“It’s part of the curse. Each time those leaves are used to cure someone, I get a new scar on my back.”
“Do they hurt?” I met his eyes, my fingers still running over them.
“When they happen, yes. It hasn’t in some time.”
I pressed my lips together and thought about my grandmother, who used those leaves so much that she’d run out of them. I wondered if she knew about this curse, about River’s scars. I wondered if she understood what she was doing to him every time she helped someone else or if she even cared. I hated seeing him like this. I hated knowing all of those things had happened to him and that somehow my blood was tied to it.
“What will you do once the curse is broken?” I asked after a moment.
“If it’s ever broken,” he said.
“It will be. What will you do?”
“I don’t know.” He shot me a secretive smile. “Probably become an ER doctor somewhere. Maybe in Florida.”
“That wasn’t a dream, was it?”
“It was. I just happened to experience it with you.” He grinned. “You have a very dirty mind, little witch. I like it.”
“I don’t normally.” I felt myself blush deeply. “I’ve always been a prude.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Sometimes it feels like it is. My friends are all so . . . free.” I frowned. “I’ve never really thought much about sex. Not until . . . ”
“Until what?” His eyes darkened.
“You know what.” I bit my lip, hating the heat on my face, all over my body. “You can probably read my mind right now.”
“I’d rather hear the words come from your mouth.”
“Until you. You bring this out in me.”
“Do I?” He reached for me, carrying me onto his lap so that my legs were spread on either side of him and our faces were close together.
Even as I leaned in to kiss him, he was looking at me with such longing it nearly broke my heart. I thought of what he’d said earlier, how I’d forgotten him once and he knew I’d forget him again, and it killed me to think that only one of us would carry this memory forever. If that was the case, I’d make it worthwhile.
Chapter Twenty-Five
He drove fast, despite the bumpy, uneven terrain. Meanwhile, my heart was in my throat as I held on to my seat, as if holding on to anything could save me if the car careened off the road and hit the mountain, or worse.
“Maybe slow down a bit,” I said, finally, because acting brave was cool, but staying alive was much more important.
“Sorry.” He shifted gears and slowed down. I let out the breath I seemed to have been holding since we left the Manor.
“Not wearing a seatbelt can kill you.” I glanced over at him in time to catch his mouth pull up. “Driving like that and not wearing a seatbelt will surely kill you though.”
“I know.”
“Yet you do it.”
“Let’s just say I’ve spent the majority of my life testing how far I could push the envelope.”
“As much as I can . . . sort of understand that, considering you sold your soul to the Devil and all, I don’t think it’s fair to push the envelope with me in the car.”
“You’re right.” He reached for my hand, bringing it up to his lips. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just stop trying to kill me.”
He chuckled; it was a deep laugh that struck me all wrong. I had a question on the tip of my tongue, but then I saw light in front of us and my voice remained in my throat. It was a village, a town, with streets and street lamps and structures. There were people spilling onto the street from bars, from whatever businesses were up. River pulled up to the sidewalk and parked the car, turning to me.
“You weren’t kidding when you said there was a whole town,” I said.
“Who are all of these people?”
“Some you met at the party the other night. Others are here for fun. All are the lost souls that are so often talked about when people bring up Dolos.”
“But they’re . . . alive, right?”
“Very much so.” His eyes crinkled. “Does a soul ever die?”
“I’m not sure.” I blinked. “You subscribe to the notion that nothing dies.”
“It’s what I know.” He shrugged a shoulder and looked out the front windshield. I followed his gaze. “Most of these are brothels, bars, places they can come and gamble in, get-rich-quick schemes.”
“Interesting.” I looked at him again. “Do you spend a lot of time here?”
“Hell no.” His gaze whipped to mine. “I used to, when I was younger. It gets old fast, like most vices do.”
“Except for smoking apparently.”
“Well, that’s an addictive habit.” He smiled.
“So is gambling. And prostitution. And whatever else is going on here.” I looked outside again, where a scandalously dressed woman was laughing at something a man in a suit was saying to her. “Why haven’t I ever heard of Dolos being such a hot spot for seedy things? You’d think it would be as popular as Las Vegas.”
“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What happens in Dolos never happened.” He raised an eyebrow.
“I thought they said that about Miami.”
“Everyone in Miami has a cell phone. Cell phones don’t work here.”
“Well, shit.” I sat back in my seat. “How’d they get here? The water hasn’t risen around the island.”
“Helicopters, private planes, some docked their yachts in Pan Island last week.”
“Jesus.” My eyes found a familiar face outside, a billionaire who was always in the tabloids. The lifestyles of the rich and the famous indeed.
“Do you want to get down?”
“Not really. I’m okay with just driving around.”
River started driving. He pointed out the window frequently as we passed things like the market, clothing stores, and hair salons. The entirety of the town took up two blocks, nothing more. There was one row of townhouses and one row of bars and brothels. That was it.
“What about the rest of the island?”
