The Curse Keepers Collection (9 page)

It was late afternoon before Collin returned and I’d begun to think that I might have pushed him too far. I was just about ready to start scrambling for a backup plan, not that I could come up with one. I was by the kitchen returning a tray when I heard the tinkle of the bell, and I knew he was there.

Marlena walked up next to me, eyeing Collin as he scanned the room. “Well, look who just showed up. Tall, dark, and handsome.”

I had to admit that he did look sexy when he wasn’t wearing a scowl, and he was strangely without one now. While I’d hoped he’d return, I didn’t expect him to be so . . . happy about it. “He’s probably here for me.”

Her eyebrows rose in surprise.

What possessed me to admit that to her? Marlena was going to be majorly disappointed when she realized that Collin wasn’t here for the reason she thought. Not that she’d ever know the real reason.

She ambled over to him, heading Lila off at the pass, not that Collin didn’t give Lila an appreciative glance. But then who could blame him? While I had more of a girl-next-door look, Lila had long, thick dark hair, gorgeous dark eyes and skin, and a chest that drew attention from most bodies to walk in carrying a Y chromosome in their DNA strands.

“You want your table from yesterday?” Marlena asked, looking like a kid on Christmas. Marlena had been married for ten years and had three kids. She’d told me once that she had to get her romantic thrills living vicariously through me. Marlena wasn’t about to let this guy get away.

“Actually, I was looking for Ellie. Is she still working?”

Marlena turned in my direction, her eyebrows rising. Her mouth stretched into a conspiratorial grin. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“As a matter of fact she is, but she’s got another twenty minutes before her shift ends. How about I seat you at a table in her section? I’ll send her over to take your order.”

She led him to a table for two by the windows overlooking the street filled with tourists. With the discovery of the colony, Manteo was about to be overrun with curiosity seekers. When I thought about all those people hanging around with scary spirits breaking free, a chill ran up my spine.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to check who was calling. Myra. She’d tried to call me while I watched the news reports that morning, and she hadn’t answered when I’d called her back. I stepped into the back room, watching Collin from around the corner.

“I’ve only got a second,” she said. “Did you hear the news?”

“Yeah, the town’s going crazy about it.”

I heard someone call Myra’s name in the background. “How are you doing with all of this?” she asked. “Are you okay?”

I watched Colin leaning his forearms on the table, scanning the room. Part of me wanted to tell her about Collin and what had happened the day before, but she’d worry about me. Myra had enough to worry about. “Of course, I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“Well . . . the curse . . . ” The person calling her name was more insistent. “I have to go, Ellie.” I heard the hesitation in her voice.

“I’m fine. Go do what you need to do. If we’re busy in town, I can only imagine how crazy it is there. We can talk later.”

“If you need anything, you call me, okay?”

“Thanks, Myra.”

I wondered if Daddy had heard the news or if he was coherent enough to understand. I wished I’d taken more advantage of his lucid day. I’d completely blown it.

After returning my cell phone to my pocket, I held out my right palm and gasped. While the pink of the burn mark was fading, the harsh lines of a square surrounding a circle seemed to be darkening. I didn’t remember anything about what the mark was or what it meant from the stories. Why hadn’t I asked Daddy yesterday? Why had I been so stubborn in my disbelief? When I thought about how real this all was, my stomach flip-flopped from nerves. How was Ellie Lancaster, waitress and maid from Manteo, North Carolina, going to save the world?

Unfortunately, the answer was sitting at a table in the New Moon, staring right at me.

A slow smile spread across his face, and my stomach performed more acrobatics that had nothing to do with the curse, and everything to do with the hormones rushing through my body. I needed to get a grip and stop acting like a teenage girl with a crush. I needed to save the world, not find a boyfriend.

Although a boyfriend would be a nice side benefit.

As I walked toward him, I reminded myself that Collin was not boyfriend material. It didn’t take a genius to see that Collin Dailey was a “love ’em and leave ’em” kind of guy. He was a guy used to getting his way with the charm he exuded now. It was easier to catch a fly with honey, and I was currently Collin’s fly.

