The Curse Keepers (Curse Keepers series)

by Swank, Denise Grover

  Collin grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. “You do not want to leave me right now. It will get you, Ellie. You need to stick with me, and we’ll get out of this together.”

  My hand shook and the flashlight beam skittered across the ground. “You’re going to get us both killed.”

  His mouth lifted into a sarcastic grin. “Not today.” He used his tools on the next cabinet, popping the lock and moving to the top drawer.

  The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Whatever was out there was closer. “Collin!”

  “Another second…” He pulled an old piece of parchment out of a file and spread it open. “Got it!”

  Something cold and heavy tickled my neck. The weight of it buckled my knees. The mark on my palm itched and burned.

  An icy dagger dug into my shoulder blade. I screamed.

  Collin spun his head toward me, shock and horror on his face.

  Whatever had me jerked me backward, and I fell, sliding across the warehouse floor. “Collin!” The flashlight dropped to the floor with a loud clank, rolling toward the wall.

  I couldn’t see what was pulling me, but I slapped a hand to the spot on my shoulder and felt nothing. Nothing was there, yet I felt its grip sink even deeper into my shoulder blade. How the hell did I fight nothing? I skittered toward the storage shelves and frantically reached for a metal support beam, looping my fingers around the steel. The spirit continued to pull, the pain in my shoulder unbearable. I swallowed a sob as my legs flew in the air, parallel to the floor. I hung four feet over the ground.

  “Collin!”

  The room had plunged into darkness and I couldn’t see him anywhere. And he sure wasn’t answering.

  The spirit stopped pulling, but kept me hovering over the ground. A cold current of air wound up my bare leg. I kicked and thrashed, but it continued coiling around my calf, up to my thigh. Everywhere it touched, the body heat flowed out of me.

  This thing was going to suck the life out of me.

  “Collin!”

  I couldn’t die like this, in some dank, nasty warehouse in Buxton. If Marino found my body, he’d probably toss me into the ocean, and Myra would never know what happened to me. Why hadn’t Collin taught me the words of protection? Goddamn him. And now he’d deserted me just like he promised he would. Maybe he decided I was more useful to him dead after all.

  The coil wrapped around my other leg and both limbs went numb.

  No! I refused to just give in. I wasn’t going out without a fight. Somewhere in my head were the words I needed, hiding behind the mental wall I’d built to block them out. Why couldn’t I break through?

  I latched onto one word, a word I’d heard Daddy mumble that morning. “Umpe.”

  The spirit paused for a second before continuing its quest. I began to shiver from the cold seeping in my body.

  There were more words. What else had Daddy said? Another word appeared in my head, connected to the first. “Mowcottowosh umpe.”

  The coiling current of air, now circled around my waist, stopped. Somehow I knew once it hit my chest I’d be dead. I took advantage of the pause to shake my legs. The god’s grasp loosened.

  The doors to the building flung open, spilling sunlight into the space. The bands around my stomach retracted, but clung to my legs. The dagger in the back of my shoulder was still in place and began to burrow deeper. Fuzziness flooded my head and I fought against it. If I passed out, I was a dead woman.

  Collin stood in front of me, holding up his glowing palm and reciting words in the ancient language Daddy had uttered that morning, words I didn’t understand.

  The god’s hold loosened, and I fell, the cement floor knocking the wind out of me. The pain in my right shoulder blade was excruciating.

  “Ellie, we have to go.” Collin reached his hand toward me, impatience in his voice.

  “I’d love to get up,” I mumbled, gasping for breath as I crawled toward him, “but the stab wound in my back is making it difficult.”

  “What stab wound?”

  Men’s voices shouted outside. We’d made enough noise that we were sure to have caught Marino’s attention in the building next door.

  I climbed to my feet, and Collin grabbed my left arm, throwing it over his shoulder.

  “Can you walk?”

