The Curse Keepers Collection (158 page)

He took another sip and I tried to hide my frown. Conner always drank more than me, but the way he was guzzling tonight made me worried. And we both knew I’d always dreaded those late-night trips to the ocean. It hadn’t occurred to me that he might have been jealous of them.

“But putting money in that boat is like pouring money down the drain. Sell it and buy something else.”

“First of all, that boat’s been in our family for four generations. I can’t just sell it. What about tradition?”

He shook his head in disgust. “Here we fucking go again. The next thing you know, you’ll start talking about the damned curse.”

I took another sip. “As a matter of fact . . . ”

He groaned. “It’s made up, Collin. I don’t see how
you
of
all people
, can’t see that! You’ve got to be the most cynical, narcissistic person I’ve ever met—”

I forced a grin. “Why thank you.”

“—which is why I find it so ironic that you believe that load of shit, hook, line, and sinker.”

I didn’t answer. I found it hard to believe he
didn’t
. But then, I’d been the one to get the lessons, which had increased in frequency and intensity after my father’s disappearance. Sometimes I was certain Grandmother knew something about where he’d gone. She’d get a knowing look in her eyes the few times we discussed it. Maybe her lost souls had told her, although she’d never felt inclined to fill me in. Part of me wondered if she’d had something to do with it, but as cold-hearted as she seemed toward him, even she wouldn’t kill her own son, would she?

But a voice whispered in the back of my head that she could and
would
if it meant preserving the curse.

That kind of zealous dedication must have come from somewhere deep; a well of faith. Perhaps it was easier to follow so resolutely when voices whispered in your ear all day long. And perhaps it was easier for me to believe because
not
believing had never been presented as an option. And even if I hadn’t believed, I would have changed my opinion last week.

“That’s why I donated that damn bowl to the museum,” he said, but I heard a hint of regret. “According to all of Gran’s stories, you need the bowl to perform the ceremony. No bowl. No ceremony. That means you’re free, Collin.” He took a long drink. “Does she know it’s missing yet?”

“No,” I growled. “And don’t you dare tell her.” If the end really was on the horizon, I’d have to get the bowl back. “It wasn’t yours to give, Conner. I could protest the ownership at any time and take Gran down there to get it back.”

“You won’t,” he sneered. “You’ll resort to more devious methods.”

There was no use denying that either. I’d already cased the museum after I found out what he’d done.

I finished off my beer and grabbed another. “Something happened on the boat last week.”

He laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “I thought you didn’t take women out on the
Lucky Star
.”

“I don’t.” It was one of the only firm rules I had. I didn’t even like bringing them back to my house, since it made it harder to get up and make a quick, unentangled exit in the morning. But on the rare occasion when a woman lasted longer than a few nights, I never, under any circumstances, took her on the boat.

Conner shrugged. “Then I can’t begin to fathom anything interesting that could have happened on that piece of crap.”

His attitude was irritating, jabbing at my patience. “It’s the
really
bad news part. It’s curse related.”

“Ho! I can’t wait to hear this,” he laughed, finishing his second bottle and dropping it onto the deck. He reached his hand out to me, watching the dog as it lost interest in the bug it was chasing and ran up the steps to Conner’s feet. He leaned over and put the creature on his lap as he waited for me to hand him another beer.

“Rough day at the office, dear?” I asked as I placed the bottle in his open palm.

He grimaced as he took a drink.

“Listen, Conner, I need some advice.”

That got his attention. He turned toward me, surprise in his eyes.

“My whole life, I’ve been taught the Dare Keeper would find me and break the curse. Then we’d beg Okeus for mercy for locking him up for centuries.”

Disgust covered his face. “Which is why you have that damn tattoo on your chest. For protection. But like I said, it’s all a fucking load of
shit
, Collin.”

I leaned forward, resting my hand on his knee. “Your disbelief is more than apparent, Conner. But for just ten minutes, can you indulge my supposed delusions and
pretend
like you believe?”

