The Nymph's Curse: The Collection

by Danica Winters

“I think I got it,” Beau exclaimed.

  The glass ball dropped down out of sight.

  “What?” Beau shouted as the rope jerked in his hands. “Something is pulling!”

  “The dead must not be ready to give up their prized possession.” Epione moved next to Beau and lifted her hands over the pond. “Ariadne, come help me, together our power is stronger.”

  The thought of helping her goddess made her nervous. Seduction had been her only skill, and it was marginal at best, but she stepped next to the goddess and lifted her hands in imitation.

  “Spirits of the underworld, we come to you with open hearts,” Epione said in the old tongue. “I wish to take back the staff that once belonged to me. People are in need of me, to help stall their delivery to the underworld. With my beloved staff, perhaps I can help your brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, grandchildren and friends.”

  Beau watched as if they were telling secrets that he wasn’t privy to.

  Epione began an old song to the dead, a song Ariadne had long forgotten. “We remember you upon the earth, fresh and strong like an olive tree, bearing fruit and bringing joy, until death broke your earthly chains. You fell as ash upon the earth, covering it with your spirit. From the ash, new life has formed and continues in your memory, carrying your essence. You will never be forgotten.”

  Epione balled her fists and raised them to the sky. “Come into the light and speak to me. Then I pray you go in peace and dance as a child upon the wind.”

  The melody brought chills to her skin.

  A black skeletal hand emerged from the blood. Behind it raised a gaunt blackened head, with no hair, sunken eyes and mummy-like thin lips. The being opened its mouth and a flurry of bugs flew out from the opened maw.

  Ariadne grabbed Beau’s arm and forced him to stand behind her, away from the grotesque creature as the scent of death wafted toward them.

  “I have only one thing left in this world. You may not take the staff,” the skeletal woman said as her cold voice echoed off the blood lake.

  Epione looked at the being without even a flicker of disgust. “I understand completely, Fantasma. Have you found the mariner’s son, the boy you once loved?”

  The long-dead woman barely shook her head.

  “I’m so sorry, my child,” Epione said. “If we helped you, would you be willing to give us the staff?”

  The woman remained still for a moment, then in a stiff motion, nodded.

  “What was the boy’s name?” Epione asked.

  The woman quivered. “Gino.”

  Epione began chanting again, singing the same song, this time calling to Gino. A large black hand broke to the surface, followed by the sunken face of whom Ariadne assumed to be Gino.

  The sunken woman peered to her right as the man turned to face her. “My love,” he said, in a voice as aged and dry as the skin across his bony chest.

  “Why haven’t you come to me?” Fantasma choked, her voice filled with long-buried emotion.

  Gino pulled his hand out of the lake and in it was the staff.

  Ariadne gasped as droplets of the inky blood ran down along the lines of the cracked surface. The top of the staff was a carved snakehead with what appeared to be ruby eyes. Below the eerie head, two wings extended outward, like a flying bird. Looking closer, she could see the body of the rod was a snake and around it, two snakes were entwined in a perfect swiveling pattern.

  The ghastly man stared at the skeletal woman. “My love, I have always been with you. Why would you think you were alone?”

  “I’ve been searching … ”

  “When I left this world I left it knowing that I loved you. I had been granted a gift few have had the honor of receiving. Even if brief, I had true love in my life. I had no reason to stay behind.”

  The skeletal woman fell into Gino’s arms. “I love you. I have always loved you. We can be together forever. Take me home, Gino, my love.”

  Gino pushed the forgotten staff into Epione’s waiting hands.

  Kaden would be saved. But would Beau be good to his word and tell no one of this place?

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The dim light of dusk streamed through the entrance and littered the floor in front of them. He pulled the last bit of golden wire around the spool and stuffed it into his backpack. They had been below too long and his body ached to get back to his son’s side. The thread of life Kaden had left this morning was undoubtedly getting thinner each second.

  He looked up as the light from the entrance shifted. Beau put out his hand and stopped Epione and Ariadne from going any further. Something was wrong.

