“Yeah,” Logan admitted with a smile of his own. “I’m the only thorn in her eye. Not you, dude. And when it comes to Dad, I’m also upset at him for ending things the way he did. But I’ll always remember the look of pride and excitement in his eyes when he told me Mom was pregnant with you. I don’t know why he took his own life, but he wanted you. Never doubt that. He was really happy Mom was going to have a baby.”
“Yeah,” Ashleigh said. “I saw a photograph of Dad looking at Mom when she was preggers with you. He was so happy. He couldn’t have felt that way if he didn’t want you. He smiled at Mom the same way Logan looks at Eloise.”
“Huh?” Eloise asked, arriving at that very moment, only to gaze at Logan with an expectant expression.
Despite his burning cheeks, Logan smiled at her.
“Ooh!” Ashleigh pointed at him. “See? Just like that!” She looked down at Tyler. “Minus the blushing, of course.”
Logan presumed the universe was out to embarrass him every opportunity it got. He dug his toes into his shoes to redirect his attention. “Any conclusions?” he asked Eloise, hoping to get off the subject.
“Good news,” said Jocelyn. “This isn’t the work of a demon.”
“A demon?” asked Ashleigh, drawing backward. “Like the ones that hang out with Satan?”
“Yeah,” Logan said. “Where did that come from?” He turned to Eloise. “Did you think a demon was responsible for this?”
She winced. “Not really. But that’s Jocelyn’s ‘specialty,’ so I just wanted to double check.”
“But yeah,” Jocelyn said. “None are here. If they were, they wouldn’t leave. They would keep working on whomever they had targeted. This is something else.”
“What is it then?” Logan asked. He looked from Jocelyn to Eloise. The blank looks on their faces made his gut twist in knots. “You still don’t know, do you?”
“No.” Eloise traded glances with Jocelyn before meeting Logan’s gaze. “We don’t.”
Logan hoped that enlisting the help of her partner might have yielded some results, so to discover that they hadn’t learned anything was a major letdown. “Can you tell us anything else? What this entity wants? Why it’s here? How we can get rid of it?”
Eloise shook her head with disappointment in her eyes. “I’m sorry. We’ve never encountered anything like this before.”
16
“What do we do from here on out?” Logan asked. “Just wait for it to come back?” That seemed too reactive. He wanted to take action. He needed to take action.
Eloise scanned the area around them. “If she does, I’ll be able to sense when this entity returns. I might be able to communicate with her.”
Logan’s siblings looked to him, and the haunted look in their eyes extinguished his hope. He hated feeling helpless. Even worse, he hated not being able to calm their fears. Even though he didn’t feel the least bit confident, Logan pushed firmness into his tone. “We’ll figure this thing out.”
Ashleigh shifted her weight from one foot. “Can Eloise stay?” she asked Logan. “I don’t want to be here alone.”
That verbal jab scored another hit to his self-esteem, and since his siblings had some much fun at his expense the last few days, he decided to turn things around on them. “Of course, she’s going to stay. After all this, do you think I’d let her leave? Hell no! If she tries to leave, we’ll chain her up to the …” That’s when he remembered the chains he’d heard, and his sense of humor died the same way his words did.
“I’ll stick around,” Eloise said to Ashleigh with a smile.
Even though Eloise hadn’t come to any conclusions about this entity yet, Logan’s confidence in her didn’t sway because she’d described the woman’s appearance and what happened in the upstairs bathroom.
Eloise turned to Jocelyn. “I know you’ve got a job you need to follow up on. Congratulations on that, by the way. I’m really glad the handiwork business is picking up. You deserve it!”
“Little by little,” said Jocelyn with a hopeful smile. Then she pivoted to the others. “It was nice to meet you all. I’m just sorry I couldn’t be more helpful. But Eloise is the best. If this entity returns, Eloise will be able to handle things.”
“Thank you!” Ashleigh said, standing on her tiptoes and waving.