He grinned, but it was ugly, and for a split second he was the spitting image of our father. A tug of recognition stole my breath away. His drinking was like our father’s . . . Did he have a temper too? I only saw him a few times a year now. How well did I really know my brother?

I recovered and pressed on when he didn’t say anything. “Listen,” I glanced toward the screen door to the kitchen and lowered my voice. “Last week I was on the sound, checking the traps for soft-shell crabs, when the engine died again and I couldn’t get it started. I thought about calling you to help me get the boat towed back to shore, but I sat out there for a while first. I was studying the stars when I saw one begin to pulse and then fall.”

“You saw a shooting star?” he asked, but the previous malice was missing.

“Not exactly.” I set my bottle on the floor and clenched my hands into fists. “It fell from the sky, but it stopped above the water, a few feet from the boat.”

“A ball of light
fell
from the sky then stopped and hovered over the water next to the
Lucky Star
?”

I released a slow breath. “Yeah.”

To his credit, he pushed on, setting the puppy on the ground. “And then what happened?”

“It talked to me.”

He took a drink of his beer then leveled his gaze on me. “The ball of light talked to you. What did it say?”

“It was Ahone. He told me that I need to find the other Keeper and break the curse.”

“Ahone?” He sat up straighter, his expression intense. “So a ball of light claiming to be Ahone falls from the sky and hovers over the water. Then he tells you to find the other Keeper and break the curse.” He waved his hand into the air at his side. “I’m confused . . . which part do you want advice about? What kind of astronomical object behaves like that, where you can find the other Keeper, or if the hallucinogens you took were too strong?”

I groaned. What had I expected from him? He’d always been this way about the curse. I started to get up, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back down into my chair.

“Collin, come on, man. You have to admit this is bizarre. Even for you.”

“I told you that you had to suspend your disbelief.”

“A load of good that did Mom.”

There was the heart of it. “You think I’m crazy. Like Mom.”

“Collin,” he said in exasperation, resting his forearms on his thighs as he leaned toward me. “You have to understand where I’m coming from. You show up and talk about a ball of light telling you to break the curse. I’m worried about you.”

I bit back my retort that he needed to worry about himself since he appeared to be well on his way to alcoholism. While I may not have seen him often over the last year, mutual friends had kept me apprised of his heavy—and ever increasing—drinking. Still, I hoped to get him to put his animosity toward the curse aside for at least a few minutes and give me his opinion.

“Okay, but you agreed to indulge me for ten minutes and pretend the curse exists and you’ve only given me a couple of minutes at best.”

“Fine.” He sat up again, looking wary. “What do you want advice about?”

I shrugged. “Gran knew something was up. When I got home, she was sitting in Dad’s chair. She demanded that I tell her what happened out on the water.”

His eyebrows lifted. “How did she know?”

“Her lost souls told her something happened, but refused to tell her
what.
”

“So what did she say when you gave her the story?”

“She warned me that Ahone tricked Manteo years ago and he was trying to trick me now. The same thing occurred to me when I was out on the water, but Ahone claims it was Okeus who created the curse and set limitations on the Keepers.”

“Ahone told you this?”

I nodded.

“What else did he tell you?”

“He said the Dare Keeper was very strong and I needed to find her before she grew in power. He said the fate of humanity depended on it. As well as the survival of the Manteo Keepers.”

“What does
that
mean?”

“What do you think it means? He said she would destroy us—all of us—if I waited for her to find us first.”

He laughed. “You make her sound like a monster.”

Fear made the beer in my gut churn. “Maybe she is.”

“Okay,” he said, lowering his voice and glancing toward the screen door. “For the sake of argument, let’s say the ball of light is correct. Let’s pretend the Dare Keeper—a she?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Isn’t that unusual?”

“According to Gran, there’s never been a female Dare Keeper before her. She’s known the Dare Keeper was female since I was a kid. And I knew it too.”

Conner frowned. “Okay, so Gran said the Dare Keeper would be a she. Ahone confirmed it?”

“Yes.” I paused. “Gran also says she’s a conjuror.”

He looked skeptical. “That’s impossible. Only a Croatan can be a conjuror, and Gran’s the only other female conjuror we know of.”

