Eternal Curse: (The Cursed Series, Book 1)

by Kara Leigh Miller

  That was going to be easier said than done, especially with how he stared at us, unflinching, as if accusing us of some unspeakable atrocity.

  “Okay,” I said.

  I looked up at the house looming in front of me. It appeared to be carved into the side of the mountain. He really lived there with just his dad and brother?

  We got out of the truck, and he took my hand to lead me inside the massive brick structure.

  We entered through a spacious foyer that had coat rack hooks along the right wall. A few coats hung there, and below them were shoes and boots neatly lined up with the toes tucked against the wall.

  My eyes were wide as I followed Trent through the house. Everything in the place had an old-timey feel to it, yet the furnishings were modern. It was like the past and present had a baby and the result was this house. The kitchen had all stainless steel appliances, marble countertops, and a solid oak table that could have easily sat ten people.

  “This place is amazing,” I said with awe.

  “It used to be an inn or some sort of bed and breakfast. It has nine bedrooms.”

  “Nine?” I asked, my voice much too loud.

  “Crazy, right?”

  “Uh, yeah.” I laughed. “The house definitely looks big, but not big enough for nine rooms.”

  “Five of them are in the basement.” Trent nodded for me to have a seat on one of the stools at the island counter.

  I sat. “The basement?” That was odd, but my curiosity was piqued. Would he give me a full tour?

  He nodded again. “Those rooms have been closed off. We don’t use them.” His tone held a warning that I didn’t understand.

  “I bet it’s great, though. If you and your brother are fighting and you want to get away, there’s plenty of room for that.”

  Trent laughed. “We used to love playing hide and seek when we were kids. Colt was horrible at it, and it would take him hours to find me and Jax.”

  I tilted my head with confusion. “Who’s Colt?”

  Trent went to the fridge and began pulling out various deli meats, condiments, and sliced cheese. He continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “There was this one time, we were seven or eight, I think, and Colt was having a terrible time trying to find us. He went to Dad and told him that we’d run away.” He shook his head, smiling, and grabbed a loaf of bread from the counter behind him. “We got into so much trouble.”

  “Who’s Colt?” I asked again.

  “My oldest brother. He died an extremely long time ago.” His voice was oddly detached. Cold.

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” I leaned forward, propping my elbow on the counter and dropping my chin into my hand.

  It was nice listening to Trent talk about his childhood. He came to life when he did, his face animated, his eyes bright and excited. But my heart hurt for what he’d lost—both his brother and mother. I knew that type of pain too well.

  Something nagged at the back of my mind, though. The way Trent spoke about Colt’s death… the math didn’t add up. By my estimate, Colt died only eight or nine years ago. I wasn’t sure that counted as an “extremely long time ago.” I wanted to ask him about it, but that seemed rude, and I didn’t want to scare him off with my questions.

  Instead, I said, “When I was younger, every birthday, I used to wish for a brother or sister. Obviously, that never came true, but I hated being an only child.”

  “Really? Seems like that would be the best. No one to fight with, no one to get you into trouble, blame things on you, no one to compete with.” Trent handed me two slices of bread.

  I straightened and took them. “No one to play with or talk to or to blame when you did something wrong and didn’t want to take the punishment for it.” I gave him a mischievous grin.

  Laughing, Trent nodded. “You have Abby now, though.”

  “Yeah, Abby’s been great.”

  We fell silent for a few moments, each of us making a sandwich. I chose turkey with cheese, no mayo, and Trent loaded his with roast beef, double cheese, mayo, and mustard. I picked at mine while Trent put everything back in the fridge.

  He grabbed two cans of soda and handed me one. “Is that okay? Or would you prefer water?” he asked as he took the seat next to me.

  “Soda is fine.” I popped the tab and took a sip. “In case I forget to say it later, thanks.”

  “For what?” He finished his sandwich in a few large bites, then took a long drink of his soda.

  “For turning me into a juvenile delinquent.” I hid my smile behind a bite of my sandwich.

