She paused, scratching at her burning palm. That was weird. Why couldn’t she remember? She knew what it was yesterday.
“Ellie!” Momma called from the back of house. “Are you in here?”
Startled, both girls jumped.
Ellie shoved the cup back at Claire. “Quick! Put it back!”
Claire scrambled back up the case, while Ellie stood guard at the door.
“Ellie? Claire? Where are you girls?”
Claire jumped down and ran next to Ellie as her mother opened the door, her eyes narrowing as she studied the girls.
“What are you two up to?”
“Nothing,” they said in unison. Ellie clasped her hands in front of her in an attempt to look innocent.
“Nothing, huh?” She looked around the room and Ellie held her breath.
“Miss Amanda, can I have a cookie?” Claire asked, smiling sweetly. “Ellie said you made some last night.”
Ellie’s mother’s gaze swept around the room one more time before shaking her head and muttering to herself under her breath, “All this Ricardo Estate secrecy has made me paranoid.” She smiled down at them, lifting an eyebrow with a mischievous grin. “How many cookies have you girls had already?”
“None,” they both said.
Momma laughed. “Some days I think you both share a brain the way you answer like that. I swear you two could be taken for sisters if you didn’t look like such opposites.” She ruffled their hair. “Come on my redheaded hellion and my raven-haired beauty. Let’s go get you a snack.”
Ellie felt relieved that her mother said the girls were just like sisters. See? Telling Claire about the curse wasn’t bad.
So why couldn’t she now remember the name of the god who was supposed to help her close the gate?
Chapter Two
The girls sat down at the kitchen counter as Ellie’s mother opened the lid to the plastic container. “What were you girls up to?” Momma used her “all-knowing” voice. Somehow she always knew when Ellie was doing something she wasn’t supposed to.
They turned to each other, trying to look innocent. “Nothing.”
Ellie’s mother gave them each a cookie. “Nothing, hmm?” She poured glasses of milk and set them in front of the girls. “I’d quiz you more, but I have to make an important phone call in Daddy’s office. You girls stay in here and eat your cookies.”
They nodded, their mouths too full to answer.
Ellie watched her mother walk out of the kitchen. “Momma never goes in Daddy’s office. She uses the phone in here.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want you to hear it. She said it was important.”
“Yeah.” Ellie took another nibble. Momma had been acting strange the last few days after she’d gone to Charlotte. Ellie sucked in her breath. Claire was acting strange. Fear flooded Ellie’s body.
Were Momma and Daddy getting a divorce too?
She wasn’t going to sit around waiting to find out. “I’m gonna go see what she’s saying.” She hopped off the stool and headed for the door.
Claire grabbed her arm. “Your mom went to the office so you wouldn’t hear it.”
“I know. But I have to know what she’s saying. Come on.” She tugged on Claire’s hand.
Claire shook her head, pulling out of Ellie’s grasp. “No way. I’m not getting in trouble.”
Ellie wanted to tell her she’d done something even worse minutes ago, but if her mother was talking to someone about getting a divorce, she didn’t want Claire to hear it anyway. “You stay here and watch for Miss Marney. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” Claire mumbled, her lips twisting with worry.
Slipping down the hall, Ellie hugged the wall, stopping outside the office door when she heard Momma’s muffled voice through the glass. She placed her back to the wall and slid down until her butt hit the wood, her knees tucked under her chin, as she strained to make the muffled sounds into intelligible words.
“I need to come to Chapel Hill and access the archives. Can you help me arrange it?” Her mother sounded upset. “Steven, please. You know I can’t tell him.”
Ellie tried to think of someone she knew named Steven but came up with nothing.
“No. You know how he’ll react if he finds out I did this without telling him. And then if he finds out what I saw . . .”
The cookie and milk in Ellie’s stomach tumbled in revolt. Was Momma talking about Daddy? What hadn’t she told him? That she was getting a divorce?
“Okay.” She sniffed and sounded relieved. “Okay, that’s a good idea.”
There was silence for several long seconds and Ellie thought she’d hung up until her mother’s tearful voice spoke again. “Maybe I should go to the police.” Her voice trailed off with a pause. “Okay, you’re right. I’ll tell him first.” Ellie heard another long pause. “Tonight. I’ll tell him tonight.”
There was a rustling in the room and Ellie hopped up and ran into the kitchen, sliding onto the stool.
Claire took one look at Ellie and her face paled. “What happened?”
Ellie didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure what happened. But she knew that her mother had kept a secret from her father and that she thought he would be upset about it. Her parents never got mad at each other except when Daddy talked about Curse Keeper stuff, so this had to be big.
Or was this about the curse?
Ellie’s mother stood in the kitchen doorway and cleared her throat. “How are you girls doing?” As she moved in front of the sink, Ellie saw her eyes were red and glassy.
Momma had been crying.
Claire noticed too and turned to her friend, worry pinching her mouth. Ellie had never seen Momma cry. Not once. The fact that two important people in her life had cried in such a short period of time rattled Ellie’s nerves. She pushed her half-eaten cookie to the center of the counter and slid off her stool. “I’m not hungry anymore.”
