The Curse Keepers (Curse Keepers series)

by Swank, Denise Grover

  Paralyzed with fear, I did what he said, locking the deadbolt with fumbling fingers after I went inside. Like a deadbolt would keep spirits outside. I froze. If deadbolts didn’t keep them out, why would a door?

  I reached for the doorknob, preparing to go after Collin, but his warning echoed in my ears.

  Great. I was screwed.

  Not only could I not run after Collin, I couldn’t go talk to Daddy. And I couldn’t look for ways to raise a thousand dollars, which I suspected was what it would take to buy the cup back. Or more.

  Maybe that was Collin’s real motivation for keeping me in my apartment all night. To keep me uninformed and penniless. But Collin didn’t know that Daddy had Alzheimer’s. And I still had a phone and the Internet. Unless he cut my lines. I shook my head. Now I was bordering on paranoia.

  Right, because believing that evil spirits are out to get me isn’t paranoid.

  What the hell had happened to my life?

  The real question was why didn’t Collin teach me to defend myself against any malevolent spirits that might come my way? Why just tell me to stay hidden? Paranoia or not, I didn’t trust him. Which brought up another point. In Rodanthe, Collin had told me not to trust him, then a few hours later on my front porch he told me that I should trust him. So which was it?

  I was siding with not trusting him. So did that mean I could go out or not?

  I needed to talk to Daddy, but given his condition, that rarely went well over the phone. If nothing else, I could talk to Myra and see if she knew anything about the colony site.

  I snuggled into my overstuffed sofa and called Myra. She answered her cell phone on the first ring. “Ellie, are you okay? I’ve been calling you for hours, and you never showed up to the inn this afternoon.”

  I glanced at my phone and realized I hadn’t turned it off vibrate after I left the restaurant. And my phone had been in my purse. And for some reason, it had completely slipped my mind that I needed to work at the inn. “Sorry, Myra. I was in Rodanthe.” Although I rarely left Roanoke Island, Rodanthe was still within my comfort zone. Still, it was unusual behavior for me, and Myra would know it.

  After a second pause, she asked, “Do I want to know why you went to Rodanthe?”

  And tell Myra that I’d hawked Daddy’s precious cup? “You probably don’t. Tell me about your day.”

  She sighed. “Which part? The crazy day dealing with the press and curious onlookers or your dad when I got home?”

  I sat up straight, leaning over my knees. “What’s wrong with Daddy?”

  “Nothing, Ellie. I didn’t mean to scare you. He was just agitated when I got home.”

  “So he’s having a bad day?”

  “Had. It was so bad I gave him a sedative and put him to bed early.”

  “Why was he so worked up?”

  “The curse.”

  I took two deep breaths before I could continue. “What did he say?”

  “Oh you know, the usual, but somehow he knew the colony had been found, even though I specifically told his home-care worker to keep it from him. He kept mumbling that the curse had been broken.”

  My blood rushed in my ears. “Anything else?”

  Myra hesitated. “Why the sudden interest? You usually don’t want to hear anything about the curse.”

  I shrugged before I realized she couldn’t see me. “Oh, I don’t know. The Lost Colony discovery is making me feel guilty that I didn’t indulge Daddy more with the curse stuff.”

  “Well, I for one am glad you didn’t. I can’t help but wonder if all this curse belief drove your father mad.”

  We both knew it wasn’t true. Alzheimer’s didn’t work that way, but it was always nice to have something to blame. The curse was a convenient and ever-present scapegoat.

  “So why do they think the colony just appeared out of thin air?”

  “It’s amazing you put it that way. I heard several archaeologists use that exact phrase today. They said they had examined that site a couple of years ago. They performed ultrasounds of the site and found nothing. And now it’s all just there. It’s unbelievable.”

  I couldn’t help thinking about my mother. She would have loved this. She’d devoted her life to finding the colony to prove my father’s belief in the curse wrong. I still found it surprising that two people with such different beliefs could have been so crazy in love. “What do they think happened? Why is it suddenly there?”