  Trent’s jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. “A juvenile delinquent?” he asked around a laugh. “Guess someone should’ve warned you about me, huh?”

  “Oh, they have.” I swallowed the last bite of my sandwich, my stomach settling enough so I was no longer hungry.

  “They?” His voice dipped low, accusatory.

  I swore his eyes turned black, but when I blinked, they were their normal crisp blue. I looked away, positive I was losing my mind.

  “Chloe?” He said my name slowly, as if it were foreign to him and he was trying to get used to how it felt on his tongue. I much preferred the other way he said my name—smooth as silk.

  “Look, it’s not a big deal. I was only joking, but clearly you didn’t find it funny.” I tentatively placed my hand on his arm. His skin was soft and cool. “I’m sorry.”

  He was right—my jokes were corny. And hurtful.

  Thankfully, he let the subject drop, and I promised myself I wouldn’t be so crass and insensitive. I don’t know what I’d been thinking. Of course, telling him people had warned me about him would hurt his feelings. But, once again, I’d opened my big mouth before I thought about what I was going to say.

  I took another sip of soda and glanced around the spacious kitchen. Mom would have loved it here—she always relieved stress by cooking.

  “We can sit in the living room with my laptop. It’s much more comfortable,” he said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  “Okay.”

  We went into the living room, which was twice as big as the kitchen and three times as extravagant. A brick fireplace sat in one corner, and an oversized portrait hung above it. It was of a woman with long, dark, curly hair and big, bright blue eyes. She wore a faint smile that lit up her angelic face. Based on the resemblance to Trent, I assumed it was his mom.

  We settled onto one of the three couches, and that’s when I noticed there wasn’t a single other picture anywhere in the living room. Not even one school picture of him or his brother. None of his father or deceased brother.

  Directly in front of the couch, in place of a normal wall, was a massive window that overlooked the dense forest. The view was breathtaking.

  Trent grabbed his laptop from the coffee table and powered it on. We were so close, our bodies touched from shoulder to knee, the laptop resting on both our laps, and I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than how comforting Trent was.

  Every few minutes, he’d nudged my knee with his. And every time he did, my heart would race up my throat and get lodged there, making it impossible for me to talk. Finally, I offered to take notes on what we found so I’d have an excuse not to have to talk.

  After an hour and a half of internet searching and writing notes, I asked, “Can I show you some of what I found?”

  He wasn’t really finding anything different than what I had, except, somehow, he had managed to avoid the website with the photo.

  Wordlessly, he angled the laptop toward me, and I typed in the web address from memory. When the page loaded, I turned the screen so he could see the photograph and pointed to the man near the end.

  “That’s Sean Halstead,” I said.

  He was quiet, and I held my breath, waiting for him to tell me… something.

  “When I first saw this, I thought it was you.” I laughed nervously. “The resemblance is uncanny.”

  I watched Trent’s face closely, but his expression never changed. He was still at ea
se. After a moment, he closed the laptop and set it on the nearest end table.

  “I’ll ask my dad about that photo,” he said, but I doubted he would. “I think we’ve got a pretty good start.”

  “I agree.” My throat was dry and raspy, and right about then, I would’ve killed for a bottle of water.

  “We should be going,” he said. “The trick to skipping school is to still get home on time so your parents—uh, your aunt and uncle—don’t know you weren’t in school.”

  “Sounds like you’ve done this quite a bit.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe, but this has definitely been the most fun I’ve had doing it.”

  A grin spread across my face. “Yeah, it was fun.”

  “We’ll have to do it again,” he said, his voice dropping even lower.

  It was then that I realized he was inching closer to me. His gaze lingered on my mouth, then dipped to my neck before landing back on my lips. My heart stopped, and I sucked in a breath. Was he going to kiss me?

  “Yes, we will,” I whispered.

  Before our lips could touch, he abruptly jerked back. His entire body tensed. “C’mon, we have to get out of here.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me off the couch so fast I became dizzy.