  He rushed toward the entrance and peered out. “Where the hell did Trina go?” He pointed toward the empty ledge.

  Ariadne ran up to his side and looked out. “Maybe she got tired and sat down. Trina is my sister and she loves Kaden. She wouldn’t let us or him down.” There was a tense edge to her voice.

  “Do you think Kat found us?” Beau looked over to Ariadne. There was fear in her eyes.

  Before she could answer, a gray cat with a crooked tail and golden eyes stepped out from the darkness and wrapped itself around Beau’s legs. Beau pulled the dagger from its sheath and pointed it at the unexpected beast.

  “Really, Beau? You wish to kill a cat?” Epione said, as she squatted down and rubbed her fingers together, beckoning the cat toward them. “This is not a normal cat. Reveal yourself, witch.”

  The cat mewed with an annoyed flick of its ears. Looking up at him with its sparkling eyes, its body pulled and stretched. He blinked. There was so much he didn’t know. Not only were there witches, there were shape-shifting witches as well. The world was becoming less familiar with each passing minute.

  A naked gray-haired woman with ample bosoms stood before him where the cat had been only moments before. He recognized her from somewhere.

  “Hey y’all,” the woman said, extending her hand to Epione.

  The goddess politely tipped her head, but kept her hands firmly clasped at her waist. Beau forced himself to step forward and shake the woman’s hand.

  Tammy smiled brightly at him. “We all haven’t really been formally introduced, but I’m Tammy Blithe. I just came to warn y’all.”

  He pulled his hand from her gripping, cat-paw-like hands. “About what? Is Kaden okay?”

  “Kaden’s doing all right for now, he’s a li’l better than this mornin’. I heard about him seeing the priest.”

  Beau bristled. Kat wouldn’t go after his son, would she?

  Ariadne moved toward the entrance and peered out. “What happened to Trina?”

  “Kat had the other nymphs take her. I think she’s fine, but Kat and Stavros have an ambush waiting outside.” Tammy pointed out past the edge of the pit. “I heard them talking about a staff…I don’t think they want you to be taking anything outta this place.”

  “Why Stavros? He doesn’t have a dog in this fight? Does he?” Beau glanced over toward Ariadne.

  Ariadne nibbled at her bottom lip. “Maybe Kat finally convinced him it wasn’t a good idea to expose the Labyrinth and the staff. The staff is extremely powerful and in the wrong hands, it could prove to be disastrous. Something with its power could start a war.”

  “And a war isn’t good for a country that’s financially strapped,” Beau said, finishing her sentence.

  “Exactly.” Ariadne nodded. “What do they have planned, Tammy?”

  Tammy shrugged. “Well, there’re a bunch of funny-looking men who stink to high heaven.”

  Epione sniffed the air. “Muroidea, I suspect.”

  “Ratters? You’re probably right. We saw some the other day at the Mouse Hole,” Ariadne said.

  Tammy stepped to look out of the entrance. “They are waiting out in the parking lot for y’all. Didn’t wan
t you to be able to escape.” She pointed down the caves.

  Beau looked into the swallowing darkness. “Do you think we could find the other exit?”

  The goddess closed her eyes and muttered magical words. After a second, she opened them. “It’s quite a distance. It’ll take us at least a few hours to get to the other side, and that’s if we don’t run into any more trouble.”

  “Let’s go.” Tammy walked down into the cave and waved for them to follow.

  “No.” Ariadne shook her head. “We’re going to face them.”

  Tammy’s gaze flickered to the entrance, then back to Ariadne. “That Kat’s gotta hell of an axe to grind with you.”

  Ariadne rubbed her hands over her face and sighed and for the first time, Beau noticed how tired and drawn she looked. “I just want to help Kaden.”

  Beau stepped to her and squeezed her hand.

  “Aria.” Tammy sighed. “That’s not how Kat sees it. She thinks you’re trying to take her place at the head of y’all’s sisterhood.”

  “I should’ve known she would think that. All she cares about is power and prestige. She needs to control.” Ariadne shook her head.