  “The storm? It’s as good a guess as any, but they would expect the huts and artifacts to be covered with dirt and mud. It’s as though the village had always been there, undisturbed for over four hundred years. They’ve never seen anything like it. For all they know it’s an elaborate hoax, but the logistics of setting up something like this, especially in about twelve hours, is incomprehensible.”

  “Huh.”

  “So why were you in Rodanthe?”

  I knew she wouldn’t drop it. I could either tell her the truth or a partial version. I chose partial. “I was there with a guy.”

  She paused. “Dwight?” The tone of disappointment in her voice told me she knew it wasn’t him. She probably figured I’d just moved on to the next of many men.

  “No.” After a few seconds of silence I answered. “Collin.”

  “Collin who?”

  “Collin Dailey. I met him at the restaurant.” What on earth possessed me to tell her that I went to Rodanthe?

  “When did you meet Collin?”

  “For heaven’s sake, Myra. I’m twenty-three years old.”

  She sighed. “I know. I know. It’s just that I worry about you.”

  “And I love you so much for caring. Don’t worry about Collin. We’re just friends.”

  “You went to Rodanthe with a guy who’s just a friend? A guy you just met?”

  “Myra.”

  “Okay. Okay. I’m butting out.”

  “Sorry that I didn’t come do my job today. I hope that’s not why Daddy was upset. He’s used to seeing me every day. I have to work tomorrow night so I’ll make sure to see him in the morning.”

  “Ellie, I’m not mad about you not showing up this afternoon. Heaven knows you do more than your share around here. Just call me next time so I don’t worry about you, okay?”

  I closed my eyes. I was so lucky to have Myra in my life. If it weren’t for her, I’d practically be an orphan. “I love you, Myra.”

  “I love you too, sweetie. Now get some sleep.”

  “You too.”

  I hung up the phone, worried about Daddy, but more worried about where I was going to come up with the money to buy back the cup. I spun my head around, searching the room. Anything of worth had already been pawned, and I wasn’t asking anyone for a loan. I would have pawned my car, but I doubted I’d get five hundred dollars for it, let alone eight hundred or more. And then how would I get around?

  I pushed the worry to the back of my mind. Maybe I’d come up with a solution if I thought about something else. I changed into pajamas and heated up a can of soup before snuggling up with an afghan and my laptop on the sofa.

  I searched the Internet for anything I could find about the curse or Croatan spirits. There was nothing about the curse—no surprise—but almost as little about Croatan spirits. That meant I was dependent on Daddy and Collin for answers. I sure hoped Daddy would be having a good day the next morning.

  Giving up, I put all the dirty dishes I’d acquired the last few days into the dishwasher and turned it on. Who said I wasn’t responsible? Possibly the monster pile of laundry in my closet, but I decided it was best to take baby steps to responsibility. No sense rushing headlong into things.

  As I moved toward my bedroom, looking forward to my comfy bed, I heard a moan outside my front door. I froze, my feet stuck to the floor, the mark on my hand tingling. I shook my head. This was stupid. It had to be the wind, which had picked up since the sun had set.

  Only I heard the sound again, and it definitely sounded like a moan. I moved to the peephol
e and didn’t see anything. Just when I decided it was my imagination, the moan grew louder, sounding like someone in pain.

  “Who’s out there?” I shouted through the door.

  No answer.

  My heartbeat raced out of control. Don’t be ridiculous. Collin is making you paranoid. I took a deep breath. “Who is it?”

  No answer. Then the moan returned, louder than before.

  “This isn’t funny, Claire! Stop it right now!”

  “Curse Keeper.” A low groan floated through the door.

  Could it be a spirit? The tingle in my hand had turned to a burn. I unbolted the door and opened it a crack.

  A silver, shimmery orb floated in front of me, several feet off the ground. The door flew open out of my hands, the sudden force sending me stumbling backward.

  I regained my balance and tried to shut the door, but it wouldn’t budge. I half hid behind the door as my heart leapt into my throat.

