The Curse Keepers Collection (58 page)

I walked to the edge of the marsh as she scrambled off the trunk and ran to the passenger door.

“Ellie, what are you doing?”

Ignoring her, I looked into the canal that ran alongside the road. “What’s out there?”

“
Curse Keeper
.” A low hiss filled the air. “You’ve come out to play.”

“Holy shit,” Claire murmured, swinging her door open. “Ellie,
get in the car
.”

I steeled my back and tried to stop my hands from shaking. “Spirit, show yourself.”

“
Ellie!
”

The water splashed and the marsh grass rustled. The movement headed my way.

“Ellie,” Claire begged. “You don’t have to do this. Just get in the car.”

I wanted to run to safety, but this was my chance to get some answers. I needed to know what I was fighting. “Who are you?” I asked, willing myself to be brave.

The rustling stopped in front of me, but the canal was covered in shadows, and I couldn’t make out what was hidden in the vegetation.

“I am your nightmares come to life.” A giant snake’s head rose from a patch of reeds six feet in front of me. Its scales were green, its eyes were red, and it had horns. Shiny green scales covered the snake’s lithesome body, and its head was probably over three feet long.

When it said it was from my nightmares, the creature was right. I’d dreamed of it several nights ago.

The snake’s head bobbed, and the image shimmered and became hazy. The spirit still hadn’t regained enough strength to have a solid form. That would hopefully work in my favor.

I flexed my hand, ready to lift the mark on my palm toward it and send the beast away. It would only be banished temporarily, but at least I’d be protected for the moment. I wasn’t about to let it know I was scared. “Who are you?”

“I am Mishiginebig.” Its forked tongue slipped out of its mouth and quivered. “Have you heard of me?”

I lifted my chin. “No.”

“Before long, you will know me well. I slither through the water, hunting my favorite prey.
Humans
.” His eyes lit up with excitement. “The
nuppin
feared me, and soon, so shall the
tosh-shonte
.”

What the heck were the
nuppin
and the
tosh-shonte
? I tried to hide the fear that turned my knees shaky. The snake would feed off of my weakness. “Why are you here?”

“To see the witness to creation for myself.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “Why?”

The snake slid from side to side, its red eyes tracking me. “You’re not so special.”

“That’s right. I’m not. Now go tell all your spirit friends.”

Mishiginebig lifted his head high and slid back several feet, looking haughty and regal. “Okeus has special plans for you.”

“Yeah, your badger buddy told me the same thing last night.”

“Okeus wants to have an audience with you.”

“Since when does he ask for permission?”

The giant snake’s red eyes blinked, then narrowed to slits as it leaned closer. “You’re alive because Okeus wishes it. Many of us would rather it was otherwise. Do not doubt that for a minute.”

I didn’t, but there were several ways they could do me in. One, I was pretty sure they could outright kill me, but Collin was certain they wouldn’t. Because my Manitou had never been recycled, my life essence had been pure since the creation of the universe. That had earned me the title of witness to creation, but it also meant my Manitou was much stronger than other creatures’. For beings that gained strength from consuming the life essence of other creatures—including most of the beings that had escaped from the gate to Popogusso—I would be the ultimate catch. Collin had assured me that the mark on my back would protect my Manitou. But I wasn’t sure if his information was trustworthy, and even if it were, the mark would soon be gone.

A car approached from the other direction, its headlights illuminating the snake in gruesome detail.

“Drew!” Claire shouted, waving her arms in desperation.

“You’re almost ready,” Mishiginebig hissed. “Okeus will visit you soon.”

“Almost ready for what?”

Drew made an illegal U-turn and pulled up behind my car. Mishiginebig faded into thin air.

Getting out of his car, Drew looked from one of us to the other, his expression alarmed. “What happened?”

Claire ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. “Let’s get the hell out of here!”

I was still standing at the side of the road, my eyes glued to the spot where the snake had appeared and then disappeared.

“Ellie, let’s go!”

I felt nauseated. Okeus was waiting for something before he was ready to come for me. He had to be waiting for the mark to disappear. How long could I make it last?

