it,” I said, hoping to alleviate some of his tension.

  He laughed, but it was harsh.

  “I’m not letting you go there without me,” he snapped.

  “Hannah—” I started but didn’t get far.

  “I don’t care what Hannah said. She doesn’t have a say in what I do.”

  “She’s your guardian,” I said.

  He completely ignored me. “We’ll need a boat to get to the cave. It’s at the base of the cliff, but the water is choppy. Boats have broken up trying to reach it.”

  “I can get Garner and Chi to go with me. Even Leigh Kate.” I touched his arm. “I heard Garner has a fishing boat.”

  In order to get access to the boat, I was going to have to tell them the truth and hope they did
n’t think I was crazy.

  “My boat is sturdier than a fishing boat.” Foster eased the car back into DRIVE, and we left the pond behind. “But it’ll take a day or two to prepare. It’s quite a trip. We’ll need ropes and maps.”

  “Okay,” I said, relieved he was going to do this with me anyway.

  He seemed more relaxed as we pulled into town. We drove straight through, to the other side of Blaylock Bay. Neither of us spoke a word, but as we passed the school, Foster reached over and grabbed my hand. Raising my hand to his mouth, he kissed my knuckles and set my fingers on his knee. His warm hand covered mine.

  “I promised you I was in this with you for the long haul,” he finally said as he turned the car down a sandy road. The ocean was waiting at the end. Foster stopped and let go of my hand long enough to park and turn off the engine. I knew this beach well. I’d been sitting on it for months now. Somehow, this boy had driven to my favorite spot.

  I was glad we hadn’t gone back to my house. I didn’t want to go home and, to be honest, wasn’t ready to leave him yet either.

  Chapter 31

  Foster stared out at the waves for a long time while I laid my head back and closed my eyes. I craved this moment of peace. There hadn’t been a lot of them lately.

  I dozed off. I hadn’t slept well last night, and it had been a rough day; the quiet was better than a lullaby. When I opened my eyes, the driver’s door was wide open, and Foster was standing at the edge of the water. The sun was starting to sink as evening edged its way in. Pink and red sky highlighted the fading light. I’d have to go home for dinner soon.

  Foster must have heard the crunch of my sneakers on the pebbled beach because he turned and watched me then held out his hand. Without a thought, I took it.

  He pulled me close to his side and draped his arm around my shoulders.

  “My Popsicle woke up,” he said with a hint of laughter.

  “Will I ever live that down?” Popsicle wasn’t quite the pet name I’d dreamed of having. Not that I’d ever given much thought to nicknames. Honestly, I’d always believed they were silly.