The Curse Keepers Collection
Author: Swank, Denise Grover
Date: 2015-03-17
Rights: All rights reserved

Other books by Denise Grover Swank:

Rose Gardner Mysteries
(Humorous Southern mysteries)
TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES
TWENTY-NINE AND A HALF REASONS
THIRTY AND A HALF EXCUSES
FALLING TO PIECES (novella)
THIRTY-ONE AND A HALF REGRETS
THIRTY-TWO AND A HALF COMPLICATIONS
PICKING UP THE PIECES (novella)
THIRTY-THREE AND A HALF SHENANIGANS

Chosen Series
(Paranormal thriller/Urban fantasy)
CHOSEN
HUNTED
SACRIFICE
REDEMPTION

On the Otherside Series
(Young adult science fiction/romance)
HERE
THERE

The Curse Keepers
(Adult urban fantasy)
THE CURSE KEEPERS
THE CURSE BREAKERS
THE CURSE DEFIERS

New Adult Contemporary Romance
AFTER MATH
REDESIGNED
BUSINESS AS USUAL

The Wedding Pact Series
Contemporary Romance
THE SUBSTITUTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

“The Curse Keepers” Text copyright © 2013 by Denise Grover Swank
“This Place is Death” Text copyright © 2014 by Denise Grover Swank
“The Curse Breakers” Text copyright © 2014 by Denise Grover Swank
“This Changes Everything” Text copyright © 2014 by Denise Grover Swank
“The Curse Defiers” Text copyright © 2014 by Denise Grover Swank
“This is Your Destiny” Text copyright © 2015 by Denise Grover Swank
“Introduction” Text copyright © 2015 by Denise Grover Swank
All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by 47North, Seattle
www.apub.com

Amazon, the Amazon logo, and 47North are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

E-ISBN: 9781477879191

Cover design by Kerrie Robertson

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The Curse Keepers

This Place is Death

The Curse Breakers

This Changes Everything

The Curse Defiers

This is Your Destiny

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

If you ask any parents which of their children is their favorite, they’ll tell you they don’t have one. If you ask any authors which book or series is their favorite, they’ll tell you the same.

But that would be a lie.

I have six children. I love them all the same—I truly do—but some days, I have a favorite. (Shhh . . . don’t tell them this. I’ll swear it’s not true.) My oldest son might surprise me by bringing me lunch from Chipotle; or my youngest daughter will present me with a picture of the two of us in her imaginary world of ponies that she spent an hour drawing. At either of those moments in time, that particular child holds a very special place in my heart.

Books are the same. Or I should say characters. For me, the characters are the heart of my stories. Everything revolves around them. I’ll come up with the ideas, but the characters bring the stories to life.

It was like that with the Curse Keepers series.

The ideas for The Curse Keepers lived in my head for nine months before I could write the book. I’d made a trip to Roanoke and my imagination had come up with so many ideas that I wasn’t sure I could hold them in until I started writing the book in December 2012. I’m very much inspired by music and the song “Sahara” by Relient K almost became a mantra. (My children became quite sick of it.) But before I even wrote the first word, I knew that while the series is told from Ellie Lancaster’s POV, Collin Dailey would never stand for being a wallflower. And as I began to compile a playlist—which I did before I started work and then added to while I was writing and editing—I realized most of the additions were Collin-centric. Collin might have had a limited chance to show himself on the page, but he was very present in my mind.

My characters are not perfect. If you find a perfect character in one of my books, you’ll see a character hiding his or her true self. Besides, perfect—or near perfect—characters are boring. I need the imperfection to allow my characters room to grow. In the beginning of the series, Ellie started off naive and immature. For all the trauma she’d experienced in her short life, being stuck on Roanoke Island and living in Manteo, North Carolina, population 1200, helped create a very sheltered life. A life she longed to escape from. But as strange as this might sound, the growth Ellie makes from The Curse Keepers to the determined woman she becomes in The Curse Defiers fills me with enormous pride. Almost as if she were my own child.

The Collin we meet in the beginning of The Curse Keepers is infuriating and surly for no explicable reason. But once you get to know him through the three novels and end with his story, “This is your Destiny,” you realize the impossible situation he was placed in. The facts he thought he knew when he walked into the New Moon and opened the gate to hell and the deceit he uncovered by the end of The Curse Defiers profoundly change him.

Neither character is perfect at the end of this omnibus, nor would I want them to be. In my mind and imagination, they are very real people, and I like who they are becoming. I’m proud of the decisions they’ve made, but there’s plenty of room for more growth.

Over the past two and a half years, I’ve lived off and on in the North Carolina Outer Banks, even if it was only in my head. I’ve made three real trips to Roanoke Island, with more planned, and I’ve fallen in love with the area. The town of Manteo has become somewhat of a character on its own. I’ve enjoyed blending real locations into the books and hope I’ve done the area justice. The fact I’ve gotten e-mails from readers telling me they want to visit the Outer Banks after reading my books leads me to believe I’m at least partially successful.

I started this forward discussing favorites, and the Curse Keepers series ranks pretty high on the list, alternating with my Rose Gardner Mystery series on a regular basis. I’m very proud of this series. The amount of research I’ve put into it and the many, many low places I’ve found myself while writing it have made it harder than I expected, but the characters themselves have inspired me to not give up. Ellie, Collin, and I have come a long way, fought some tough battles, and made it to the other side, and we’re all the stronger for it.

To my son Trace, who always believed in the impossible. And still does.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

AUTHOR’S NOTE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CHAPTER ONE

The moment I laid eyes on him, I knew he was trouble.

He stood in the doorway of the New Moon restaurant, filling the space with his tall, slightly muscular frame and sucking the air from the room. Literally. As I focused on inflating my chest with the limited air supply, I tried to ignore the warning bells ringing in my head.

Always listen to your instincts.

My instincts had been honed by years of working as a waitress in a tourist town. You learn a lot about people working with the public.

From the beginning of May until the middle of September every year, my town of Manteo on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, was overrun with tourists. They came to see our quaint little town but mostly to see the alleged site of the first English colony to settle in North America, the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Everyone had a theory about what happened to the colony that settled on the Roanoke Island shores over four hundred years ago, from a massacre by neighboring Indian tribes to alien abduction. My family had their own take on what happened. A version I’d forgotten fifteen years ago, except for the very basics.

The late lunch crowd was clearing out so it was that rare period in the summer when we got a breather before dinner. Marlena seated the guy in her section, but I could tell she did so grudgingly. She tried to fix me up with any man who walked in the door without a wedding ring.

I nearly groaned when I realized that I’d checked.

I hurried out the back door and leaned against the building, gulping deep breaths as the brick pricked my arm. How can I be having an asthma attack? I don’t even have asthma. I’d never experienced anything like this before. No matter how much air I sucked into my lungs, I still felt short of breath.

After about five minutes, I got control of my panic and made myself go back inside.

Marlena had already taken the guy’s order, and he sat brooding over a beer, staring out the window onto the tourist-filled street. I only had two tables left and Marlena had rung both of them out while I was hiding out back. With nothing to do for the moment, I picked up a towel and wiped the bar counter in tiny, mindless circles. My chest felt tight, but my breathing was manageable. I must be coming down with a sudden summer cold. Finding a rational explanation settled my frayed nerves. Slightly.

“You rub that spot any more and you’re liable to wear a hole right through it.” Marlena winked. She seemed to be breathing without any problem whatsoever. “Someone got you shook up?”

I shot her a scowl, then looked around the small restaurant. No one else seemed to be having issues either. Except for the guy Marlena had seated. His chest rose and fell at a slow, even pace, as if he were concentrating on the movement.

A small part of the back of my brain screamed that it knew what was going on, but I shushed it, pissed off the thought had even crossed my mind.

The curse was a fairy tale. It wasn’t real.

“No,” I said to Marlena.

“Then good. I’m due for a break and the only one left in my station is that one.” She shot a thumb in his direction. “You won’t mind finishing up Mr. Hottie for me.”

I knew I’d gotten off too easy with her putting him in her own section. Shaking my head, I turned my back to the dining room, just as I saw the man give me a quick glance. “Nope. No way. He just sat down, and he hasn’t even ordered his food yet. You take his order, then take your break.”

“He doesn’t want any food, just the beer.” Raising her eyebrows, she lowered her face to mine. “He’s a fine-lookin’ man close to your age, and he’s been eyeing you since he walked in the door.”

“That’s what worries me.” But truth be told, that wasn’t all that worried me. My difficulty breathing worried me. The fact that this guy dredged up all kinds of ugly, terrifying memories full of curse nonsense, the kind that drained the life out of my soul—that’s what worried me. The sooner “Mr. Hottie” walked out the door, the better.

Marlena nudged me with her shoulder. “You should give him your number, Ellie.”

My mouth gaped, and I quickly shut it, glaring. “I’m not giving him my number!” I spat. “I don’t even know him. Besides, I’m dating Dwight. And tonight is date number five. Tonight’s the night.” I really needed tonight to be the night.

“Dwight the insurance adjuster from Michigan? You’re still dating him?” Marlena crossed her arms over her ample breasts and shot me a stern look. Marlena was an intimidating woman, standing nearly six feet tall with the body of a small linebacker. When Marlena put on that stern look, most people cowered in fear. Unfortunately for her, I’d learned she was mostly bark. But she still scared me a bit. I just tried not to let her know it.

I put a hand on my hip and tilted my head in defiance. “Of course I’m still dating him. Why wouldn’t I?”

To my surprise, Marlena refrained from commenting on my tumultuous dating history, despite the fact that she’d been forced to endure four years of listening to me complain. Sometimes in excruciating detail. Maybe she was worried if she pushed too far, I wouldn’t give Mr. Hottie a chance. Releasing a sigh, she put her palm on the counter and leaned forward. “Look, sweetie . . . ”

I groaned, rolling my eyes. Every time she uttered “Look, sweetie,” I knew a lecture was coming.

Her mouth puckered in disapproval as she pointed a finger in my face. “Don’t you be rolling your eyes at me, Miss Elinor Dare Lancaster. You respect your elders.”

Elders, my eye. Marlena was barely fifteen years older than me.

“I know good and well that Dwight’s here on a temporary assignment. Which means he’ll be leaving soon, and you’ll be all alone.”

“So?”

“So, give that warm-blooded American man over there a chance, Ellie.”

I pursed my lips, shooting a glance at the customer at table five. He took a sip of his beer and continued watching the crowd outside the window. His short-sleeved T-shirt showed off his muscular arms—not solid enough to make him look like a bodybuilder, but just enough to show that he was a man accustomed to working with his hands. Suddenly, my mind took a detour to forbidden territory, thinking what he might do with those hands. I shook my head to snap out of my stupor. It had been too long since I’d had sex, and I wasn’t entirely immune to an attractive guy. My defenses were weakening.

Sighing, I shook my head. “For all you know, he’s a tourist, so what makes him any different than Dwight?”

Something about my demeanor signaled Marlena’s victory, and she grinned. “He’s ten times better looking, for starters.” She thrust his bill into my hands. “You’ll thank me for it later. Now go.” Turning with a laugh, she walked out the back door, calling into the kitchen, “I’ll be back in fifteen, Fred.”

I studied the dining room after she left. People often lingered at their tables, seeking refuge in the air conditioning from the humid heat outside. Only two of the twenty tables were occupied: the table where the man I’d tried to avoid for the last fifteen minutes sat, and a table with an older couple in my station. The couple, obviously tourists based on their camera sitting on the table and their “Outer Banks” T-shirts, had rung out with Marlena. They studied pamphlets while discussing where to go next and ignoring their half-full glasses. I took a pitcher of sweet tea and Marlena’s bill folder and stopped at the couple’s table first. “Would you like a refill?”

The woman smiled, pulling her reading glasses off her nose. “Oh, no, honey. We were about to leave.”

“You all are welcome to stay as long as you like,” I said, shifting my weight, trying to calm my increasing anxiety. I was getting light headed and I fought the urge to gasp for air. My blood pounded in my head. The man and woman in front of me seemed fine. “No need to hurry off.” If they left, I’d be alone in the dining room with the stranger. Sure, Fred was in the back, but little good that did me.

The older gentleman stood and grabbed his backpack. “Thanks for the beer recommendation. That was the best draft ale I’ve had in a long time.”

“You’re welcome,” I forced out with a smile, my heart racing as they headed for the door. “Thanks for coming in. Have a great day.”

They waved as they walked into the summer heat, and I turned to table five, trying to force air into my lungs. This is stupid. He’s just some guy. Give him his ticket, and he’ll leave and that will be that. This has nothing to do with him.

But I knew he was different. Deep, deep down in the pit of my soul. One of the few things I remembered from Daddy’s story floated into memory, begging for attention. My shoe caught on the edge of a table foot, and I stumbled, sloshing tea over the side of the pitcher and onto a nearby table.

What in the hell was wrong with me?

The man turned his face to watch me. His dark eyes burned into mine. Marlena was right. He was an extremely good-looking man. His dark hair was closely trimmed and stubble covered his face, like he’d forgotten to shave for a few days. But the hint of dark circles underlined his eyes, giving him a weary look. He clutched his beer bottle, his knuckles white, as though he were nervous even though his expression suggested otherwise.

Alarms rang in my head again, my instincts pinging every nerve along my spine. I needed him to leave. Now.

I set the pitcher on the sticky table and took two steps toward him. The hair on my arms stood on end as though I’d become electrically charged.

What the hell?

The man’s eyes widened as he turned to me, his lips parting slightly.

I thrust the folder toward him from several feet away, and flopped it on the table with a dull thud. “You can pay whenever you’re ready,” I said in a rasp, the air sticking in my throat even more than before. My panic rose and I stomped it down, frustrated that after all these years, the fucking curse was the first place my mind leapt to in this situation.

The corners of his mouth lifted into the barest hint of a smile, giving him a ruggedly handsome look. I was sure most women around the world swooned at the sight. I, on the other hand, was close to passing out from lack of oxygen.

His chest rose and fell in heavy gasps. He was having a hard time breathing as well. It should have made me feel better. Instead, it made my near-hysteria worse.

Don’t let him touch you.

I took two steps back and put my hand over my heart. Maybe we were being overcome with carbon monoxide poisoning. Could you get that from air conditioning? There had to be some logical explanation what was happening to me. Happening to us. I just couldn’t seem to find it at the moment.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and hastily removed some cash, tossing it on the table. The hair on his arms stood on end.

My eyes widened in fear as he got to his feet. He took a step toward me and stopped as I backed into a table. His dark, almost black, eyes held my gaze. “I didn’t catch your name.” His breath escaped in short bursts.

My face tingled from lack of oxygen, and I felt dangerously close to passing out. The closer he came toward me, the more difficult it was to breathe. I knew I should move away from him but everything around me slowed, and I couldn’t seem to get my muscles to work. Not to mention I was trapped by the table and two chairs on either side of me. The hair on my head felt electrified. “I didn’t give it.” My words came out slurred.

His face had paled and his eyes moved to my name tag. He grinned, but it wasn’t friendly. “Thank you, Ellie.” My name sounded like the answer to a riddle on his lips. “Until next time.”

He started to walk away, then stopped, spinning around and grabbing my right hand with his, as though he meant to shake my hand. An electrical shock ran from my palm into my chest.

For one brief moment, the entire world seemed magnified and microscopic all at once. The room faded and I was no longer me. I was the waves in the sound off the pier and the clouds in the sky. I was an ant outside on the parking lot. I was part of every tree on the street.

Before I could marvel at the vast connectedness of the universe, I felt a tear in the veil separating the earthly world from the spiritual, and the screams of hundreds of things, ugly and foul, filled my head.

The man’s mouth opened, and he dropped his hold with a start. Stumbling backward, he hurried out the door, not even casting a glance back.

My lungs expanded, as though some invisible band around my chest had burst loose. I sank into a nearby chair and sucked in gasps of air. My head spun, grappling to make sense of what had just happened, sure that I’d just had a hallucination, further proof that there was a logical explanation. Maybe I’d been poisoned. Or drugged. People didn’t sense bugs or plants. People didn’t feel like they were one with the water a hundred feet away.

The door creaked, and I jumped out of the seat, worried that he’d returned. Instead, a young family entered the restaurant. The mother pulled off her sunglasses and squinted at my startled reaction. I forced a smile and snatched up the pitcher off the nearby table. “Welcome to the New Moon. You all can take a seat wherever you’d like. I’ll be right with you.”

I hurried to the back and washed the now dried, sticky tea from my hand, trying to calm down. Never in my twenty-three years had I experienced anything like that. Yet part of the story Daddy had recited since before I could talk echoed in my head.

“When the two Keepers meet for the first time, the seam separating the spirit world and our world will be ripped apart and the gate will be opened. Your chest will tighten, and you’ll have a hard time catching your breath. It will be as though the very air you breathe is sucked out of you. It is. The Keepers watch over the seam dividing the worlds. They alone will feel the tear. That is when the curse will be broken. Then God help us all.”

My palm tingled and I glanced down at my hand, gasping at the faint pink mark I saw there—but that wasn’t all. The outline of a square surrounding a circle, their lines intersecting, covered my palm.

“Once the mark of the Keeper appears, you have until the beginning of the seventh day to make things right.”

Oh shit.

I had to talk to Daddy.