Claire grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the side of the road. “Ellie!”

I turned to her, surprisingly calm. “The snake won’t hurt me.” Not yet. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hurt Claire and Drew if he managed to regain his physical form. I grabbed my purse from my car, locked it up, and got into the back of Drew’s sedan.

As soon as he pulled away, Claire let loose. “What were you thinking?” she hissed, turning in her seat to glare at me.

“I told you he wouldn’t hurt me, Claire. He said Okeus has plans for me.”

“And you believe that . . . that thing?”

“Yes. Without a doubt. At least I got some information.”

“You have to go see Collin. Immediately.”

I leaned my head back on the seat and groaned. “No.”

“
Ellie!
”

She was right, but I still didn’t want to see him. I still had a few days. Maybe I could come up with something else. Anything else. My pride was on the line. “I don’t even know where he is.”

“I do.”

My mouth dropped. “You
what
?”

“I know where he is. His boat is in Wanchese. He seems to live on it. Sometimes his truck disappears for a few days, but his boat stays docked. You find one or the other, and he’ll return to it soon enough.”

“What the hell, Claire? You staked him out?”

“I knew you’d need him.”

I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. Claire always had my best interests in mind. “Well, it doesn’t change anything. I’m still not going.”

“You’d rather let those things kill you than go talk to him?”

“Yes!” I leaned forward. “Yes! I don’t trust him, Claire. He
betrayed
me.” My voice broke. “If he could put my life in danger after everything we shared, why would he help me now?”

She clenched her jaw. “I’ll go find him myself.”

“No you won’t!”

“Yes I will, and you damn well know it. I’m giving you twenty-four hours. Tomorrow night. And if you don’t go, I will.”

Drew had been silent for our entire conversation, but he cleared his throat and spoke. “Claire’s right. You need to see him, Ellie.”

“
Et tu
, Drew?” I asked, my tone a little more hateful than intended. “You only found out about all of this last week.” Up until a few weeks ago, I’d kept the curse secret, telling only Claire about it. But between my involvement with Collin and the marks on my body and door, Drew had grown suspicious. Now that hell had literally broken loose, I’d spilled all the details.

“You’re running out of time. If you don’t do it, I’ll help Claire find him and drag him to you.”

Gritting my teeth, I looked out the side window, intent on ignoring them for the rest of the car ride. I knew for a fact that they meant it . . . and I also knew I couldn’t let that happen. But what could I possibly find out in the next twenty-four hours?

I tossed and turned that night, worrying about how to pay for my car repair bills—but also worrying about my mark. Even if I found Ahone’s symbol, I was smart enough to know that getting the tattoo wouldn’t just mean putting a mark of protection on my skin. I would be committing my soul for eternity. I needed more reassurance. One way or the other.

When I went to bed, my dreams were filled with animals begging for my help, but the spirits left me alone. They didn’t even show up at my front door. Seeing Mishiginebig must have been message enough.

The next morning, Myra pushed open the back door of the bed and breakfast as I walked up. “Good morning, Ellie,” she said with a worried smile.

“Were you waiting for me?”

She shrugged. “I just wanted to say good morning.” Myra had always been a terrible liar.

“What’s wrong?”

“Is it a crime to want to see you?”

“Something’s up, Myra. What is it?”

“There’s been . . . an incident.”

My breath caught as I spanned the rest of the distance between us. “What kind of incident?”

She put a gentle hand on my arm. “Don’t worry. Everyone is fine, but Tom is here . . . ”

“Tom Helmsworth? Why?”

She looked worried again. “Tom thinks some kind of wild animal is on the loose.”

I looked around her to see if he was in the great room. “Tell me what happened, Myra.”

“Something attacked the neighbor’s dog.”

“
Chip?
” My chest tightened, and I knew what had happened before she said anything else. It stood to reason the spirits would taunt me this way. I pushed past her and through the dining room, ignoring the startled looks of the guests who were eating breakfast. “Where is he?”

Myra followed me. “Outside, on the west side of the house.” She grabbed my arm as I reached the front door. “You don’t want to go out there, Ellie.”

“Yes, I do.”