  I nodded. Now that I was up and the coils were gone, some of the feeling had returned to my legs. I was weak, but the pain in my back was intense, sending waves through my head and threatening to steal my consciousness.

  “There’s a back panel we can crawl through. It should buy us some time with Marino.”

  I didn’t answer, instead focusing on moving in the direction Collin dragged me. We maneuvered behind the shelves to the back corner. Collin dropped his hold, and I collapsed to my knees.

  Collin squatted and went to work on a square in the wall, close to the floor. He slid the panel door to the side, peered out the hole, then looked over at me. “You crawl through first, and I’ll be right behind you.”

  I lowered to my stomach and suppressed a grunt, considering stealth seemed to be top priority, but it wasn’t easy. Every part of me ached from dropping to the floor when the spirit released its hold. I belly crawled to the hole and started through the space, but it must not have been fast enough to suit Collin. I felt his hand on my ass, pushing me through. When we were both out, he reached in to slide the panel back in place, then grabbed my arm and dragged me to the fence.

  Collin lowered me to the ground and studied my face, looking worried. “Can you walk to the truck?”

  I nodded, not trusting myself to talk. I’d crawl to the truck if I had to. There was no way I was sticking behind to let Marino get me.

  Collin lifted the boards to the fence and pushed me between the slats. I fell to the ground face-first, but before I had time to roll to my side, Collin had me up and moving. The injury in my shoulder blade was icy cold and now spreading down my back. It took every ounce of energy to keep from fainting. I’d never been a swooning kind of girl, and I refused to give in to it now. Especially around Collin. I’d never hear the end of it if I passed out.

  Halfway across the field, my legs gave out, but before I hit the ground, Collin bent down and threw me over his shoulder. As he took off, he braced one of his hands on my upper thigh, beneath my skirt. Lucky for him I was in too much pain to protest.

  When he reached the truck, he opened the door and dumped me inside, none too gently. I landed on my side and stayed there while Collin climbed in and tore out of the parking lot, my thoughts slowly fading away.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I drifted in and out of consciousness until I realized Collin had stopped the truck. Two things struck me: I was shivering so violently that I’d bitten the inside of my cheek, and Collin was unbuttoning my shirt.

  I slapped at his hand, but my uncoordinated move missed. “What are you doing?”

  “Ellie, I have to see.”

  He had perched me upright with my back in the corner between the seat and the passenger door. I glanced out the windshield and noticed we were surrounded by trees. And nothing else. Why had he taken me into the woods? Panic raced through my body, and I tried to push him away.

  My feeble efforts didn’t stop his progress. He was obviously used to undressing women, because he had my shirt unbuttoned and tugged off in only a few seconds. Just as I was about to scream, he turned me at the waist and pushed my chest against the door, moving my braid out of the way to look at my back.

  “Fuck!” he growled. He opened the glove compartment and threw things around.

  “What?” I gasped, trying to catch my breath. “What are you looking for?”

  “A pen. A marker. Anything to write with.” He grabbed my purse and rifled through it, pulling out an ink pen, then he took hold of my shoulder.

  I felt the pressure of the ballpoint on my skin and cried out in pain.

  The pen started to move and after a few strokes, my back was on fire, countering the cold. I gri
pped the frame of the open window, refusing to cry out again. “What are you doing?” I managed.

  “Saving your life.”

  After he finished, the burning sensation continued, but it was easier to breathe. I rested my forehead against the door while the pain subsided. “What happened?”

  “In the warehouse or just now?”

  “Both.”

  “You were attacked by a spirit, probably a god.”

  “I figured that part out already. Was it Okeus?”

  There was a pause before he said in a tight voice, “No. I don’t think so.” He paused. “For one thing, he didn’t announce his presence. He’s supposed to be arrogant enough that he wants those he appears to know that it’s him. And second, I don’t believe Okeus would leave a mark on your back like this thing just did.”

  “A mark on my back? What the hell are you talking about, Collin?”