CHAPTER TWO

Another rush hit within minutes of the man running out the door. It was as though he’d been keeping everyone away. But when I thought about it later, it was probably the two of us combined. He and I were polar opposites, like magnets when you try to stick the wrong ends together and they shove each other away. Not only could we not occupy the same space without repelling one another, but we flung off the people around us.

Until you flipped the magnets and set them right.

But then again, to my irritation, I’d hardly been repelled at all. Nearly suffocated, sure. But repelled? No. Marlena was right. He was extremely good looking, if only I could get past my sudden asthma attack. My reaction had to have been some kind of breathing episode exacerbated by my overactive imagination, because for some reason, he triggered a resurfacing of all the hocus-pocus I’d left in the past with my middle school Tamagotchi and *NSYNC posters.

The curse was make-believe and nonsense.

Still, something stirred deep inside, setting me on edge and making me clumsy the rest of the afternoon. What the hell had I experienced when he touched my hand? And how did I explain the scorch mark on my hand and the thing that looked like a tattoo?

“What’s gotten into you and more importantly, why are you still here?” Marlena asked. “You tryin’ to get out of your date with Dweeb tonight?”

Her question shook me out of my thoughts. I’d forgotten all about my date. I forced a scowl. “Dwight.” I rolled my eyes. “And no, I’m not. If anything, I’m late for my shift at the inn. But I can’t leave because I’m covering for Lila. She had to run up to Norfolk.”

Marlena tsked. “That’s twice in two weeks that girl’s sloughed off her shift.” She snagged my shirt and pulled me backward, untying my apron. “Barb’s here. We can handle things until Lila gets in. You have to get ready to see Dagwood.”

She didn’t have to tell me to leave twice. “Dwight . . . and I thought you didn’t like him.”

Marlena shrugged with a grin that told me she was up to no good. “You said this was date five. Your men don’t make it much longer than that. The sooner Dwane is gone, the sooner you’ll hook up with someone like Mr. Hottie.”

With a sigh, I stripped my apron over my head and tossed it into a hamper. “His name is Dwight and things are different with him. He’s got a job with State Farm. He’s stable.” I grabbed my purse out of a drawer in the back room and stared at her, raising my eyebrows and daring her to contradict me.

Marlena placed her hand on the doorjamb to the back door, barring my exit. “Oh, he’s stable all right, but he’s so full of stability that he’ll suck the life out of ya.”

My heart thudded against my chest at her statement. Going out with Dwight was nothing like having the life sucked out of me. I’d had the life sucked out of me on two occasions. The first was figurative and had happened when my mother was killed. I didn’t care to dwell on that memory. The second had happened that afternoon and was quite literal. Give me stability, thank you very much.

I stood in front of Marlena’s beefy arm and waited for her to move, giving her a look of impatience.

Marlena’s voice lowered. “I care about you, Ellie. You’re a sweet girl. You deserve better than the boring guys you date. You’re young. You need a little excitement. Live a little.”

“I live plenty, and I happen to like dependable guys.”

“If you like them so much, than how come you go through them like Kleenex?” She dropped her arm and brushed past me before I could respond.

Scowling, I pushed the back door open and stormed out into the humid North Carolina heat. I was late for my second job, helping my stepmother Myra at the bed and breakfast she and my father owned. I considered stopping by my apartment and changing first but realized I didn’t have time if I wanted to finish at the Dare Inn and get home in time to shower before my date. Dwight was supposed to pick me up just before seven.

The great thing about living in downtown Manteo was that everything was within walking distance. My parents’ B&B was only four blocks from the restaurant where I worked, and my apartment was in the alley behind the restaurant. If a grocery store would open downtown, I’d hardly have to drive at all, especially since I rarely left Roanoke Island. Good thing too since I drove a rust-bucket piece of crap.

Although it was a short walk to the inn, it was long enough to work myself up into a nervous ball of anxiety. The encounter with the guy at the New Moon shook me up more than I’d been in years. I chalked it up to my overactive imagination, desperate for the bizarre occurrence to be anything but the curse. I was halfway to believing it was all in my head—but for the fact that he’d had a hard time breathing too. Never mind the electrical current and the scorch mark on my palm. I stared down at the darkening shapes on my hand. I must have set my hand on wet paper or a soggy cardboard box. The ink bled onto my palm, that’s all. And the hallucination I’d had could be marked off as stress.

Even so, I would have felt better if Marlena or the older couple had had problems breathing . . .

But I wasn’t ready to slap a curse label on it. My only hope was that my dad was having a lucid day and/or my stepmother Myra could help me find a reasonable explanation for it all.

I’d worked up a sweat by the time I walked in the back door of the inn. Myra was on the phone in the small office and gave me a soft smile. My job in the late afternoon was fairly simple: I set out the snacks for the guests and hung around to answer questions and play concierge. That, and I folded towels. I was late enough that Myra had already set out the fruit, cheese and crackers, and bottle of wine.

An older couple sat on a leather sofa in the living area, huddled over an open map.

“Hi.” I walked into the common room, suddenly worried I might have some telltale stains from the restaurant on my clothes or face. Too late to worry about that now. “Need any help with directions?”

They looked up, and I recognized them from earlier that afternoon. They were the couple in the restaurant who left me alone with the guy. My stomach flipped with nerves.

The man smiled and patted his knee. “Weren’t you our waitress this afternoon?”

I leaned my hip into the chair across from them. “Sure enough. My parents own Dare Inn so I help in the mornings and afternoons.”

“I love your little town. Have you lived in Manteo long?” the woman asked.

“My whole life.” And not a day had gone by since I was eight that I wished I didn’t.

“There’s so much history here,” she continued. “It’s so fascinating what happened to that town. Imagine. An entire colony completely disappeared. Everything.”

I forced my smile to stay plastered on my face. You can’t live in Manteo and not answer these questions half a dozen times a day during the summer months. And working in a service job made it an even more frequent conversation. Normally I didn’t mind, but the afternoon’s events had shaken me up. The fate of the Lost Colony of Roanoke had been pounded into my head since before I could string words into a coherent sentence. And not the version they told at the visitor center or reenacted at the play every summer. My family had its own version of crazy to hand down. If I were to believe my father—and I didn’t—my ancestor had a firsthand account.

But I kept all of that to myself and shook my head in mock sympathy. “Tragic.”

“To think that all those poor people were wiped out by Indians,” she tsked.

“Actually, historians now think that the colonists split up and went to live with other Native American tribes. Which explains why the entire town disappeared. They took their belongings with them.”

Her eyes narrowed and bore into mine. “Do you think that’s what happened?”

If she had asked me earlier that morning, I would have wholeheartedly said yes. Now I wasn’t so sure. And that worried me more than the afternoon’s events. I shrugged and raised my eyebrows, giving her a mischievous look. “I guess we’ll never know. That’s what makes it so fascinating.” And that’s what kept Manteo thriving for four months out of the year.

“Has your family lived here long?”

“As long as we can remember.” I sat down on the arm of the leather club chair and leaned forward, needing answers, but worried I wouldn’t like them. “Say, today at the restaurant, before you left, did you have any trouble . . . breathing?”

The man sat up straighter, his eyes widening. “What do you mean by trouble? Was there some type of chemical leak?”

I jerked upright, suppressing a groan. “What? No!” Holding up my hands, I shook my head. “Nothing like that happened. I just wondered if perhaps you felt a little short of breath.”

The older woman placed her hand over her heart, her chest rising and falling in short pants. “I didn’t this afternoon, but now I am. What were we exposed to?”

I shook my head again. “No! You weren’t exposed to anything! It was nothing. I had an asthma attack is all. It must have been the pollen.” My smile was now cemented onto my face.

The woman’s shoulders slumped in relief. “Well, why didn’t you say so?”

Myra approached from behind and placed her hand on my shoulder. “How are you doing this evening, Mr. and Mrs. Crabtree? I see you’ve met my daughter, Ellie.”

They gaped in surprise. Myra was second-generation Chinese, and you couldn’t find anyone more Caucasian looking than me—fair complected, freckles on my nose, and long dark red hair. Some days Myra was ornery enough to let the guests puzzle it out. This must have been one of those days. “So where are you two planning to go for dinner?”

Mr. and Mrs. Crabtree were still trying to figure out our genetics.

“If you’re looking for seafood, I highly recommend the Carter House on Highway 10, headed toward Nags Head. Their own employees often catch some of the seafood they serve.”

“Is that so?” the man asked, squinting from me to Myra. It was obvious they wanted to ask about us, but politely refrained. “Sounds good.”

Myra took a step backward toward the office. “If you’ll excuse us, Ellie and I have something we need to attend to.”

They waved us aside, and I cringed. Was I in trouble? Myra usually understood when I was late.

She led me to the small office and lowered her voice. “You and I both know you’ve never had an asthma attack in your life. What’s going on?”

Leaning into the door frame, I screwed up my face and gave a half shrug. “It was nothing.” I paused. “How’s Daddy today?”

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she studied me. Then she shook her head and smiled. “He’s better today, actually. He was asking about you.”

I forced another smile. I’d done quite a bit of that in the last few hours. “It looks like things are under control here. How about I go fold towels and talk to Daddy?”

Myra knew I was up to something, but Daddy’s good days were fewer and far between so it was hard for her to call me on it. “I left him in the screened-in porch. He was watching the neighbor’s dogs.”

“Thanks, Myra.” I kissed her on the cheek and spun around.

“Ellie . . . ”

I turned around, surprised at the worry in her voice.

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

I smiled again, and this time it was genuine. “Of course, Myra. And I love you for that.” I gave her another quick kiss and bolted out the back door before she could ask any more questions. Myra knew about the curse, but Daddy had the answers I needed.

I walked across the yard to the main house and grabbed two baskets of bath towels from the laundry room, carrying them through the living area to the porch off the front of the house. Daddy sat in a rocking chair, staring out toward the sound. You couldn’t see it from here, but we were close enough that you could smell the salty air and feel the breeze.

“Hey, Daddy.” I sat in the chair next to his, dropping the baskets in front of me with a loud thud.

He turned to face me, his gaze wavering before it cleared. A smile lifted his mouth. “Hey, Elliphant.”

Tears burned my eyes. He hadn’t called me that in weeks. He hadn’t recognized me at all in days. “I miss you.”

His eyebrows arched in surprise. “Did you go somewhere?”

I suppressed a groan, annoyed with my stupidity. Making comments like that only confused him. “No, Daddy. I’ve just been so busy I haven’t had time to stop by and see you in a few days.” Which was a lie. I’d seen him every day for the last six weeks.

He sat back in his chair and rocked. “Oh.”

The soft rhythmic creak of his chair filled the space around us, and I leaned my head against the wood slats of the rocker, closing my eyes. Nostalgia washed over me, hot and sweet. Funny, the more you want things to stay the same, the more they change.

“How’s the New Moon?”

My eyes flew open, and I sat up. Daddy was having a really lucid day. “Oh, you know. It’s a job.”

“I told you that you should have gone into archaeology like your mother.” He winked. “Then you could play in the dirt for a living.”

I nearly burst into tears. I used to spend hours playing in the dirt when I was a little girl, before my mother died, digging for the Lost Colony of Roanoke. I was sure that Momma and the rangers at the visitor center had it wrong. The colony was probably in my own backyard, even though Daddy used to tell me that I could dig to China and never find it. Daddy hadn’t mentioned the memory in years.

“Daddy, I need to ask you about the curse.”

His chair stopped, and his hands tightened on the edges of the curved arms.

“I’ve forgotten how the curse is broken. Can you remind me about that part?”

His rocking resumed, and he focused on the dogs playing in the yard. “I thought you gave up on that nonsense years ago.”

His words pierced my heart. I had given up on the nonsense years ago, but the curse was his entire life, his legacy passed down to me. If I had only known how little time I’d have left with him, the real him and not the shell of him I saw every day, I wouldn’t have been so callous about dismissing his stories as nonsense. I would have at least pretended.

“You felt it too,” he whispered.

My heart jolted as my breath caught. “Felt what?” I whispered back, terrified of his answer.

“It opened. I thought I’d dreamed it.” His face turned to me, fear in his eyes. “It happened.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. While Daddy never doubted the curse’s existence, he’d never once claimed that it had broken. I pushed aside my terror and patted his hand. “Don’t be silly, Daddy. That curse has held for well over four hundred years. Why would it break now?”

Confusion flickered in his eyes again. “The two Keepers would have had to have met.”

Oh, shit on a brick. I had trouble catching my breath, but this time not from possible supernatural causes.

His eyes bore into mine, more lucid than I’d seen him in months. “Did you meet the other Keeper today?”

I snatched a towel out of the basket and started folding. “How in the world would I know? We don’t even know that there still is another Keeper, let alone what he looks like.” My mind backtracked to the few memories I had. “Besides, even if I had, how would that break the curse?” I fisted my hand to hide the mark.

“You would have to touch the other Keeper.”

The towel in my hand shook.

“Did you touch the other Keeper?”

“How would I know?” But my defensive tone gave me away.

Excitement filled his eyes. “Who was it? A man or woman?”

“Daddy . . . we don’t even know . . . ”

“Ellie.”

I took a deep breath and bit my tongue before I blurted out this is crazy. “Man.” I turned my attention to the next towel.

“Old, young . . . Did he look Native American?”

I folded my hands on the towel on my lap, avoiding eye contact with Daddy. “Man, young. About my age. It’s hard to say if he was Native American. He had dark hair and eyes, but you know the Lumbee Indians are so integrated with Caucasians and African-Americans that you can’t always tell.”

“Do you think he was Lumbee?”

I closed my eyes, nausea churning in my stomach. “I don’t know. I do know that I’d never seen him before until he walked into the restaurant.”

“What happened?”

I set the towel in the spare basket and began folding another. “Not much. He ordered a beer, I felt like I’d been slightly electrocuted, I nearly suffocated, then he left.”

“So it’s true.”

This was all happening too fast, the consequences too high. I’d spent the last fifteen years convinced none of this was real. There was no way I could simply accept it as truth now. “No, it’s not. There’s got to be a logical explanation why I couldn’t breathe.” I sat up and held out my palm, then quickly closed it when I saw the red scorch mark and faint lines of the circle and square still there. “Maybe I developed a sudden allergy. Like maybe to peanuts or cashews. Claire only has to walk on a plane with peanuts and her throat gets tight.”

Daddy’s confidence wavered. Flashbacks of middle school hit me full force, when I told him I never wanted to talk about the curse again. Seeing his current disappointment made me feel like I was disappointing him all over again. But nothing good ever came from believing in the curse. The only thing the curse produced was four hundred years of endless waiting. The children of Egypt searched for forty years for the Promised Land. At least they got manna from heaven for their trouble. The ancestors of Ananias Dare got disappointment and heartache. I fully intended to stay as far away from the curse as possible.

Daddy sat back in his chair and rocked for several moments, both of us sinking into our own thoughts. It was like old times, when we wallowed in the murky limbo between Momma’s death and Myra’s entrance in our lives. When it was just Daddy and me, suffocating in our grief and our guilt.

“A storm’s a brewing, Ellie.”

Daddy was right. Clouds had begun to churn and darken in the short time since I’d walked over from the restaurant. “I’ll make sure the trash cans are put away before I leave.”

His hand covered mine and squeezed. “No, a storm’s coming. I feel it in my bones.”

A chill ran up my spine. “That’s called arthritis, Daddy.”

“Be ready, Elliphant. You’re the Keeper now. You’ll have until the beginning of the seventh day and not a moment longer.”

That’s what worried me.

CHAPTER THREE

Sometime between leaving Daddy and slathering my hair with conditioner, I’d convinced myself that I’d gotten myself worked up over nothing. From what little I remembered of the curse, nasty things were supposed to happen as soon as it was broken. Here it was over four hours since my encounter with that man, as I’d begun to refer to him, and the worst thing to happen was I couldn’t find my new sandals to wear with my thrift store–find sundress. Honestly, that in itself was a tragedy.

But the misplacement of my sandals had everything to do with the fact my closet was a mess and nothing to do with evil spirits. What were evil spirits going to do with strappy sandals?

When Dwight knocked on my door promptly at 6:45, I answered barefoot and breathless. “Hi.” I’d crawled out from underneath my bed and my just dried, long hair was a mess, negating my five minutes of styling.

Dwight stood on my porch wearing his work clothes—gray dress pants with a pale blue shirt and yellow tie. I loved me a man in a tie. “Ready?”

I opened the door wider to let him in. “I was just looking for my shoes. Give me a second.”

“We don’t want to be late.” I heard a slight tone of worry in his voice. “All the good seats will be taken.”

Good seats in relation to the Manteo Pioneer movie theater was a relative term. “I’ll just take a second.”

As I disappeared into my bedroom, I noticed Dwight glancing around my apartment. He’d only been inside once, and this time I made sure that it was picked up. Especially since I hoped to come back here later.

I grabbed another pair of sandals and stepped into them as I walked back into the living room. “See? All ready.”

Dwight stood next to the door and eyed me up and down, taking in my pink, sleeveless dress. “The air conditioning tends to run cool at the theater here. Aren’t you worried you’ll get cold?”

I gave him a coy smile. “That’s what I have you for.”

Confusion flickered in his eyes. “I don’t have a jacket to share with you.”