Logan expressed his thanks as he saw Jocelyn to the door. Afterward, he turned around to find that the others had retreated to the kitchen. Ashleigh removed a Monopoly board from a ledge above the cabinet and placed it on the table.
“What’s wrong, Logan?” his sister asked from the other room. “You look like someone beheaded your favorite Barbie doll?”
“Awww,” said Eloise with a smirk. “You collected Barbie dolls, too?”
Logan’s telephone rang. He slipped the phone from his pocket and checked the screen.
His mother had finally called him back.
“Hello?” he asked eagerly. “Mom?”
“Logan,” she said in a faraway tone that mingled with static. “I’m so glad I got hold of you.”
“It’s Mom?” asked Tyler, his ears perking up as he stopped doling out Monopoly money to his sister and Eloise. “Is she okay?”
He waved and shushed him with a scowl. It had taken days to get in touch with her, and he didn’t want them intruding on the conversation, since he sensed that based on their poor reception, the line might break at any time.
Although he wanted to know if she had enjoyed her vacation until now, Logan went to the most immediate question that circled his mind. “What did Dad want to tell me?”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t find the letter he’d written to you. That explained everything, or so your father told me. Otherwise, I only know what he’d once shared with me. But that was over twenty years ago, once we’d started dating.”
She spoke in a cold, distant tone, one that made it seem like another person had pushed aside the concern Logan assumed would have ordinarily issued from her voice. Logan replayed her remarks in his mind and tried to understand why she’d spoken with so little feeling.
Ordinarily, she had bottomless energy, which extended to the vibrancy with which she spoke. But not this time. And then it hit him: she didn’t want to have this conversation.
“I feel like a failure,” his mother said. “I should have told you a few days before your nineteenth birthday, but your father forbid me. Apparently, it has to do with…Oh, I’m sorry I have to tell you all this, Logan, and…” She broke off as a whimper escaped her.
“Mom?” he asked. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Those questions made her take in a sharp breath as sobs racked her.
Ashleigh got to her feet and splayed both hands across the table, leaning towards Logan. Her eyes were bright and glassy. “What’s going on? Logan, is she—”
He sliced a hand through the air as an impatient look took up residence on his face. Seeing his brother about to begin speaking, Logan pointed at him and shook his head. Then he spotted Eloise staring at him, both hands bunched up in a ball against her abdomen. He hated treating his siblings this way, but he needed absolute silence.
“Yes, I’m fine.” His mother’s voice stabilized. “I just never wanted to have this conversation. “Where should I start?”
“The beginning,” Logan said.
“I wish I could,” she said. “But first I couldn’t make contact with you. Then I misplaced my phone, which was why I couldn’t get in touch with you earlier. And Ralph even tried to call you, but he said you hung up on him.”
Logan recalled hanging up on a telemarketer, but it seemed that his mom’s boyfriend had called from his own phone. It made him feel bad for hanging up on a guy who had Logan’s best interests in mind.
The static increased on the other end of the line, growing spotty now. “Logan? Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” he said urgently. He pressed the phone against his ear with greater force. “I hear you.”
“Good. I can’t start at
the beginning. I don’t know how much time we’ve got.”
“All right. Then tell me the most important parts.”
“You were five years old when you asked me a very important question. It made me cry. You probably don’t remember that conversation.”
She was wrong. That moment was etched in his brain. He’d had a simple inquiry: “Other moms and dads kiss, so why don’t you and Dad kiss?” His mother hadn’t even tried to downplay that incident. She hadn’t just cried; his mom had been inconsolable. After that query, she had rushed to her bedroom and stayed there for hours. When she exited, she seemed perfectly fine, like her breakdown had never happened.
That strange reaction and bizarre turnaround had terrified Logan. He’d never asked her that question again. It always confused him because his parents were physically affectionate. They were always holding hands or hugging each other. They were more touchy-feely than any other couple he’d ever seen. They just never kissed.
“Logan, do you remember what you asked me?”
“Yes,” he said in a dead voice. Throughout his life, he’d wanted an explanation to his question. Now, however, he wished she wouldn’t answer it.
