The Curse Breakers

by Denise Grover Swank

  I considered setting him straight, but what was I going to say? I’d have to let David take point on this one. “Thank you for showing me the house, but more importantly, for telling me about my parents.”

  David approached us with a leery expression. “What are you two talking about?”

  I laughed. “You, of course.”

  Steven laughed with me and placed an arm around my shoulders. “You’ve met your match with this one, David. I suspect her father would approve.”

  I offered him a smile. “I’m sure Daddy would.” Steven was talking about romance, but I knew Daddy would approve of David’s eagerness to help me.

  David’s face flushed. “I think I’ve heard enough.” He shook his head and reached for my forearm, dragging me away. “There’s something I know you’ll want to see.”

  Several feet away, he slowed down and stopped pulling, but his hand didn’t drop; it just shifted so that he was lightly gripping my wrist.

  “I meant what I said about Daddy.”

  He looked amused. “Oh, really?”

  “Daddy would have loved you. If he could have handpicked someone to help me, I’m certain it would have been you.”

  David gave me a strange look, and his eyes flickered with something I didn’t recognize. Then he shook his head, his excitement returning. “Come on. I really do have something to show you.”

  “What?”

  “It’s a surprise.” He led me to a hut that was smaller than the others and located at the edge of the clearing. Several primitive symbols were painted by the door, a few of which I recognized.

  “Manteo’s hut,” I murmured.

  “Yes, but that’s not the surprise.” He led me around the side of the structure, to a table that had been set up under a canopy. “Ellie, look at this.”

  There was a slat of wood, covered in symbols.

  “We just found it inside. Look at this.” He picked up a pen and pointed to a few of the symbols, keeping the tip several inches above the wood. “Recognize these? The night, the sun, the land, the sea.”

  “They’re almost identical to the ones on my door.”

  “I know. The symbols for things often changed from tribe to tribe. Collin’s family must have carefully preserved these for the ones he’s using to be almost identical.”

  At least thirty symbols covered the slat, and I didn’t recognize about half of them. One symbol in particular filled me with excitement. “Okeus.” I pointed to it. “That must mean that one of these stands for Ahone.”

  “Yeah, but the question is which.”

  Some of my excitement faded. “How do we find out?”

  “The books my friend borrowed should arrive at the inn today. Even if Ahone’s symbol isn’t in the text, we might be able to narrow the options down through the process of elimination.”

  “How long do you think that will take?”

  “That’s what I’m worried about. It might take days or even weeks. How much time do you think you have left?”

  I twisted my lips as I thought about what Ukinim had said. “I might already be out of time. Ukinim suggested he wouldn’t have trouble taking my Manitou.”

  David’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “What good would it have done? Knowing won’t help us find Ahone’s mark any faster.”

  “You can’t go out after dark anymore.”

  I grimaced, finding it hard to agree. My Manitou was now fair game. Okeus could spring his surprise on me at any time.

  I only hoped I would survive it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Over the next few days, David worked at the colony during the day, and I worked at the lunch shift at Darrell’s. Collin hadn’t shown his face at the restaurant—he was probably still angry with me about involving David. Still, he had continued to visit my door night after night, putting his mark and the new symbol in the center. David hadn’t found any reference to the symbol in the texts that had arrived from New York, and he hadn’t found Ahone’s symbol either.

  I considered finding Collin and asking him what he knew about the Ricardo Estate and to define his involvement, but I knew it would be a wasted effort. Collin wouldn’t tell me anything he didn’t want me to know. And I was certain this fell under that category.

  David moved out of Myra’s and started staying in my apartment full time. I expected to feel resentful about having my space invaded, but now that the mark on my back was completely gone, I found his presence reassuring, even if he couldn’t really do anything to help me if Okeus came calling. He insisted on sleeping on the sofa every night, even though I suggested that we take turns rotating on my bed.

  When we weren’t working, we spent all of our time together. We walked to the inn every morning before he left for the colony site. Then he’d come straight to my apartment at around seven. We’d eat dinner and do research. His progress had been slow but steady.

  Neither the badgers nor Big Nasty had made a reappearance.

  “Maybe you sent them back to Popogusso on your own, Ellie,” David suggested. “Maybe your words of protection are enough, and it just didn’t work before because the gate hadn’t been resealed. It makes sense if my theory that you’re a conjuror is correct.”

  I hoped so, but I wasn’t about to count on it. I suspected they were lying low, waiting. For what, I wasn’t sure. I was scared to find out.

  The researchers staying at Myra’s were planning to go home for the weekend. When I arrived at the inn on Friday morning, Myra stood in the kitchen, her forehead knit with worry.

  “Something’s bothering you,” I said. “What is it?”

  A guilty look crossed over her face. “How comfortable would you be if I left for the weekend?”

  “Oh.” I could see why she would be hesitant to leave me after the lighthouse incident. “Please go. I’ll be fine. Nothing has happened in days.”

  “Steven has invited me to go home with him for the weekend. He thought it might be a good idea for me to get away from everything for a couple of days. But I’m not sure I should leave you.”