I stopped next to his table, trying to keep my face expressionless. If he was going to use his sexier-than-hell charm on me, I might as well make him sweat a bit. I put my hand on my hip and jutted it out while piercing him with my most withering gaze. Lesser men had tucked their tails and run, but Collin simply stared back, the corners of his mouth lifted in the barest hint of a smile. Damn him. “Can I get you something?”

His eyes narrowed seductively, and his voice lowered. “You know what I want.”

Holy shit. If I’d thought he meant what he insinuated, I might have had a mini orgasm on the spot. But last night Collin had made sure I understood what he was interested in, and it had nothing to do with the parts of me under my clothes that begged for attention.

How in the hell was I going to survive five days with this guy? My only hope was to shut the spirit world gate as quickly as possible.

Despite my discomfort, I held my ground, my gaze unwavering. “Since I didn’t take your order yesterday, I don’t remember what you wanted. Perhaps you could refresh my memory.”

He turned away with a grin and looked out the window. “You’re not going to make this easy are you?”

I didn’t answer.

When he turned back, his cocky grin was gone. In its place was a look of contrition. “It’s obvious we’ve started out on the wrong foot.” He waited for me to jump in and say something, but I continued my death gaze. “
And
I admit that I’m mostly to blame.”

“
Mostly
?” My tone was dry and sarcastic, but I’d answered, and my reply eased the tension in his shoulders.

He started to say something, then stopped. “Why don’t we forget our awful first impressions and start over.” He held out his right hand. “Collin Daily.”

Was this some trick or did he really want to try to start fresh? Did it matter? We weren’t going to prom. We were going to try to wrangle a gate to the spirit world closed. I looked down at his outstretched hand. He held it at an angle but I could see the outline of a mark on his palm. A reminder that the last time we’d touched had nearly suffocated me. What would happen this time? I crossed my arms. “Ellie Lancaster.”

He looked taken aback that I hadn’t accepted his hand. “You felt it too, when our hands touched yesterday? And the electrical current last night.”

I was surprised he admitted to a reaction. Bad boys like him didn’t like to share their feelings.

He smirked. “You don’t know what that was, do you?”

I didn’t answer. He knew I didn’t, and the smug look on his face told me how aware of that fact he was.

He leaned closer and his voice lowered. “That’s our power. The magic that runs through our blood.”

“It’s real,” I whispered in awe, despite my plan to remain aloof. I didn’t know about the electrical shock part, but Daddy had always talked about the power in our blood. This must have been what he meant.

“It’s very real.” Collin glanced around the half-full dining room. “I don’t think we should talk about this here.”

I nodded. “Give me a second.”

I left him at the table and found Marlena watching with a grin. “Hey, Marlena. Do you mind if I take off a bit early?” I tilted my head toward Collin.

Excitement filled her eyes. “What happened to Dweeb?”

I shook my head with a grimace. “History.”

She waved to the back. “Good. You need a real man like that fine specimen over there. Don’t blow it.”

I shot her an exasperated look. Why did she assume that I would blow it? But it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like this was the beginning of any kind of relationship. Collin and I would close the gate and then we were done.

Grabbing my purse from my drawer, I headed back to the dining room and found Collin waiting for me by the door. Lila stood next to him.

“How is it that I haven’t seen you around?” she asked, playing with the ends of her ponytail. “You a tourist?”

Collin blessed her with his sexy smart-ass grin. “Nope.”

“So where’re you from?”

Collin opened the door. “I’m living in Wanchese.”

“
Wanchese
? Are you a fisherman?”

I grabbed Collin’s arm and pulled him outside. “Bye, Lila.”

When the door closed behind us, I dropped my hold. “I need to change before we do anything.” I was still wearing the food I’d dropped hours ago.

“Good. We need to get your relic anyway.”

Oh, shit
. My chest tightened with anxiety. And here we’d been getting along. “My relic? Sure.”

Collin followed me around the corner of the building into the alley behind the restaurant, then up the steps to my third-floor apartment. I usually didn’t mind the stairs, and now I was downright thankful for them. They bought me more time before I was forced to tell Collin the truth about the Ananias Dare artifact.

When we reached my front door, I paused and narrowed my eyes. I’d almost forgotten.

