by Ellen Oh
Kelly and the girls laughed as they all surrounded Michael to rave about how cute he was.
“Where are you going?” Harper asked. She was eager for them to be on their way.
Kelly pointed to the street opposite the outside market, where there was a mall with higher-end boutique stores. “We’re going to do some shopping, and there’s an old-fashioned ice cream parlor in there. Do you want to meet up later?”
“Maybe,” Harper said.
“Suit yourself.”
But before they could leave, Harper noticed that one of Kelly’s friends, a pretty girl with long brown hair, had a triangular bruise on her neck, just like Michael’s. Harper stepped closer to ask her quietly how she got the mark.
The girl rubbed it self-consciously and smiled. “I don’t really know,” she replied. “I was having weird nightmares, and I think I must have hit myself or something. But don’t worry. It’s nothing.”
“What kind of nightmares?” Harper asked.
Before the girl could answer, Kelly interrupted. “Harper, leave Megan alone. She doesn’t want to talk about it. We have to go now.”
The girls left with waves and smiles and laughter.
“We don’t want old-time ice cream, Harper?” Michael asked, his face a little sad.
“Sure we do,” Harper replied. “But maybe on our own, without all those girls pinching your cheeks, telling you how cute you are.”
“Oh yeah.” Michael scowled. “I hate it when they pinch my cheeks.”
Dayo and Olivia laughed. They held his hands and swung him all the way across the street. Harper walked ahead, anxious to get to the stall with the wooden toy boats. The same little girl was there from before, organizing a large set of wooden boats. She waved at Michael and invited him to play with her.
The mother came out and smiled at them. “Can I help you girls?”
“Yes,” Harper said. “Last time I was here, there was a boy who had a mark on his neck that seemed to scare you. Can you tell me why?”
The woman looked at her blankly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said.
“Let me show you,” Harper said grimly. “It looked like this.” She pointed at Michael’s neck and watched as the woman’s face paled.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to leave,” she said, grabbing her daughter by the hand and yanking her away.
“No, we won’t,” Harper retorted. “You have to tell us what this means.”
The woman was shaking her head, when Olivia stepped forward.
“Do you know who I am?” Olivia asked. “I’m Olivia Bennington, and my mother owns this entire island. I’m asking you to please answer her question.”
Harper and Dayo glanced at each other in surprise, impressed by Olivia’s show of authority.
The stall owner stopped, her face visibly distraught.
“I don’t know what I can tell you,” she replied. “All I know is that the mark is a sign of very bad luck, and I don’t want that for my daughter. So please leave now.”
“But what kind of bad luck?” Harper asked. “Please, if this had been your daughter who had been marked, you would want someone to talk to you.”
The woman hesitated, then nodded. “Go see Mrs. Nakamura. Her store is at the very end of the market. Her sign says ‘Charms and Amulets.’ She may be able to help you.”
Harper didn’t get very far before Olivia stopped her. “What’s going on?”
Harper furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to figure out what to say, when Dayo beat her to it.
“There’s something weird happening on this island, and it’s dangerous,” Dayo said.
“Do you know the history of this place?” Harper asked sharply.
“You mean the murders? Of course,” Olivia said. “But what does that have to do with Michael and the mark?”
“It was a monster,” Michael announced loudly. The girls all turned to look at him. “I know it was real. It hurt me.”
“What kind of monster?” Olivia asked.
Michael trembled and shrank tight against Harper’s side. “It was the scariest monster I ever seen. It was very pale and had no eyes.”
Olivia looked stunned. “I’ve had nightmares about that same monster,” she said. “And lately they’ve been getting worse. How can this be possible?”
“Let’s go find out,” Harper said. They headed to the very end of the market and found a small storefront with a crooked sign that said Charms and Amulets. They walked into a cramped little space filled from top to bottom with knickknacks of all kinds.
An old wrinkled Asian woman sat behind the counter, chewing on a toothpick.
“Are you Mrs. Nakamura?” Harper asked.
She nodded but looked only at Michael, focused on the mark on his neck. Finally, she rose slowly to her feet and began shuffling around her little shop.
“The little one needs protective amulets,” Mrs. Nakamura muttered as she searched through her display box. “I have just the thing for him.”
Harper stood in front of the woman, trying to catch her eye. “And just what does he need protection from?”
“From the Razu,” she said, still looking through her box. “They have marked him as their sacrifice.”
“What’s a sacrifice?” Michael asked as he looked at all the wonderful and weird things in her displays.
Harper shook her head at Mrs. Nakamura, silently asking her not to answer Michael’s question. The woman nodded.
“Hey, little one, come see all the seashells I keep in this corner,” she said, leading Michael away to the other side of the shop and showing him a display box filled with shells. “Can you count me out twenty pink shells? I’ll give you a prize.”
“Cool!” Michael said as he plopped down on the floor with the box in front of him.
Mrs. Nakamura moved back to the counter and continued sorting through her box.
“Usually they take only one or two per year,” Mrs. Nakamura muttered. “But this year something strange is going on. I’ve seen several marks, like that dreadful time in 2003. But this time they are all so young.”
“Why are they going after young people this time?”