Her mother ignored her, staring out the window for several seconds before she turned at the waist toward her, looking distracted. “Okay.”
Claire glanced between her friend and Ellie’s mother, her eyebrows lowered in confusion. She drank the last of her milk and grabbed the rest of her cookie before hopping off her stool, following Ellie out the front door. The screen door hinges squeaked and Claire let it bang closed as Ellie sought out the puppy who still romped in the adjacent yard. She opened the gate and dropped to her knees. The puppy jumped onto her lap, licking her hand.
“What did you hear, Ellie?” Claire asked.
She wanted to tell Claire. She was tired of secrets, but she worried that telling her friend her mother had a bad secret would make it even more real. So she told her a simplified version.
“Momma was talking to someone about Daddy. But I wasn’t sure what it was about.” All true. Kind of.
“Your mom was crying.”
Ellie inhaled deeply and then exhaled before answering. “I know.”
Claire reached over and rubbed Chip’s head. “Since you told me your big secret, I want to tell you mine.”
Ellie froze momentarily before she lifted her face to Claire’s. She suspected Claire had been hiding something, but she thought that her parents’ possible divorce might be it. Apparently, she’d been wrong.
Claire’s gaze dropped to the dog on Ellie’s lap. “You know how I like ghost stories?”
Ellie nodded, then realized her friend couldn’t see her. “Yeah.”
“Sometimes . . .” She sighed and her voice broke. “Sometimes I hear things I shouldn’t.”
“You mean inappropriate things? Like rated R movies your parents watch when they think you’re asleep?” Ellie had done that a couple of times. But she’d gotten into big trouble when she’d said a word she’d heard, not knowing it was bad.
Claire bit her lower lip and shook her head. “No.”
Ellie waited for her to continue.
“Nobody here knows except Mommy and Daddy, because they made me promise not to tell anyon
e. And Melanie knows too, but Melanie hates me for it.”
“Is that why Melanie is so mean to you?”
She nodded. “Part of the reason we moved here was because of Daddy’s job, but part of it was because of me.” She looked up into Ellie’s face. “I hear voices no one else can hear.”
“What are they?” Ellie whispered.
“I don’t know,” Claire whispered in response. “I think they might be ghosts. They talk to me, but I can never see them. But I feel them.”
Ellie’s mouth dropped open. “What do they feel like?”
“Cold.” She shivered. “Very cold.” She looked at Ellie and, with a tremor in her voice, said, “Are you going to be mean to me too now?”
Ellie’s mouth gaped. “Why would I be mean to you?”
“The kids at my old school thought I was weird. Mommy and Daddy took me to a special doctor, and he wanted me to take medicine. But I hate pills so I spit them in the trash and pretended I didn’t hear the voices anymore. But the kids still made fun of me. So when Daddy lost his job, Mommy said we should move away for a fresh start. Now Melanie hates me for making us move.”
Ellie pulled her friend into a tight hug. “I’m your friend forever, Claire. No matter what.”
Claire leaned back and searched Ellie’s face. “I don’t hear them as much anymore. When they call me I ignore them. They got upset at first, and then they stopped trying so much.”
Ellie shivered at the thought of ghosts visiting her friend, but she meant what she said. She was her friend regardless. “You said they were upset. Are they mean to you?”
“Sometimes they help me. Sometimes I’m missing something and they’ll tell me where it is.” She shook her head with a scowl. “Sometimes I think they took it themselves and they’re just playing tricks on me. So I guess that’s kind of mean. But before they leave, they almost always say the same thing.”
“What?”
“‘You have to help her.’”
“Who are you supposed to help? Melanie?”
“I don’t know. I hope not.” Claire shrugged. “When we moved they used to be with me all the time, but I haven’t heard them in days.”
Just as Ellie was about to ask another question, Melanie’s head popped out the front door of a house across the street and several doors down. “Get home right now, Claire! Mom’s gonna be home in a half hour and you have to do your chores!”
Claire climbed to her feet and Ellie stood with her, unsure what to say. The afternoon had been full of too many secrets for her to process. “I guess I’ll see you at the bus stop tomorrow.”
Claire nodded but didn’t move.
“Your mom and dad will be okay,” Ellie added. She’d almost forgotten what started the whole snowball of revelations.
“Claire!” Melanie shouted. “If you don’t have your chores done before Mom gets home, we’re both gonna get in trouble!”
Claire ignored her but took a few steps toward her own house, giving Ellie a half wave as she crossed the street.
Ellie stayed outside with the puppy for a little while longer, not ready to go back inside and face her distraught mother. However, her neighbor soon came out to take Chip inside and Ellie considered swinging again, but she didn’t feel good, like she was getting sick. She went inside and started on her homework, working on her math problems at the kitchen counter while her mother cooked dinner. It was a familiar routine, but tonight it felt all wrong. Her mother was distracted and the pasta boiled over onto the stove.
Daddy came home soon after, his laughter filling the house and Ellie’s hollow heart. She ran off the stool and into his arms, squeezing his neck as he bent down to give her a hug.
