The Curse of Crow Hollow (28 page)

“What you got planned to do, Bucky?” came another question from the other side of the room. “Or are you just somebody to carry out whatever Wilson wants?”

Bucky got out, “Now that ain't—” before others joined in, wanting to know how their girls was gonna get healed and when the grocery would be open and what was keeping Alvaretta from doing something like this again, and Wilson felt Bucky begin to shudder and shake and saw the way his throat hitched up against all those questions that wouldn't stop coming.

“Now wait,” the mayor said. He held his free hand up and gripped Bucky harder with his other, pinning him in place. “Y'all just hold on now.”

But they wouldn't wait, and they wouldn't hold on. People kept wanting to know what Bucky was going to do with a badge and fearing deep down that he wouldn't do anything at all, no one could. The crowd grew louder, hollering even as David
demanded calm, and then Bucky shouted the worst thing he could.

“I'll go to Alvaretta.”

Wilson's hand dropped as the crowd went silent. Even Chessie looked dumbfounded. Bucky's eyes started to glisten, probably because he'd just figured out what he said and realized he was a grown man standing on the stage at the Holy Fire where a promise couldn't never be broken instead of a boy on the school playground where backsies were allowed.

“I'll go to Alvaretta,” he said again. There was a catch in his voice that was all fear, but that didn't matter. “The witch did this all. Hurt my little girl. People are suffering in Crow Holler. That's Alvaretta's fault. I got fired from the dump. That's Alvaretta's fault. Grocery's gone because of her, Doc's so tired he can't come to church because of her.” He took a deep breath. “So I'll go have a word. I'll tell the witch what she's done and ask that she end it, and I'll ask that she send her demon back into the mines. I'll do it. That's my job.”

-7-

Far from all the tumult at church, in a lonely spot four miles past what remained of his daddy's store, Hays Foster had built a fire. It was a good fire, not as large as the one he'd built at the mines but still fair sized. He looked at Cordelia on the other side of the flames as though he'd forgotten she was even there, then stood next to her because he was supposed to. Cordy wouldn't leave him now, not with the baby she hadn't told him about yet, and I have to wonder if she'd leave him even without the baby.

And Hays? Well, you could say that boy'd been stuck all his life. Now sure, what he'd been stuck with was what every other
boy in the Holler would give his right eye to possess. Hays had the prettiest girl in town to snuggle with and a good-paying future waiting on him at the grocery (assuming his daddy ever got it fixed up again). He had it all really, everything that passed here for the American dream. But he wanted none of it. Wanted nothing of piddling away his life pondering what to put on the Tuesday special and how much to discount the day-olds, nothing of having to come home to a wife and (God forbid) children. He understood there was love on Cordelia's part, or at least some thin film of it, but he possessed nothing in the way of tenderness toward her. He liked Cordy, yes. Hays liked Scarlett and Naomi too. But he did not love them, and for no other reason than love made no sense.

“Had to be a big fire up on the mountain,” he said. “Mines being so close and all. And Alvaretta. Even before y'all got there, I felt something. Like, watching me.”

Yet there was nothing watching in Harper's Field that night, and none but the two of them for now. Cordy leaned a cedar branch against the side of the fire. Hays had used other wood already, a few sticks of pitchy pine to catch a spark and then some maple to get things going proper. Oak went on after, letting the flames burn long. Now the cedar. Hays liked cedar best. The flames were always even with cedarwood, with a color of wet gold and a sweet smell he found pleasant.

“The others coming?” he asked.

“Yeth.”

“Good.”

Cordy studied the fire. It cracked and hissed like a living thing. No, not
like
—living is what it was. Some sticks and pitch, a handful of bark, Hays's lighter. Take them all separate, you had nothing. Put them all together, and that nothing sparked a life. Not unlike the one in her belly.

She reached for his hand. “Hayth, I need to tell you thumthing.”

“Later,” he said. “Here they come.”

The first splash of headlights swept across the field, followed by another. Scarlett's little bug bounced along the divots and rises and through all that blooming grass, followed by John David's truck.