“Pure energy,” Mrs. Nakamura said. “Only the young have auras that are clear and unpolluted by the sins of age.”
“You’ve seen the marks every year?” Harper asked.
Mrs. Nakamura nodded, her wrinkly face sad. “When I first came to the island, forty years ago, my friend’s son was marked and disappeared. My friend just thought he ran away. But it haunted me. That mark. He disappeared the night of Halloween. Ever since then, I’ve noticed a pattern. A person would disappear on the thirty-first and they always had the mark. And that person would always have a bright aura.
“Aha,” she said as she pulled out a bunch of old pennies with holes punched through them. She pulled out coils of copper wire and began to weave an intricate and pretty design around a penny, making each coin into a work of art. She worked quickly, and as soon as one was done, she would tie it onto a thin leather cord, making a necklace with three pennies.
“These old pennies are real copper, not like the fake-copper new ones they make nowadays,” she said. She was making four necklaces. “Copper is good for masking your aura. Gold is better but much too expensive.”
“You said they only took one or two a year but this year you saw many who are marked?” Olivia asked. “What can we do?”
Mrs. Nakamura gave her a look. “You cannot fight the gods,” she said. “We are but mortal. All we can do is try to hide from them. That is what these amulets are for.”
“But we have to warn them!” Dayo said.
The old lady sighed. “Every year I try to warn them. Only the locals know what to do. The tourists just think I’m crazy. I try to give them my amulets for free, and beg them to wear them. But they never listen.”
“Why do you stay?” Dayo asked. “Why does anyone stay if they know what happens here?”
Mrs. Naka
mura stopped what she was doing and looked at them all. “I know it is hard to understand, but most of us don’t have any place to go because we don’t have money. The Bennington family attracted everyone here by giving them rent-free homes. And charging next to nothing to rent a space in the marketplace. They even subsidize all the town folks, to make us stay. We can’t afford to live anywhere else.”
Harper and Dayo looked at Olivia, who nodded. “My mom explained it was because tourists wouldn’t come if the island didn’t have locals.”
Mrs. Nakamura snorted. “And also for when the tourists don’t come.”
Olivia shook her head furiously. “My mother has nothing to do with these disappearances. How dare you accuse her of that!”
“Not accusing her personally,” Mrs. Nakamura said. “After all, she’s only part of the company’s board. And this policy was around long before she came into power.”
“See?” Olivia said triumphantly.
Mrs. Nakamura finished one necklace and put it over Harper’s head. “You and your little brother have strong auras,” she said. “But your aura is so strong I can almost smell it.”
“Smell it?” Harper thought that was odd. “What does it smell like?”
Mrs. Nakamura took a deep whiff. “You smell like sunshine and electricity.”
Harper looked at Dayo and Olivia, who looked as confused as she did.
“You smell like power,” Mrs. Nakamura said. She finished the necklaces and handed one each to Dayo and Olivia and then put the last one over Michael’s head. He was still absorbed in sorting through his shells.
“There—this is the best I can do,” Mrs. Nakamura sighed. “Keep your copper amulets on at all times while on this island. And whatever you do, stay away from Gorgon Grove, especially on Halloween!”
“Mrs. Nakamura,” Harper asked, “is there anyone who got away from them?”
“Only know of one,” she replied. “Her father.” Mrs. Nakamura pointed at Olivia.
They all looked to stare at Olivia’s ashen face. “My father who deserted me?”
“He didn’t mean to desert you, my dear,” Mrs. Nakamura said. “I know, because he came to me seeking amulets for you and your mother. I made one for each of you, even though you weren’t even born yet.”
Olivia’s eyes began to tear up. “You mean he did care for me?”
“Oh yes, he loved you dearly, but he was so afraid for you,” she said. “He told me that this was a curse on the Bennington family because of his grandfather, who made a pact with the gods. He told me that he believed that if he left, then the curse would leave the island with him. But as long as a Bennington was on the island, it would be doomed.”
“But if that’s true, why are the monsters still here?” Harper asked.
“Because she is a Bennington,” Mrs. Nakamura said. “So, the curse remains.”
“You mean if Olivia leaves, the island will not be cursed?” Dayo asked.
Mrs. Nakamura shook her head. “Nothing is that simple,” she replied. “Mr. Bennington knew he could be killed for leaving the island. But it was a risk he was willing to take for his family’s sake.”
“Did he make it?” Olivia asked. “Is he still alive?”
“I don’t know,” Mrs. Nakamura said. “I never heard from him again.”
The girls left the little shop feeling overwhelmed with everything they’d learned. Only Michael seemed happy and unconcerned. Mrs. Nakamura had given him a small bag filled with beautiful seashells, and he was so proud of all that he’d collected. Before they’d left, Harper had remembered Kelly and her friend Megan. She asked Mrs. Nakamura for two more necklaces.
As they headed back to the shuttle, Olivia was very quiet.
“Olivia, are you okay?” Dayo asked.
She nodded. “I’m just glad to know that my dad really did care about me and that he didn’t abandon me for no reason. But what can we do about these gods?”
“They’re not gods, they’re monsters,” Harper said. “And the most important thing we can do is to keep away from Gorgon Grove.”
