The Curse Breakers

by Denise Grover Swank

  I pushed through the last section of reeds—to find the gate to Popogusso.

  I tried to take a step back and hit a wall that hadn’t been there before.

  Chip was standing behind the black metal gate, his guts spilling out of his abdomen. The cat I’d found on my porch was next to him, along with half a dozen other animals in varying states of decay.

  The stench of rot and dank blood filled the air, and my stomach roiled in protest.

  Chip lowered his face. “I was sacrificed for you, witness to creation. Will you save the others?”

  My tongue felt thick. “I’m trying.”

  His eyes narrowed and glowed yellow. “You must find a way. Tonight he is moving on to bigger prey.”

  The horrified screams of a woman filtered through the darkness.

  My chest burned with fear. “No!”

  “You must save them . . .” Chip’s voice trailed off as the light behind the gate faded.

  The screams still echoed in my ears.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Something touched my shoulder and I jumped, shrieking in fright. David’s anxious face was bent over mine when my eyes flew open.

  “Ellie, are you all right?”

  I sucked in deep breaths to control my panic. “We have to stop it.” I tried to get up, but he grabbed my arm and held me down.

  “You’re okay. It was only a dream.”

  The woman’s screams still haunted me, and I shook my head as a new fear was added to the long-standing ones. “No. No, it wasn’t. I need my phone.”

  David released me as I jumped up and grabbed my cell phone from my purse on the kitchen counter. I fumbled for Claire’s number with shaky fingers.

  David moved next to me. “Ellie, who are you calling? It’s two o’clock in the morning.”

  I ignored him.

  Claire answered on the fourth ring, sounding panicked. “Ellie? What’s wrong?”

  I collapsed onto the bar stool. “Thank God. You’re okay.”

  “What happened?”

  “Do not go outside. Promise me you won’t go outside for any reason at all tonight. Do you understand?” I knew I was coming across as angry, but I had to get through to her.

  “Okay, I won’t. But what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

  “That thing that’s ripping out animals’ hearts is going to have a human victim tonight.” My voice shook. “I had to check on you.”

  David gasped beside me, his eyes widening.

  “Oh, God,” Claire whispered. “What can I do?”

  “Just stay inside. Please. I have to go. I need to check on Myra. I called you first because I figured you were more likely to be out at this hour.”

  “I’m okay, Ellie. I promise I won’t go outside until daybreak.”

  “Not until you see the entire sun.”

  “Okay, I promise.”

  I hung up and pulled up Myra’s number next.

  David leaned in toward me. “How do you know for sure that it’s going to kill someone tonight?”

  “My neighbor’s dog told me.” I knew it sounded absurd, but worrying about whether Dr. David Preston believed me had gone down a few notches on my priority list.

  “Ellie, are you okay?” Myra’s anxious voice filled my ear.

  “Oh, thank God you’re okay.”

  “Ellie. What’s going on?”

  “Promise me you won’t leave until the sun comes up . . . and you can’t let anyone else leave either.”

  “What’s going on, Ellie?”

  I explained the situation, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

  “Oh, dear God.” Myra’s voice was faint. “I don’t want you to be alone. Either come over here, or I’ll come over there.”

  “No, Myra. Don’t leave the inn. Promise me you won’t go outside!”

  “Okay, I won’t. I’m just scared for you.”

  I looked up at David, wondering if I should tell her that he was with me. “I’m not alone,” I finally said. I bit my lip, searching his face for permission.

  He nodded, his eyes wide.

  “I’m with Dr. Preston.”

  She hesitated. “Where are you?”

  “I’m in my apartment. I walked with Dr. Preston to Poor Richard’s for dinner, and then we came to my apartment so he could help me with some research on the curse.”

  “He knows about it?”

  “I told him.”

  “And he believes you?”

  I sighed. “He’s getting there.”

  “Why didn’t he come back here for the night?” I was a grown woman, and Myra was still trying to keep track of the guys I took home.