Confusion spread across his face. “What?”

“I don’t appreciate the calling card you left on my doorstep.”

His eyes clouded in confusion, then alarm. “Did something happen last night?”

I shook my head. So maybe it wasn’t Collin. “Someone left dead birds on my porch. I’m sure I pissed Dwight off, but he doesn’t seem the vindictive type. At least not with dead animals.”

Collin walked to the railing and looked over the edge. “How many birds were there?”

“Six birds in a circle with their feet pointed in. One robin and five blackbirds. A cardinal in the center.”

“Ellie . . . ” He stopped, an incredulous expression covering his face. “The gate to the spirit world was just opened, and you think your nerdy ex-boyfriend put dead birds in a pattern on your porch?”

No, I didn’t. But my mind wasn’t willing to make that leap yet. I needed to take this slow. Unfortunately, I didn’t think the spirits spilling out into the world gave a rat’s ass how slow I needed to go. I pushed the door open but hesitated in the entrance. “I don’t usually let strange men into my apartment.”

“You let in the guy who ran out of your apartment last night. I wouldn’t exactly call him normal.”

Collin had a point. Still, he made me nervous. Right now all of the curse nonsense was contained to the outside world. Once I let Collin in, the curse would permeate every part of my life, including my personal space.

Collin noticed my hesitation. “If you’d rather I wait outside, fine. But I’m not sure what you’re worried about. I have no interest at all in—”

I walked through the threshold and headed for my room. “I got it. No interest. No need to repeat yourself. Come in.” I looked over my shoulder. “And for the record, I’m not interested in you either.”

Collin followed me in and shut the door. As I shuffled through the pile of clothes on the chair in my room I tried to figure out how to tell him about my relic. There was no point to hiding the truth. He was going to be pissed, but it wasn’t like he liked me anyway. We had a job to do, and we needed the artifact to do it.

When I walked out, pulling the hem of my T-shirt over the top of my skirt, I found Collin sitting at the kitchen counter, his expressionless gaze on me.

“About the relic . . . ”

His eyes narrowed at my hesitant tone.

“I don’t exactly have it.”

His jaw tensed, but his tone was conversational. “And who exactly does?”

I took a deep breath. “A pawnshop.”

I expected him to yell. I expected him to have a fit. I didn’t expect him to stare at me as though I’d told him it was about to rain. Finally, he sat up a bit straighter. “And why is your artifact at the pawnshop?”

I walked around him into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Anything to keep from having to look at him.
How much should I admit?
The less the better. “I didn’t have enough money to pay my rent a few months ago. So I pawned it.”

When he didn’t answer, I went against my instinct and turned to look at him. I didn’t know him well enough to read his face. Was he angry but holding it in? Was his mind scrambling to figure out what to do?

“You pawned your artifact?”

I didn’t see any point answering. I’d just told him that I had.

“How could you be so irresponsible? Do you really not take this seriously?”

I threw my hands into the air in exasperation. “No! Until this morning, no I didn’t take it seriously. Who would?”

He stood, his hands clenched at his side. “
I
took it seriously. This was a sacred duty, Ellie. Passed down from generation to generation. It’s our obligation.
Our right
. How can you treat it so casually? So
irreverently
? Do you realize what’s at stake?”

My mouth opened, but I was at a loss for words. Every excuse I had had sounded so rational yesterday.

Collin shook his head, then stormed out the door, slamming it behind him while I watched, my mouth still gaping.

I sat on the stool Collin had just vacated and covered my face with my hands. Of course he was angry. Collin had bought the curse story hook, line, and sinker and had spent his life preparing to perform his duty. And then there was Ellie Lancaster, who not only refused to believe the curse but who pawned the very thing necessary to send the spirits back. He had every right to be angry and frustrated with me, so why was I so upset?

Because Collin only reinforced that I’d let my father down. The only thing my father had ever asked of me, the thing he’d tried so hard to prepare me for, and I’d thrown it all away. In my defense, any sane person would have questioned the story. Keepers had been waiting over four hundred years for this moment. Why would I think the curse would actually break while I was on duty, even if I believed it?