The Curse Breakers

by Denise Grover Swank

  His shoulders relaxed.

  “What else?”

  “You need to agree to listen to me if I make a suggestion or request about something other than the curse.”

  “Why?” I asked. “What are you planning on telling me?”

  “Nothing. Yet. I just want to know that you’ll consider my advice if I feel the need to give it.”

  I couldn’t see any harm in that. I wasn’t promising to obey him, just to listen. “Okay. Anything else?”

  “No.” He pulled up next to the inn and parked at the curb. The car idled as he took my hand in his. “But I want to thank you.”

  My stomach fluttered. “You’re thanking me? Why?”

  A sad smile covered his face and he looked out the windshield toward the side door, its protective markings visible from where we sat. “I’ve been at a crossroads this past year. I haven’t been happy with how things were going in my life . . . It felt like my life was on hold, and I was waiting for something to occur.” He looked at me, his smile fading. “Now you think I’m barmy.”

  “No. I felt exactly the same way. I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do with myself, but it seemed like everything I tried didn’t fit.” I squeezed his hand. “Until the curse broke. Then I realized this was it.”

  “Yes,” he said softly. “When you came to Chapel Hill, I knew you had to be a loon, and yet . . .” His voice trailed off. “And then I came down here and saw those markings on the doors and heard about the snake. You were here. After I saw Wapi, I just knew this was it. My whole life has been one long journey to this.”

  His thoughts were so similar to my own that he was scaring me. “Ahone’s messenger told me he couldn’t give me Ahone’s symbol because searching for it is part of my journey.” My heart exploded in my chest, and I looked up wide-eyed. “Meeting you, having you help me, is part of my journey.”

  David looked just as startled.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. Once again, the fucking deities were messing with me.

  “Why? This is exactly where I want to be.”

  I couldn’t imagine why. I was certain this situation wouldn’t end well. “I have to go.” I let go of David’s hand and reached for the door.

  “Ellie, wait. Why are you upset?”

  “Because I’m not sure I’m strong enough to protect you, and it scares me.”

  “We can do this together. And thank you for being honest.”

  “That’s part of the deal, right?” I sighed. “But I really do need to get home. When should I come to the site tomorrow?”

  “Are you coming over to the inn tomorrow morning?”

  “Yeah, and thankfully, I already have a day off from Darrell’s. If I still even have a job after my first two days.”

  “What happened during your first two days?”

  I shook my head with a half laugh. “We’ll leave that sordid tale for tomorrow.”

  “I can only imagine what’s in store for me. Do you want to just come with me to the site for the whole day?”

  “Sure.”

  He opened his car door and came around to open mine. I was already climbing out.

  “You don’t have to open car doors for me, David.”

  “Some habits die hard. I don’t think I’ll ever break myself of that one.” He glanced down the street, in the direction of my apartment. “I’m worried about you getting home okay. This doesn’t feel right.”

  “Shelve your chivalry. In this particular instance, I can take care of myself much better than you ever could.”

  He placed his hand over his heart. “You really know how to wound a bloke.”

  His face broke out into a mischievous grin that made my insides flutter, but I ignored it and gave his arm a playful shove. “Get inside already.”

  His grin faded. “Text me when you’re inside your flat so I know you’re safe.”

  “Now you sound like Myra.”

  He winked, and I couldn’t help but notice his gorgeous, long eyelashes. “I just got an awesome new job. I need to make sure my boss is still around so I can keep it.”

  I shook my head with a laugh. “I’ll text you. Now go.”

  I watched the door close before I started down the street, trying to stay alert to any possible danger around me. My hand flexed instinctively at my side. I hadn’t used the symbol on my palm since the night the curse broke, but the few times I had needed to use it, instinct had taken over for me. I had to trust that it would again.

  My ears strained for any hint of danger, but the bugs were singing their nightly chorus. They’d be gone if any of the nasties were around.

  When I got to the top of the stairs, the marks on my door were fresh, but there was a new symbol in the middle. A diamond shape with an X. What did that mean?

  I grabbed the charcoal out of the flowerpot and added my own mark, worried about the new symbol. Could Collin be setting me up? But even as the thought occurred to me, I knew there was no way he would intentionally hurt me. If I was sure of anything where he was concerned, it was that he wanted to keep me safe.

  Damn him.

  I shut the door and placed my back to it. My cell phone started to ring and I dug it out of my purse, not surprised to see David’s number on the screen.

  “I just got in. I was about to text you.”

  “I forgot to tell you that I left something for you on your kitchen counter.”

  “What is it?”

  “Go find out.”

  I found a small brown bag on the counter against the wall. How had I missed it earlier? I picked it up and shook it, surprised it didn’t weigh very much. Reaching inside, I felt a wooden hoop and strings. My heart constricted as I pulled it out. “It’s a dream catcher.”

  “Hang it over your head. On your bed frame if you can manage it. The legend about them might just be a story, but lots of things we thought were stories are turning out to be real. I figured it was worth a try.”

  “I don’t know what to say, David,” I said in amazement. How had I been lucky enough to find him? “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, Ellie. Sweet dreams.”