  “We were doing research, and I fell asleep on the sofa. I’m going to make him stay the night because I don’t want him to go out in the dark with that thing on the loose.”

  “Okay,” she relented. “I just worry about you, Ellie.”

  “I know, Myra. And I worry about you. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  I hung up the phone and rested my head on the counter, overcome with exhaustion.

  “What happened?” David said.

  Lifting my head, I searched his face. “I told you that I have dreams every night. The animals beg me to save them. Then I usually get a visit from a monster. Tonight I got Chip and the cat.”

  David slowly sat on the stool beside me. “I’m going to ask you a question that’s not meant as an insult. It’s just . . . a fact-gathering type of thing.” He paused. “What type of medication are you currently taking?”

  I shook my head with a snort. “I wish it were that simple.”

  He still looked unconvinced, not that I blamed him. I wasn’t surprised he’d fallen back into disbelief. For a while, I’d wobbled back and forth looking for a logical explanation too. If he was like me, it was going to take a visit from a god or spirit to settle him firmly in the believer category.

  “Did you find out anything about the badger?”

  “No, not really.”

  “Which is it? No or not really?”

  His face scrunched in irritation. “Bloody Christ, Ellie. I’m sleeping on your sofa with you snoring next to me, waiting for some unseen boogeyman to show up. Then I’m awoken by you moaning and crying in your sleep. Why don’t you give me a chance to come to my senses? You scared me half to death!”

  “I don’t snore!”

  He tilted his head to the left and lifted his eyebrows. “Out of everything I just said, that’s what you chose to fixate on?”

  I scowled. “Well, I don’t.” I got off the stool and began to pace. “I’m sorry. But I have to stop that thing before it does any more damage.”

  David leaned his elbow on the counter and shook his head. “You keep saying that, but I’m still not convinced it’s up to you.”

  I stopped and swung around to face him. “I helped set it loose. I’m a Curse Keeper, and it’s my job to make this thing go away. Ideally, I’d do it with Collin, but Collin won’t help. He thinks we should let these things run amok until they settle down. But it’s hard enough to watch animals die. How can I stand back and watch it kill people?”

  “You’re not getting my point, Ellie. There are professionals who deal with this sort of thing.”

  “You saw that cat on my porch. Do you really think that was done by a normal animal?” I pointed to the front door. “It was left for me.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t for you. Maybe it just happened to be on your porch.”

  “And the neighbor’s dog just happened to be next to my house. What a coincidence.” Leaning my head back, I groaned. “This is not an animal. This is a spirit. And it won’t stop until I stop it.”

  “For argument’s sake, let’s say you’re right. How do you stop it?”

  I lifted my chin. “That’s where you come in.”

  He sighed and moved to the sofa. “If you’re hinging everything on my knowledge, then you’re going to be sorely disappointed.” He grabbed his laptop off the coffee table. “When
I did a search for an animal that eats hearts, I only found a short reference—just a couple of lines.”

  “And?”

  “It’s a sort of mythical creature.” He pulled up the document. “It’s said to resemble a badger more than anything else. It has claws like a predatory cat, teeth like a wolf, and night vision like a bat.”

  I sat down next to him, lifting my feet onto the sofa and crossing my legs. “Bats use sonar to see, not their actual sight.”

  “Don’t be so literal. This was written well over three hundred years ago. You get the point.”

  “So it’s like some hybrid mix.”

  “It’s not uncommon for these mythical creatures.”

  “Does it say how to kill it or what it’s called?”

  “Unfortunately, there’s nothing about how to kill it, but it does give it a name. Ukinim.”

  “A name is something. It’s better than nothing.”

  The wind picked up outside, the gusts rattling the door and windows.

  David cast a hesitant look toward the door. “I didn’t think there was a storm in the forecast for tonight.”

  My shoulders tensed and I uncrossed my legs, my feet touching the floor. “I’m sure there wasn’t.”

