The Crimson Key

by Christy Sloat

  Chapter 16

  The next morning was dreary and rainy. There would be no going to the beach today, and that made me miserable. Instead I stayed with my grandparents and read. The more I learned about how strong the Barclay’s were, the more I feared them. The talents they had were beyond amazing. I couldn’t even really call it talents. That word was too kind for what they did. It ranged from sacrificing animals, to upping the stakes to take human lives. It made me think of the ghosts I met in the field, especially the one whose mouth was sewn shut.

  My hands shook as I read Aliah’s words on how and why they did it; it was sport to them. Aliah was just as sickened by it as I was. Soon after she learned what they were really doing she left them. She made up a story that she had to go home to take care of her parents in India. She fled the country and never returned. I wondered after reading this if they went after her, but then I realized she had children and grandchildren so she must have led a long life.

  I came across the final page of the book and the last entry from Aliah. It was a warning to anyone who read this journal to stay away from the sisters. That and sacrificing the humans they had become very strong. They could kill anyone they wanted and they would never stop. They would continue to kill and use their powers on the weak, causing havoc in their wake. I shivered thinking about how Evangeline was in my house at this very moment. For once I was glad I wasn’t there. If they were so damn strong, how did one man—Everett Brown—kill them so easily? Maybe Hala knew, maybe she didn’t. The fact remained that they were dead and I still needed their blood to seal the door. I knew you couldn’t get blood from a dead person. My hopes were that upon finding Agnes I would get another answer on how to stop this curse.

  My mom burst into the room, startling me at the same moment I had just finished the nightmare passage in the book.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked as I clutched my pounding heart.

  “Nothing, I just came to talk. Why are you so jumpy?” She laughed at me but I didn’t find it to be funny. When she sat on the bed next to me, I tucked the book under a pillow.

  “I’m not jumpy, you came in here like there was a fire or something,” I told her.

  “I just wanted to talk to you is all. We haven’t talked in a while and I wanted to see how you are enjoying your trip.” She bit her lip. That was a tell-tale sign that she was lying.

  “It’s fine, but I am ready to go back home.” I couldn’t lie. She wanted to know the truth so there it was. I hated it here now. This wasn’t who I was anymore. “I am not a Cali girl anymore, Mom. I am not the same person I was when we left. I live in New Jersey now, and no matter what you guys do to butter me up, I am not moving back.” Her mouth fell open in shock. She tried to say something, but no words came out at first.

  I stood up and looked her in the eyes. “You can move home, but I won’t be joining you. I told Dad the same thing.”

  “Brylee, I … I don’t know what to say really. I don’t want to leave you in New Jersey alone. You are getting older, and I understand you fell in love with Ephraim, but—”

  “This is more than loving him, Mom. This is the fact that you dragged me out there, and now you want to drag me back. You both have to understand I am not a piece of furniture. I need a home. I can’t be tossed around, I won’t do it.” I ran my hands through my hair. Talking to her like this made me nervous. I had to stand up for myself, yet I didn’t want to push too far. Although I didn’t like this decision, I had an immense amount of respect for my mom and I hated to have to be so brutally honest with her.

  I knew why my dad wasn’t with us today; he was on a job interview. She was in here trying to convince me to move back here.

  “We bought the house in hopes of making a home, Brylee. I tried to make it one, but your dad and I miss it here. We both grew up here you have to understand that,” she begged. “We want what’s best for you. But if your dad gets this job we will be moving back.” She stood up and placed her hands on my shoulders. “I hope you will come with us.”

  “I won’t,” I said sternly.

  If my dad got the job I would be on my own. I would not be coming home. She left the room and I fell to the bed. I didn’t have any clue what I would do. Ephraim lost his job, so moving in with him would not work. I needed a solid plan. I had to finish school and I wouldn’t let that slip. I would have nowhere to go. I wanted my decision to be final, but with the circumstances the way they were, I may not be. And that was causing my heart to break piece by piece. I quietly cried into the pillow hoping my mom wouldn’t hear me.

  I spent the rest of the day in my room, avoiding everyone. I heard my dad come back from the interview. I even heard him talking about how great it went. I just punched the pillows and tried to fall asleep. When sleep didn’t come I decided I wanted to be alone. I emerged from the bedroom, finding everyone talking in hushed tones in the living room. They were talking about me no doubt.

  “Bry, can you come in here so we can talk this out?” my grandma asked. I couldn’t deny her, so I joined in. I slumped into the chair and listened to what they had to say. It was all a bunch of crap. California was their real home. This job could mean living the life we used to. I could finish my senior year at my old school.

  “You don’t get it, do you?” All heads turned in my direction. “I don’t want to be that person anymore. I was snobby and stuck up. I was mean. I don’t want to live the high life anymore. I like being mediocre. I don’t need the stuff anymore. I am finally happy with the person I turned out to be, and you want me to go back to being the old Brylee?”

  They all looked at each other, as if determining who could come up with the best comeback.

  “It’s not that we want you to be like that anymore, Bry,” my dad said. “We just want you to be happy.”