  “What’s going on?”

  “My father.”

  “What? You said your father was out of town until tomorrow.”

  We rushed out the side door, climbed into his truck, and sped off down the road. Adrenaline spiked through my veins, and my heart raced.

  Trent made a deep growling sound, or at least I thought he had, but it’s very possible the blood rushing through my system and pounding in my ears was affecting my ability to hear.

  When we were a good distance away from his house, Trent relaxed a bit. “That was close.”

  I playfully smacked him, which caused him to laugh. I couldn’t contain my smile as I rubbed my stinging palm on my leg.

  “Dad has been known to show up earlier than planned,” he said.

  “Oh, that’s nice. You couldn’t have told me that sooner?”

  “No, because you wouldn’t have agreed to go.” He turned down the road that led toward Roaring Brook Falls.

  “I thought you were taking me home?” Honestly, I really didn’t want to go home yet.

  “We’re taking a detour first.”

  “Cool.” I tried to pretend it was no big deal, but I failed miserably, and another stupid smile spread across my face.

  “Do you have a cell phone?” he asked.

  That question came out of nowhere, and it took me a minute to answer him. “No,” I said.

  Days before Mom had died, we’d had our cell service shut off. I still had my phone with all my contacts, but it was buried in my dresser drawer. No reason to carry it around if it didn’t work. It was easier to forget I even had it.

  Besides, being unplugged from the rest of the world was freeing, and I enjoyed the calm that came from not having to engage on social media every second of the day.

  “No big deal. We can use mine.” He leaned over, popped open the glove box, and retrieved a cell phone.

  “Use yours for what?” Had I zoned out and missed part of the conversation or something?

  “You’ll see.” He slowed to a stop and killed the engine. “Ready?”

  “For what?”

  He hopped out of the truck and was around to my side with the door open before I even had my seatbelt unhooked.

  “Everything all right?” He tucked his cell phone into his pocket, concern blanketing his face.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “You were frowning pretty intently.”

  “Oh.” It was sweet how he was so worried. “Guess the heat is getting to me,” I said with a faint smile. The temperature must have jumped twenty degrees while we were at Trent’s house.

  Trent put his hand on my forehead like he was checking me for a fever. The stark contrast of his cool hand against my heated skin made me shiver.

  “You are pretty hot.” He winked.

  I laughed. “That’s a horrible line.”

  He raised a brow and lightly dragged his fingers down the side of my face, stopping to cup my cheek, making the hairs on my arms stand on edge. I looked into his crystal-clear eyes and held my breath. His mouth was so close, and I wanted nothing more than to feel his lips on mine. Why wouldn’t he just kiss me already?

  “Do you trust me?” His voice was soft, almost hesitant.

  “Yes.”

  It amazed me how quickly and easily I said that—and how much I meant it. I barely knew him, but deep down in the darkest corners of my soul, I knew he would never hurt me. I didn’t know how I knew that, but I did.

  Slowly, Trent closed the distance between us. His lips pressed against mine, featherlight and much too quick. In the split second when our lips connected, I was hit with a wave of intense longing that had my knees shaking. And then in the next moment, he straightened and moved away from me.

  Trent cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry.”

  What was that? I opened my mouth to say something, then I snapped it closed. My mind spun, and my thoughts were a jumbled mess. Why was he apologizing for kissing me? Even though it was forefront in my mind, I didn’t really want to know. His answer had the power to crush me.

  “Come on.” He took my hand. “We need to make this quick so I can get you home before you get into trouble.”

  We walked to the large sign at the entrance of the trailhead. Trent stood in front of it and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, holding me against his side. Then he pulled his phone from his pocket.

  “I hope you like selfies,” he said.

  Laughing, I looked at him at the exact moment he smiled and took the picture. I couldn’t stop staring. It’s not like I hadn’t seen him smile before, but something was different about this one. It was… real and uninhibited and a million times brighter than the sun.