“What's he doing here?” Hays asked. He turned and looked at her. “Did you tell him to come?”

“No,” Cordy said. Not a lie, at least not exactly. She hadn't texted John David herself. She had, perhaps, suggested to Naomi that afternoon at the grocery maybe she should call her brother.

Both vehicles parked near the fire. Scarlett and Naomi got out, as did John David. They all met in a circle around that fire in the middle of Harper's Field, and nobody said a word. Just looking at each other. Wondering what had become of them and what would become of them still.

John David said, “Hey, Scarlett,” making her flinch. “You look nice tonight.”

Scarlett held the pad and pen in her hand but didn't write. She gave a soft nod instead.

“Thanks for coming,” Hays said to them all. “I know it wasn't easy for some of you to get away.”

“Everybody's at the revival,” Naomi said. “Daddy said I had to go, but Momma told me to stay.” Her head and right shoulder jerked at the same time. Scarlett tried not to make a face. “I think Momma had it in her head Daddy was gonna try to chase the devil out of me.”

“Ain't the devil,” John David said. “Naomi?” He waited until she looked his way. “This ain't the devil.”

“They say the devil's everywhere in Crow Holler,” Naomi
said. “You haven't been gone long enough from here to forget that, have you?”

“Naomi's right,” Hays said. “Me and Cordelia felt something up at the mines even before we saw those tracks. Now I'm starting to feel it again. Like something's watching.”

Scarlett scribbled down
You didn't feel anything
and held it to Cordelia.

“I did,” Cordy said. “I didn't thay anyfing. I didn't want to woo-in your pahty.”

“Doesn't matter,” Naomi said. “Now. Now's all that matters.”

Hays nodded. “Something's coming. Something else is going on here.”

John David had stepped away from the fire, closer to the shadows. Watching. That man loves to watch. But what Hays said was enough to make him speak up. “How do you know something's coming?”

“Why are you here, John David? I didn't send you a text.”

“Naomi invited me,” he said. “Thought I'd tag along. Make sure y'all didn't do anything else stupid.”

“None of us meant for this to happen, okay? Look”—he paced the fire as Cordy followed him—“it's up to us to stop this. Scarlett, your daddy thinks the best way is to just ride things out. We don't get riled up, the witch might get bored and go away. The Reverend thinks this is somehow up to him to fix, else he wouldn't have called revival. But that's”—he paced faster now, trying to reach for the right words—“that won't
work
.”

John David's hands went open and closed in that funny way again, like he expected shooting to start. “Hays,” he said, “why don't you take a deep breath here. Tell us what's going on.”

“I went to Medric's yesterday. To tell him I was sorry, and because . . . because there's just stuff going on.”

Cordelia looked away from Hays, toward Scarlett and Naomi.

“Medric was acting all freaked out,” Hays said. “I thought it was just about that raccoon nailed to his door, but it wasn't. He said people were gonna come after him, started talking all kinds of crazy stuff. And he wasn't
there
. Medric wasn't home at first when I went to see him. Where'd he go? And then he came in later and parked out back, went inside all quick-like. He wouldn't open the door all the way to let me in. Like he was hiding something. So when I left I knocked over one of his flowerpots, thinking that would bring him out, you know, because Medric's always been a neat freak. So he did. He came outside and he didn't think I'd see, but I did. I
saw
, John David.”

“Saw what?”

“His boots. They were covered in crow feathers.”

Scarlett looked so shocked that I don't think that girl would've said anything even if she could. Cordy's mouth fell open.

“Oh my God,” Naomi said.

“That doesn't mean anything,” John David said. “You know how many crow feathers are in these mountains? Crying out loud, Hays. They call this
Crow
Holler. Now you stop this. All y'all. Somebody's gonna get hurt.”

Scarlett wrote
Somebody already got hurt.

“Listen to me,” Hays said. “Please?” He took hold of Cordelia's hand.

And when Hays looked up at his friends, Scarlett saw a look she had never believed possible upon his face—a grimace of both fear and torture that made Hays seem full alive instead of the half dead he'd always acted.