  “I am happy. Don’t you get it?” I stood up. “I am happy in New Jersey. I found friends that really like me for who I am, not for what I have to offer them. I love our old drafty house. I even love how strange it is.”

  My mom put her head in her hands, but my grandma had a smile on her face. She was the only one in the room who understood. I knew she would. She liked the person I was today. She didn’t like the person I used to be. She was the one who had once pointed out that I needed to wake up and see how mean I was to people.

  “Look, I don’t know how I can pull it off and live there by myself. All I am asking is that you let me finish my senior year there and then you guys can move back here.” It was the only option.

  “But this job, Brylee, it’s a chance of a lifetime, kid. It won’t wait a year. I may not be able to find anything else like this again,” Dad said.

  “Moving to New Jersey was a chance you took, Dad. I went with you guys; no arguments, I just did it. Finding Ephraim was my chance of a lifetime. I will never find anyone like him again.” I took a breather. “I know you all think I am too young for love like that, but I know how I feel. I love him and I won’t leave him. I refuse to live here without him.”

  “So this is about Ephraim?” my mom asked.

  “Not entirely. It’s more about my chance in life. I need to be there. I just want you guys to understand and do this for me. Please.” They looked at each other. My grandma stood up and took me in her arms. She understood, she always had.

  “What Brylee is trying to say is that she is growing up and she needs you both to let her live the life she wants to live. She wants you both to give her this last year and let her make the choices she wants. You can’t make her move around so much, it’s not good for her.” Thank you, Grandma! Finally someone stood up for me.

  “Okay,” my dad said as he locked eyes with my mom.

  “Okay?”

  “Brylee, you moved away with us with hardly any complaints. You blended in and started a new school with no protests either. So we will give you your last year in school,” he said. “But promise me that you will go to college instead of running off and getting married.”

  I didn’t kno
w what my future was going to be. I knew I would go to college, I just didn’t know if Ephraim would be part of that. I smiled even though I felt like crying.

  “I promise I will go to college, but you both have to understand Ephraim is a huge part of my life now. I don’t know what that means for my future, but he will be part of it somehow.” I left out the fact that he might be in my life as a ghost who will haunt our home from time to time. They didn’t need to know any of that.

  We ate dinner that night, my mood changed for the better. We didn’t talk about the future of my dad’s job that night. It was something he would have to deal with at a later time. My parents loved me and wanted what was best for me. I think my grandma had to remind them that their actions affected my life, too. I wasn’t a little kid anymore. I had grown up and forged a life for myself.

  After I cleared the dishes and cleaned the table, I joined my family in the living room to watch old home movies. It was nice to sit with them and look back on old times. I saw the differences in myself immediately. I had changed. My phone ringing saved me from seeing a video of me as a baby. The last thing I wanted to see was naked baby videos. I left and went out on the patio. Checking the screen, I saw the call was from Hala. “Hi, Hala I finished your grandmother’s journal today.”

  “So you learned about what and who you are dealing with, did you?” she asked.

  “Yeah, they’re evil. I am surprised Aliah got away with leaving them like she did.”

  “That’s the thing. She may have lived for a while and had children, but they came for her eventually.”

  My skin grew colder and it wasn’t from the chill in the air. The rain poured down around me and I struggled to hear Hala on the line. “What do you mean?”

  “They killed her. She knew too much. But before they took her life she gave that journal to me,” she said solemnly. They couldn’t just let her be, they had to take her life as well? That was horrible. I hated them even more now. I didn’t ask Hala how she died, but I was sure it wasn’t pleasant. “That is why I told you I will not get involved with them. They may be dead, but that means nothing. They were strong and still are. You your friends are in danger. My grandmother was like you, a medium, and they wanted to use her for many things, especially connections to the dead.”

  “I read that,” I told her.

  “Yes, and she left the country to avoid having to be used by them. She hid for many years and finally when I was born she realized I had gifts. My gifts are not as special as yours, Brylee. I can read Tarot cards and see visions.” She paused. “I could always sense evil. So when they were coming I had a vision of them. My grandmother gave me her journal and we had just enough time to get away before they came for her.”

  What a terrible way to die. You know the women who are the most evil are coming for you and you have no way to change it. She must have been terrified.

  “I’m sorry, Hala,” I said.

  “Me, too. Now you understand why I do not want to go near that place?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  I didn’t want to hear how wicked they were. My head already hurt from all the other things that went through my mind on a regular basis. I couldn’t protect everyone, especially while I was here.

  “I didn’t call to scare you.”

  “Then why are you calling?” I asked.

  “I found a photograph that I have of one of the sisters. It was taken well after the curse on the Brown family occurred.” I had no idea how she would come across a picture of them. I was curious, though.

  “How the heck did you find a photo of them? Who is it of anyway?”

  “How I found it is not important. I have my connections to people who can help me with things like this. And since you promised me your help in the future you can consider this payment.” Sure I could go with that.

  “Who is it of?” I asked again. She was being sort of cryptic with her answers.

  “I emailed it to you, it’s of Evangeline Barclay,” she told me. “Check your email.”