“Your father and I never kissed…because we couldn’t.”
That made no sense, so he waited for more.
“Apparently, your grandfather left your dad a letter while he was still the size of a grape in his mother’s womb. The letter was very similar to the one your father wrote to you, telling him that once he turned nineteen years old, he must never kiss anyone. And I’m sorry to say this, but the same holds true of you.”
Logan looked at the phone as if he’d misheard her. Because what she’d said made no sense. Not only that, but it was one of the strangest things he’d ever heard.
“Logan?” his mother asked.
He’d never met his grandfather. He’d died before his parents had gotten pregnant. So where did that fit in with this nonsensical demand?
“You cannot kiss anyone ever again,” his mom repeated.
That’s what his father wanted him to know? Logan tried to make sense of that but couldn’t. Besides, he’d already kissed someone after turning nineteen a few days ago. So, the point was moot.
His mother began speaking again, but her words were interrupted as the line grew fuzzier, going in and out, leaving only a word or two continuously before breaking apart again.
“Mom?” He gripped the phone tightly. “I can’t hear you. You’re breaking up.” He paused and waited to hear her voice again, but it didn’t come. “Aw, shit, come on. Not again! Mom? Do you hear me? Mom?”
The line went dead.
17
Logan yanked the phone away from his ear and wound back his arm, ready to whip it against the wall.
“What’s wrong?” Ashleigh asked.
Her worried tone cut through his haze of exasperation, so he pulled his arms downward and spun around to keep them from seeing him mouth the word…F U C K…with a vehemence that had never before gripped him.
Hearing footsteps rush over to him, Logan managed to clamp his lips shut just as Ashleigh spun toward him.
She looked him in the eye with an intensity mixed with fear. “Oh my God! What happened?”
“Mom…” He broke out laughing. Not in a funny ha, ha manner but one tinged with a fury that presaged an emotional breakdown. “She said…” His laughter grew louder, and he spun around to see…
Eloise standing in front of him, both hands lightly clasping his elbows now, staring at him with an open expression, one that lacked the slightest emotion.
In her eyes, Logan saw complete serenity. Her subdued response conflicted with his sister’s hyper-awareness, and Logan’s laughter died down, replaced now with heavy breathing as he calmed down.
“I’ve never seen him like that before,” Ashleigh said, wide-eyed and gasping. “Ever!”
Logan kept staring into Eloise’s eyes and felt tranquility quickly stretching through his muscles. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “You’re okay.”
“Yeah.” He swallowed and nodded. “I am.” He looked over her shoulders at Ashleigh. “I’m sorry if I scared you.”
“What’s wrong, Logan?” asked Tyler, frozen in place at the table with Monopoly money in both hands.
“Mom said I couldn’t…kiss anyone.” His eyes went to Eloise’s.
She flinched. Her hands dropped from his arms. She stepped back.
“No,” he said, stepping toward her and taking her hands in his palms. “It’s okay.”
“Why?” Eloise asked. “Did your mom say that?”
“She said it was in the letter.”
Her eyebrows lowered. She shook her head, confused.
Logan told her about the letter his father had written and the information supposedly written therein.
“But why?” Ashleigh asked, wincing and throwing her hands out at her sides. “That makes no sense.”
Logan took in a deep breath to drive out the last trace of madness from his being. “I got upset because the call dropped again before Mom could explain herself. But I think I know what she wanted to tell me.”
“That if you kiss someone,” Eloise said, “a curse goes into effect.”
Logan nodded. It turned out his fear of kissing all those years ago would have helped him…if he’d actually clung to that irrational concern and kept it close to his heart. Of course, he wouldn’t have lived an otherwise well-adjusted lifestyle, but it may have saved his siblings from the woman that tormented them.
“When did you turn nineteen?” Eloise asked and met his gaze with a timid expression.
“A few hours before we first met at the library.”
She nodded with a downcast expression. “Any idea why this hex goes back three generations?”