“It remains untouched for the most part. There are some vacation homes on the shore, but not many. This is why some people call it the Devil’s Playground,” River said. “It’s not because they understand that he actually resides here.”
“Where does he live?”
“Everywhere.” River met my gaze as he drove and the intensity of it was impossible to ignore. “If you believe the stories, which I do, he was banished from Heaven and exiled to Earth, and isn’t that perfect? Where better to have someone with questionable morals exist than a place where everyone is looking for something to give them purpose, without realizing their purpose was planted inside of them all along?”
I thought about that long after we got back to the Manor. Long after we made love again before falling asleep. I’d always pushed thoughts about the Devil and the curse aside, never really knowing why I was so completely against any of it being real, but now I understood. I tried to ignore it and speak against it because it made me uncomfortable, but discomfort often led to change and I was open to that.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I hooked a finger into the candleholder and walked outside of the bedroom, careful to shut the door quietly behind me. I couldn’t sleep and River, who hardly seemed to, was sound asleep tonight. The candlelight created a shadow on the walls as I walked down the stairs, holding the skirt of the silk robe I wore carefully so that I wouldn’t trip. When I reached the foyer, I half expected to see one of the staff members dusting and cleaning, as they always seemed to be, but it was dark, desolate, only the sound of my breathing audible. I wasn’t sure what I was doing down here alone, but something had called me to get out of bed and come. I stepped into the study and stood in the center of the room, my eyes on the stained glass in front of me.
“The house really was beautiful once.” The voice came from the door. I gasped and swirled a
round. It was Mayra standing there. She walked inside, leaving the door open behind her. She was still wearing the same outfit she always wore, black from head to toe, long skirt dragging. Could it be that she slept in it?
“I couldn’t sleep,” I said.
“The irony of you wearing white tonight.” Mayra smiled as she walked past me and looked at the shelves. I felt myself blush. Was she referring to me having sex with River? She continued speaking before I could get a word in. “I never sleep. It’s such a shame. This library used to be a source of entertainment.”
“Really?”
“Really.” She stopped walking and turned to me. “What woke you?”
“I don’t know. I guess my mind just won’t stop running.”
“You’re trying to figure out a way to break the curse.”
“How do you know?” My hand tightened on the candleholder.
“River isn’t the only one indebted to the Devil.” Her mouth moved into a small smile. “I can help you break it.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You don’t have to, but if you want to help River this may be your only hope.” She stepped closer. “Besides, I want my freedom as well. We all do.”
“What do I have to do?”
“Just talk to him. Hear him out.”
“Who?”
“You know who.” Her eyes seemed to shine in the darkness, almost looking like the fire in my hand.
“How would I talk to him? Where? When?”
“I’ll take you to him if you want.” She started walking to the door and glanced over her shoulder. “Are you coming?”
I followed her. Despite the candle burning in my hand, my body grew cold as we walked through the halls. She led me outside and I was certain she’d take me to the Devil’s Chair, but she didn’t go to the cobblestones or the driveway. She just walked the yard, past the tree, and continued on. I looked over my shoulder and was surprised to see the house much farther than I thought it would be. I looked up at the windows in the attic, the place River felt was truly his. Everything was dark. Only half of the candle was left to burn when I looked at it again. I could hear the ocean from here. I could smell the water, the wet sand.
“How much farther?” I asked.
“Not much.” She glanced over at me. “I don’t look like this to everyone, you know.”
“Like what?”
“The way you see me.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
“You find me old and haggard, no?”
“No. I can’t imagine you’re much older than I am.”
“Hm.” She let out a laugh. “You must be jealous of me.” She reached into the pockets of her dress and brought out a box of cigarettes, offering them to me before taking one out and lighting it when I shook my head.
“I’m not jealous of you.”
“River used to smoke.” She tilted her head back and blew out the smoke in her mouth. “He looked so sexy whilst doing it. So sexy.”
I swallowed, hating that she was right and jealousy spread through me. He’d said they weren’t lovers, and I figured that much had to be true now, but that didn’t mean they’d never been together. That didn’t mean she didn’t want him still. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t have him after I was gone, and that was the thought that hurt me most. My days here were numbered and I knew that if I didn’t leave when I was supposed to, my mother wouldn’t survive without the leaves.
“I don’t like cigarette smoke and I’m allergic.”
“Shame.” She continued smoking. “Since this is a quid pro quo, sort of speak, I’ll let you in on a secret, you see me young. Men, the ones who are especially tired of their wives see me the same, maybe younger, probably sexier. Men like River? They see me for what I am. A one-hundred-year-old bitter lady who just wants her freedom.”
“One hundred?” I stopped walking. She did as well.
“One hundred and two.” She turned her head to me with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?” She laughed and fell into a fit of coughs before tossing the cigarette aside. She turned back around and kept walking. “I was here when this land and that one were still connected.”
“How?” I walked faster to catch up. “How?”
“I asked for too much. He has a damning sense of humor.”