When I reached the side yard, Tom had his back to me. He was standing next to his partner, and their bodies were blocking my view of the dog. Hearing my approach, Tom swiveled around at the waist. “Ellie, this is a mess. Go back inside.”

Ignoring him, I made myself stand next to him. The gods and spirits wanted me to see this. That’s why the badger creature had chosen this dog and left him next to my house.

I took one glance and had my worst fear confirmed. His abdomen had been ripped open.

Spinning around to face the street, I sucked in huge gulps of air.

“Ellie, why don’t you go sit on the porch,” Tom said. “I’ll join you in a second.”

This time I didn’t argue. I sat in one of the rocking chairs, staring at the giant oak tree in the front yard. When I was younger, I had spent one whole summer climbing that tree whenever I could. My mother would yell at me to be careful, but Daddy would tell her to let me be a kid and have fun. But they hadn’t been fighting, not really. They never fought . . . not unless they were discussing the curse, anyway.

That goddamned curse had ruined everything in my life.

Several minutes later, Tom sat down in the rocking chair next to me. “Tell me what I’m not seeing, Ellie.”

I turned my gaze to his police car parked by the curb. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do.”

I stopped rocking. “What is it you want me to say, Tom?”

“Tell me what you know about the mutilated dogs.”

I glared at him. “Do you know how ridiculous and paranoid you sound right now?” I stood and moved toward the front door.

“Whatever’s attacking these dogs isn’t normal. The claw marks tell me it has to be some sort of animal, but whatever it is rips them apart and only eats one thing.”

My curiosity got the better of me. “What?”

Tom shot me a meaningful look. “Their hearts. What animal in nature does that?”

I rubbed my forehead. “I don’t know, Tom. Isn’t there some department you can call about that? Like Animal Control?”

“We’ve already called the Department of Fish and Wildlife.”

“Well, there you go. Why do you need my opinion? I’m just a waitress.”

“I’m not letting this go, Ellie.”

Of course he wasn’t. “Fine. You do whatever you want.” I opened the door to the house. “Now if you’ll excuse me, some of us have
real
work to do.”

To my surprise, he didn’t follow me. I looked for Myra and found her in her office.

She frowned when she looked up at me. “I hope you didn’t see him too closely. It was quite upsetting.”

“I’m sorry, Myra.”

She shook her head and turned to look out the back window. It was odd to think we’d never see Chip running around the yard again. He’d been part of my life for ten years.

I sighed. The world was in danger, but I had mundane things to worry about at the moment. “I hate to ask, but my car broke down as I was driving through the Alligator River Wildlife Refuge. Can I use your car today? I can take you to work and pick you up.”

“Do I want to know why you were driving through the wildlife refuge?”

“No.”

A ghost of a smile twitched at her lips. “Of course you can use my car. And I’m sure I can find a ride home. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Thanks, Myra. I’m going to do some work upstairs. Let me know when you’re ready to leave.”

After I put the linens in the industrial washing machine in the main house, I went into Daddy’s office and stood in the doorway. It looked exactly as it did two years ago, before his mind started getting worse.

I went inside and trailed my fingertips across the old wooden desk, my eyes scanning the floor-to-ceiling bookcases on both sides of the room. I thought about searching the room again for the notes Daddy had told me about—the ones about the curse—but I knew it was a lost cause. Especially when my time would be better spent figuring out which antique I could pawn next.

Myra knew I’d pawned a set of candlesticks from the dining room a few weeks ago, and she’d told me I didn’t need to hide it the next time I had to take something, but it still felt slimy and underhanded. Maybe I could find something in the attic that wouldn’t be missed. As I walked past the door to my old bedroom, the familiar ball of anxiety that had been born after we opened Popogusso tightened in my stomach.

The attic was musty and full of cobwebs and a multitude of discarded items. I scanned the room, my eyes stopping on an engraved wooden box on top of an antique chest of drawers. I clambered over the cardboard and plastic containers in front of the dresser and picked up the box. I held my breath as I opened it. There it was, just as I’d expected—my grandfather’s pocket watch collection. Three antique watches nestled in a rich velvet lining.