  I tried to hide my surprise. Myra and Steven had become nearly as inseparable as David and I were, although I suspected that David was right and their interest wasn’t strictly professional. “That’s wonderful. Of course you should go.”

  “I was worried how you’d feel if I ever met someone other than your father.”

  “Myra, I’ve seen how you two look at each other and I think it’s wonderful. Steven is a great man, and you deserve to be happy.”

  “I don’t want to leave you.” She wrung her hands. “Maybe I should tell him no.”

  I grabbed her shoulders. “Don’t you dare. David will be with me. You go have fun.”

  She sucked in her lower lip, giving me a pensive look.

  I recognized it well. She often got that look in my teen years when she thought I was about to do something she thought I’d regret. “Spill it, Myra.”

  “I’m just worried about you.”

  “I know. What in particular?”

  “Ellie, I love David, and I know how much your father would love him too. I just worry about you jumping into a relationship so soon after your father’s death. And what happened with Collin.”

  I looked up in surprise. “Why do you think there was something between me and Collin?”

  She touched my cheek with her fingertips. “You wear your heart on your face.” Her hand dropped to cover mine. “I didn’t see you much when you were with him, but I saw you after. I know you were upset about your father’s death, but I could tell there was more.”

  I took a deep breath. “What Collin and I had wasn’t real, or at least it couldn’t be in the long term. Collin is too selfish to be in a long-term relationship.”

  “I know he’s the other Curse Keeper. Don’t you still need him?”

  I was surprised she was discussing this with me. She had ignored everything Curse Keeper–related before my dad’s death, but even now she rarely
mentioned it. “Collin refuses to help me. He thinks the spirits and gods should be loose. I disagree.” I shook my head. “Besides, there’s nothing between me and David. He’s helping me research. I know he’s sleeping at my apartment, but he’s staying on the sofa.”

  Her worry faded and she studied me with a knowing look. “Okay,” she smiled. “I’ll stop meddling.”

  “Go have fun this weekend. I’ll stay here at the house while you’re gone and take care of the guests.” Since the researchers would be gone too, all the rooms in the residential house would be vacant. David and I would have almost forty-eight hours to perform a more thorough search for Daddy’s papers and the ring Myra had mentioned. Our searches so far had been done in snatches of time between our shifts and the other guests’ arrivals and departures.

  “If you’re okay with this, I’ll leave straight after work today and come back on Sunday night with Steven. He still hasn’t gotten his extension granted, so next week might be his last one here.”

  I kissed her on the cheek. “Go and relax. You work seven days a week. And after everything . . . You need a break, Myra. You deserve one.”

  She started to leave, but I blurted out a question. “Did Daddy ever mention anything about something called the Ricardo Estate?”

  Recognition flickered in her eyes. “I believe I remember him mentioning something about it years ago, but he was on a phone call. I only remember because he stopped talking when I entered his office. I worried that he might have found someone else and Ricardo was her last name.” She shook her head, guilt flooding her face. “Later, I was ashamed for thinking such a thing. Your father was loyal to a fault. After I found out about the curse, I realized that it must have been related to that.”

  My body stiffened. “Wait. Daddy was talking to someone else about the curse?”

  “I don’t know for sure, Ellie. I’m only guessing.” She grimaced. “I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful.”

  “You’ve been more helpful than you know.”

  Myra went upstairs to pack, and I found David on the front screened-in porch with his laptop, sitting in the chair that had been Daddy’s favorite.

  I stood in the doorway watching him, and my breath stuck in my chest. The morning sunlight bathed him in a warm glow. The wind blew his hair against his forehead, but his gaze was focused on his computer screen. He had on a short-sleeve button-down shirt with a pair of jeans that I recognized. They fit his backside remarkably well.

  Myra has assumed there was something between us—along with everyone else—and I kept dismissing the suggestion, but as I watched him now, I found myself wondering: What if?

  He looked up at me and smiled. His eyes lit up and my heart fluttered, catching me by surprise. But how could I be with someone else if my soul belonged to Collin? Still, my stomach somersaulted as I started to consider what it would be like if David and I had more than a professional partnership.

  His smile faded into something more serious, more meaningful, and a quiver of fear vibrated my insides. Could we really be together? Things had gone so badly with Collin. I had no problem admitting that I both wanted David around and needed him. What if we tried to have a relationship and it failed? Then I’d be completely alone. I wasn’t sure I could survive that.

  “Myra—” My voice stuck in the back of my throat, so I looked away and tried again. “Myra is going home with Steven this weekend and the other researchers are going home Sunday night. I thought we”—I shook my head—“or I, if you don’t want to, can spend the weekend at the inn, looking for Daddy’s papers.” I dared to cast a glance at him.

  He’d turned in his seat, setting his laptop down on the table next to him. “Of course I want to help you.”

  I sat in the chair next to him, twisting my hands in my lap. “I just told Myra she works too hard, and so do you. You need to take a break.” I offered him a soft smile. “Maybe you want to go home for the weekend too.” I hesitated. “I never even asked if you had a girlfriend.”

  “First of all, it’s the pot calling the kettle black for you to say I work too hard.” He picked up my hand and held it between his. “And how can I take a break when you’re completely defenseless?”