“But what about all the people already marked?” Dayo asked. “We have to save them.”
Harper rubbed her eyes. She just wanted to protect her brother. “What are we supposed to do?”
“Maybe we can set guards around the grove and stop anyone from going there,” Dayo said.
“Good idea!” Olivia said excitedly. “I’ll ask my mom to do that right away!”
“But make sure the guards aren’t too close to the grove, either,” Harper cautioned. “Otherwise they might get . . .”
“Right, so I’ll ask my mom to have guards stationed on all the ways into and around Gorgon Grove,” she said. “Maybe even cordon it off with that police-tape stuff.”
“That’s a great idea!” Harper said with a rush of relief. It felt good to know they had a plan to save the others.
“There’s a big party Halloween evening,” Olivia said. “We should all go together.”
“Yes, and stick together and watch out for each other.”
The girls shook hands. “Deal.”
Michael piped up. “Oh boy, a Halloween party! Can I go as Iron Man?”
The girls broke out in relieved laughter for the first time all day.
SURPRISE GUEST
Tuesday, October 31—Afternoon
The doorbell rang, and Leo went to answer it. He came back into the living room, where they were all sitting, with a puzzled look on his face.
“Harper, there’s someone at the door for you,” he said. “He says he has a package for you from your grandma.”
This was so odd that she hesitated. Kelly was upstairs getting ready for the party, while her parents had taken Michael to his last camp day. Uncle Justin and Aunt Caroline were both at the hotel working. Why would her grandmother send a package through a strange man?
Dayo got up and went with her to the door. They opened it to find a tall thin man with a gaunt face. Something about him was very familiar to Harper, as if she knew who he was but couldn’t remember. Behind him, she could see the small hotel shuttle bus, as the driver patiently waited in the driveway.
“Are you Harper?” he asked.
Harper nodded, and he handed her a large package. Harper recognized the writing immediately. It was from her grandma Lee.
“How did you get this?” she asked suspiciously.
The man gave a sad smile. “It’s a long story, but the answer is in the letter your grandmother included. Go ahead and read it. I’ll wait out here until you’re done.”
She closed and locked the door and then went upstairs with Dayo to open the package in private. Inside she found the heavy bells that Grandma Lee had used during the soul-eater exorcism. There was a long letter inside it also.
Dear Harper,
For the first time in my life I am frightened, because I am so far away and there’s nothing I can do to help you. I am desperate to come to you, but I had a bit of a fall and have broken my hip. Doctor says I’m not able to move for a while. But don’t worry about me, I’m okay. It’s all of you that I’m worried about.
Mrs. Devereux is suspicious about my fall. It happened just as I was getting ready to go to you. Something there doesn’t want me to come. So, I’m sending you all I can to help protect you and Michael and anyone else who needs it. That includes the person who is bringing you the package. The bells are very powerful, but only use them if attacked. Mrs. Devereux has discovered that the Razu are trying to escape from their island prison. They need thirteen more souls this Halloween evening, to unlock the realms and free themselves. They will choose those souls with the strongest auras in order to make sure the spell will work. That is why you and Michael are in so much danger. If you can hide from them and stay away from the grove, they may not be able to break through. However, if they come for you, then you must use the bells. Remember what we did to the small soul eater. That is the power of these bells.
Whatever you do, you must
NOT be anywhere near Gorgon Grove during the darkest part of Halloween night. That is when they will begin their spell of release and when their power will be greatest. Fighting one Razu is hard enough—all four will be impossible.
You must be wondering who this person is that I entrusted such an important package to. His name is Todd Bennington, and it was his grandfather who started this mess. He has been hiding from the Razu these fourteen years, but Mrs. Devereux found him and made him come to me. He can help you. He may be the key to stopping the curse.
Be safe, my darling grandchildren. I will pray for you.
Love,
Grandma
Dayo and Harper looked at each other in stunned amazement. “That’s Olivia’s father!”
Immediately, they rushed down and took him around the back to sit on the outside patio.
“This used to be my house,” he said with a slight smile. “Looks so different now.”
“Olivia and her mom live on the other side of the resort,” Harper said. “Where the secret cove is.”
Todd grew very still. “That’s close to the grove,” he whispered. “They’re in danger.”
“We’re all in danger, sir,” Harper snapped. “My grandmother tells me you can help us. Please tell us how.”
He nodded distractedly.
“When I first inherited the hotel, I had no idea about the Razu,” he said. “I was just a kid. Nobody told me about the curse and the terrible deal my grandfather had agreed to. I didn’t realize it myself until I was visited by one of those monsters.”
His shaking fingers reached into a pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes.
Dayo quickly grabbed them away. “No smoking,” she said. “We’re kids. Still growing.”
Todd nodded. “Sorry about that.” He ran a shaky hand through his dirty-blond hair. “What I didn’t know is that my ancestors have been hiding the evidence of the Razu’s hunger for nearly a century. Once the Razu chose a victim, it was my grandfather, and then my father, who would dispose of the body in the ocean.”
Harper gasped. Her vision of the bodies in the water when she’d gone snorkeling was true, then. All the bodies must still be somewhere deep in the water.