  The orb shimmered brighter. “I am Aposo and I bring you a message from Ahone. He warns that the gods are upset with you.”

  Who was Ahone? “Why are they upset with me? I didn’t do anything. I wasn’t the one who locked them up for four hundred years.”

  “But you are the daughter of the sea and you plan to close the gate.”

  “Look, it’s not personal.” The daughter of the sea? What was that? There was so much I didn’t know.

  “The world is out of balance. The spirits are weak. The Manitou cries out at the injustice. You must reseal the gate.”

  My jaw dropped. “What?”

  “Ahone fears for his creation. He sacrificed to save his children before, and he will sacrifice again, but this time at great cost. You must do everything in your power to reseal the gate, but be warned: Okeus will do everything within his power to stop you.”

  Shit, who was Okeus?

  “Your door is marked and will protect you, but you must learn to create the markings yourself. You must learn to protect yourself when you leave your hallowed space.”

  My door was marked? I cast a quick look at it, afraid to take my eyes off the spirit. The door was covered with primitive symbols, drawn in something like charcoal, all the way around the perimeter. Did Collin put those there?

  “Okeus will send his own spirit with a message: Join with Okeus or die. But Ahone warns you that to join with Okeus is death, not just in the earthly and the spiritual realms. Ahone wishes for his beloved children to have eternal life.”

  “Will he protect me?”

  “He cannot interfere except to seal the gate.”

  I took several deep breaths. I needed to keep it together and not lose my head. “What am I supposed to do?”

  “Close and reseal the gate.”

  Tears of frustration burned my eyes. “But I don’t remember how to close the gate!”

  “The gate must be sealed before the beginning of the seventh day.”

  “You’re not listening to me! I don’t know how to close the gate!”

  The orb began to fade. “You have until the beginning of the seventh day.”

  And then it was gone.

  The magical hold on the door was gone and I staggered, moving quickly to shut it. So I could expect a visit from Okeus’s messenger? In my research, I hadn’t come across either name. I locked the deadbolt, grabbed my laptop, and climbed into bed, making sure the bedroom window was locked first, even though it was three stories off the ground. Obviously, spirits didn’t have any trouble floating.

  Since Okeus seemed like my biggest concern, I searched for him first. It took a couple of attempts before I spelled Okeus—pronounced Okee—correctly to get a hit. On the few sites I found with information, words like malevolent and warlike and my personal favorite, wrathful, littered the page. Ahone—the pronunciation was guessed to be Ah-hone—was always mentioned hand in hand with Okeus and was described as the creator god. Ahone was considered benevolent and peace loving. Some historians thought he might also be the Great Hare, who created man and sent him to the four corners of the earth.

  Along with Ahone were the four wind gods, who ate the Great Hare’s giant deer. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or bad, but since Ahone’s messenger insisted Ahone wanted me to shut the gate, I was guessing bad.

  How the hell was I supposed to protect myself from a wrathful god and four wind gods? The websites said the Native Americans offered sacrifices to appease Okeus, but I sure wasn’t doing that. If I was forced to choose sides, I was obviously running to the side of the peace-loving god. And hopefully hiding behind him.

  I was just on the edge of sleep when I heard pounding on my bedroom window. My hand burned. I jerked upright with a start. There were only a couple of things that could be outside my bedroom window and none of them were good. While I had symbols outside my door, I suspected there were none outside my bedroom window. Opening that window was the last thing I planned to do.

  Apparently, something else had another idea.

  The glass shattered, blowing into the room while my gauzy curtains flapped like crazy. A voice called out, “Daughter of the sea, present yourself.”

  “No fucking way!” I shouted, jumping off the bed and hiding beside the mattress. I really needed to find out about this daughter of the sea title.

  “Okeus has a message for you.”

  I peered over the side of the bed. A dark, hazy image hovered outside my window. “I can hear you just fine from here.”

  “Okeus offers you riches beyond measure if you pledge yourself to him.”

  I always wondered how tempted I’d be by something like this, but in this case, it was an easy decision. “I have a message for Okeus—no thank you.”