  “Let’s go.” Ariadne motioned to the hole in the wall. “We’ll hope for the best, but be ready to fight. Watch me closely, I’ll go out by myself and see if we can talk it out. If something goes wrong, come at them with everything you have.”

  Tammy licked her lips. “Stavros is mine.”

  Ariadne pointed at the witch. “You can’t kill him.”

  “But he killed Ms. Angelica,” Tammy said in a pout. “And that little Vickie failed.”

  “Vickie was the one who shot him?” Beau said, as a wave of shock passed over him. “But why?”

  Tammy snickered. “She’s real fond of ya, that one is. Didn’t want to go home, I ’spect.”

  It all made sense. She had been the only person who hadn’t been at the meeting with Stavros and she’d been obvious in her flirtation. Why hadn’t he seen it before?

  “Does Stavros know?” He shuddered at the thought of what the governor would do to the young girl if he found out that she had tried to assassinate him.

  “I heard him talking to Kat about it,” Tammy said.

  “What’s he going to do to her?” Beau couldn’t help the feeling of fear that crept through him for the girl.

  “It sounds like he’s already caught her. She’s still alive, but for how long, I dunno.”

  He barely liked his student, but the thought of the governor enacting martial law on the girl pissed him off. “Let’s go. That bastard needs to be taken out.”

  Ariadne frowned. “Killing is for the wicked. There has to be another way to make him pay.”

  Beau started. “He deserves — ”

  “I’ll figure out somethin’, but it ain’t gonna be pretty.” Tammy interrupted. “There ain’t no reason for ya to get your hands dirty, Beau. You’re a good man.”

  There was a clatter of stones and they all stopped and stared out through the hole in the wall. No one was there, but Beau’s heart raced. They needed to get moving.

  “My goddess,” Ariadne said with a bow of the head. “Is there a way that you can go to Kaden? We need him to be taken care of and you need to stay protected.”

  The goddess looked down the maze and nodded. “I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

  Epione’s iridescent blue body began to fade. Before Beau could take a shocked breath, she and the staff she had been holding disappeared.

  “Let’s go.” Beau walked to the wall and stuffed the knife back in the sheath.

  His muscles strained as he pulled his body out of the belly of the underworld. He extended his hand to help Ariadne to her feet as she stepped out of the darkness.

  Tammy smiled and without a sound, shifted back into her gray cat form and jumped out of the hole. She looked back at them before she made her way to the edge of the pit, jumped up and out, and disappeared into the evening light.

  There was a keen of laughter that echoed down to them from the parking lot.

  Great. We can catch them unprepared. Beau smiled. He balled his hands into fists and the excitement surprised him. He hadn’t been in a real fight in a long time.

  Ariadne stood up. “Wait here,” she ordered in a whisper.

  Every cell in his body wanted to follow her, but he nodded.

  She climbed up the edge of the pit and out into the night. The moonlight made her appear as a silhouette in the night as the crunch of her footsteps moved away from him.

  “Hey, Kat. What’re you doing here?” He heard Ariadne ask. “Who’re your friends?”

  His heart thrashed in his chest. It felt so wrong to hide away and let her face the dangerous situation without him.

  He looked over the edge of the pit. Ariadne was standing next to Kat and Stavros, beside Stavros’ black town car. A thickset man with beady eyes and a wide nose stood next to Governor Kakos, who kept glancing frantically around as if he wished for an escape. Kat must have convinced him that what she wanted was right. But now faced with the situation, the governor looked out of place as he pulled at his necktie and shifted his feet.

  Across the parking lot to the left were the four men from the Mouse Hole standing in a tight circle. A man with a black eye patch stared at Ariadne and then motioned to the other men in the group. They looked as if they were about to pounce.

  He jumped over the edge of the pit and raced toward Ariadne, blade in hand.

  The man with the wide nose smirked at him.

  “Hey, doc.” The man with the eye patch flashed a vicious smile.

  Ariadne turned toward him, a frown on her face.