  I’d be happier if I had no dreams at all.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  My sleep was blissfully dreamless and more restful than anything I’d experienced in weeks.

  Until a woman’s screams made my eyes fly open.

  My heart raced as I bolted upright in bed, my heavy breathing the only sound as I tried to orient myself. For a moment I thought I’d imagined everything, but then the screams came again, just as anguished. Someone was in trouble.

  I scrambled out of bed and looked for my cell phone, intent on calling the police, when my palm began to itch. I nearly dropped to my knees in fright.

  The threat was supernatural.

  I lifted my phone from the kitchen counter with a shaking hand, wanting desperately to call someone, but who? Collin? I had no idea where he even was, let alone whether he could make it here in time. David? He was two blocks away, but I didn’t want to put him in danger. Tom and the police were out.

  It was up to me.

  Oh, God.

  I dropped onto a bar stool, trying to control the panic bursting in my chest. I had no idea what to do.

  The woman screamed again.

  I sucked in several deep breaths and set the phone down, forcing myself off the stool. If I didn’t go out there, someone would be killed. Could I live with that?

  I hesitated when I reached the threshold. I’d saved myself before, but could I save someone else?

  Throwing open my front door, I stood in the doorway, my ears straining to try and place the sounds. Halfway down the stairs, I heard the scream again. It was coming from behind my building. From the sound.

  I ran around the side of the building toward the water, cursing that I’d forgotten to put on shoes. I ignored the fact that I was wearing short pajama pants and a tank top with no bra. My hair was down and loose.

  When I reached the stree
t, the night was eerily silent. Not a single person was investigating the cries. While I was thankful there weren’t any potential witnesses or additional victims, I was also highly suspicious.

  The woman screamed loud and long. A cry of pain.

  My stomach roiled. What if I was too late?

  The cries echoed off the water, coming from the direction of the marsh lighthouse.

  Had Big Nasty cornered someone out there? I found myself hoping so . . . Anything would be better than Ukinim.

  A low layer of clouds was rolling in toward land. It was particularly dense around the short, one-story replica of an original marsh lighthouse, built on a deck at the end of a narrow pier. The structure’s lights were noticeably dark.

  My feet were bare, but my footsteps thudded on the wooden planks, the only sound in the still night. Even the insects were silent. It was yet another sign that something supernatural was out there waiting.

  I had no hope of sneaking up on whatever awaited me, so I decided to go in big and bold. I had two choices once I reached the deck of the lighthouse. I could stay on the lower, wider walkway, or I could head up to the raised walkway that hugged the perimeter of the building. I chose the lower deck and circled the back, the blood rushing in my head. When I rounded the corner to the back section, I found nothing but swirling, transparent clouds.

  My breath coming fast and shallow, I took tentative steps across the surface. I had made it halfway across the deck when I heard a sound behind me. Terrified, I slowly turned around, my heart squeezing with fear.

  A large, grey, furry animal with glowing yellow eyes and sharp, pointy claws stood ten feet away. I would have laughed if I wasn’t so terrified. It looked fluffier than I’d expected, kind of like a giant demented teddy bear.

  Ukinim.

  I forced myself to stay silent as I started to slowly back away from him.

  His squatty legs looked ridiculously inadequate to support his three-foot-tall and four-foot-long body. I moved to the side of the building, and his glowing eyes tracked my every movement.

  I took several steps backward.

  “I knew you would come,” he said with an evil smile, his voice a garbled growl.

  I glanced around the area, still trying to keep an eye on Ukinim. “Where’s the woman who was screaming?”

  The creature laughed, and when he opened his mouth again, a woman’s cries came out.

  I had walked into a trap.

  “You stupid human. I knew you couldn’t stay away,” Ukinim said, pacing back and forth across the deck, blocking any possibility of an escape except through the water. “I don’t see what’s so special about you.”

  Fighting hysteria, I flexed my hand by my side as I continued to walk backward toward the opposite end of the lighthouse. But the badger switched directions, pushing me toward the upper deck surrounding the building. “You should compare notes with Mishiginebig. He said the same thing.”

  The badger growled at the mention of the snake.

  I knew that I should use my mark to send the stupid thing away, but I hoped this excursion wouldn’t be for nothing. Maybe I could at least get some information out of it. If it didn’t manage to kill me first. “Why do you want me?” I asked. “Other than the obvious.”

  His eyes narrowed and he snarled, “Because Okeus does.”

  “Why? What did Okeus do to you?”

  He stopped and lifted his chin. “I was a great warrior, but Okeus was jealous of my glory.”

  “You were a person?” Could Okeus turn people into demonic animals?

  The badger snapped and I jumped backward, jamming my shoulder into the railing behind me.

  His head lowered. “I was until Okeus tricked me with the promise of untold riches and power. He betrayed me and forced me to live underground. I was only allowed to come out once a year to see the sun. But the tables have turned. In Popogusso, we were all on equal ground, and I vowed to seek my revenge. Okeus no longer has control over me. I want to take the thing he wants above all else. You.”

  “Why does Okeus want me so much?”

  “I don’t care. It only matters that it will cause him great pain to lose you.” He was three feet away, and the stench of blood, dirt, and decay clogged my nose.