  “Stupid human. To defy Okeus is death.”

  “Well I heard that siding with Okeus is eternal death. So no thank you.”

  “Ahone.” The name was uttered as a curse word. “You are foolish to listen to a god so weak he does nothing but hide in the heavens. Okeus is strong and rewards those who are loyal to his cause. Ahone will give you nothing.”

  “I’ll take my chances.”

  The spirit pushed through the opening in the window into the room and shot in front of me, releasing a high-pitched scream resembling the cry of a dinosaur from Jurassic Park. “You have until the eve of the seventh day to decide, and if you do not choose Okeus, he will demand retribution. I will visit you again to seek your decision.”

  And then the spirit was gone.

  I huddled next to my bed for several minutes, shaking so hard I couldn’t even stand if I wanted to.

  The wind howled outside and the curtains flapped against the wall. While the markings on the door had worked, the window was obviously unprotected. I either needed to learn the symbols or get Collin to mark the windows. The latter was an alternative of last resort.

  One thing was for sure—I wasn’t sleeping in my bedroom. I grabbed my pillow and laptop and headed into the living room, moving my big chair in front of my bedroom door. I had little faith it would hold out a spirit, but it was better than nothing.

  After I got settled on the sofa, it took me a long time before I could go to sleep. My palm itched and my dreams were filled with animals, all crying out, “Daughter of the sea, witness to creation, help us.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  I was awake before the sun came up, and I really needed to pee. But I had to go through my room to get to the bathroom, and there was no way I was going into my room until the sun made an appearance. After I finally unbarricaded the door and took care of my bathroom business, I inspected the damage to my room. The lower windowpane had completely shattered, scattering glass everywhere. When I saw the dead hawk at the foot of my bed, I shrieked and jumped backward. I needed to get control of myself, clean up the mess, and get to the inn.

  My downstairs neighbor didn’t appreciate the vacuum cleaner running at six in the morning. The thumping on the floor clued me in. After covering the window with plastic from a dry-cleaner bag, I scooped the
bird into another bag and opened the front door to put it on my porch. The dead birds in a circle outside my door shouldn’t have surprised me, but I was preoccupied with my current situation. Today’s warning had four blackbirds, two robins, and a cardinal in the center. Four days left.

  After I swept up the birds, I stopped to examine the symbols on the door. They were incredibly primitive and looked like they’d been drawn in charcoal or chalk. Wavy lines and circles surrounded the perimeter. I needed to write them down so I could draw them on my window.

  I took a shower and towel dried my hair before French braiding it and getting dressed, throwing on a flouncy blue skirt with tiny white flowers and a white sleeveless buttoned blouse. I loved that skirt and it always put me in a better mood when I had a bad day. I hoped it worked today because I needed all the help I could get.

  I decided to go to the Dare Inn. It was too early to tidy up the lodgers’ rooms, but I could fold the towels from the afternoon before and help Myra with breakfast. Just before I headed out the door, I grabbed my backpack. Daddy’s house was full of antiques, and I was sure I could find something there to sell. Myra and I had never discussed selling them to help keep the inn afloat. Perhaps because dismantling the contents was too similar to the way Daddy’s mind was deconstructing. We needed something to stay the same.

  Regret and guilt stuck my feet to the floor. I couldn’t believe I was considering stealing from my parents, but if Daddy were coherent, I knew he’d give me whatever I needed to reseal the gate. Not that I’d ever admit to pawning the cup.

  Myra was in the kitchen in the residential house, pulling a breakfast casserole out of the oven when I walked in. “What are you doing here already?” She glanced at me and her forehead wrinkled with worry. “And you obviously didn’t sleep well. You look exhausted, Ellie.”

  I grabbed a blueberry muffin from a basket and peeled off the wrapper. “What gave me away? The fact I’m a couple hours early or the dark circles under my eyes?” I took a bite and gave her a tight grin.

  She moved toward me and put a hand on my arm. “What’s going on, Ellie? Is it this curse stuff?”