I fought a groan as I picked up my purse. This man was dense. “That’s okay. I’ll take my chances.” I followed him out and locked my door. As we descended the steps from my third-floor apartment, a weird tingling tickled my palm. I felt as though someone or something was watching me. I shook it off. All this curse nonsense was getting to me.

We walked to the theater, and I snagged Dwight’s hand. The streets of Manteo were filled with tourists going to dinner and walking around the town and by the pier. The shops that lined Queen Elizabeth Boulevard, the main street downtown, stayed open late in the summer, snagging more sales of beach trinkets and Roanoke souvenirs. We passed Poor Richard’s Sandwich Shop, a small restaurant and bar.

“Do you want to grab something at Poor Richard’s? I didn’t have a chance to eat.”

He scrunched up his nose. “But we’ll be late for the movie.” In the few times I’d been out with Dwight, I’d learned he was a creature of habit who didn’t like the rules changed midstream. He’d asked me out to the movie, not dinner. To throw in dinner was like derailing a train.

“We’ll only miss the previews.” I gave him a sweet smile. “Or we could skip the movie and just talk.”

His eyes bugged as though I’d suggested we set his pants on fire. “But I really want to see this movie.”

I forced a smile as we passed the restaurant and turned the corner at the old courthouse.

“Do you ever get tired of all the chaos?” Dwight asked as we stepped around a family who’d stopped to pick up their kid’s fallen ice cream cone.

I shook my head. “No. It’s so quiet the rest of the year that I like the reminder that there’s a whole world out there outside of this little town.”

“Why not go out there and see it yourself?”

Now didn’t seem like a good time to bring up the fact that I found it physically difficult to get too far from Roanoke Island. “So what’s playing tonight?” I knew it was an action movie, one that had been out several weeks. There was one small movie theater in town, and it only had one screen.

Dwight didn’t notice that I’d avoided his question and told me that the special effects were supposed to be spectacular. He was excited that the theater had recently added digital so he wouldn’t lose all the great CGI. I nodded and smiled, hoping this evening would end up with an entirely different kind of action.

The movie was loud and packed with explosions. The theater was freezing, and Dwight was too dense to catch any hints about putting an arm around my shoulders to keep me warm. To top it off, a kid sat behind me, kicking my seat the last half of the film. When we left the theater, I was cold, hungry, and cranky. I was cursed all right.

We walked through downtown on the way back to my apartment. The sky was still overcast and the clouds churned overhead as if they were angry. The wind had picked up, and I grabbed the bottom of my dress to keep it from blowing up. Not that Dwight would have noticed.

The crowds were thinning, but I loved the excitement of the people who wandered the streets during the summer months. Wondering where they’d come from. The places they’d seen. Since I could never get more than a couple hundred miles away from Roanoke Island without a crushing pressure on my chest—which Daddy always declared was a byproduct of the curse—I had to fulfill my desire to see the outside world with the Internet and cable TV. That and the stories of home the tourists shared with me from time to time.

When we reached the bottom of the wooden steps to my apartment, Dwight leaned over and gave me a peck on the lips. “Thank you for a wonderful evening, Ellie.”

My eyes flew open. “Wait. Don’t you want to come up?”

Dwight glanced at his watch. “Well . . . I have work in the morning.”

It was barely nine o’clock. He sounded like an old geezer. I cocked my head and gave him a tiny smile. “Just for a little bit? Please?”

An inner battle waged on Dwight’s face, and I wondered how he found the fortitude to deal with really difficult decisions. I stood on my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Just for a little while?” I kissed him long and slow, and I felt his arms encircle my waist before he pulled away.

“Ellie, not out in public. Anyone can see us here.”

We were surrounded by buildings, and it was getting dark. Sighing, I let my arms drop and took a step back. “We were only kissing.”

Dwight licked his lower lip. “I have a professional image to maintain.”

He was an insurance adjuster from Michigan. A northerner. He was pretty much at the bottom of the Manteo professional image ladder, but my desire to get him in my apartment kept that fact from leaving the tip of my tongue.

I took his hand and tugged. “Then come upstairs.”

He sighed before a shy smile lifted his mouth. “Okay, but just for a few minutes.”

I stuffed down my excitement as I practically dragged him up the two flights of stairs. Unlocking the door, I caught movement on the porch out of the corner of my eye, in the shadows cast by the street lights.

Standing upright, I whirled around. “Did you see that?”

“What?”

“Something moved over there!” I pointed to the dark shadows behind my flowerpot.

Dwight danced in place, his feet skipping like he was jumping rope. “What was it? A rat?”

Irritation bubbled in my chest, and I put a hand on my hip. “No, it wasn’t a rat. We don’t have any rats here.”

“Are you sure?”

I counted to three, reconsidering inviting him in. He wasn’t very bright, and more than a little boring, and apparently not very courageous. But he had a steady, good-paying job and was a mostly attractive man. Sure, he wasn’t anything like that man in the New Moon, but Dwight had his own quiet version of attractive. So his light brown hair was thinning and he had a slight paunch. There was more to a man than muscles, and dark, brooding eyes, and rough-looking three-day-old stubble. I hoped that buried deep inside all that mundaneness was a man who was capable of great love. Love like my parents shared. My daddy hadn’t been an exciting man, and he’d loved my mother almost more than life itself.

In the end, there was no question. Right or wrong, I was desperate for some physical attention.

Once I closed the door, I kicked off my shoes, tossed my purse on the kitchen counter, and went to the refrigerator. “Would you like a glass of wine?” I sure needed one.

“Um . . . yeah.” Dwight wandered around the living room, investigating my family photos.

I would have preferred a little more enthusiasm since I was going for a full-blown seduction here. Apparently, it was going to take more effort than I was used to. Far be it from me to back down from a challenge. I pulled a bottle out and set it on the counter, then found a corkscrew in the drawer.

Dwight picked up a picture frame. A nervous twitch made his hand shake. “Is this you when you were little?”

I craned my neck to see which photo he was looking at. “Yeah, that was taken when I was seven.”

“Who’s the woman?”

“My mother.”

“She looks a lot like you.”

I smiled, but it was forced. “So I’ve heard.” We both shared dark red hair, fair skin that burned instead of tanned, and bluish-green eyes. And an aversion to believing in the curse.

I’d spent the last fifteen years standing by my assertion that four hundred years of tradition and folklore was a lie. For the first time since I was a kid, I was reconsidering.

Dwight set the frame down and moved to the other side of the counter, watching me open the wine. “So you’ve lived here your entire life.”

“Yep.” I jerked the cork out of the bottle, then poured wine into the glasses. “My family’s always lived here. I’ve never left.”

“What about when you went to college?”

I handed him a glass. “I didn’t go.”

His hand froze in midair. “You didn’t go to college?”

I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. “I could never figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up; no sense wasting money on all those expensive college hours.” Not to mention I couldn’t afford it, even if I could live with my phobia of being too far from Manteo.

“So have you figured out what you want to do with your life now?”

I walked around the counter, carrying my glass along with the bottle. “I’m only twenty-three. I’ve got time to figure it out.” I sat down on the sofa and took a sip of wine. This really wasn’t going well.

Dwight followed me, frowning as he sank into the cushions next to me. “In theory, by this time you should have some kind of inkling. Do you?”

I fought to keep from scowling. “If you’re asking if I’ve found my purpose in life, the answer is no. But Myra says I’ll figure it out when I’m ready.” The truth was that my situation bothered me more than I liked to let on. It wasn’t so much that I hadn’t found my purpose, it was more that everything I tried felt so wrong. As though I were forcing my feet into shoes that were too small and tight.

“Myra? Your stepmother?”

“Yes.”

“Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but isn’t she enabling you?”

I leaned back as my eyebrows rose. Leave it to Dwight to show some backbone when it came to insulting me. “Excuse me?”

“It’s just that—”

“I live in my own apartment. I own my own car. I’m completely self-sufficient. How is she enabling me?”

Dwight set his glass on the coffee table. “But you work as a waitress. And that’s only part of the year. Your parents must subsidize a portion of your income.”

I wanted to laugh, but I was too irritated and insulted. He couldn’t be further from the truth. “I support myself.” I paused and took another sip of my wine. “The restaurant is open all year round. Tips may not be as good in the winter, but I still have a job.”

He held up a hand and gave me an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I’ve obviously jumped to conclusions. I guess I just don’t understand how you can be happy working as a waitress without any discernible life goals.”

I took a gulp of my wine, trying to remember why I invited him up.

Dwight placed his hand on my arm and slid it up and down in an attempt to offer comfort, but the gesture felt stiff. “That didn’t come out right.”

I lowered my glass in surprise. That was the most physical affection he’d voluntarily shown me in the time I’d known him.

“I’m sorry. Really. I have this tendency to be judgmental sometimes.”

You think? “Did you want to be an insurance adjuster since you were a kid?” My snarky question fell out before I could stop it, but Dwight seemed to miss the sarcasm.

“Yeah. My dad and his dad are in insurance. It’s in my blood. Maybe inn keeping is in yours.”

Hardly. It was more likely the curse was in my blood. I scrunched my eyes closed, muttering an obscenity under my breath. Damn that curse for sneaking back into my life. I’d shut the door on all of that nonsense years ago. There was a curse on Roanoke Island all right, but it turned out that the curse was my bad luck with men. “Tell me more about Michigan.”

Dwight broke into tales about his family and growing up with snow in Grand Rapids while I consumed two glasses of wine. Since I’d skipped dinner, the wine was going straight to my head. Too bad Dwight had only drunk half of his.

I watched him as he talked. He really was an attractive man. If I squinted just right. But he was educated, even if he seemed a little slow in social situations. So maybe he wasn’t perfect, but he had potential. I wanted the magical love my parents had had, but I was beginning to think I couldn’t afford to hold out for perfect. Maybe their love was so rare that most mere mortals couldn’t hope to find it.

I was partway into my third glass when I decided it was now or never. I set my wine on the table, then leaned over and grabbed Dwight’s face. His eyes widened with surprise as my mouth touched his, and his body stiffened slightly. I worried he was about to shove me away, but as my lips and tongue coaxed his, he relaxed and put an arm around my back.

We kissed for several minutes, and I tried really hard not to grade his technique. Dwight might be an overachiever in the insurance world, but he could have spent a little less time studying actuary tables and more learning the art of French kissing. But the wine helped ignite my fire, and I reached for the knot of his tie, trying to loosen it.

His hand pushed mine aside, and he leaned his head back. “Let me do it. This tie was a gift from my mother, and I don’t want to wrinkle it.” He expertly unknotted his tie, folded it neatly, and laid it on the arm of the sofa.

My mouth dropped open in disbelief, and I was about to cut my losses when he turned back to me, pulled me against him, and took charge.

Maybe this could be salvaged yet.

I reached for the buttons of his shirt, wondering if they had been laid by golden geese. But he not only allowed me to unbutton his shirt, he let me pull it loose from his pants. Encouraged, I straddled his lap, hiking the skirt of my dress to my upper thighs. I slid my hands across his chest while he kissed me, but something was off, and it wasn’t his scrawny upper frame or his tiny potbelly. I just couldn’t figure out what it was. Perhaps there was a slight lack of enthusiasm on his part?

I sat back and lowered the straps of my sundress, dropping the top half to my waist.

Dwight studied my light-pink, lacy bra with interest. His hands skimmed my back, and his face lowered to my cleavage.

As he pushed down the cup of my bra, I leaned my head back and tried to remember what time I was supposed to be at the New Moon the next day. No! Don’t think about that right now. But there was no denying that Dwight’s lack of skills weren’t limited to the neck up.

Maybe he just needed a little incentive. I unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his pants while he turned his attention to my other breast. Slipping my hand into his pants, I searched for his erection.

And found nothing.

Well, that’s not entirely right. I found something, but I had to search. A lot.

I sat up and cocked my head. “Um . . . I need to go to the bathroom for a second.” I climbed off his lap and pulled up my bra, then I held up a finger. “I’ll be back in a second.” As I moved toward the bathroom, trying not to run, I snatched my cell phone off the counter and closed myself in the lavatory. Then I dialed my best friend, Claire.

She answered on the first ring. “So how did it go?”

I sat on the toilet and ran a hand over my hair. “Um . . . it’s still going,” I whispered.

“It’s still going? Then what are you doing calling me?”

“Well . . . it’s just that . . . ”

“What?”

How could I put this? “I can’t find his penis.”

Claire paused for half a second. “How drunk are you?”

I hunched over my knees, trying to gauge my level of intoxication. “I’ve had a couple of drinks, but not enough to stop me from finding an important part of male anatomy. I mean, how hard can it be?”

“Obviously, not hard enough.”

Giggles erupted, and I clapped a hand over my mouth. After a couple of seconds, I settled down. “This is serious, Claire.”

Claire burst into laughter. “Are you sure he’s not a tranny?”

“I thought trannies were guys dressing as girls, not the other way around.” I took a deep breath to settle my giggles. “And no, he’s got a part, just not an interested one.” Great, I couldn’t even get a boring guy excited about me. “What am I going to do?”

“What do you want to do?”

Covering my eyes with my hand, I sighed. “I don’t know.”

I heard Claire’s exasperated exhale. “Ellie, why are you with this guy? Why are you doing this to yourself?”

Outraged, I sat up straight and hissed, “How was I supposed to know he couldn’t get it up?”

“Anyone could have—no, that’s too easy,” Claire muttered. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Why are you wasting your time with this guy when you can barely stand him?”

“That’s not true.”

“Please.”

I had to concede that she might have a point. “I can’t just send him away.”

“Why not?”

“It will be too obvious.”

“Well, then I suggest you stock up on Viagra.”

I groaned. “You’re no help.”

“Yes, I am. You just don’t like what I have to say.”

“Ugh! I have to go.”

“You might as well go since you won’t be coming—“

I hung up on her before she could finish. And she was wrong. There was a reason I kept a vibrator in my bedside drawer.

When I returned to the living room, Dwight had removed his pants and shoes. He leaned back, wearing his white Fruit of the Looms and his unbuttoned shirt.

Maybe I needed to make more of an effort. Maybe he needed more foreplay. One part of me said to send him home and call it a night, but another part of me screamed Ellie Lancaster is not a quitter. Well, maybe with piano, yoga, and knitting, but I’m not a quitter in this.

I dropped my dress to the floor and sat on the sofa with renewed determination. This man was going to have sex with me whether he liked it or not. But as soon as Dwight leaned over to kiss me, I realized I couldn’t go through with it. Call me a quitter, but I was done.

Rolling away, I stood, reaching for his pants and shoes. “You need to go.”

His eyes widened. “What? Why?”

I glanced down to his crotch and then back to his face. “This just isn’t going to work out.”

He climbed to his feet, and I shoved his pants at him. He stepped into the pants and looked up at me. “Ellie, if you would just be reasonable.”

I grabbed my dress off the floor. “Reasonable? If I were reasonable, I wouldn’t have gone out with you after our second date, when you suggested that I should reconsider ordering dessert.” I wiggled the dress to my waist, struggling to get the straps up my arms.

He shook his head in confusion. “But you had just mentioned you wanted to go on a diet! If you want dessert, you can get it—”

I opened the door and pushed him out while handing him is shoes. “You’re damn right I can get dessert!”

I stood in the doorway, pulling the door shut behind me as I watched as Dwight clomped down the stairs, irritated that I’d put up with him through five dates. I really sucked at dating. Man after man after man had paraded through my life, each one worse than the last. My judgment was not to be trusted.

Maybe it was time to find my purpose in life. A purpose that didn’t include men. Maybe I’d even try to move away. No, I could never move away from Daddy, and Myra needed me to help with the inn. But I could try to take a trip in the fall. I’d always wanted to see the Grand Canyon. I’d learn some breathing exercises to deal with my anxiety of getting too far from Roanoke Island.

Starting tomorrow morning, I was changing. No more flighty Ellie. I was going to be mature and responsible. I was going to figure out who I was. And I was giving up men. At least until I figured out me a little better.

As I turned to go back inside, I noticed someone in the shadows, six feet away. My hand froze on the doorknob.

The figure stepped out of the darkness, and my heart jolted.

It was him.

CHAPTER FOUR

“What are you doing here? Are you a stalker?”

A slow smile covered his face, and he moved toward a chair on the corner of my small porch. “If I were a stalker, would I really admit it?”

Good point. But stalker or not, finding him on my porch freaked me out. “Why are you here? How did you find me?”

He leaned back and crossed one leg over his thigh, tilting his head with a self-confidence he didn’t have earlier that afternoon. “Ellie, you know why I’m here.”

He knows my name. Wait. Of course, he did. He’d read my name tag. But that still didn’t explain how he knew where I lived.

He grinned, waving toward my chest. “You might want to cover up.” He shrugged with a smirk. “Or not. It’s entirely up to you.”

I glanced down to see my dress still partially down, exposing my bra. Jerking my dress up, I pressed my back into the door. “What are you doing here?”

He set his elbows on his thighs and leaned forward. “We have less than a week. We need to make a plan.”

A plan for what? I nearly groaned when I realized what he meant. I shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His eyes widened slightly.

I couldn’t deal with this right now. “You need to go.” I turned my back to him and started to open the door, but he moved behind me, inches away, his mouth close to my ear. A small electrical charge ran up the length of my body, like when you put your hand in front of a TV screen.