  “Ready to go home?” he asked.

  “No,” I said before I could filter my thoughts.

  His eyes sparkled with amusement. “I’m pretty sure your aunt and uncle would not be pleased with me if I didn’t bring you home.”

  “You’re probably right.” Especially considering they had no idea I was with him.

  He once again took my hand, and we headed toward his truck.

  When we arrived at Aunt Beth’s house, Abby’s car was in the driveway. I glanced at the time on the radio—2:35. Why was Abby home so early? Was she sick? My stomach dropped.

  When I’d left this morning, Aunt Beth assumed I’d be coming home with Abby, so the fact I hadn’t… Crap. Hopefully, Abby hadn’t ratted me out knowing I’d covered for her with Marc. She kind of owed me.

  “Thanks again for today,” I said when Trent stopped the truck. “Guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “Of course.” The sparkle that had been in his eyes earlier was gone, and he was slipping back into his moody self.

  I grabbed the door handle, wishing the day was ending on a better note. “Bye.”

  “Chloe. Wait.” He clutched my wrist. Tingles spread up my arms, and butterflies swirled in my chest. “I had a really good time today.” He acted like he wanted to say more, but he didn’t.

  “Me too.” I climbed out of the truck, and Trent was gone before I walked through the front door.

  CHAPTER TWELVE:

  Worried Sick

  “OH, MY GOODNESS. CHLOE! THERE YOU are.” Aunt Beth came over and pulled me into a suffocating bear hug as soon as I entered the house. “I have been worried sick about you.”

  “Uh, okay… I’m fine.” My gaze darted around.

  No sign of Uncle Dean, but Abby was on the couch, eyes red and puffy, and her face was wet with tears.

  Unease coiled in my gut. “What’s going on?” I asked.

  Aunt Beth released me and looked me over as if to verify that I was actually okay.

  Abby stood. “I’m so sorry, Chloe. When we found out about Rache
l… And those other kids have been missing… I didn’t know what else to do… I was worried…” Her words broke off on a sob. She covered her face with her hands and ran upstairs

  Confused, I looked to Aunt Beth, waiting for an explanation.

  “Rachel Wellington was found dead this morning,” Aunt Beth said. “School let out early, and when Abby came home without you…”

  “What?” I shrieked. “Rachel’s dead?” My heart thudded painfully, and I put my hand over my chest as if that would somehow stop the sudden ache. No wonder Abby was so upset. “How? What happened?”

  “I don’t have all the details, but it wasn’t an accident.” Her voice dipped low, like she was trying to make sure Abby didn’t hear. “First those missing kids, and now this.” She shook her head. “And then when you didn’t come home.”

  “I’m so sorry, Aunt Beth. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m fine. I swear.” Tears stung my eyes.

  I glanced toward the stairs, then back to her. I really wanted to go check on Abby. If anyone could relate to what she was feeling right now, it was me. I shifted on my feet.

  “Is Abby okay?” I asked, genuinely concerned.

  Aunt Beth’s shoulders slumped, and she hung her head. “She hasn’t stopped crying, and she won’t talk to me.”

  “When Mom died, all I wanted was to be left alone. Give Abby some time.”

  Standing there giving Aunt Beth advice was weird, especially when I knew she wanted to yell at me for ditching school, but Rachel’s death and Abby’s grief were more important right now.

  “Yeah.” She sounded exhausted.

  “I can try to talk to her,” I offered.

  “Thank you.” Aunt Beth crossed her arms over her chest. “But first, you need to tell me where you’ve been all day. And don’t you dare lie to me.” She pointed at me, her words tight, but I didn’t miss the way her hand trembled.

  Immediately, I thought of Trent and if he knew about Rachel yet, or if he was in trouble, too. “I was with Trent Halstead.” I looked away, not wanting to see the disappointment on her face.

  “Who?”

  “Trent Halstead. He’s new here, too.” I sat on the couch, clutching my hands in my lap while Aunt Beth paced in front of me.