“No.” For all he knew, it could have gone further back than that. “Mom and Dad never kissed,” Logan said. “I always thought it was bizarre. I’d see them looking at each other sometimes, and I could feel this sadness between them. This curse, if that’s what it is, might be the reason why.”
“But why nineteen?” asked Eloise. “Why is that significant?”
Logan could do nothing but shrug. He also couldn’t find anything important about that age. He tried to tie together kissing and the age of nineteen into his family history somehow, but he came up with empty. Actually, if he’d already triggered this curse, did it mean he still couldn’t kiss anyone? Or was it supposed to be a one-time thing? Questions like those made him eager to get his hands on his father’s letter.
“If it’s a curse,” Tyler said, “a witch had to do it, right? That always happens in the movies.”
Ashleigh had two hands up before her chest. “Okay, now we’re talking about witches?”
“If it’s a witch and not a ghost,” he continued, “that’s good, right?”
“Not necessarily,” said Eloise. “I’ve never met a witch, so I don’t know exactly what they’re capable of. But my mentor told me curses can live on way past the person who made the enchantment. It can live on for centuries, maybe even longer.”
“So maybe someone placed a curse on our grandfather?” Ashleigh asked.
“Or even before him.” Logan, relieved to momentarily leave the subject of kissing behind them, turned to Eloise. “My mother said she and Dad were forbidden from telling me about this curse thing before I turned nineteen.”
“Curses,” Eloise said, “can be about anything or anyone, depending on the forces a witch has at her disposal.”
Logan didn’t like all of this conjecture. They could stand in the kitchen for hours and rattle off possibilities, but without answers, they wouldn’t get any further than they were right now. “My Dad had to have written all about it in that letter.” A different kind of unease swept through his body, making him want to move, to act. “I’ve got to find it.”
“Where could it be?” Ashleigh asked.
“The attic above the garage,�
�� Logan said before he even had a chance to give it much thought. So why hadn’t that idea occurred to him earlier? Probably because he hadn’t been up there since before his father ended his life. In fact, none of them had gone up there. They hadn’t needed to. Everything they needed was in the garage not in the space above it. The letter might be an exception.
Logan hopped to his feet, retrieved his jacket from the living room, and swept through the kitchen.
“I’m coming, too,” said Tyler, jumping out of his seat.
“Sounds good,” Logan said. Since his brother never so much as wanted to talk about his father, Logan thought hunting down a secret text might bring him one step closer to acknowledging the father he never knew.
Ashleigh rose to her feet but didn’t move. “I’ll stay here and keep an eye on Eloise.”
Eloise chuckled. “Thank you, Ashleigh.”
Logan rushed through the door, flicked on the light in the garage, and pulled on the drawstring at the middle of the room. A wooden ladder extended to the ground. He started up, going much quicker than he would have under ordinary circumstances, fueled by adrenaline and inquisitiveness that wouldn’t leave him alone.
He pulled on the drawstring and a lightbulb came to life overhead. He hunched over to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling no more than four feet above the pink fiberglass that stretched across the length of the garage.
Footsteps followed him. “Wow!” said Tyler.
Logan turned to find him slightly bent over and scanning the ground. “Where’s your jacket?” Just as the words left his mouth left his mouth, he felt a chill surround him.
“Tyler?” Ashleigh called out below them. “Take your coat! And give this one to Logan.”
“Ugh!” But Tyler spun around and went down a few steps. He grabbed two jackets, put one on, and grabbed Logan’s. Then he rocketed back into the attic, handed Logan his coat, and took to the opposite end of the floor.
Logan put on his jacket, glad he’d keep some of the chill from penetrating his bones. He surveyed everything laid out before him. An old Christmas tree and three cardboard boxes of ornaments they hadn’t used in over a decade. A few large Tupperware boxes with taped-on white slips of paper proclaiming “Samantha” appeared to be his mother’s personal belongings. They were situated beside a dusty golf bag with over a dozen clubs hanging out of them.
The Descendants Page 13