  Despite the fact that I had almost nightly visits, I was rarely awake when they showed up. They usually woke me up by pounding on the door. And despite the fact that they visited so often, I still dreaded every encounter. Especially this one. What if the redrawn symbols on the door weren’t strong enough to protect us?

  “Are you suggesting what I think you are?”

  I didn’t look at him, trying to psych myself up for the encounter. “We’ll know soon enough.”

  He closed his laptop and set it back on the table. “What happens when they show up?”

  “They usually wake me up by banging on my door and shouting ‘Curse Keeper.’ I open the door to see what they want—”

  “Wait. Why in bloody hell would you open the door?”

  “The symbols protect the threshold. They can’t get in. If I didn’t open the door, they would keep yelling. I worry that they’d wake up my neighbors and kill them.”

  His lips pressed together in a tight line.

  Several seconds later, the door shook with pounding and my palm burned. “Curse Keeper!”

  I stood and took a deep breath, then looked down at David. “Showtime.”

  His pale face turned toward the door, his knuckles white from gripping the arm of the sofa.

  Grabbing hold of the doorknob, I pulled the door open and prepared for the usual blast of wind.

  It was frigidly cold. Wapi.

  This was good. David was sure to believe me now.

  Wapi was perched on the porch railing. I still wasn’t used to seeing him in his physical form. His white hair blew around his bird body in the wind. I stood aside so that David could get a good look.

  He gasped behind me. “Bloody fucking hell.”

  “What do you want this time, Wapi?”

  “Who are you to speak to a god in such a disrespectful way?”

  “I am Curse Keeper, daughter of the sea, and witness to creation. Enjoy your time on the earthly plane because I’m sending your ass back to Popogusso as soon as I can.”

  “I am here with a warning from Okeus.” Wapi’s beady eyes narrowed, and he looked over my shoulder at David. “You are not alone.”

  “So what’s new? You always bring a warning.” I prayed that the door protections would work, but it would be best to try and distract him from David. If that were even possible.

  “You have a threat that is greater than Okeus at the moment.”

  I had no idea how that could even be possible.

  “Okeus has made it clear that you are his and his alone, but Ukinim refuses to listen.”

  I swallowed my panic. That was the name David had found. “Who’s Ukinim?”

  “He left a present on your doorstep this evening.”

  “He’s the spirit that’s been killing the dogs?”

  “Yes.” A wicked smile lit up Wapi’s eyes. “I have something you want. Information.”

  “There’s no way you’d just give me information. Everything you and Okeus offer comes at a price. I don’t have anything you could want besides my Manitou, and I know how scared you all are of Okeus.”

  Wapi’s wings fluttered, then settled close to his body. “Don’t be so sure about that.”

  A sliver of fear ran down my back. “Which part?”

  “That all of us are frightened of Okeus. I was created eons before him.”

  “And yet he’s still got you running scared.”

  Wapi jumped backward off the railing, flapping his wings so that he hovered in front of the porch. “You go too far, Curse Keeper. I answer to no one.”

  “Do I? I’m not so sure. Why are you taking orders from him when you are clearly smarter and more powerful?”

  He laughed again, and it sounded like a screeching sound. “Are you suggesting I defy Okeus and take your Manitou?”

  Perhaps baiting him hadn’t been a good idea after all. “No, I’m suggesting you and your other wind god friends join forces and overthrow him. You did it with Ahone.”

  “Ahone was different.”

  “Are you so sure about that? He tricked you into creating Okeus. Then Ahone lent his power to Manteo to create the curse that locked you away for hundreds of years.”

  Wapi landed on the porch, mere feet in front of me. His head came up to my mid-thigh.

  “Ellie . . .” David warned, standing next to the sofa.

  I flexed my right hand, ready to blast the wind god away if necessary.

  Wapi shook his head. “What do you know of the curse? You call yourself Curse Keeper, but you are ignorant. Just like the tosh-shonte who helped the nuppin.”

  Mishiginebig had used those same words. What did they mean?