This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

“You do know what I’m talking about.”

My breath came in short pants. Was he some crazy lunatic? He had to be. Why else would he be here? Maybe I should scream. “I’m warning you. Leave or I’m calling the police.”

He backed up, and I whirled around to face him. His hands were upraised in surrender. “I only want to talk, Ellie. Can we talk?”

My heart was a runaway freight train, and I could hardly catch my breath. “How did you know where I live?”

“It wasn’t hard to find out.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

He shrugged and leaned his back against the post supporting the roof over my porch. “Does it matter? What matters is what started this afternoon.”

“I don’t know what you think happened this afternoon, but it’s all in your head. I’m not interested in dating you. I have a boyfriend.”

He looked over the railing. “That guy?” Turning back to me, he smirked as his eyes roamed my body, then rose to my face. “Well then I guess it’s a good thing that’s not what I’m interested in.”

My mouth dropped at his insult. Why wasn’t he interested? What the hell is wrong with me? “Then what are you doing here?”

His voice lowered. “I’m here about the curse, Ellie.”

I turned around in a panic, my fingers fumbling at the door. “There is no curse.”

“You’re denying it exists?”

“Do you not understand English? That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

“You’re a Curse Keeper, Ellie. You can deny it all you like, but that doesn’t make it any less true. We opened something this afternoon, something dark and ugly. It’s up to us to deal with the aftermath.”

I whirled around again, my body blazing with anger. “I didn’t do this! You showed up at my restaurant! You grabbed my hand.”

“I couldn’t help grabbing your hand. It was like I couldn’t control the urge. You felt it too, like you wanted to get away but you couldn’t.”

How did he know? I forced myself to calm down, especially when I saw the amusement in his eyes. “What kind of sick game is this? What are you up to?”

He stepped away from the railing and moved in front of me. He’d changed shirts since he’d been in the restaurant. This one was darker and tighter, hugging the muscles of his arms and chest. My body noticed and my body heat rose. But God help me, I was not going to fall for this arrogant son of a bitch.

“You feel that, don’t you?”

I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He grinned. “How do you explain this afternoon?”

“Asthma attack.”

A sexy as hell look crossed his face. “And now?”

“I can breathe just fine right now.”

His gaze dropped to my chest, then up to my eyes again. “Oh, really?”

The breathing trouble I suffered from now was nothing like that afternoon. I wasn’t sure that fact made the current situation any better.

“I’m not talking about your lack of breath. I’m talking about what we feel standing next to each other.”

I bet he wouldn’t have any trouble getting an erection. Dear Lord in heaven, where had that come from? I lifted my chin and shot him a withering glare. “And here I thought you weren’t interested.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “I’m not. Trust me, Ellie. You’d know if I was.” His statement sounded like a promise.

I swallowed.

“I’m talking about the electrical current between us. You can’t deny it’s there. It’s part of the curse. It’s part of the story that’s been passed down. You have to know this.”

I didn’t. I didn’t remember anything about the other Keeper except that he or she was a descendant of Manteo. “There is no curse.”

Exasperation flooded his eyes. “Why are you denying it? This is what you were born to do. Four hundred years of waiting, and it comes down to you and me.”

“That damn curse can wait another four hundred years because I don’t want any part of it.” I tried to turn around again, but he grabbed my arm and pushed me back against the door, his body pressing against mine. The current between us intensified, and it gave me smug pleasure to see his eyes dilate and widen in surprise. He felt it too. And it wasn’t just an electrical current.

But the intention of his invasion of my personal space was far from amorous. His voice lowered. “You can’t ignore this. Whether you like it or not, you’re part of what’s happening. The spirits have already been set loose—they’ll flee at a slow trickle to start, but they’re loose all the same. Have you felt them?”

I didn’t answer. He really believed this.

“You have, haven’t you? A feeling that you’re being watched? Like something is lurking in the corner, in the dark?”

I refused to confirm that I had. “You’re right. I have sensed something lurking in the darkness. You.”

He tensed, his anger pouring off of him in hot waves. “We have a week to take care of the gate. Don’t waste time denying it’s real.”

I splayed my hands on his chest and shoved him away, my own anger exploding. “You do not get to tell me what I can or cannot do. I don’t even fucking know you. You show up outside my front door, lurking in the shadows. If I have anything to be worried about, it’s you. There is no curse. It’s all a bunch of made-up crap that caused my family nothing but trouble. It’s probably someone’s idea of a sick practical joke. Well, guess what? I’m not listening to another word of this. Now get the hell off my porch before I call the police.”

He took a step back, shaking his head in disgust. “Manteo’s line held onto our belief. We’ve taken our role seriously, waiting to fulfill our duty. Why am I not surprised the Dare line would be full of cowards and slackers?”

He was disparaging a four-hundred-plus-year-old man who may or may not have been my ancestor, and yet I felt insulted. I had been wrong. This night could get worse.

He stepped close to me and lowered his face to mine. If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed he was about to kiss me. But his body language said that was the furthest thing from his mind. “Humanity is at stake, and you call it a sick practical joke.” Contempt filled his words. “The joke’s going to be on you when all hell breaks loose. Hopefully, you’ll be more willing to play your part then.” He turned toward the steps.

“Who are you?”

He stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Collin. Collin Dailey. Manteo’s Keeper.”

I stayed in front of the door for several seconds, watching him disappear down the stairs. When anyone else used the staircase, I always heard the thuds of their footsteps, even in my apartment. But Collin’s were silent.

That was a great stalker skill.

I fumbled with the doorknob and practically fell inside, slamming the door behind me. Collin Fucking Dailey was insane. That was the only reasonable and rational explanation.

So how does he know about the curse?

I grabbed the wine bottle and took a chug. How did he know? There was only one way he could: There really was a Manteo line of Curse Keepers. And if there was a Manteo line of Curse Keepers, that meant I was currently the Keeper in the Ananias Dare line.

Shit.

I grabbed my cell phone and called Claire.

“Well?” she asked when she answered. “Did you ever find it?”

“No,” I waved, even if she couldn’t see me. “I kicked him out.”

“Good for you.”

“That’s not why I’m calling. Something else much bigger happened.”

“Something bigger than Dwight?” She giggled. “It couldn’t get much smaller.”

“Ha, ha.. Very funny.” I would have laughed too if Collin Dailey hadn’t once again shaken up my world. Twice in one day. “Something happened this afternoon.”

“What?”

“I think I met the other Keeper.”

Claire went silent.

“Well? You don’t have anything to say?”

She cleared her throat. “I thought you didn’t believe in the curse.”

“I don’t. Well, I didn’t . . . but I don’t know how to explain what happened. Plus he knows about the curse. He knows I’m a Keeper.”

“Wait, slow down and start from the beginning.”

I told her what happened at the restaurant, and about how my dad was having a lucid day and told me that he felt the curse open. And that Collin showed up on my porch, announcing we had a week to shut the gate.

“Is that true? Do you only have a week?”

“I think it’s until the beginning of the seventh day. I don’t remember much else, Claire. You know I’ve forgotten most of that stuff.”

“Maybe it would be better to start with what you do remember.”

I took a long drink from the wine bottle, finishing it off. I sat it on the table, then ran my fingers through my unruly hair. “This is crazy. The Roanoke colony disappeared because they ran out of food and supplies and neighboring Native American tribes took them in. Not—not because a Croatan Indian and the son-in-law of the governor of Virginia created a curse.”

“I’m coming over.”

I sighed. “Claire, you don’t have to do that.”

“Are you kidding me? While you spent your entire life insisting the curse wasn’t real, I spent my life hoping it was. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

By the time Claire showed up, I’d changed into pajamas. She pelted me with questions before I had the door shut.

“So what’s he like?”

“Who?”

She flopped on my sofa and crossed her legs. “Who do you think? The other Keeper.”

I sat across from her and leaned back, putting my feet in her lap. “He’s young.”

“And?”

“And nothing. And he’s not a Keeper. He’s just a crazy person.”

“Ellie, you have to admit that this might be real.”

“You do realize that you are an unreliable sounding board? You lead a ghost tour every night and believe half the stories you tell.” I sat up, crossing my legs. “Weren’t you leading your tour when I called?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, but Drew took over.”

Closing my eyes, I groaned. “Oh, Claire. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. This is big.” She leaned forward. “We need to list everything you know about the curse. Maybe the two of us can piece it together.” Hopping off the sofa, she rummaged through a drawer in my kitchen. She pulled out a notebook and pen, waved them in the air in triumph, then sat down.

I shook my head. “Why are we doing this? There is no curse.”

“Fine. You’re right.” A smug grin pinched her mouth. “But if you don’t believe in the curse, then you won’t mind if I take what we know about it and use the information in my ghost tour. I’ll tell them all about the pact between Manteo, the man our town is named after, and Ananias Dare, the father of Virginia Dare, the first English child born on American soil. Crap. The tourists eat this shit up.”

Panicked, I grabbed her arm. “No! You can’t do that! You know the curse is a secret! You’re not even supposed to know. Terrible things happen when the Keepers share the secret.” I didn’t believe that was true, not fully, but it was a lot like the game of Bloody Mary. I didn’t believe in that either, but you sure wouldn’t catch me in front of my bathroom mirror reciting her name three times.

Claire’s eyebrows shot up, and she jabbed a finger into my chest. “Aha! You do think there might be something to it; otherwise why would you care if anyone knew?”

She still hadn’t made the connection, the terrible thing that had happened after I told her about the curse. Maybe it was too much for her to accept. Too devastating.

But her enthusiasm was contagious, although the enthusiasm mutated in me to a growing anxiety. I had to admit that I was starting to believe this might be real. “Claire, this is crazy.”

Claire began her litany of facts, writing as she spoke. “The curse was laid over four hundred years ago by Manteo, the son of the werowance, the chief of the Croatan tribe, and Ananias Dare, son-in-law of the governor of the colony. They created a curse to bind the spirits of the hostile neighboring tribe.” Claire stopped to take a breath.

“And it went horribly wrong,” I added, with a groan. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. “They bound Manteo’s spirits instead. Along with the colony. The colonists and spirits were sent to the spirit world, but Manteo knew that the spirits were strong and would eventually break free. The colonists would likely return at the same time, but not alive. No human can go into the spirit realm and return to tell about it.”

Lightning flashed in the window and a clap of thunder shook the windows. I jumped at the timing. I’d forgotten a storm was rolling in.

Claire grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest. “Go on.”

“This is stupid. That man is crazy.” Sexy as hell, but crazy as a loon. Even though I’d recently established I was no expert on men, I was pretty sure this was a bad combination.

“Then try to remember what you can and confront him with it to prove him wrong.”

“You can’t reason with a crazy person, Claire.”

“What if he’s right?”

“This isn’t an episode of The Twilight Zone. He’s crazy.”

“Will you please just humor me?” She leaned over her crossed legs, her gaze begging me to cooperate. “I’ve waited for this day since you told me about the curse in the third grade.”

“And if Daddy ever knew I told you, he’d skin me alive.” I tried to ignore the memory of what had happened to my mother only days after I told Claire. What happened to Momma was a coincidence.

Claire frowned. “He told Myra.”

“Supposedly spouses are allowed.”

“I’d marry you, but I’m already engaged to Drew. Besides, you hardly told me anything.”

Maybe not, but it had been enough.

My hands shook. This was ridiculous. I’d spent several years thinking it was my fault that Momma died until I matured enough to realize the two events were unrelated. How could my mind jump back there so easily?

My mouth twisted into a grimace and I sighed. “If we’re going to do this, let’s get serious.” I leaned back with my elbows propped on the sofa arm behind me. “The legend says that the curse would be broken someday, when the two Keepers met. I find it hard to believe that in over four hundred years, their paths never crossed.”

“I have to admit that is strange. Your daddy says your family always lived close to or on Roanoke Island. But we both know that the Croatan’s land was farther south, on Cape Hatteras. Maybe they stayed down in that area.”

“Maybe.” I dug through my memories, sifting out what might be useful. It was hard to believe that there was hardly anything left of all the stories Daddy told me. When I searched for anything more than the basic facts, I hit a giant brick wall.

“How do you close the gate?”

“Honestly, other than knowing there’s some kind of ceremony, I have no idea.” I couldn’t remember anything about what the ceremony entailed. Or anything about the spirits, or how to protect myself. If, God forbid, this thing was real, something deep inside me told me I’d need to protect myself.

Claire shook her head. “Then you’re in a world of shit. Aren’t the spirits supposed to come back angry and vengeful?”

“Well, wouldn’t you be if you had been locked up for over four hundred years?”

“Good point.” We were silent for a minute before Claire flopped forward and grabbed my hand. “Seriously, this is all you can remember?”

“Do you not remember how all this curse business just vanished after Momma died? It was there, in my head, and then it wasn’t.” And whenever Daddy tried to teach me all over again, I’d shut him down. As a little girl who believed her mother died because of the curse—and because of me—I wanted nothing to do with it. I was grateful all of that nonsense died with my mother. Until now.

“Will you at least consider that this might be real?”

The evidence was beginning to stack up, but just because I’d found someone else who believed in the curse didn’t make it real. Kids all over the world believed in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and it didn’t make them real. “Two things could convince me the curse is real. The first is if the Lost Colony shows up out of nowhere. The colony is supposed to return when the gate to the spirit world is cracked open. No colony, no open gate.”

“And the second?”

“If I come face-to-face with a spirit.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Claire stayed late and watched a movie with me to help me get my mind off everything. By the time she left, I was exhausted, but the storm and my worry kept me awake for hours. When it was time to get up to go help Myra at the Dare Inn, I would have given anything to hit the snooze button and sleep in until noon.

The humidity made my hair a thick mess of waves, so I pulled it back into a ponytail and opened the front door, only to release a startled scream. Clamping a hand over my mouth, I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. Seven dead birds littered my front porch.

The birds were laid out in a weird pattern. Six of them had their feet all turned toward the center of a radiating spoked circle, their heads pointing out. Five were blackbirds and one was a robin. A cardinal lay in the center of the circle. Was this some sick joke? How did they get there?

The first person who came to mind was Collin. This had to be his way of tricking or scaring me into helping him do God knew what. I may have been close to believing in the curse in the dark of night with Claire, Manteo’s resident ghost chaser, but in the bright sunlight, I saw how ridiculous it was. I’d lost my breath because I’d freaked out. People had panic attacks. I was under enough stress lately that it would explain a panic attack even though I’d never had one before. As for the mark on my hand, Collin must put have put some kind of stamp on it when he grabbed me in the diner. He’d used permanent ink too, because no amount of scrubbing could get the mark off.

One thing was certain: whoever put the birds on my porch was sick and twisted. One more reason to be leery of Collin Dailey.

I had to figure out what to do with the dead birds. I couldn’t just leave them there. I had half a mind to call the police, but how would I explain my suspicions about Collin without telling them about the curse? I couldn’t. After my mother’s death, I swore I’d never tell another living soul about it again. That wretched curse was dying with me. I was going to have to deal with this on my own.

I went back inside and got a broom and a paper bag. Carefully, I swept the birds into the sack, gagging the entire time. When I finished, I locked up my apartment, making sure the deadbolt was set, then dumped the paper bag into the Dumpster before walking to the bed and breakfast.

When I reached the street corner across the street, I took in the sight of my family’s inn. It wasn’t fancy like the Doe Inn down the street, but it had its own quaint charm. The bed and breakfast was made up of two buildings: the main house, which had multiple rooms on the first and second floors, and the residential house, which held a few other guest rooms in the back as well as the laundry. The exterior clapboard was painted a crisp white with black shutters. Both buildings sported new roofs that had been installed about a month ago.

I’d grown up in the residential house with Momma and Daddy, and then with Myra when Daddy eventually remarried. The Dare Inn had been part of the Lancaster family since the eighteen hundreds, but whenever I saw the place, it filled me with dread. I couldn’t wait to move out after I graduated from high school. Nevertheless, I felt an obligation to help maintain it, even if that meant working for free and chipping in for repairs.

Dwight accused me of living off Daddy and Myra. He had no idea that I’d paid for that roof, as well as part of Daddy’s respite care so Myra could work part time at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site visitor center. If business at the Dare Inn didn’t start to bring in more money, Myra would be forced to sell it and Daddy would lose the only home he’d ever known. With his Alzheimer’s confusion, that might prove detrimental to his condition.

Myra stood on the back porch, cradling a cup of coffee. Her shoulder sagged into a post while she watched me walk up. “How did your date go last night?”

I was worried about her. She looked exhausted most days, and I was sure it was taxing to take care of the inn, and Daddy, as well as her job at the visitor center.

I moved past her with a fake growl. “Don’t ask.”

She pushed away and followed me in the back door. “That bad, huh?”

“Well, at least we got a partially paid roof out of it.” I instantly regretted my statement as soon as it left my mouth. I’d met Dwight fighting the insurance company to reimburse us for part of the repairs after the hurricane.

Myra’s face tightened with guilt. “Ellie, I’ll pay you back every cent.”

I gave her a smile. “Oh, Myra. You know I don’t mind. I’m just investing in my future.” We both knew that was a lie. Neither one of us expected me to inherit the inn. The bed and breakfast was on life support, and we were just trying to keep it going as long as possible. Which is why I worked there twice a day, every day, with no pay. I could get a job at the Tranquil House Inn if I wanted—and some days I really wanted to. I was tired of constantly being short on money.