“Hey, Elliphant. What’s wrong?”
Ellie continued to hold on to him for dear life. Daddy picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He held her like he used to when she was little. She always felt safe when he held her like this.
“Ellie,” he said, sounding concerned. “What’s wrong?”
She couldn’t tell him about Momma, and she couldn’t tell him about sharing the curse secret with Claire. Instead, she said, “I had a bad day.”
He cupped the back of her head and held her close. “I’m sorry. Do you want to talk about it?”
She shook her head in the crook of his neck.
He moved past the kitchen and carried her into the living room, sitting on the sofa and shifting her legs so she sat sideways on his lap. Looking down into her face, he tucked her hair behind her ear. “Ellie, I’m going ask you some questions and I want you to be honest with me, okay?”
Did Daddy know she told Claire about the curse? The air squeezed out of her lungs, but she nodded.
“Has anyone scared you?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “No, Daddy.”
“Has a man you don’t know tried to talk to you?”
She nodded yes and her father sucked in a breath, fear in his eyes.
“Tell me what happened.”
“I was with Momma at the inn yesterday morning eating breakfast and I talked to a man who is staying there.”
Daddy wrapped an arm around her back and hugged her side against his chest. “Not someone from the inn. A stranger.”
“You mean like stranger danger?”
“Yes, just like that.”
Ellie shook her head, biting her lip. “No, Daddy.”
His face lowered to hers. “For the next few days, I want you to stay inside, okay? I don’t want you to talk to anyone you don’t know.”
“Why?”
His fingertip rubbed her cheek, then he touched the tip of her nose. “Because Daddy’s overprotective. Just promise me, okay?”
“I promise.” She squeezed his neck again. When he held her, she believed that everything would be okay. That nothing bad could ever happen.
He hugged her tight for several seconds before the phone rang. He pulled back to look into her face again. “And you still can’t answer the phone.”
She scowled. “I’m not a baby. I know how to answer the phone, Daddy.”
He set her on her feet and stood. “I know you do, Elliphant, but it’s one of those overprotective daddy things. Why don’t you go wash your hands for dinner.” He left her to go into the kitchen, and Ellie hung back before following him and hiding in the hallway.
“Was it another hang-up call?” Daddy asked.
“Yes,” her mother mumbled.
“Why was Ellie upset? Did something happen at school?”
“I don’t know. She was playing with Claire when I got home and I gave them a cookie. She seemed fine to me.”
“Something upset her. She was nearly in tears when I walked in, and she hugged me and wouldn’t let go. I asked her if someone had approached her or tried to talk to her, but she said no.” His voice lowered. “I know the weather has been unusually nice for January, but I don’t want her playing outside.”
“John, we haven’t had any threatening calls for weeks.”
“Then what’s up with the hang-up calls the last two days?”
She didn’t answer.
“Exactly. I’d rather be safe, Amanda. He threatened to hurt her. We can’t take any chances.”
“You’re right, but he’s been missing for weeks. Since the calls stopped. The police think he’s gone.”
“I hope he is, but I couldn’t bear it if something happened to her. Especially if he did it because he was upset with me over some ridiculous zoning issue.”
Ellie peeked around the corner and saw her parents hugging and she breathed a sigh of relief. Momma and Daddy wouldn’t be hugging if they were getting a divorce. Momma had to be worried about something else.
They ate dinner, everyone quieter than usual. Ellie usually talked through most of the meal, telling them about her day, but tonight she picked at her food. Something didn’t feel right, and she couldn’t figure out what it was. A heavy weight pressed on her ribs, and her hand wouldn’t stop itching.
Her mother looked up from her plate, worry in her eyes. “Ellie, are you feeling okay?”
Ellie shook her head. “No. My chest hurts.”
Momma leaned over and pressed the back of her hand to Ellie’s forehead. “You don’t feel like you’re running a fever. Do you want to go upstairs and put on your pajamas? We can watch TV in my bed before you go to sleep.”
Ellie nodded and picked up her plate to take it into the kitchen.
“Don’t worry about that, Elliphant,” her father said. “You go get ready for bed and we’ll be up in just a little bit.”
Ellie headed for the staircase at the front of the house, her parents’ voices drifting after her.
“I’m telling you, Amanda. Something’s wrong.”
“I have to admit, she’s acting strangely.”
“Maybe you should try talking to her. She might tell you.”
Ellie stopped on the steps, eavesdropping again. She knew it was wrong, but was it wrong if they were talking about her?
“I will.” Momma paused and Ellie heard the clink of silverware on a plate. “But first I need to tell you something. It’s about my trip to Charlotte a few days ago.”
Her father was silent.
Momma’s voice softened and Ellie couldn’t make out her words. Her father’s voice joined in, also too quiet to hear. Disappointed, Ellie crept upstairs, making sure she missed the creaky spot on the wood floor in the hall. She didn’t want Momma and Daddy to figure out she’d been listening. After she put on her pajamas and brushed her teeth, she headed for her parents’ room but stopped in the hall when she heard raised voices coming from downstairs.
This Changes Everything Page 2