“We used to have this shed in the backyard when I was a kid. I never liked it in there. It was dark and smelled like mold and dirt. Dad always kept his tools in there. Saws and blades, stuff like that. Momma never wanted me around there. I guess she thought I'd hurt myself or something. You know how she is.”

Cordy glanced down—
Oh yeah, we
all
know how your momma is.

“Dad never wanted me in there either. I don't know why. He'd go out there in the evenings and piddle around. I guess it was his way of winding down. He always told me to stay away from the shed because there was a monster in there that would eat little boys. Sometimes in the summer when the windows were open at night, I'd hear shuffling in there, like something trying to find a way out.

“Shed caught on fire this one Saturday afternoon. Dad was at work. By the time he got there, it was too late to save anything. Mom called the store, out of her mind, screaming for help. Wilson and Medric were there and they came running. Medric said it was maybe a pile of oily rags that got hot and sparked. Took the lawn mower and the tiller and all Dad's tools. Took the shed. But you know what? That fire took the monster too. I never heard anything out in the backyard again, and I listened. Every night, I listened.”

Scarlett looked at Cordelia, who could only hold Hays's hand tighter. The boy looked about two breaths away from tears. It had never felt right to Scarlett that Cordelia had kept news of her baby from Hays. But right there, I don't think Scarlett felt that way anymore. Because Hays had been keeping a secret, too, and for far longer.

She wrote on her pad and held it up for him to see:
You burned your shed down
.

Hays dipped his chin. “Had to. Don't tell Mom and Dad, though. Scarlett? Don't. You neither, Naomi.” He turned his head quick. “Cordy? They'll think I'm crazy. Do y'all think I'm crazy?”

Naomi whispered, “No,” even as her head spasmed yes.

“Good,” Hays said. “Because that's why I asked y'all here tonight. That's why you have to believe me. The monsters are back.”

-8-

Didn't take long for the meeting to break up once Bucky announced he'd go to Campbell's Mountain. If the only reason he'd promised it was to restore a smidge of peace, it worked. All them people who were shouting at him before were shouting still, but now it was things like
I knew you were the man for the job, Buck
and
You'll go first thing in the morning, right?
and
Alvaretta gives you any trouble, you tell her I'll be up there next
. The first was true enough, the second meant to ensure Bucky wouldn't welch, and the last an utter and complete lie. Because if that week had taught any of us anything, it was you didn't step foot on the witch's land, no matter what.

David Ramsay even prayed for him. Laid his hands right on Bucky's shoulders and pleaded for a hedge of protection around our brave sheriff as he walked straight into hell. And as every head bowed, Bucky felt Wilson's hands upon him, too, and how shaky they were.

I'd say Angela was doing her share of praying just the same, along with a little
How could You curse me with such a stupid man?
thrown in. Most of that went away as soon as David said his amen, though. That's when everybody descended. Upon Bucky, sure, but upon Angela as well. Telling her how proud she must be to have such a brave and righteous husband, how they'd be there for her just as much as him, asking of Cordelia. Even Kayann Foster visited long enough to ensure whatever ill will stood between them could be set aside. Last time people paid that much attention to Angela Vest she'd been Angela Shavers, head cheerleader for Crow Holler. And let me tell you, that woman ate it all up and asked for seconds. Voices were raised in the parking lot as everybody filed out. Old Medric probably thought that was everybody finally coming for him after all those years of secrets and lies, but instead it was
jubilation at the idea of all our nightmare put to an end. Even the stricken town girls looked something close to happy as they shook and stumbled for their parents' cars. Everyone looked happy, really, except for the man who was to restore what'd been taken from us all.

Soon as Bucky got Angela and himself in the Celebrity, he asked, “What'd I just do, Angie?”

“You said you'd take care of things,” Angela said. “That's what you did. You said it was your job.”

But she couldn't look at him. Angela waved once more before her own grin faded. In its place grew fear. For her husband, yes, but also for something greater.