  “Hey,” he said, with a faked shortness of breath. He motioned to Ariadne. “Why didn’t you wait for me? I thought I saw the staff back there.”

  Kat’s eyes brightened. “You didn’t find the staff?”

  Ariadne flashed him a smile and then turned back to Kat. “No, I’m afraid not. You don’t know where we could find it, do you?”

  Kat looked at Stavros, and then at the group of men. Guilt flashed over her face. “I’m not going to tell you. You have no business being down there. And you had no business going against the sisterhood.” Kat’s hands pulled into tight fists.

  “We found out about what you did, Kat … Epione came to us. You broke the staff and have been lying to cover up your mistake. Your lie will be exposed.”

  Ariadne smiled viciously. “The sisters will come to know you as a fraud.”

  Kat hissed. “From the moment you opened your smart little mouth, you guaranteed I would have a mutiny.” Kat motioned toward the group of nasty-looking men. “And unlike you, I came prepared for a fight.”

  “I have no intention of telling the world about the Labyrinth or the staff,” Ariadne said, her voice strong.

  Kat glared. “I don’t believe you, or your little boy toy.”

  Stavros backed up against the town car. “I never wanted things to go like this … ”

  “Shush, Stav,” Kat said, as she brushed her fingertip seductively over the governor’s lips.

  Kat turned to the group of men and snapped her fingers. “Boys! Do your bidding!”

  There was the crunch of feet on the gravel and Beau turned as the rats moved into an attack position around him.

  “Son of a bitch,” Beau muttered.

  “Ah, he must remember his little ‘asshole’ comment,” the wide-nosed man said with a dangerous laugh.

  “Take care of him.” Kat pointed at Beau.

  The man with the wide nose began to shrink and the rest of the men across the lot followed his lead until there were only heaps of clothing left on the ground. Through the neck hole of the leader’s shirt, a fat gray rat at least three times the size of a no
rmal rat poked its head out. The oversized rat had a wide nose and red-rimmed eyes.

  “What the hell?” Beau said to no one.

  The beady eyes of the rats were trained on him and he readied himself for a fight.

  Kat eyed Ariadne with a predatory glare. “You went against me and you took a human down into the Labyrinth. You exposed us all. You must pay.”

  “I have no desire for money or power,” Ariadne countered. “This isn’t about that. Is your ego really that sensitive that you can’t just admit that you aren’t who you have claimed to be?”

  Kat hissed. “Shut up. You’re not to be trusted.”

  “You lied to me … and to the sisterhood. They need to know who you really are. You’ve been pretending to be the savior of the staff from the very beginning. You have deceived all of us. You’re the one who isn’t to be trusted.”

  Kat’s face reddened with anger.

  “Aria, sweet — ”

  Before Stavros could finish whatever he had tried to say, Kat pounced and landed on top of Ariadne and grabbed her hair. “You had no right going into the Labyrinth!”

  Ariadne thrashed beneath Kat’s grip. With a ferocious kick, she flipped Kat on her back and clasped her throat.

  Beau chased after her, the knife still in his hand. The squeal of rats pierced the air. “Stop, Ariadne!”

  But she didn’t look back as her fist raised and she brought it down upon Kat’s wide-eyed face.

  Before he could reach her, the women were entangled in a mess of fists. The thug stepped between the women and Beau, carefully avoiding the extended knife. “You need to let them handle this,” he grumbled.

  “Get out of my way.” Beau tried to push past the stout man, to no avail.

  Kat yelped as Ariadne landed another punch.

  He turned as the squeal and scratching sound of the rats grew louder. There was a tug on the leg of his pants as the beady-eyed rat ascended upward. He kicked and tried to fling the rat, but instead the monster’s teeth pierced through the fabric of his jeans and deep into the flesh of his shin. The beast shook Beau and its razor-like teeth shredded his skin.

  Beau fell to the ground, his shoulder taking the brunt of his fall. He slammed the knife down. The blade sank deep. A blood-curdling squeal pierced the air. He plunged the blade in again and the squeal turned into a strange gurgle. The pressure released on his shin and the beast fell to the ground.