“What did you ask for?”
“The man I loved to love me in return.”
I frowned. “That doesn’t seem like too much.”
“He was married to my sister. The only way I could have him was if she was no longer here.” Mayra met my gaze. “It’s a long story, one that I regret every single waking moment. There are millions of men in the world. Millions. I could have left this island. I could have met another.” She exhaled a deep breath, shaking her head.
“So what happened?”
“My sister set a curse on me, on this island, on the Calibans.”
“Are you a Caliban?”
Mayra laughed. She stopped walking and faced me. The candle shook forcefully in my hand as I took her in this time. She looked different, her skin darker, the sockets around her eyes even hollower, but more terrifying than anything else, she looked just like my grandmother. I swallowed, taking one step back, then another. It could be a coincidence. A lot of women on Pan and the surrounding islands looked like my grandmother. We were all Caribbean, after all. Something about Mayra’s expression, however, begged me to recognize her.
“You see me,” she said. “Finally.”
“I don’t understand.” My voice shook as the candle spilled out of my hand and toppled over the grass.
“Stupid girl.” Mayra threw something on the candle quickly, dust, sand—whatever it was ensured that the light was gone. “Are you trying to burn us all to death?”
“Are you a Guzman?”
“I am. I was. I denounced that name long ago, just like my sister denounced me.”
“Who’s your sister?” I could barely get the question out, my voice a whisper against the crashing waves.
“Maria Guzman.”
My grandmother? I brought my hands up to my mouth, cupping it as if to keep from screaming, but there was no scream lodged in my throat, there was nothing other than shock, and shock seldom held a sound. I stared at Mayra. Mayra Guzman, a woman I’d never even heard of, but was my grandmother’s sister. I searched deep in my memories for that name and came up blank. I searched for old pictures, anything that I might have seen and overlooked, but there was nothing.
“I held you when you were a baby. You won’t remember. I watched you as you walked home at night. You won’t remember.”
“The yellow eyes,” I whispered.
She pressed her lips together and nodded.
“Why did you watch me? Why did you visit after you’d been banished? How?”
“Carnival. It’s the only time of year we can roam as we please.” She smiled sadly. “Men, like River, are able to travel and roam the world as they please until it’s time for, as you call him, the Devil, to collect. Women aren’t as lucky. He is a man after all.” She pursed her lips. “During Carnival, I visit my sister, though I stopped letting her see me years ago.”
“Don’t you hate her for what she did?” I felt myself frown. I know I would and with everything I’d heard about her while here, I definitely was questioning what I thought I knew.
“I did in the beginning. When the island broke apart. When we were physically banished. I learned to forgive her. It was either that or fully give into his will and I wouldn’t lose more of myself to him.”
“Why are the Calibans involved?”
“Nicolas was best friends with Wilfred the first and was counting on Wilfred to help us be together. Of course, unbeknownst to us, Maria was already pregnant with your father.”
“She set the curse when she found out,” I whispered.
“Wilfred was driving Nicolas over to the Manor that night. He�
��d packed a bag and left a note. Maria must have suspected because she showed up before they even arrived. I wasn’t there, but she’d laid traps, worked a fire, and had already started burning my belongings, his belongings. Wilfred tried to intervene but only made matters worse. She took her anger out on him. Threw torches at his back, the fire burned through his clothes. It was awful.” Mayra’s voice seemed far away now, as if she was experiencing everything, but there was no emotion in her voice as she recounted the scene. “By the time I got there, Nicolas had left. To this day, I don’t know how or why he left.”
“Maybe he wanted her to calm down. Maybe he loved her.” Even though I didn’t remember my grandfather, I’d seen pictures of them together and they seemed happy.
“He despised Maria. They were only married because our father and his had come to an agreement. Marriage was still a business transaction back then.”
“She loved him,” I said. “Otherwise, she wouldn’t have cursed a friend or her own sister.”
“She was jealous of me.” Mayra laughed. “It doesn’t matter. That night, I bargained with the Devil and he turned me into this. I can’t die. I can’t sleep. I can’t find peace. I just roam. I roam and I sleep with married men, lonely men. Some I send back to their wives, changed, broken, looking for me in the woods most nights. Others, the terrible ones, I feed to him.”
“Is that what you’re doing now?” I licked my lips. “Feeding me to him?”
“It’s the only way. It’s the only way to break free of this.”
I nodded, looking into the darkness, closing my eyes to listen to the waves. Somehow, I’d suspected it would come to this. That I was too tied to this land to ever leave it. I hadn’t made peace with it, but I’d find a way to before I met the Devil. It was the only way, and in exchange, my mother would live, River would live. I opened my eyes and looked at Mayra. Her eyes were now glowing, as if the candle had burned into them. I wasn’t afraid, not really, but seeing that made me shiver.
“Will he kill me?” I asked.
“No. I suspect he’ll make a bargain. It’s what he does. It’s all he knows.”
Fables & Other Lies Page 16