  “Tell me exactly what happened after it got you.”

  I turned around, closing my eyes for a second to stop the spinning in my head. “Not until you tell me where you were. Why didn’t you help me? Where were you?”

  “I was there. I saved you.”

  “Not right away. Not until the thing almost killed me. Where were you?”

  He closed his glove compartment. “Tidying up.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I didn’t want to leave any signs that we were there.”

  “Because the commotion we caused didn’t clue them in?”

  “We could have been anyone for all Marino knows. If I’d left evidence that it was us, he’d send someone after us.”

  “Someone scarier than the thing that stabbed me and then wrapped coils around my legs and up my body, zapping the heat from my body?”

  “Is that what it did?”

  “No, I just made that up. Of course that’s what it did. Which god was it?”

  “I suspect a wind god. Possibly Wapi, the god of the north. He left his mark on your back. What you felt, him sucking the heat from you—he was consuming your Manitou, like the birds we saw. He left his mark in order to find you later and finish the job.”

  My heart tried to fling itself from my chest. Now I had two evil gods intent on finishing me off. “What did you write on my back?”

  “A symbol to counteract his.”

  I began to shake again, but this time from fear and not cold. “What’s to stop him from finding me and doing it again?”

  “The symbol I put on you will protect you from him stealing your Manitou. He can still kill you, but not by taking your Manitou. But if any of the other gods takes your Manitou, you’ll be condemned to Popogusso.”

  “I take it Popogusso is someplace I don’t want to go?”

  “Not unless you have a desire to spend eternity in hell.”

  I broke out into to a cold sweat. Having the life sucked out of me was worse than I thought. “Duly noted.”

  “I figured it would take another day or two before they would be strong enough to attack us. Obviously, I was wrong.” He sounded a bit pained to admit it.

  “Will you teach me to protect myself now?”

  He studied me for a moment. “I have something better that I was waiting to bring up. Since you have so blatantly disregarded everything to do with the curse in the past, I figured you’d fight this as well. I was waiting for you to be more accepting of your circumstances.”

  I cocked my head. I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of this. “What is it?”

  Collin grabbed the bottom of his T-shirt and began to pull it over his head.

  “What are you doing?”

  He didn’t answer, instead tossing his shirt to the floor.

  I scooted back in the seat. “I am not having sex with you.”

  A cocky grin spread over his face. “That’s not why I took off my shirt. Nice to know that was your first thought though.”

  A blush rose to my cheeks. “Then why did you…?” But I’d figured it out before I finished the sentence. An elaborate Native American symbol was tattooed on his chest, over his heart. A circle intersected with two squares, the eight points similar to the points of a compass. Smaller symbols surrounded the outer area and the center of the circle had a vertical zigzag mark. My mouth dropped open and my eyes rose to his. “You don’t expect—”

  “No, I don’t expect you to get a permanent tattoo, but I’ve been thinking about it. We can give you a henna mark. It will last for at least a week, long enough to protect you until after the ceremony.”

  I could live with a henna tattoo, but then I remembered my palm. I held out my outstretched hand. “What about this? Is it permanent?”

  He took my hand and traced the outline of the circle, sending shivers up my back. “I’m not sure. I think it probably is.”

  I sighed. There was nothing I could do about that. I’d wear it the rest of my life as long as it saved my hide and did its job, whatever the job was. “Does the henna tattoo have to be on my chest? It might show through my uniform at work.”

  He grinned again, still tracing my mark. “No, it can be anywhere on your body, although you wouldn’t have to worry with the uniform shirt I saw. Are you a stripper at your second job?”

  I shot him a glare.

  “The Curse Keepers in the Manteo line have always had the symbol tattooed on our chests on our eighteenth birthday. The day we accept our role.”

  His words sunk deep in my heart, and I was ashamed at the way I’d ignored my part in this. And now I was paying the price. “What does the symbol mean?”

  “I’ll explain it to you when I tattoo you.”