  I knew who Evangeline was, I didn’t need a photo of her. I just didn’t have the heart to tell her that searching for a photo of her was worthless. “Okay, I will check my email. I have it on my phone. Hold on,” I said as I scrolled through my phone. She waited patiently on the line as I found the attachment. It downloaded slowly, but as soon as it did my heart stopped. The photo on my screen was not of Evangeline Barclay. It was Carole Mayhew, Ephraim and Lynley’s mom. “There must be a mistake,” I spat. Carole wore clothes that did not look from this time period. Yet even though she was dressed from some time in the past, she looked just as she did today; the same stringy hair and pale face. It was her, there was no doubt in my mind.

  “There has got to be some sort of error, Hala, this picture … it’s of my friends mom.”

  She didn’t answer right away, but when she did there was assurance in her voice. “There is no mistake.” I hung up the phone and my mind raced. When I had first met the pale-haired ghost in my house, what was it she said to me? ‘Who told you that is my name?’

  Come to think of it, she never introduced herself to me or mentioned her sister’s name. She always referred to her as her sister. I only assumed that her name was Evangeline because Lynley told me she was talking to Evangeline. Evangeline was ‘helping’ her. But the woman in this photo was not Evangeline, she was Carole.

  The ghost in the field, the male, had told me that I had to find the one that survived, didn’t he? One of them still lived.

  My hands shook as I struggled to hold the phone. The light dimmed and I sat down and stared at it some more. The time period was way off. The car she stood next to was definitely not a car she would drive as a teenager. As I scrolled in and enlarged the picture I saw the house that stood in the distance behind her. The Barclay house. I didn’t know how, but Carole Mayhew wasn’t who she said she was. She was either a spitting image of Evangeline or she was her. That would explain why she hated me so much.

  I dialed Ephraim’s number and it went to voicemail. Frustrated, I yelled at my phone, willing him to pick up. It must have been late there, because it was super late here. I glanced at the time and knew I had to get rest. I couldn’t do anything right now. I slid into the bed, pulling the covers around me.

  Chapter 17

  Eggs, bacon, and potatoes for breakfast and I couldn’t eat a single thing. My stomach was in knots, churning with worry. I had tried to call Ephraim, even Lynley, and got no answer. As I sat at my grandma’s kitchen table I could only think of them. I had to find a way to get the answers I needed without them for now. I pushed my plate of food in front of me and my mom took it from me.

  I faked a stomach ache, hoping I could go back to the hotel. The lobby had Internet and I needed to use the computer badly. My grandma grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hug.

  “I know you are going through something you don’t want to talk about, but remember I am here if you need me,” she said.

  “Thank you.” I said simply. My grandma was a huge influence in my life, much like Hala’s had been. I was lucky to have an ally like her. She talked my dad into driving me back to the hotel room. Once we got there, and I assured him I would be just fine, he left to join my mom for lunch. I quickly dressed and went to the lobby. I found an empty computer and I searched Carole Mayhew. Not much came up except for their address information. She wasn’t in the news for anything and I fell back into the chair. There wasn’t anything I could do to help them from here. It was worthless. It had to wait even though I was super impatient.

  Just as I got up from the computer, my phone rang.

  “Ephraim!”

  “Hey, you sound excited to hear from me. I like it,” he joked.

  I moved outside by the pool and could tell the connection was getting bad.

  “Ephraim, can you still hear me?” I worried that I would lose this call. I waited so long already to hear from him, what if I couldn’t tell him this important news?

  “Yep, ye
p. I’m here, what’s wrong?” He could tell in my panicked voice that something was off. I paced the pool area and tried to think of what to say that would make sense. Your mom is an evil witch probably wouldn’t work.

  “Where is Lynley?” I asked instead. I could still hear static on the line.

  “She’s sleeping. What’s wrong, Brylee? You’re starting to worry me.”

  “I don’t really know how to tell you this, but just bear with me okay?” I told him everything, from start to finish. The journal from Hala and how much information I found out about the sisters. I told him the things they did to innocent people. How Hala’s grandmother was killed for her talent. He gasped but I kept going on. This was the scariest horror story I had ever had to reiterate in my life. But it had to be done.

  “Ephraim, there is something else and it’s huge.”

  “Don’t be afraid to tell me, Brylee,” he reassured me.

  “Hala found a picture of Evangeline Barclay and it is not the ghost I thought it was. I thought she was the blonde that lives in my house but … but it’s not. She must be the sister, Agnes.” I was struggling to tell him this. “The thing is the picture of Evangeline looks a lot like someone I know.”

  “Oh no, who is it?” he asked.

  “Check your email, Ephraim,” I told him. I could hear him go to his desk and fire up his laptop. A few mouse clicks later he let out a choked gasp. He saw it and he knew what I was thinking.

  “It can’t be her, Brylee. It just can’t. I mean, that’s my mom.” I didn’t say a word. I had to let him come up with his own explanation for what was really going on. “She is acting strange lately, and she is really protective of Lyn. More so than usual.”