Myra rested her hand on my arm. “You can always move back home, Ellie. You know you’re always welcome here.”

“Thanks, Myra. I know.” At times I was really tempted, despite my uneasiness with the place. I felt guilty not being here and helping more, but I loved my little apartment. It may cost a fortune, but it looked out into the sound. Besides, I liked my independence too. I wasn’t ready to give that up yet. But losing it all, the inn included, loomed in my future, closer than I liked.

I spent the next couple of hours changing bed linens, setting out clean towels, and starting the laundry. There were several commercial machines in the main house. We had a good routine worked out: I’d put everything into the washing machines and Myra or her friend Becky, who filled in while Myra worked, would transfer the loads to the dryers. By the time I showed up again, late afternoon if I had a lunch shift, they’d be ready for me. If I had a dinner shift, I’d hang around at the inn until the laundry was all done. It was a routine, a monotonous one, but to me, the definition of routine was boring.

When I arrived for my shift at the restaurant, Lila was filling salt and pepper shakers. She shot me a glare. “Thanks for getting me in trouble yesterday.”

I didn’t need any of her nonsense today. I’d already had enough nonsense in the last twenty-four hours to last me a lifetime. “I didn’t get you in trouble. Marlena knew my shift was over and made me leave.”

My answer didn’t appease her. She was still grouchy when the doors opened and the early lunch crowd converged.

The dining room was packed by 11:30, and the sidewalk outside was crowded with tourists waiting for a table. I was carrying a tray of food from the kitchen when Bob, the manager of the Kitty Hawk Kites store across the street, burst in the door.

“They found it! Flip on the news! They found it!”

Everyone turned toward him and stared. Bob stood in the doorway, red faced and wild eyed, his thinning hair messy and out of place. I’m sure the tourists were worried this crazed man was about to attack. In fact, if I hadn’t known Bob was usually a sedate, middle-aged man, I would have thought the same thing. That was what worried me.

Fear slithered up my spine, snaking out through every nerve in my body.

“Found what?” someone shouted.

But I knew.

I knew.

“The Roanoke colony!”

My tray fell to the ground, plates breaking, food splattering everywhere. The customers around me shrieked and jumped out of the way, and I knew that I should clean it up, but I was too lightheaded and shaky. One thought ran through my head like a bulldozer, shoving every other conscious thought out of its path.

It’s real. The curse is real.

“Ellie?” Lila’s face came into view. “You don’t look so good. Do you want to sit down?”

I nodded in my haze. Someone set a chair behind me and pushed me down.

“It’s on the news! Someone turn on the TV!”

The television on the wall in the corner flipped on and someone changed the channel until a local station came on. A news reporter stood in front of a taped-off area. Trees filled the background, as well as a crowd. “ . . . it’s too early to know if this is actually the legendary site, but researchers are hopeful. What is known is that the village they have discovered is completely intact.”

A male voiceover asked, “Mary, how is this possible? We’ve been told that archaeologists have already searched the spot where the village appeared. How could they miss it?”

The woman’s hand held her earpiece to her, and she turned to look at the taped-off area behind her. “Witnesses tell me that late yesterday afternoon when the park closed, there was nothing but a field here. But when groundskeepers came through this section around mid-morning, picking up fallen tree branches from the storm, they found the village. The current thought is perhaps the storm somehow uncovered the colony. If this turns out to be the actual Lost Colony, the experts are calling it the find of the century.”

“Am I seeing structures behind you? They look like thatch huts.”

“Phil, when I said intact, that’s exactly what I meant. Fully erected houses, tools, even food—in edible condition according to one source. It’s as though we’ve stepped back into 1587.”

“How can we be sure this isn’t an elaborate hoax?

The news reporter grimaced. “While that is a possibility, we’ve been told that multiple skeletal remains have been discovered, fully dressed in period clothing. Early reports suggest at least one hundred bodies have been discovered, including several children and a baby. If this is a hoax, it’s a morbid one indeed.”

“And they think this entire site was exposed by last night’s storm? That seems pretty incredible.”

“Part of the ground has been washed away, about two feet, and the village is now exposed. The storm is the only logical explanation anyone can come up with, though even then you must ignore the fact the huts would have stood taller than the ground before the dirt was washed away.”

The cell phone in my pocket buzzed. The excited voices of the restaurant patrons filled my ears. I could only sit and stare at the TV.

“Somebody get Ellie a wet towel!” Lila shouted. “She looks like she’s about to pass out.”

It’s real. Oh my god. It’s real.

The bell on the door jingled, and Claire stopped in the doorway, searching the room. When she spotted me, she hurried over. “I just heard.”

I looked up at her wide eyed and dismayed. “It’s real.”

She nodded, excitement radiating off of her.

My cell phone buzzed again, tickling my leg.

Lila pressed a wet paper towel to my forehead. “Why is this freaking you out so much? Business is going to explode.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.” My reaction was embarrassing any way you sliced it. I was a grown woman. I needed to get ahold of myself.

Marlena walked in from the back room and scanned the dining room. Customers were standing, the food I dropped was all over the floor. “What in God’s name is going on here?”

People all began to talk at once. “Lost Colony . . . Roanoke . . . over one hundred bodies . . . ”

Marlena’s eyes landed on me. While she was always known for being in control, I was a close second. Finding me pale and sitting on a chair, covered in food, had to be an even bigger shock than the reappearing village.

“What happened to you?”

“I’m fine. It was just a surprise.”

My cell phone buzzed again.

I stood and took a deep breath. So, I now had five days to close a gate to the spirit world.

But first I had a mess to clean up. “Lila, I’m going to clean this up. Why don’t you try to get everyone back in their seats? Marlena, can you tell Fred that he needs to remake all the meals from table nine?”

“Ellie.” Claire leaned her face into mine and whispered fiercely, “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting back to work.”

“You have a curse to fix.”

I grabbed Claire’s arm and dragged her to the back room. “How am I supposed to do that, Claire? I don’t have the slightest idea what happened, or how to fix it. What do you want me to do?”

Her gaze fixed over my shoulder, her eyes widening. She looked like she’d just spotted the Better than Sex chocolate cake Myra made for the customers at the inn. Her mouth dropped open and she lifted her hand and pointed. “There’s your answer, right there.”

I whipped my head around, and my stomach spasmed before falling to my feet.

Collin Dailey stood in the back entrance of the restaurant. The door was partially open, the sunlight casting a glow around him. He looked like an angel with his impossibly good looks and an aura of golden light. I felt my resolve weaken until he opened his mouth. Condescension dripped off his words. “Do you believe it now?”

My heart snapped closed like a Venus flytrap. Collin Dailey was an egotistical prick. But prick or no, unfortunately for me, I needed him.

He took my silence as agreement. “We need to go.”

I looked into the dining room, then back at him. “Now? I’m not done with my shift yet.”

His jaw dropped in disbelief. “You’re seriously telling me that saving humanity from vengeful sprits can wait until you finish your waitressing shift?”

“Well . . . ” When he put it that way, it seemed ridiculous. But I needed the money to pay my rent. I was going to be counting pennies as it was. Not to mention I couldn’t leave Marlena with the chaos out front.

He took two steps toward me and grabbed my arm. “Are you really this self-centered?”

I jerked my arm out of his grasp, my anger making my head buzz. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

His voice lowered. “I am a Curse Keeper, a descendant of Manteo and worthy to carry the title, while you, on the other hand, are a spoiled, self-centered fool who thinks this is all a joke.”

My eyes narrowed, and it was all I could do to keep myself from shoving him out the back door. “You don’t know the first thing about me.”

“You are shirking your responsibilities, and that’s all I need to know.”

I had to admit that it was hard to argue with that, but his attitude was infuriating. “Like it or not, you and I are stuck together until we figure out what we need to do.” I took a deep breath. “Now tell me what we need to do.”

All expression left his face. “You really don’t know?”

“No.”

“Any of it?”

“She knows a little,” Claire said, still eyeing Collin with a hungry look. “She’s not completely clueless.”

I’d almost forgotten she was there.

He cocked an eyebrow, turning his attention to her. “And you are . . . ?”

“Claire.”

He turned back to me. “You told someone?”

“How do you know she’s not my sister?” From what I remembered, it wasn’t against the rules to tell siblings about the curse, since it was a familial duty. The only problem was that Claire and I didn’t look anything like sisters. But then Myra and I didn’t look anything alike, and technically, she was my family.

He started to speak, then stopped, rubbing his forehead. “Okay, is she your sister?”

I could have lied, but I figured we were already on shaky ground. “No.”

“Then why—”

“She’s the only one who knows. She’s practically my sister, so what’s the difference? You say you want to fix this thing, but it looks like you want to spend all your time belittling me.”

“It doesn’t take much effort, trust me.”

I gasped. “Get out.”

His eyes widened. “What?”

I shoved his chest and he stumbled toward the back door. “I said get the hell out!”

“You can’t do that!”

“Oh yeah? Watch me!”

I pushed the bar on the back door and the door flung open. Collin stumbled backward and through the opening. I slammed the door shut and made sure it was locked.

“What did you just do?” Claire asked in disbelief. “You need him.”

My fury still burned in my chest. Quick to anger, slow to cool, Daddy always used to say about me. “No man’s going to talk to me like that and get away with it, Keeper or not.”

“So you’re going to just leave the gate open and let the rest of the spirits spill out?”

“No, of course not.” I shook my head. “Collin Dailey has been bred for this. He practically admitted as much last night. He’ll come crawling back, trust me on that. He needs me just as much as I need him. The ceremony requires the presence of both Keepers. He can’t do it without me. But if he wants my help, he’s going to have to eat a little humble pie, because I won’t tolerate him treating me like that again.”

Still, I remembered Daddy’s insistence that all hell would break loose, literally, when the gate opened, and that devastating consequences would occur if the gate wasn’t closed. Not that I could remember a single one of the consequences specifically. But the fear and unease that oozed from Daddy stuck with me, even if the details didn’t. Something terrifying was out there, and I let my temper send away the one person who could help me make it all go away.

Claire sucked in a deep breath and released it. “I sure hope you’re right, Ellie.”

I stared at the back door. I hoped I was right too.

CHAPTER SIX

It was late afternoon before Collin returned and I’d begun to think that I might have pushed him too far. I was just about ready to start scrambling for a backup plan, not that I could come up with one. I was by the kitchen returning a tray when I heard the tinkle of the bell, and I knew he was there.

Marlena walked up next to me, eyeing Collin as he scanned the room. “Well, look who just showed up. Tall, dark, and handsome.”

I had to admit that he did look sexy when he wasn’t wearing a scowl, and he was strangely without one now. While I’d hoped he’d return, I didn’t expect him to be so . . . happy about it. “He’s probably here for me.”

Her eyebrows rose in surprise.

What possessed me to admit that to her? Marlena was going to be majorly disappointed when she realized that Collin wasn’t here for the reason she thought. Not that she’d ever know the real reason.

She ambled over to him, heading Lila off at the pass, not that Collin didn’t give Lila an appreciative glance. But then who could blame him? While I had more of a girl-next-door look, Lila had long, thick dark hair, gorgeous dark eyes and skin, and a chest that drew attention from most bodies to walk in carrying a Y chromosome in their DNA strands.

“You want your table from yesterday?” Marlena asked, looking like a kid on Christmas. Marlena had been married for ten years and had three kids. She’d told me once that she had to get her romantic thrills living vicariously through me. Marlena wasn’t about to let this guy get away.

“Actually, I was looking for Ellie. Is she still working?”

Marlena turned in my direction, her eyebrows rising. Her mouth stretched into a conspiratorial grin. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“As a matter of fact she is, but she’s got another twenty minutes before her shift ends. How about I seat you at a table in her section? I’ll send her over to take your order.”

She led him to a table for two by the windows overlooking the street filled with tourists. With the discovery of the colony, Manteo was about to be overrun with curiosity seekers. When I thought about all those people hanging around with scary spirits breaking free, a chill ran up my spine.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to check who was calling. Myra. She’d tried to call me while I watched the news reports that morning, and she hadn’t answered when I’d called her back. I stepped into the back room, watching Collin from around the corner.

“I’ve only got a second,” she said. “Did you hear the news?”

“Yeah, the town’s going crazy about it.”

I heard someone call Myra’s name in the background. “How are you doing with all of this?” she asked. “Are you okay?”

I watched Colin leaning his forearms on the table, scanning the room. Part of me wanted to tell her about Collin and what had happened the day before, but she’d worry about me. Myra had enough to worry about. “Of course, I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“Well . . . the curse . . . ” The person calling her name was more insistent. “I have to go, Ellie.” I heard the hesitation in her voice.

“I’m fine. Go do what you need to do. If we’re busy in town, I can only imagine how crazy it is there. We can talk later.”

“If you need anything, you call me, okay?”

“Thanks, Myra.”

I wondered if Daddy had heard the news or if he was coherent enough to understand. I wished I’d taken more advantage of his lucid day. I’d completely blown it.

After returning my cell phone to my pocket, I held out my right palm and gasped. While the pink of the burn mark was fading, the harsh lines of a square surrounding a circle seemed to be darkening. I didn’t remember anything about what the mark was or what it meant from the stories. Why hadn’t I asked Daddy yesterday? Why had I been so stubborn in my disbelief? When I thought about how real this all was, my stomach flip-flopped from nerves. How was Ellie Lancaster, waitress and maid from Manteo, North Carolina, going to save the world?

Unfortunately, the answer was sitting at a table in the New Moon, staring right at me.

A slow smile spread across his face, and my stomach performed more acrobatics that had nothing to do with the curse, and everything to do with the hormones rushing through my body. I needed to get a grip and stop acting like a teenage girl with a crush. I needed to save the world, not find a boyfriend.

Although a boyfriend would be a nice side benefit.

As I walked toward him, I reminded myself that Collin was not boyfriend material. It didn’t take a genius to see that Collin Dailey was a “love ’em and leave ’em” kind of guy. He was a guy used to getting his way with the charm he exuded now. It was easier to catch a fly with honey, and I was currently Collin’s fly.

I stopped next to his table, trying to keep my face expressionless. If he was going to use his sexier-than-hell charm on me, I might as well make him sweat a bit. I put my hand on my hip and jutted it out while piercing him with my most withering gaze. Lesser men had tucked their tails and run, but Collin simply stared back, the corners of his mouth lifted in the barest hint of a smile. Damn him. “Can I get you something?”

His eyes narrowed seductively, and his voice lowered. “You know what I want.”

Holy shit. If I’d thought he meant what he insinuated, I might have had a mini orgasm on the spot. But last night Collin had made sure I understood what he was interested in, and it had nothing to do with the parts of me under my clothes that begged for attention.

How in the hell was I going to survive five days with this guy? My only hope was to shut the spirit world gate as quickly as possible.

Despite my discomfort, I held my ground, my gaze unwavering. “Since I didn’t take your order yesterday, I don’t remember what you wanted. Perhaps you could refresh my memory.”

He turned away with a grin and looked out the window. “You’re not going to make this easy are you?”

I didn’t answer.

When he turned back, his cocky grin was gone. In its place was a look of contrition. “It’s obvious we’ve started out on the wrong foot.” He waited for me to jump in and say something, but I continued my death gaze. “And I admit that I’m mostly to blame.”

“Mostly?” My tone was dry and sarcastic, but I’d answered, and my reply eased the tension in his shoulders.

He started to say something, then stopped. “Why don’t we forget our awful first impressions and start over.” He held out his right hand. “Collin Daily.”

Was this some trick or did he really want to try to start fresh? Did it matter? We weren’t going to prom. We were going to try to wrangle a gate to the spirit world closed. I looked down at his outstretched hand. He held it at an angle but I could see the outline of a mark on his palm. A reminder that the last time we’d touched had nearly suffocated me. What would happen this time? I crossed my arms. “Ellie Lancaster.”

He looked taken aback that I hadn’t accepted his hand. “You felt it too, when our hands touched yesterday? And the electrical current last night.”

I was surprised he admitted to a reaction. Bad boys like him didn’t like to share their feelings.

He smirked. “You don’t know what that was, do you?”

I didn’t answer. He knew I didn’t, and the smug look on his face told me how aware of that fact he was.

He leaned closer and his voice lowered. “That’s our power. The magic that runs through our blood.”

“It’s real,” I whispered in awe, despite my plan to remain aloof. I didn’t know about the electrical shock part, but Daddy had always talked about the power in our blood. This must have been what he meant.

“It’s very real.” Collin glanced around the half-full dining room. “I don’t think we should talk about this here.”

I nodded. “Give me a second.”

I left him at the table and found Marlena watching with a grin. “Hey, Marlena. Do you mind if I take off a bit early?” I tilted my head toward Collin.

Excitement filled her eyes. “What happened to Dweeb?”

I shook my head with a grimace. “History.”

She waved to the back. “Good. You need a real man like that fine specimen over there. Don’t blow it.”

I shot her an exasperated look. Why did she assume that I would blow it? But it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like this was the beginning of any kind of relationship. Collin and I would close the gate and then we were done.

Grabbing my purse from my drawer, I headed back to the dining room and found Collin waiting for me by the door. Lila stood next to him.

“How is it that I haven’t seen you around?” she asked, playing with the ends of her ponytail. “You a tourist?”