  “You’re going to do it?”

  “I put the mark on your back just now. Besides, I know the symbol and the ceremony.”

  There was a ceremony? I should have suspected. Native American history was steeped in ceremonies and stories.

  I realized that Collin was still holding my hand. And that he was shirtless. And so was I. I tried to pull my hand free, but his fingers dug in as he grinned.

  “I can read you like a book, Ellie. You wear your emotions on your face. You’d make a terrible con. I bet you suck at poker.”

  “Good thing I have no intention of becoming a con.” No sense telling him I’d never played poker.

  “What do you want to do with your life?” He still wore his grin, but his tone turned serious. “Do you plan on being a waitress the rest of your life? Are you waiting for some rich tourist to show up and sweep you off your feet so you can get your house with a three-car garage and granite counters?”

  He had no right to judge me, but he’d heard me tell Oscar pretty much the same thing the day before so I guess I couldn’t blame him. I could have defended myself, but instead decided to turn it around on him. “What do you want to become? You want to be a thief for the rest of your life?”

  The look in his eyes turned wicked.

  “You told Lila you lived in Wanchese, and Marino said you had a boat. Are you a fisherman?” Wanchese was the other town on Roanoke Island, the commercial fishing port and where a lot of fishermen lived.

  He winked. “Guilty as charged.”

  “Somehow being a criminal and a commercial fisherman seem contradictory.”

  “Don’t be so sure about that.”

  “You used to live in Buxton.”

  “Good job, Detective Lancaster,” he teased. “What else have you deduced about me?”

  “You have a younger brother.”

  “That doesn’t count. I told you that one.”

  “You are loyal to your family and traditions.”

  Surprisingly, the smile fell from his face. “Yes, Ellie I am. To a fault. Don’t forget it.”

  I wasn’t sure what that meant and I was afraid to ask, not that I thought he’d tell me anyway. “What does mowcottowosh umpe mean?”

  His grip tightened. “Where did you hear that?”

  I sure wasn’t going to tell him that my father had recited it to me in an attempt to drive me away,
thinking I was an evil spirit. “I must have heard you say it when you got rid of the god.”

  “I never said those words.”

  “Do you know what they mean?”

  He turned his head to look out the windshield.

  “You do know. Tell me. Why would I know them if you didn’t say them?”

  “The Manteo Keepers have known things your side doesn’t. Information beyond what you should have learned as the Dare Keeper. Manteo performed the ceremony that created the curse, an act he regretted to the day he died. He spent the rest of his life trying to prepare our line for the day the curse broke.”

  “So why would I know words you didn’t use?”

  “Those words come from the protection spell for the Dare line. Mowcottowosh umpe means ‘black water.’”

  “Why would black water stop a god?”

  “It didn’t stop a god. I never said those words.”

  “Maybe you didn’t, but I did. And maybe it didn’t stop the god entirely, but it made him pause.”

  Collin didn’t answer, instead staring at the mark on my palm.

  “If the god put his mark on me so it could come back to suck my Manitou later, I guess that means it’s not dead.”

  “Gods and spirits don’t die. They can only be subdued temporarily or sent back to the spirit world.”

  “So what did you do to it?”

  “I used the power of my Curse Keeper mark along with the words of protection to send him away.”

  “Why not send him back to the spirit world?”

  “Two reasons. One, while I think you and I can take care of lesser spirits on our own, we have to combine our power to send gods and demons back. Like in the warehouse when our palms touched. And two, anything we send back right now won’t stay there. The gate to the spirit world is open and it would only return. They will only stay locked away if the gate is closed.”

  “Will you teach me the words of protection?”

  “No.”

  I started to pull away, but his hand tightened around my wrist.

  “I can’t teach them to you because you have your own. Our line didn’t pass yours down because they assumed you would take your role seriously. Obviously, they were wrong.” In spite of his words, his voice was soft and nonaccusatory.