  “I’m not your responsibility, David. You had a life—friends—before you showed up on Roanoke Island. I have no right to expect you to drop everything for me when I can’t even offer you anything in return.”

  His smile was bittersweet. “Ellie, I told you the night I accepted this arrangement that I’d been searching for something, and I was sure this was it. Well, I’m even more certain of that now. You have given me something.” His hand squeezed mine. “You’ve given me a purpose. Don’t underestimate that.”

  I looked down at my lap, overwhelmed.

  He reached over and lifted my chin so that my eyes met his. “This is exactly where I want to be. With you.”

  His touch sent shivers down my back, and my gaze lowered to his mouth.

  “And for the record”—his lips twitched slightly—“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

  I heard footsteps on the stairs, and someone called David’s name.

  He grimaced and slowly lowered his hand from my face. “Duty calls.”

  “I hope you have a good day.”

  “I’m more looking forward to the evening.”

  Butterflies danced in my insides.

  “Oh, and I just found two more symbols. The plank has thirty-six symbols and I’ve now figured out twenty-two of them.”

  “That’s great, David.”

  “But not good enough.” He stood and pulled me to my feet. We were less than a foot apart and I shivered again. I couldn’t believe how ridiculous I was being. I’d been close to David several times over the last week without feeling anything like this.

  He studied my face, looking like he wanted to say something, and then the hint of a smile appeared. “Call me if you need me.”

  My gaze locked with his. “You too.”

  He picked up his computer and eased past me into the house. I stood next to the chair, looking out toward the sound as I took slow, steady breaths to keep from hyperventilating.

  I was in trouble.

  A couple of hours later my cell phone rang while I was cleaning a bathroom. The number surprised me. It was the New Moon.

  “Ellie, how are you getting along?” It was Floyd, the owner, but he’d handed all responsibility to Marlena. He rarely stepped foot in the place.

  “Hey, Floyd. I’m getting by. I’ve been picking up some shifts at Darrell’s.”

  “I’ve hired a new manager for the restaurant, and I’d like to reopen next week.”

  I kept myself from gasping in surprise. I couldn’t imagine someone else managing the restaurant, but of course someone else would. Time moved on. “That’s great.”

  “I’d already heard that you’ve been working at Darrell’s. Are you interested in coming back?”

  “I’ve only been filling in there. But I do have a request.”

  “Okay,” he said, his voice hesitant.

  “I can’t work the night shift anymore. Only day shifts.”

  “You know I can’t guarantee that, Ellie. From what I’ve seen, you used to work both.”

  “Then I guess I’ll just keep working at Darrell’s.”

  He groaned. “Oh, all right. You can have days only. But it’s going to piss the other waitresses off.”

  I shrugged, even if he couldn’t see it. “Oh well.” After all the angry spirits I’d gone up against, pissed-off waitresses were nothing.

  “I’ll see you for the lunch shift next Wednesday.”

  I might have gotten my job back at the New Moon, but I still had a shift at Darrell’s to fill. The customers were all strangely subdued. I was trying to figure out what was wrong when Tom came in with the sheriff deputy he’d been dining with on my first day. I froze, hiding around the corner in case they were there to question me. The hostess seated them in my section and the muscles in my shoulders
tensed. There was no evading them now.

  I forced a smile and took menus over to them. “Good afternoon, Tom. Deputy Moran. Can I get you hardworking officers a drink?”

  The deputy obviously liked to hold a grudge based on the scowl he shot in my direction.

  Tom didn’t look much happier.

  I was waiting on a table opposite theirs after I took their drink orders, and I caught snatches of their conversation.

  “. . . location isn’t similar to the previous one,” Deputy Moran said.

  “But we haven’t found any pattern whatsoever other than Ellie. The dogs were found to the north and west of the island. Another one was found next to Ellie’s family home.”

  They were talking about Ukinim.

  “The first victim was found south of Manteo,” Tom continued.

  First victim. Had there been more? I hadn’t had a single dream since David gave me the dream catcher, so no spirits had been tormenting me in my sleep. And I sure hadn’t heard about another death.

  Deputy Moran lowered his voice, and I struggled to hear. “I heard the two from last night were found in bizarre locations.”

  Two? I grabbed the edge of the table.

  “The locations themselves aren’t bizarre, it’s how they’re spaced. One was placed exactly a quarter of a mile north of Ellie’s apartment, and the other was a quarter mile to the west of it.”

  “So somebody’s baiting her?” Deputy Moran asked.

  “Not if she doesn’t know.”

  I took an order back to the kitchen, sucking in big gulps of air. So I hadn’t sent Ukinim and Ilena back to hell. While I wasn’t surprised, it was disappointing. David still hadn’t found out what the conjurer had to do to destroy the badgers. I had no idea how to get rid of them for good.

  But more importantly, the badgers were killing more people. We had to find a way to stop them.

  On the way back to the dining room, I stopped in the hallway and grabbed my phone out of my pocket, texting David about what I’d heard.

  He replied within seconds. Are you okay?

  Yeah.

  Call me when you get off.

  “Who are you texting, Ellie?” Tom asked from several feet behind me.