Collin blessed her with his sexy smart-ass grin. “Nope.”

“So where’re you from?”

Collin opened the door. “I’m living in Wanchese.”

“Wanchese? Are you a fisherman?”

I grabbed Collin’s arm and pulled him outside. “Bye, Lila.”

When the door closed behind us, I dropped my hold. “I need to change before we do anything.” I was still wearing the food I’d dropped hours ago.

“Good. We need to get your relic anyway.”

Oh, shit. My chest tightened with anxiety. And here we’d been getting along. “My relic? Sure.”

Collin followed me around the corner of the building into the alley behind the restaurant, then up the steps to my third-floor apartment. I usually didn’t mind the stairs, and now I was downright thankful for them. They bought me more time before I was forced to tell Collin the truth about the Ananias Dare artifact.

When we reached my front door, I paused and narrowed my eyes. I’d almost forgotten.

Confusion spread across his face. “What?”

“I don’t appreciate the calling card you left on my doorstep.”

His eyes clouded in confusion, then alarm. “Did something happen last night?”

I shook my head. So maybe it wasn’t Collin. “Someone left dead birds on my porch. I’m sure I pissed Dwight off, but he doesn’t seem the vindictive type. At least not with dead animals.”

Collin walked to the railing and looked over the edge. “How many birds were there?”

“Six birds in a circle with their feet pointed in. One robin and five blackbirds. A cardinal in the center.”

“Ellie . . . ” He stopped, an incredulous expression covering his face. “The gate to the spirit world was just opened, and you think your nerdy ex-boyfriend put dead birds in a pattern on your porch?”

No, I didn’t. But my mind wasn’t willing to make that leap yet. I needed to take this slow. Unfortunately, I didn’t think the spirits spilling out into the world gave a rat’s ass how slow I needed to go. I pushed the door open but hesitated in the entrance. “I don’t usually let strange men into my apartment.”

“You let in the guy who ran out of your apartment last night. I wouldn’t exactly call him normal.”

Collin had a point. Still, he made me nervous. Right now all of the curse nonsense was contained to the outside world. Once I let Collin in, the curse would permeate every part of my life, including my personal space.

Collin noticed my hesitation. “If you’d rather I wait outside, fine. But I’m not sure what you’re worried about. I have no interest at all in—”

I walked through the threshold and headed for my room. “I got it. No interest. No need to repeat yourself. Come in.” I looked over my shoulder. “And for the record, I’m not interested in you either.”

Collin followed me in and shut the door. As I shuffled through the pile of clothes on the chair in my room I tried to figure out how to tell him about my relic. There was no point to hiding the truth. He was going to be pissed, but it wasn’t like he liked me anyway. We had a job to do, and we needed the artifact to do it.

When I walked out, pulling the hem of my T-shirt over the top of my skirt, I found Collin sitting at the kitchen counter, his expressionless gaze on me.

“About the relic . . . ”

His eyes narrowed at my hesitant tone.

“I don’t exactly have it.”

His jaw tensed, but his tone was conversational. “And who exactly does?”

I took a deep breath. “A pawnshop.”

I expected him to yell. I expected him to have a fit. I didn’t expect him to stare at me as though I’d told him it was about to rain. Finally, he sat up a bit straighter. “And why is your artifact at the pawnshop?”

I walked around him into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Anything to keep from having to look at him. How much should I admit? The less the better. “I didn’t have enough money to pay my rent a few months ago. So I pawned it.”

When he didn’t answer, I went against my instinct and turned to look at him. I didn’t know him well enough to read his face. Was he angry but holding it in? Was his mind scrambling to figure out what to do?

“You pawned your artifact?”

I didn’t see any point answering. I’d just told him that I had.

“How could you be so irresponsible? Do you really not take this seriously?”

I threw my hands into the air in exasperation. “No! Until this morning, no I didn’t take it seriously. Who would?”

He stood, his hands clenched at his side. “I took it seriously. This was a sacred duty, Ellie. Passed down from generation to generation. It’s our obligation. Our right. How can you treat it so casually? So irreverently? Do you realize what’s at stake?”

My mouth opened, but I was at a loss for words. Every excuse I had had sounded so rational yesterday.

Collin shook his head, then stormed out the door, slamming it behind him while I watched, my mouth still gaping.

I sat on the stool Collin had just vacated and covered my face with my hands. Of course he was angry. Collin had bought the curse story hook, line, and sinker and had spent his life preparing to perform his duty. And then there was Ellie Lancaster, who not only refused to believe the curse but who pawned the very thing necessary to send the spirits back. He had every right to be angry and frustrated with me, so why was I so upset?

Because Collin only reinforced that I’d let my father down. The only thing my father had ever asked of me, the thing he’d tried so hard to prepare me for, and I’d thrown it all away. In my defense, any sane person would have questioned the story. Keepers had been waiting over four hundred years for this moment. Why would I think the curse would actually break while I was on duty, even if I believed it?

So why don’t you feel any better?

Fifteen minutes later Collin stood at my front door, calmer but more distant than before he left. “If you pawned it a few months ago, they should still have it.”

I nodded. I hoped so.

He looked into my eyes. “What’s your relic? What are we looking for?”

My breath caught in surprise. “You don’t know?”

“While I obviously know more than you, I don’t know everything. So no, I don’t know what your artifact is. But I do know we need it if we want to perform this ceremony. What is it?”

“A pewter cup.” I couldn’t believe Collin Dailey was admitting he didn’t know everything. That meant I could admit I didn’t know what his artifact was without looking like an idiot. “So what’s yours?”

“That sounds like a bad pickup line.”

I snorted. “If anyone would know about bad pickup lines, you would.”

His eyebrows rose, and he gave me a sardonic smile. “You think I need pickup lines?”

Cocky Collin was back. I wasn’t sure whether I preferred him to angry Collin or not. Damn my mouth. I knew for a fact this man didn’t need pickup lines, but I sure wasn’t going to admit that to him. “You didn’t answer my question. What’s your artifact?”

“A wooden bowl.”

That made sense. I did know the relics were part of the ceremony. I only knew that because when Daddy had realized he was losing his memories several years ago, he handed me the cup and told me it was the Dare relic and was essential to the ceremony. I took it grudgingly, but refused to listen to any more nonsense. “So what do you want to do?”

“It’s a little after four o’clock. Let’s go to the pawnshop and see if it’s still there.”

“Together?”

“Of course together. I could send you alone but honestly, I think we need to stick together as much as possible until this thing is done.”

“What? You don’t trust me to get it?”

“I don’t trust you to not get killed. Spirits are on the loose, and they don’t want to return to where they came from. They know we plan to send them back and they’ll do anything they can to keep that from happening.”

My breath caught in my chest. “And the only thing that can send them back is us,” I wheezed out. I hadn’t considered that aspect. How would the spirits even know who we were? How did one defend oneself against an angry spirit? I wasn’t about to ask the angry human in front of me.

He looked grim. “While I think you’re an irresponsible slacker, unfortunately, I need you. So get whatever you need and let’s go.”

Was he suggesting we’d be gone for the next six days or only for the evening? “To the pawnshop?”

A disgusted look crossed his face. “No, the moon. Of course the pawnshop. Are you always this dense?”

“Are you always this rude?”

He shrugged.

I could have countered but what was the point? I left Collin at the door and grabbed my purse. I wished I had time to talk to Daddy. But that would only help if he was having a good day, and those were becoming rarer and rarer. Wishing was wasted effort, something I’d learned years ago, on a cold stormy night when I was eight years old. Instead of wishing, I was putting my life in the hands of the stranger in front of me.

Why did I worry that I’d live to regret it?

CHAPTER SEVEN

I climbed into Collin’s beat-up pickup truck, wrinkling my nose as I shut the rickety door. The windows were down and the red vinyl seats were hot and tacky. I was putting my life into his hands with all the curse nonsense, and apparently that also meant I’d literally be putting my life in his hands with this rust bucket. “We can take my car. Really.”

The engine sputtered, and he turned to me and smirked. “Oh, ye of little faith.”

Why did I think his words had a double meaning?

The truck jerked backward as I tried to fasten my seatbelt. “Can you wait?”

“No. We don’t have time to waste.” He pulled onto Sir Walter Raleigh Street and I cast a glance at the inn as we passed by. Myra’s car wasn’t parked next to the house, not that I expected her to be there. I hoped Daddy’s home care nurse could stay longer. If I wasn’t working at the New Moon, I usually filled in for Myra when she couldn’t get home in time.

I turned my attention to the road. I didn’t want to explain Daddy’s situation to Collin. A wave of melancholy washed over me as I tried to remember Daddy as the vibrant man I knew from before my mother’s death, but it was so long ago that the memory had become fuzzy. I definitely did my best to block out the year after her death. Mostly what I remembered of Daddy pre-Alzheimer’s was after Myra came into our lives, filling our days with hope and love. I preferred not to think of Daddy as the broken shell he was now, and I didn’t like others thinking about him that way either. The man with the vacant stare wasn’t my Daddy.

“Well?” Collin asked.

I shook myself out of my stupor. “What?”

“So where are we going?” Collin asked.

“Kill Devil Hills.”

His eyebrows rose as he turned to look at me. “Kill Devil Hills?”

I shrugged, staring out the windshield. “I didn’t want anyone in town to know that I pawned it.”

His mouth pursed, and his brow wrinkled in disapproval. I shouldn’t care one way or the other what he thought, but to my annoyance, I did. Still, Collin Dailey didn’t get to stand in judgment of me. He didn’t know what I’d been through.

“So if my relic is a pewter cup and yours is a wooden bowl, what does that mean?”

Collin shifted in his seat and he gripped the steering wheel. “We use them in the ceremony.”

I’d already gathered that part. “I don’t know anything about the ceremony—”

“That’s a surprise.”

“So we get the relics, we perform the ceremony, and we shut the gate.”

“Something like that.”

“Care to elaborate?”

He shot me a nasty grin. “Not really.”

I was going to see Daddy the minute I got back. I’d learn to perform the damn ceremony without Collin Fucking Dailey. Well, maybe I couldn’t perform it without him, but if I knew more about the curse I wouldn’t be so dependent on him for answers. I got the sense that he’d only dole out information on a need-to-know basis. “So, if we can’t get my relic back, can we use something else?”

“We could try, but I doubt it would work.”

My stomach twisted. “I really hope the cup is still there.”

“Wait. How long was the contract for? Ninety days, right? So then you have an additional sixty to pay it off.”

I glanced at my lap and twisted the hem of my T-shirt.

“Ellie?” Collin sounded desperate. “Tell me the contract was for ninety days.”

I suddenly found the dirty gas station at the corner fascinating. “I could, but that would be a lie.”

“How long was the contract for?” His voice was strained as his knuckles wrapped around the steering wheel turned white.

“Thirty days.”

“And when exactly did you pawn it?”

I bit my lip. “Let’s just say my time is up.”

Collin pulled onto the highway and with the windows down, it became too loud to carry on a conversation without shouting, although I was pretty sure that Collin felt like yelling anyway.

Every time I left the island my chest tightened and today was no exception. The waves crashing in the sound calmed my rising anxiety, and I focused on their rhythm as Collin drove over the bridge linking Roanoke Island to the Outer Banks and then north through Nags Head and toward Kill Devil Hills.

June was high tourist season, and the traffic was brutal. We sat at a few stoplights in Nags Head, the heat near stifling in the unair-conditioned truck cab. Collin’s face was expressionless. It was hard to tell if he was still irritated with me or if he was stewing in silence. Still, the silence drove me batty. I couldn’t stand quiet, and the rumble of car engines around us didn’t count.

I put my elbow on the edge of the open truck window and snatched it back inside when I made contact with the hot metal. Rubbing my tender skin, I turned to face him. “So where’s your wooden bowl?”

He hesitated. “Somewhere safe.”

“If it’s safe, then I know it’s not in this truck.”

To my surprise, the corners of his mouth lifted into the barest hint of a smile.

“So where is it?”

His smile fell.

The truth dawned on me, and I sat up in excitement. “You’re not telling me because you don’t have it!” So much for Mr. Smugpants.

His eyebrows rose in disapproval. This look had become all too familiar in the short twenty-four hours or so I’d known him. “While it’s not in my immediate possession, I do know where it is.”

“And I know where mine is, yet you had a hissy fit over it.”

He shook his head with a smirk. “No, you have no idea if your cup is at the pawnshop or not.”

“So where’s your magical bowl?”

He paused. “Safe.”

“You said that already. Safe where?”

“The North Carolina Outer Banks Museum in Morehead City.”

“A museum? What? Has your family loaned it to them?”

“Something like that. And it’s safe behind glass in a display case. Who knows where yours is?”

His explanation sounded perfectly logical, but he wouldn’t look at me. He was hiding something. He said, “Your pawnshop is in Kill Devil Hills?”

Way to change the topic, Collin. I’d let it go for now and pull this out later when I needed leverage. “It’s not my pawnshop, and I already told you that the cup was there. The place is just off the highway. On the western side.”

We drove the rest of the way in silence, and I was glad that we made it with an hour to spare before the shop closed at six. I took a deep breath and I opened the door to the store, praying that the cup would still be there.

“Hey, Ellie!” Oscar called from behind the counter.

Collin leaned toward me with a smirk. “Not your pawnshop, huh?”

I shot him a glare. “It’s like Cheers here. Oscar knows everyone’s name.”

“You know his name?”

“Shut up.” I left him at the door and approached the store owner, dread burrowing in my gut. “Hey, Oscar, how’s it going?”

“Not too bad, Ellie. Business has been picking up after all that Hurricane Noreen mess.”

I stopped across from the burly man who stood on the other side of the case. Oscar was probably in his late forties or early fifties and had a full head of graying brown hair that went past his shoulders. He sported a bushy beard that rivaled the frizzy mess of hair hanging down his back. Rumor had it that Oscar had been a surfer in his youth, and the deep crow’s feet around his eyes helped substantiate the claim. Every time I came in he was wearing heavy metal band T-shirts and jeans, but despite his rough exterior, Oscar had a heart of gold.

“You got something new to pawn, Ellie?”

I cast a glance at Collin, who was poking around the store. Oscar kept an eye on him while talking to me.

“No, I was checking to see if you still had my cup.”

Oscar’s smile fell. “I held it as long as I could, Ellie.”

My stomach balled into a knot. “You sold it.”

He nodded.

Now what were we going to do? I didn’t really have a plan to get the relic back if Oscar did still have it, but it didn’t matter now. We were sunk.

Collin moved next to me in his quiet stealth. “How long ago?”

Oscar looked from Collin to me. “A friend of yours?”

“Kind of.”

Oscar kept his attention on me. “I sold it last week to a collector. I’m sorry, Ellie. I held it back two weeks longer than I should have.”

“That’s okay, I know. Thanks.” My breath stuck in my chest when I caught Collin’s ugly glare.

Oscar noted it as well and tensed.

I turned my back slightly to Collin. “Any chance you can tell me who bought it?”

Oscar shook his head. “Sorry, Ellie. I can’t tell you. Confidentiality laws.”

I knew it couldn’t be that easy, but had to ask anyway.

“Where’s your restroom?” Collin asked in a gruff voice.

Crossing his arms, Oscar gave him a condescending stare. “The restrooms are for customers only.”

“I’m a customer.”

“Ellie’s the customer here, not you. I don’t see you buying anything, only giving me lip.”

I shook my head with a groan. “Oscar, can you just let him go? Otherwise I’ll be stuck with his bad attitude all the way back to Manteo.”

Oscar tilted his head to the back. “I’m only doing this for Ellie. I don’t like the way you’re talking to her.”

“Thank you. How kind of you,” Collin muttered with a sarcastic tone before he headed toward the hall.

When he disappeared, Oscar’s voice lowered. “You in some kind of trouble, Ellie?”

“What?” My eyes widened when I realized what he was asking. “Oh, no. Nothing like that. Collin’s not my boyfriend or anything. We’re just doing some . . . business together.”

“You’re a good girl, and I don’t want to see you getting mixed up with the likes of someone controlling like him.”

“Don’t worry, Oscar. It’s a family thing.” Just not the kind of family thing he’d probably think.

“Is that why he’s here looking for the cup with you?”

I nodded. “He’s not happy I pawned it.” Talk about an understatement.

Oscar knew that the cup was a family heirloom. He’d had possession of it five times in the last four years. He’d only given me fifty dollars the first time, but once he realized how much I wanted it back, he increased the amount he paid me each time. But every cent I’d made over the last four months had gone to essentials like food and rent. And the roof for the inn. The damn hurricane hadn’t helped things. I may not have believed in the curse, but that didn’t mean the cup didn’t have sentimental value. Tears burned my eyes, and for the first time ever, I was thankful that Daddy probably wouldn’t be mentally competent to understand that I’d lost it.

“I’m sorry, Ellie.”

I offered him a teary smile. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault.” I laughed. “It’s not like I had the five hundred dollars plus interest anyway. I was just hoping you still had it.”

“I wish you could catch a break, girl.”

I sniffed, refusing to look where Collin had disappeared. “Me too, but what are you going to do? It’s family.” I tossed my hair and forced a smile. “Not to worry. I’ll just find a rich husband to take all my money troubles away.”