  “I’m here to warn you as a favor to Okeus, but I will leave if you mock me.”

  I crossed my arms. “I’m listening.”

  Wapi cocked his head and turned one eye toward me. “Ukinim does as he pleases. He cannot be restrained. Do not presume the threat of Okeus’s wrath will protect you from him. Being locked up has changed him into something none of us recognize.”

  “How can I defeat him?”

  Wapi laughed. “Why would I tell you that?”

  “To protect me.”

  “I don’t care if you are protected. I only relay Okeus’s warning.” He bobbed his head toward my door. “Stay behind your fortress, but the day is coming when it will no longer be enough.”

  That got my attention. “What does that mean?”

  Wapi grinned and then flew away.

  I stood gaping in the doorway as terror trickled through my body. Soon my door wouldn’t be enough. What would I do then?

  “What in bloody hell was that?”

  I turned back to face David. He was standing and holding onto the back of the chair, his face a ghastly white.

  “Wapi, the wind god of the north. He was particularly chatty tonight.”

  “He was . . . a large bird with a man’s head.”

  “And white hair. Don’t forget the white hair. That’s the most significant way to tell him apart from his brothers.”

  His eyes widened. “His brothers?”

  “The other wind gods, but I haven’t had the pleasure of getting to know them like I have Wapi.”

  He stared at the still open door. “I have so many questions.”

  I surveyed the marks on the front of the door and then shut it once I was satisfied. “It’s always hard to go back to sleep after one of them visits, so I’ve got nothing but time.” I sank onto the sofa and David sat next to me.

  “You mentioned several things I’ve never heard of before. You said that Wapi and his brothers overthrew Ahone. How did that happen?”

  “Ahone created humanity and put them into a bag.”

  He shivered and tensed. “I’ve heard th
at, but in the story I’m familiar with, the creator was the Great Hare.”

  “From the little information I can find, I suspect Ahone and the Great Hare are one and the same. The four wind gods were jealous of everything that the creator god made, but they were most jealous of humanity. They told Ahone he had until the morning of the seventh day to hand humanity over to them or lose his power. Ahone couldn’t bring himself to hand either over, so he tricked them. He split himself in two, creating his twin Okeus. Okeus got all the negative traits of Ahone, but he also got the majority of their power. So Ahone still kept his power, although in a much lower concentration, and he saved humanity.”

  “How do you know this? This isn’t recorded anywhere that I’m aware of.”

  “I saw it happen. Like I told you, I was a witness to creation.” I twisted my neck to glance at him. “I saw the birth of the universe and the world.” The look of disbelief on his face wasn’t surprising. “I was clueless to any of this until Collin and I pressed our hands together while we were in the ocean. I saw it all then. The birth of the gods, and the wind gods’ threat to Ahone and humanity. The birth of Okeus and his children. I saw them all while they were locked behind the gate to Popogusso. And heard their threats. They vowed to make me suffer for what Ananias Dare and Manteo did.”

  “But not Collin?”

  “He’s pledged himself to Okeus. He’s protected.”

  David shook his head. “You saw them imprisoned?”

  “Ahone sought revenge for what the wind gods had done, and he wanted to shut Okeus and all his offspring down too. The Great Horned Serpent and that thing eating hearts? They’re some of Okeus’s offspring. When Ahone learned of Manteo’s plan, he lent him the power to lock the gods away. Now they’re all pissed at the creator god, and he’s hiding in the heavens.”

  “How is Okeus’s power greater than the wind gods’ if they could collectively threaten Ahone.” He rubbed his temple with his fingertips. “That doesn’t make sense.” His eyes, wild and desperate, locked with mine. “None of this makes sense.”

  “I know,” I whispered. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. I’m no better than Collin.” I realized the truth of it as I said it. But without David, I was doomed . . . we all might be.

  “Why do you say that?”

  He was on the edge of what he could handle right now. I stood and headed for the kitchen. “I think we need a drink.”