  Great pain? How could that be?

  My palm burned. Ukinim was close enough that he could easily slash my belly with his claws. “I want to get even with Okeus too. Maybe we could work together.”

  The creature laughed. “I’d rather eat your heart.”

  “But I still have Okeus’s mark. My Manitou is safe.”

  “That’s what you think.”

  Oh, shit. I lifted my palm. My mark glowed white, the light filling the dark night, and I began to recite the words of protection.

  “I am the daughter of the sea . . . ”

  The wind picked up, blowing my hair into my face. A low growl rumbled in the badger’s throat as a faint white vortex appeared behind him.

  “Born of the essence present at the beginning of time and the end of the world . . . ”

  The badger snarled and lunged for me. I jumped sideways as he swung out a paw, his claws slamming through the wood with a loud crash, creating a two-foot hole.

  Oh. Shit.

  My hand still raised, I continued my chant in a shaky voice as I walked backward along the back of the building. “I am black water and crystal streams . . . ”

  The vortex wind grew stronger, and I struggled to stay upright. The badger fought against the gusts as he tried to follow me.

  “The ocean waves and the raindrops in the sky.” I had almost reached the opposite end and was preparing to turn and run when I heard another low growl. I looked over my shoulder and shrieked.

  A second badger was inching toward me, its nose low to the wood deck.

  There were two of them.

  My hand dropped in my shock and the vortex disappeared.

  I was screwed.

  The second badger swung his paw, his claws gleaming in the moonlight that shone through the misty fog. I jumped close to the railing abutting the water as he crashed through the decking, creating another hole. They had me cornered.

  The water bubbled violently in the sound, and Mishiginebig burst to the surface, his mouth open and hissing.

  “Who dares defy Okeus?” his voice boomed through the darkness.

  The badgers hesitated, and I took advantage of the moment to run toward the raised walkway, leaping onto the edge of the two-foot-high deck and then scrambling over the railing. I pressed my back against the siding of the lighthouse as both badgers charged. They crashed through the wood railing on either side of me, leaving gaping holes in the deck. I was trapped on a three-foot-wide section of sidewalk with three-foot holes to my left and right.

  One of the badgers tumbled into the water, squealing as it tried—and failed—to gain purchase. The other ignored his friend and charged the section of the deck where I was standing.

  Mishiginebig lunged toward the badger, grabbing its neck and dragging it away from me. The badger wounded the snake with a vicious slash, and its thick black blood leaked into a puddle on the deck.

  I took advantage of the distraction and climbed onto the railing. Balancing on the balls of my feet, I stood and jumped, grabbing an extended support beam from the low-slung roof. I pulled my body up so that my chest was leaning over the beam, then swung my legs up, my knee hitting the edge of the metal roof. I ignored the pain that shot through my leg and dug my knee onto the slick roof, releasing the beam with one hand and gripping the raised metal seam to pull myself the rest of the way up.

  The building shook violently and I began to slide back down, my lower legs hanging over the edge.

  The second badger had climbed out of the water and slammed back into the building. Extending his claws, he dug into my left calf.

  I cried out in pain and tried to climb higher, tamping down my bubbling terror. I had to get to the widow’s walk at the top of the lighthouse.

&
nbsp; Blood dripped down my leg, the slash throbbing with every heartbeat, but I climbed higher on the roof, grabbing hold of the lower edge of the widow’s walk and pulling myself up. I climbed over the short railing and stood, grunting when I put a small amount of weight on the foot of my injured leg.

  The other badger had broken free of Mishiginebig’s grasp and was now climbing onto the deck’s railing with its identical friend.

  I lifted my palm, my chest heaving from exertion and fright as I began to chant again.

  “I am the daughter of the sea, born of the essence present at the beginning of time and the end of the world. I am black water and crystal streams.”

  The wind gusted as the vortex reappeared.

  My hair blew in all directions, partially obstructing my vision, and all three spirits fought against the suction.

  Mishiginebig took advantage of the badgers’ distraction and grabbed one of them, dragging it toward the water. It clung to the railing, its back half hanging over the sound. The other one ran across the deck and leaped for the roof, its claws sinking into the metal of the lower section.

  “The ocean waves and the raindrops in the sky. I am life and death and everything in between.”

  The badger slunk up the gently sloped roof until he was almost level with me. A smile lifted his mouth, his sharp teeth glistening in the moonlight, just before he swung his claws toward my stomach. I cringed, waiting for the pain as I forced myself to finish the last line.

  “I compel you to leave my sight.”

  The badger was lifted into the air, his claws just inches from my face, and sucked into the vortex. Mishiginebig and the other badger shrieked as they suffered the same fate. Mishiginebig’s head was sucked inside and his long, serpentine body continued to lift from the water into the twister for what felt like forever. The swirling circle grew tighter and tighter until the tip of his tail disappeared, then the vortex with it.

  I collapsed against the railing, fighting sobs of fright and relief. Sirens filled the air and I whipped around to see red flashing lights bouncing off the fog clouds that shrouded the streets. Several police cars screeched to a halt.