Collin emerged from the back and stared at me with a withering glare. I knew that he’d heard me. Did he really think I meant it? Who the hell cared what he thought? For all I knew, the world was about to end, and I really didn’t want to be anywhere around Collin Dailey when it happened. Too bad we’d both be at ground zero. Together. Yippee.

“Marry me, Ellie Lancaster.” Oscar winked. “Let me take you away from all of this.”

Putting my hands on my hips, I gave him a saucy leer. “You know you don’t have enough money for me, Oscar.”

It was a running joke that started the first time I brought the cup in to pawn. When Oscar had only offered fifty dollars, I had protested, saying I needed more money. Oscar had teased that he couldn’t give more for the cup, but he’d marry me instead. He was joking, and I knew it. He was old enough to be my father, and in some strange way had become like a father figure to me after I’d told him my financial tale of woe during my second pawn. Especially after I confessed Daddy’s condition.

Collin moved toward the door, completely ignoring me. He was probably pissed we didn’t know where the cup was. But that didn’t give him the right to be rude.

“You sure you’re all right with him, Ellie? I’ve seen his kind before and I don’t like him. He’ll use you and throw you away.”

“I’m not a real fan, either. But unfortunately I’m stuck with him for a few days.”

“Family or not, if he gives you any trouble, call me. I mean it.”

The serious look in his eyes told me that he did. “Thanks, Oscar.” I leaned over the counter and grabbed his arm, pulling him toward me so I could kiss his cheek. “You’re the best.” I dropped my hold and walked to the front door.

“My offer still stands, girl.”

I smiled playfully. “Your marriage proposal or taking care of cranky men?”

“Both.”

Laughing, I blew him a kiss. “Better be careful. One day I might accept.”

Collin leaned against the hood of the truck with crossed arms, watching me with a condescending glare. Great, more judgment from the high and mighty Collin Dailey.

“Look, I know we don’t know where the cup is—”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Who says we don’t know where it is?”

My feet froze as my eyes narrowed. I knew that he’d heard Oscar. “The cup was sold, and we don’t know who bought it.”

He uncrossed his arms and pulled a small square of paper from his pocket, waving it before tucking it back inside. “Get in the truck. We’re headed to Rodanthe.”

I gaped in disbelief. “Is that what I think it is? How did you get it?”

He shook his head and headed to the driver’s door. “Oh ye of little faith.”

I really wished he’d stop saying that.

CHAPTER EIGHT

“How did you get that address?” I asked before I’d shut my door.

He gave me a lopsided grin. “Some things are better left unknown.”

But I knew that Collin had to have slipped into the back and gotten the name and address while I was talking to Oscar. I felt sleazy and slimy even if I hadn’t done anything wrong. If Oscar ever found out, he might think I’d been part of Collin’s scheme. And while I didn’t care what the jackass next to me thought of me, I did care what Oscar thought. Nevertheless, there was nothing I could do about it now, and we really did need to find the cup.

This was what really paved the way to hell: bad deeds reasoned away as good intentions.

No, the spirits being unleashed upon the world were what paved the road to hell, and it was up to Collin and me to make sure that didn’t happen. And that included getting the cup.

“So it’s in Rodanthe.”

“That’s who he sold it to, a Mrs. Evelyn Abernathy in Rodanthe, North Carolina.”

“Since Rodanthe’s on the beach, it’s going to take forever to get there with the tourist traffic.”

He shrugged. “At least we have a lead.”

We drove for ten minutes of agonizing silence. I knew that Rodanthe had to be over an hour drive with the traffic. I was never going to be able to stand the quiet. “Does your radio work?”

His eyes widened. “What?”

“The radio.” I pointed to the dashboard. “Does it work?”

“Well, yeah . . . ”

I leaned over and switched it on, turning the knob when static burst through the speakers. I tuned in to a Top 40 station.

A frown pinched his mouth. “I don’t really want to listen to that.”

Still hunched forward in front of the radio, I looked up into his face with an expression of mock innocence. “Does that mean you’d rather chat? Want to tell me what you know about the curse?”

His face scrunched with a grimace. “By all means, listen to the radio.”

I sat back and grinned. “Thanks, I will.” Then I began to sing along with the song. I laughed at Collin’s pained look. “Perhaps you’d rather listen to country?” I shouted over the wind and the music.

“I prefer the silence,” he shouted back.

I shrugged with a grin, singing the rest of the way to Rodanthe, as loudly as possible and with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. Collin appeared irritated by the curious looks of passengers in the cars passing by, but I didn’t care. Life was too short to go out acting all stuffy and self-important. I’d rather go out singing, even if I was slightly off-key.

When we drove through Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, my stomach twinged with butterflies. We were close to Rodanthe, and we had a name and an address but no plan on how to go about retrieving the cup. I turned down the radio and looked at Collin. “So I take it you have some kind of plan?”

“What?” His eyes widened in mock surprise. “I think you said something, but I’m deaf from being trapped in this truck with loud music and bad singing.”

“I’m not that bad.”

“Tell that to those dead birds on the side of the road. They heard your singing and dove out of the sky, head first into the pavement to escape the torture.”

I looked behind us at the multiple seagull bodies lining the road. I hadn’t noticed them before. “Very funny. Why are they really dead?” When I thought about the dead birds on my porch, the hair on my arms prickled.

“Honestly?”

“Of course, honestly. I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”

His mouth twisted in uncertainty. “The impression you give me is that you want to know as little as possible. Otherwise why would you hardly know anything about the curse?”

I started to protest but stopped. I could see how he’d come to that conclusion. And if I were honest with myself, there was a bit of truth to his statement. “You haven’t made it easy for me.” I held up a hand when he started to protest. “It’s not a condemnation, just a statement of how I felt. I’m on the defensive with you.”

He was silent for a moment before he shifted his weight. “We haven’t exactly gotten off to a great start.” He grinned. “Maybe we should start again.”

“You said that this afternoon. Right before you tried to prove your superiority over me.”

Amusement filled his eyes. “It’s not difficult to demonstrate my superiority over you.”

“And this is your way of starting over?”

“Okay, let’s try again.”

“Or we just call it hopeless and tolerate each other until this thing is done.”

He smirked. “That works too.”

Why did I get the impression that was his intention all along? “You still need to explain the feeling I got from touching you yesterday.”

His amusement turned to a seductive look. “I don’t usually have to explain my effect on women.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, Lordy. Please. Spare me the horrific details.” I shifted in the seat so I could get a better look at him, pulling my skirt down to cover my thigh. “You said it’s from the power in our blood.”

His grin turned wicked.

I put up a hand. “Please. I really don’t want to hear anything pornographic, so let’s stick to the Curse Keeper power in our blood. I take it we need this power to close the gate?”

The teasing look on his face turned to a scowl. “What the hell do you know? Anything?”

I opened my mouth to answer with a snappy retort but caught myself. As much as the man sitting next to me irritated the shit out of me, I needed him. He had all the answers, and I had none. Considering his position, his condescension was justifiable. I only had to endure him until we closed the gate, and then I never had to see him again. I paused. I never have to see him again, right? Crap. I couldn’t begin to consider what my responsibilities might be after we closed the gate. Now didn’t seem like a good time to ask. I was sure Collin was eager to get rid of me too.

Traffic slowed to a crawl, and Collin glanced at me before returning his attention to the road. “We need our combined power to shut the gate and/or contain the gods of creation and the four wind gods. We’ll be able to contain the lesser spirits on our own. Or at least I hope.”

“Oh.” This was real. Spirits were emerging from their realm, roaming the earth, and I was really part of containing them. I gulped.

He sighed and shook his head. “We need to work on getting the cup back.”

I took a few seconds to calm down. “So why do you think those dead birds might have something to do with all of this?”

“I don’t know for sure, but the storm last night was probably caused by one of the wind gods. He’s probably who unearthed the Lost Colony.”

“So what does that have to do with the dead birds?”

“I suspect the wind god sucked the life out of them.”

I grabbed the dashboard. “Wait. What do you mean sucked the life out of them?”

“Ellie, these spirits have been locked up a long time. Not much is known about them, but we do know that they were meant to straddle the earthly and spiritual worlds. They should never have been locked up in one realm or the other. Perhaps they’re weak from being gone so long and need the life force of the animals to renew their energy.”

“What’s to keep them from sucking the life out of humans?”

“Honestly?” He paused, and I held my breath, waiting for his answer. “Nothing. Again, this is speculation. Lots of information has been passed down the Manteo line, although we’ve known all along it wasn’t gospel. But we suspected the spirits would reenter the world in weakened states and need to reenergize.”

“And they reenergize by killing things?”

“Energy is never created, Ellie. It flows from one object to another. It’s a simple law of physics. For an object or entity to acquire energy, it has to come from somewhere.”

This suddenly became very real, very fast. “So we have to keep the spirits from killing people?”

“We have some time. They’ll start with weaker creatures, creatures they can control, and work their way up.”

I swallowed, letting his words settle in my head. I was way out of my element here.

“My grandmother believed that’s the real purpose of the week the Keepers have to renew the curse. That it would take the gods a week to recover their full potential, but once they reach their full potential, nothing could close the gate.”

“So you’re telling me that the sooner we send these things back, the less havoc they’ll cause?”

He shrugged. “Pretty much.”

“And the dead birds on my porch? They were in a pattern.”

He sat up, twisting his mouth. “I think it was a message to you.”

“What kind of message?”

“I think it’s a countdown. Six birds—six days. The robin signifies today and the blackbirds are the five remaining days. The cardinal . . . ” His voice trailed off.

I didn’t want to think too hard on what a red bird signified. My mouth turned dry and I swallowed. “So one of the gods left the birds?”

“One of the gods or maybe a spirit, but it was definitely a message.”

“Did you get one?”

“No.” His mouth puckered, and he actually looked unhappy about it.

We rode in silence the rest of the ten-minute drive. I didn’t feel like chatting, and Collin didn’t seem inclined to share any more information. Not that I could have handled any more information. I was overwhelmed with the little he’d shared. I needed to focus on retrieving the cup. Then I could think about confronting life-sucking spirits. I tried not to think about what would happen if we didn’t recover my artifact.

When we reached Rodanthe, Collin turned down a side road, toward the ocean. On the Outer Banks, you didn’t have to drive very far on either side of the highway before you reached the ocean or the sound. But it soon became apparent that Mrs. Evelyn Abernathy had money. Her two-story house sat right on the beach, and if the structure had been damaged from the storm months earlier, it had already been repaired.

Collin parked his truck across the narrow lane and leaned over his steering wheel, watching the house.

“Got a plan?” I asked. “Because I don’t have enough money to buy it back. How much did she pay anyway?”

“Eight hundred dollars.”

Eight hundred dollars. I thought Oscar was being kind when he gave me five hundred. “Do you have eight hundred dollars?”

He gave me an amused look. “What do you think?”

I wasn’t sure why he looked so happy. We were screwed. I bet she wouldn’t take a hot check, not that I could write one. I’d run out of checks months ago.

Collin pointed toward the house. “Look, there’s no car in the carport. I bet she’s not home.”

“So we wait?”

“No, I’ll go up and check it out. Stay here.” He opened the door.

Something about the way Collin answered set me on edge. “I’m coming with you.”

He stopped and pinned me with his dark gaze. “It would probably be better if you wait in the truck.”

We had a momentary standoff before I lifted my chin. “It’s my cup. I should go with you.”

Turning his back to me, he mumbled, “Suit yourself.”

I followed him up the steps to the back door. When we reached the deck, I stared at the ocean, taking in the sea breeze and whooshing sound. Daddy used to say that we were born of the sea. Despite living next to the ocean my entire life, I’d hardly been on it, yet every time I was next to it like this, I felt something, a sense of belonging and rightness. But whatever the feeling was, it was even stronger today, and the mark on my palm tingled, especially the closer I stood next to Collin. Could my connection to the sea come from the curse?

Collin knocked on the back door and stuffed his hands in his back pockets as he glanced around the beach. While my gaze was focused on taking in the scenic view, I could tell his was methodical. What was he up to?

We waited for several seconds before Collin knocked again.

“She’s probably not home,” I said, stating the obvious.

He continued his scan of the area. “Looks like it.” He then peered through the large glass windows overlooking the sea.

Against my better judgment, I glanced too. I’d never been inside a beach house, though it was my dream to live in one. My financial path made that dream nearly impossible and despite all my teasing with Oscar about marrying for money and my wasted efforts with boring men, I knew I’d never settle for anything less than what my parents had. My mother and Daddy, not Myra. Before Daddy got sick, he and Myra had had a comfortable relationship, which as an adult I realized was exactly what Daddy needed after Momma’s death. But Momma and Daddy had had fireworks. Even as a little girl, I’d known their relationship was different than my friends’ parents. What my parents had was special.

But I didn’t see any men with money waiting to set me ablaze, so when the opportunity presented itself for me to get a look inside the house, I couldn’t resist the temptation.

The inside was neat and tidy, the walls lined with white wood paneling. Pale blue and white furniture filled the living room. The kitchen in the back had white cabinets and pale gray marble counters. Bookshelves flanked one wall of the living space, stuffed with books and knickknacks. One in particular caught my eye, and I sucked in my breath.

Collin jerked his head in my direction. “What is it?” But one look at my face told him everything. “You see it? Where?”

I pointed toward the shelf, second from the top on the right side. The ugly pewter cup sat on the pristine white shelves looking old and out of place.

He lowered his voice. “Ellie, why don’t you go back to the truck.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. “Why?”

“Will you just do as I ask?”

“No.”

“Ellie.”

“No. What are you going to do?”

He closed his eyes and ran a hand over his forehead. “You really don’t want to know.”

I leaned toward him, my eyes wide. “You’re going to steal it!”

“Shh!” He was next to me in half a second, his hand on my arm. He stepped in close, pressing me back against the door. I was acutely aware of his chest against mine. My body tingled with expectation. Both physically and supernaturally.

Collin felt it too, his eyes widening, his pupils dilating. His chest expanded as he took a deep breath. He seemed to recover his senses after several seconds but stayed tight against me, his hand still wrapped around my arm. “We need the cup, Ellie. You admitted that you don’t have enough money to pay the woman, and I know that I don’t.”

I knew we were desperate, but I couldn’t resort to this. “No, Collin. We’re not going to steal it. I’m not stooping to that level.”

“Be reasonable, Ellie. You know this is the only way.” He leaned close into my ear and his hand reached for my face.

My heart thudded against my rib cage. “Stop it, Collin.”

His hand dropped, but he remained inside my personal space. He grinned, but it was fake. “I’m giving you a piece of advice, Ellie, although I’m not sure why, so listen close: I’m not to be trusted. I know what I want and I’ll do anything to get it. Understand?”

I took a deep breath. “I know you’re not to be trusted. I’ve known since the moment you walked into my restaurant, but like it or not, I’m stuck with your condescending, know-it-all ass. So let me give you a piece of advice: If you ever touch me again, I’ll coldcock you. Understand?”

A real grin spread across his face and he lifted his hands in surrender as he took two steps backward.

“We are not stealing the cup, not until we’ve tried talking to her first. Give me tonight to come up with the money, and we’ll come back tomorrow to pay her. And if that doesn’t work, then we’ll consider other alternatives.”

He shook his head. “That won’t work. If the cup is stolen after we approach her, she’ll know it was us.”

“I don’t care. We’ll try it my way first or we won’t do it at all.”

He took a step closer, but kept a foot between us. “You don’t mean that, Ellie. You won’t turn your back on all of this now that you know the curse is real, and I’m counting on that. Remember those dead birds on the side of the road and on your porch? Guess who’s their ultimate meal of choice? They crave power and energy, and who has more power than anyone else on earth? The Keepers of the curse that sent them away. When they think they’re strong enough, they’ll come looking for you, Ellie Lancaster.”

My breath came in short pants. “Is that meant to scare me?” If it was, he was doing a really good job.

“You should be scared. And this has only just begun.” He laughed and looked toward the ocean. “Fine. I’ll give you your one night, and we’ll come back tomorrow, but if it doesn’t work, we do things my way from here on out. Agreed?”

Did I have a choice? If I were cornered by a spirit and had to decide between stealing the cup or dying, I’d steal the cup without hesitation. But I wasn’t cornered by an evil spirit. At least not yet. “Agreed.”

He slunk down the stairs in his quiet way. I wondered if he were a ninja. The descendent of a Croatan Indian chief, a ninja. If I weren’t so freaked out, I would have laughed.

Once I knew he was at the bottom of the steps, I leaned over the deck railing to catch my breath. If Collin and I were supposed to be working together, why did he consider me the enemy?

CHAPTER NINE

After I got my wits about me, I found Collin waiting in the truck. He didn’t say a word, merely started the engine and drove back to Manteo. An accident blocked the highway for a while, making the drive home uncomfortably long. Whenever I tried to ask Collin for more details about the curse, he refused to tell me anything, saying, “It was your responsibility to learn this already. So for now, I’ll tell you what you need to know when I think you need to know it.”

I couldn’t help wondering if Collin’s decision to keep the information from me was less about proving his superiority and more about ensuring I’d be as uninformed as possible so I’d be at his mercy. But then again, weren’t we working on the same side?

We passed the dead birds on the side of the highway, and I couldn’t help thinking that could be me in a few days.

But I’m a Curse Keeper.

I was destined to be one of two people who would fight the spirits. I just needed to learn how.