“I know; it’s extremely rare, but Gran thinks the Dare Keeper will be extremely powerful, and that the curse is destined to break on my watch. That’s why she’d spent so much time preparing me.”

“If I were to fall for this nonsense, I would take that to be a very bad thing.” Despite his protestations of disbelief, he looked genuinely worried.

“Now you see my dilemma,” I said. “I’ve been raised to wait and guard the curse from breaking. Gran is positive the Dare Keeper will seek me out and break it. Ahone is telling me to take the offensive and break it myself.”

“But to break the curse means the gods and spirits will be set loose. We’ve been told that would be detrimental to humanity.”

“Ahone told me to reseal the gate afterward. If I do that, he says I’ll be free of the curse for good. Do you know how tempting that is?”

My brother puckered his mouth in disapproval. “You’re free to leave anytime you want.”

So easy for him to say . . .
He
hadn’t been the one gasping for breath on a Florida beach eight years ago.

He looked me square in the eye. “What are you supposed to do? Find the Keeper, grab her hand to break the curse, then reseal the gate?”

“Yeah, but I can’t imagine it will be that easy.”

“First things first. You’ll be protected from Okeus, but what about her?”

“What about her?”
I asked in disgust. “Why should I care if she’s protected? She’s hell-bent on destroying us.”

“You need her to close the gate, you imbecile.”

Shit. He was right.

“Didn’t Gran say the Dare Keepers don’t get a mark of protection like we do?”

“Yeah.” He’d absorbed more than I would have thought given his attitude about the curse.

“You’re going to have to protect her, Collin. Those spirits are going to be angry as shit.”

My mouth dropped open. Who was this guy sitting across from me? He actually sounded like he believed in the curse. “If she’s so powerful, she can surely protect herself.”

He shook his head. “You can’t count on that. Ahone is telling you to find her before she’s ready. What if she doesn’t know how to protect herself?”

“Damn.” What was I going to do? “I don’t want to permanently protect her. Just until the gate is resealed.”

His eyes widened as an idea came to him. “You can protect her with symbols.”

“What do you mean?” I couldn’t believe he was discussing this with me.

“I don’t know . . . Maybe lock her up somewhere until you need her. You can mark the doors with symbols to protect her.”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure locking her up is the best way to go about it. What if I can convince her to willingly stay behind the symbols?”

“How?”

“I don’t know, Conner,” I said in frustration. “This is all supposition anyway. We don’t know that she can’t protect herself. If she’s really a conjurer, she should be able to.”

“I think you need to go into this expecting to spend six days babysitting her until the gate is resealed.”

“But if she’s really as strong as Gran and Ahone say, she’ll never agree to being locked up for six days. Besides, Gran’s always said the gods and spirits will be weak and lay low after the gate’s open. It will take them a while to regain their strength, and they’ll be locked behind that gate again before they have the chance.”

“I thought she said there was a way for them to regain their strength quicker.”

I didn’t want to consider that, but he was right. My grandmother said the spirits and gods would return weak and instead of waiting for their strength to be restored, they would consume the Manitou of animals and possibly people to regain their power faster. “So I’ll need to stand guard over her until I reseal the gate.” I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

“What if you give her the mark you and Gran have? The tattoo?”

I narrowed my eyes. “I told you I don’t want to give her anything permanent.”

His eyes grew wide with excitement. “What I’m thinking of isn’t permanent. What if you used henna? Like Rosalina uses on some of her clients.”

I studied him, still amazed he was helping me figure this out. “That could work.”

“But only use it as a last resort. While it’s not permanent, it will last for weeks.”

Rosalina stood in the doorway. “Dinner’s ready.”

“We’ll be right there,” Conner said, his eyes lingering on her ass when she turned around to leave.

“How long have you been with Rosalina now?” I asked, studying him.

“Six months.” His gaze turned back to me. “Why?”

“Are you two serious?”

His eyes narrowed, not trusting my change in topic. “Yeah. I’m thinking about proposing.”