When Collin pulled his truck into the parking lot in front of my apartment, the sun had begun to set. I got out and started up the stairs without a word, surprised when Collin followed behind me.

“That isn’t necessary,” I said over my shoulder. “I’m perfectly capable of going upstairs on my own.”

“It’s getting dark, Ellie. Don’t you feel the spirits lurking in the shadows?”

A retort would have been so easy, if I hadn’t felt the presence of something just out of reach. If I was still having trouble believing all of this was real, the moving shadow in the corner of my porch would have convinced me.

I unlocked my door with a shaky hand.

Collin stood next to me, but keeping his distance. “Ellie, listen to me. When you go inside, don’t come out until the sun comes up.”

The blood rushed from my head to my feet. I looked up into his anxious face. “Why?”

His gaze locked onto mine. “You know why.”

I turned toward him, the keys still in my hand. “What’s out there, Collin?”

“You’ll be safe tonight. If you stay inside.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

His voice lowered. “You know what’s out there.”

But I didn’t. Not really. I knew there were creator gods, four wind gods, one of which probably killed a bunch of birds, and other even lesser spirits, but it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough to help me protect myself.

“I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Now go inside and close the door.”

“But—”

He leaned an arm against the wall. “I realize you don’t trust me and I don’t blame you. I haven’t really given you reason to. But trust this: I need you, and I need you alive. If I didn’t think you’d be safe tonight, I’d stay with you. But I don’t believe the spirits are strong enough to do anything to you. Not yet. In a few days, they’ll be strong enough to roam during the day as well, but you’re okay tonight. Now I need to go take care of some things, and I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Then we’ll get your cup, one way or the other.”

I nodded, a lump of fear in my throat.

“Now go inside. And don’t open the door for anyone until the sun comes up.”

Paralyzed with fear, I did what he said, locking the deadbolt with fumbling fingers after I went inside. Like a deadbolt would keep spirits outside. I froze. If deadbolts didn’t keep them out, why would a door?

I reached for the doorknob, preparing to go after Collin, but his warning echoed in my ears.

Great. I was screwed.

Not only could I not run after Collin, I couldn’t go talk to Daddy. And I couldn’t look for ways to raise a thousand dollars, which I suspected was what it would take to buy the cup back. Or more.

Maybe that was Collin’s real motivation for keeping me in my apartment all night. To keep me uninformed and penniless. But Collin didn’t know that Daddy had Alzheimer’s. And I still had a phone and the Internet. Unless he cut my lines. I shook my head. Now I was bordering on paranoia.

Right, because believing that evil spirits are out to get me isn’t paranoid.

What the hell had happened to my life?

The real question was why didn’t Collin teach me to defend myself against any malevolent spirits that might come my way? Why just tell me to stay hidden? Paranoia or not, I didn’t trust him. Which brought up another point. In Rodanthe, Collin had told me not to trust him, then a few hours later on my front porch he told me that I should trust him. So which was it?

I was siding with not trusting him. So did that mean I could go out or not?

I needed to talk to Daddy, but given his condition, that rarely went well over the phone. If nothing else, I could talk to Myra and see if she knew anything about the colony site.

I snuggled into my overstuffed sofa and called Myra. She answered her cell phone on the first ring. “Ellie, are you okay? I’ve been calling you for hours, and you never showed up to the inn this afternoon.”

I glanced at my phone and realized I hadn’t turned it off vibrate after I left the restaurant. And my phone had been in my purse. And for some reason, it had completely slipped my mind that I needed to work at the inn. “Sorry, Myra. I was in Rodanthe.” Although I rarely left Roanoke Island, Rodanthe was still within my comfort zone. Still, it was unusual behavior for me, and Myra would know it.

After a second pause, she asked, “Do I want to know why you went to Rodanthe?”

And tell Myra that I’d hawked Daddy’s precious cup? “You probably don’t. Tell me about your day.”

She sighed. “Which part? The crazy day dealing with the press and curious onlookers or your dad when I got home?”

I sat up straight, leaning over my knees. “What’s wrong with Daddy?”

“Nothing, Ellie. I didn’t mean to scare you. He was just agitated when I got home.”

“So he’s having a bad day?”

“Had. It was so bad I gave him a sedative and put him to bed early.”

“Why was he so worked up?”

“The curse.”

I took two deep breaths before I could continue. “What did he say?”

“Oh you know, the usual, but somehow he knew the colony had been found, even though I specifically told his home-care worker to keep it from him. He kept mumbling that the curse had been broken.”

My blood rushed in my ears. “Anything else?”

Myra hesitated. “Why the sudden interest? You usually don’t want to hear anything about the curse.”

I shrugged before I realized she couldn’t see me. “Oh, I don’t know. The Lost Colony discovery is making me feel guilty that I didn’t indulge Daddy more with the curse stuff.”

“Well, I for one am glad you didn’t. I can’t help but wonder if all this curse belief drove your father mad.”

We both knew it wasn’t true. Alzheimer’s didn’t work that way, but it was always nice to have something to blame. The curse was a convenient and ever-present scapegoat.

“So why do they think the colony just appeared out of thin air?”

“It’s amazing you put it that way. I heard several archaeologists use that exact phrase today. They said they had examined that site a couple of years ago. They performed ultrasounds of the site and found nothing. And now it’s all just there. It’s unbelievable.”

I couldn’t help thinking about my mother. She would have loved this. She’d devoted her life to finding the colony to prove my father’s belief in the curse wrong. I still found it surprising that two people with such different beliefs could have been so crazy in love. “What do they think happened? Why is it suddenly there?”

“The storm? It’s as good a guess as any, but they would expect the huts and artifacts to be covered with dirt and mud. It’s as though the village had always been there, undisturbed for over four hundred years. They’ve never seen anything like it. For all they know it’s an elaborate hoax, but the logistics of setting up something like this, especially in about twelve hours, is incomprehensible.”

“Huh.”

“So why were you in Rodanthe?”

I knew she wouldn’t drop it. I could either tell her the truth or a partial version. I chose partial. “I was there with a guy.”

She paused. “Dwight?” The tone of disappointment in her voice told me she knew it wasn’t him. She probably figured I’d just moved on to the next of many men.

“No.” After a few seconds of silence I answered. “Collin.”

“Collin who?”

“Collin Dailey. I met him at the restaurant.” What on earth possessed me to tell her that I went to Rodanthe?

“When did you meet Collin?”

“For heaven’s sake, Myra. I’m twenty-three years old.”

She sighed. “I know. I know. It’s just that I worry about you.”

“And I love you so much for caring. Don’t worry about Collin. We’re just friends.”

“You went to Rodanthe with a guy who’s just a friend? A guy you just met?”

“Myra.”

“Okay. Okay. I’m butting out.”

“Sorry that I didn’t come do my job today. I hope that’s not why Daddy was upset. He’s used to seeing me every day. I have to work tomorrow night so I’ll make sure to see him in the morning.”

“Ellie, I’m not mad about you not showing up this afternoon. Heaven knows you do more than your share around here. Just call me next time so I don’t worry about you, okay?”

I closed my eyes. I was so lucky to have Myra in my life. If it weren’t for her, I’d practically be an orphan. “I love you, Myra.”

“I love you too, sweetie. Now get some sleep.”

“You too.”

I hung up the phone, worried about Daddy, but more worried about where I was going to come up with the money to buy back the cup. I spun my head around, searching the room. Anything of worth had already been pawned, and I wasn’t asking anyone for a loan. I would have pawned my car, but I doubted I’d get five hundred dollars for it, let alone eight hundred or more. And then how would I get around?

I pushed the worry to the back of my mind. Maybe I’d come up with a solution if I thought about something else. I changed into pajamas and heated up a can of soup before snuggling up with an afghan and my laptop on the sofa.

I searched the Internet for anything I could find about the curse or Croatan spirits. There was nothing about the curse—no surprise—but almost as little about Croatan spirits. That meant I was dependent on Daddy and Collin for answers. I sure hoped Daddy would be having a good day the next morning.

Giving up, I put all the dirty dishes I’d acquired the last few days into the dishwasher and turned it on. Who said I wasn’t responsible? Possibly the monster pile of laundry in my closet, but I decided it was best to take baby steps to responsibility. No sense rushing headlong into things.

As I moved toward my bedroom, looking forward to my comfy bed, I heard a moan outside my front door. I froze, my feet stuck to the floor, the mark on my hand tingling. I shook my head. This was stupid. It had to be the wind, which had picked up since the sun had set.

Only I heard the sound again, and it definitely sounded like a moan. I moved to the peephole and didn’t see anything. Just when I decided it was my imagination, the moan grew louder, sounding like someone in pain.

“Who’s out there?” I shouted through the door.

No answer.

My heartbeat raced out of control. Don’t be ridiculous. Collin is making you paranoid. I took a deep breath. “Who is it?”

No answer. Then the moan returned, louder than before.

“This isn’t funny, Claire! Stop it right now!”

“Curse Keeper.” A low groan floated through the door.

Could it be a spirit? The tingle in my hand had turned to a burn. I unbolted the door and opened it a crack.

A silver, shimmery orb floated in front of me, several feet off the ground. The door flew open out of my hands, the sudden force sending me stumbling backward.

I regained my balance and tried to shut the door, but it wouldn’t budge. I half hid behind the door as my heart leapt into my throat.

The orb shimmered brighter. “I am Aposo and I bring you a message from Ahone. He warns that the gods are upset with you.”

Who was Ahone? “Why are they upset with me? I didn’t do anything. I wasn’t the one who locked them up for four hundred years.”

“But you are the daughter of the sea and you plan to close the gate.”

“Look, it’s not personal.” The daughter of the sea? What was that? There was so much I didn’t know.

“The world is out of balance. The spirits are weak. The Manitou cries out at the injustice. You must reseal the gate.”

My jaw dropped. “What?”

“Ahone fears for his creation. He sacrificed to save his children before, and he will sacrifice again, but this time at great cost. You must do everything in your power to reseal the gate, but be warned: Okeus will do everything within his power to stop you.”

Shit, who was Okeus?

“Your door is marked and will protect you, but you must learn to create the markings yourself. You must learn to protect yourself when you leave your hallowed space.”

My door was marked? I cast a quick look at it, afraid to take my eyes off the spirit. The door was covered with primitive symbols, drawn in something like charcoal, all the way around the perimeter. Did Collin put those there?

“Okeus will send his own spirit with a message: Join with Okeus or die. But Ahone warns you that to join with Okeus is death, not just in the earthly and the spiritual realms. Ahone wishes for his beloved children to have eternal life.”

“Will he protect me?”

“He cannot interfere except to seal the gate.”

I took several deep breaths. I needed to keep it together and not lose my head. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Close and reseal the gate.”

Tears of frustration burned my eyes. “But I don’t remember how to close the gate!”

“The gate must be sealed before the beginning of the seventh day.”

“You’re not listening to me! I don’t know how to close the gate!”

The orb began to fade. “You have until the beginning of the seventh day.”

And then it was gone.

The magical hold on the door was gone and I staggered, moving quickly to shut it. So I could expect a visit from Okeus’s messenger? In my research, I hadn’t come across either name. I locked the deadbolt, grabbed my laptop, and climbed into bed, making sure the bedroom window was locked first, even though it was three stories off the ground. Obviously, spirits didn’t have any trouble floating.

Since Okeus seemed like my biggest concern, I searched for him first. It took a couple of attempts before I spelled Okeus—pronounced Okee—correctly to get a hit. On the few sites I found with information, words like malevolent and warlike and my personal favorite, wrathful, littered the page. Ahone—the pronunciation was guessed to be Ah-hone—was always mentioned hand in hand with Okeus and was described as the creator god. Ahone was considered benevolent and peace loving. Some historians thought he might also be the Great Hare, who created man and sent him to the four corners of the earth.

Along with Ahone were the four wind gods, who ate the Great Hare’s giant deer. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or bad, but since Ahone’s messenger insisted Ahone wanted me to shut the gate, I was guessing bad.

How the hell was I supposed to protect myself from a wrathful god and four wind gods? The websites said the Native Americans offered sacrifices to appease Okeus, but I sure wasn’t doing that. If I was forced to choose sides, I was obviously running to the side of the peace-loving god. And hopefully hiding behind him.

I was just on the edge of sleep when I heard pounding on my bedroom window. My hand burned. I jerked upright with a start. There were only a couple of things that could be outside my bedroom window and none of them were good. While I had symbols outside my door, I suspected there were none outside my bedroom window. Opening that window was the last thing I planned to do.

Apparently, something else had another idea.

The glass shattered, blowing into the room while my gauzy curtains flapped like crazy. A voice called out, “Daughter of the sea, present yourself.”

“No fucking way!” I shouted, jumping off the bed and hiding beside the mattress. I really needed to find out about this daughter of the sea title.

“Okeus has a message for you.”

I peered over the side of the bed. A dark, hazy image hovered outside my window. “I can hear you just fine from here.”

“Okeus offers you riches beyond measure if you pledge yourself to him.”

I always wondered how tempted I’d be by something like this, but in this case, it was an easy decision. “I have a message for Okeus—no thank you.”

“Stupid human. To defy Okeus is death.”

“Well I heard that siding with Okeus is eternal death. So no thank you.”

“Ahone.” The name was uttered as a curse word. “You are foolish to listen to a god so weak he does nothing but hide in the heavens. Okeus is strong and rewards those who are loyal to his cause. Ahone will give you nothing.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

The spirit pushed through the opening in the window into the room and shot in front of me, releasing a high-pitched scream resembling the cry of a dinosaur from Jurassic Park. “You have until the eve of the seventh day to decide, and if you do not choose Okeus, he will demand retribution. I will visit you again to seek your decision.”

And then the spirit was gone.

I huddled next to my bed for several minutes, shaking so hard I couldn’t even stand if I wanted to.

The wind howled outside and the curtains flapped against the wall. While the markings on the door had worked, the window was obviously unprotected. I either needed to learn the symbols or get Collin to mark the windows. The latter was an alternative of last resort.

One thing was for sure—I wasn’t sleeping in my bedroom. I grabbed my pillow and laptop and headed into the living room, moving my big chair in front of my bedroom door. I had little faith it would hold out a spirit, but it was better than nothing.

After I got settled on the sofa, it took me a long time before I could go to sleep. My palm itched and my dreams were filled with animals, all crying out, “Daughter of the sea, witness to creation, help us.”

CHAPTER TEN

I was awake before the sun came up, and I really needed to pee. But I had to go through my room to get to the bathroom, and there was no way I was going into my room until the sun made an appearance. After I finally unbarricaded the door and took care of my bathroom business, I inspected the damage to my room. The lower windowpane had completely shattered, scattering glass everywhere. When I saw the dead hawk at the foot of my bed, I shrieked and jumped backward. I needed to get control of myself, clean up the mess, and get to the inn.

My downstairs neighbor didn’t appreciate the vacuum cleaner running at six in the morning. The thumping on the floor clued me in. After covering the window with plastic from a dry-cleaner bag, I scooped the bird into another bag and opened the front door to put it on my porch. The dead birds in a circle outside my door shouldn’t have surprised me, but I was preoccupied with my current situation. Today’s warning had four blackbirds, two robins, and a cardinal in the center. Four days left.

After I swept up the birds, I stopped to examine the symbols on the door. They were incredibly primitive and looked like they’d been drawn in charcoal or chalk. Wavy lines and circles surrounded the perimeter. I needed to write them down so I could draw them on my window.

I took a shower and towel dried my hair before French braiding it and getting dressed, throwing on a flouncy blue skirt with tiny white flowers and a white sleeveless buttoned blouse. I loved that skirt and it always put me in a better mood when I had a bad day. I hoped it worked today because I needed all the help I could get.

I decided to go to the Dare Inn. It was too early to tidy up the lodgers’ rooms, but I could fold the towels from the afternoon before and help Myra with breakfast. Just before I headed out the door, I grabbed my backpack. Daddy’s house was full of antiques, and I was sure I could find something there to sell. Myra and I had never discussed selling them to help keep the inn afloat. Perhaps because dismantling the contents was too similar to the way Daddy’s mind was deconstructing. We needed something to stay the same.

Regret and guilt stuck my feet to the floor. I couldn’t believe I was considering stealing from my parents, but if Daddy were coherent, I knew he’d give me whatever I needed to reseal the gate. Not that I’d ever admit to pawning the cup.

Myra was in the kitchen in the residential house, pulling a breakfast casserole out of the oven when I walked in. “What are you doing here already?” She glanced at me and her forehead wrinkled with worry. “And you obviously didn’t sleep well. You look exhausted, Ellie.”

I grabbed a blueberry muffin from a basket and peeled off the wrapper. “What gave me away? The fact I’m a couple hours early or the dark circles under my eyes?” I took a bite and gave her a tight grin.

She moved toward me and put a hand on my arm. “What’s going on, Ellie? Is it this curse stuff?”

I loved Myra. She might not have given birth to me, but she’d mothered me longer than my own mother had. Myra and Momma shared something else in common besides their love for Daddy and me: their outright disapproval of the curse. Poor Myra hadn’t found out about the curse until she and Daddy were married at least a year, when she’d stumbled upon Daddy and me arguing about my refusal to relearn the curse facts. She’d taken my side and slept in the spare bedroom for a week. I never heard her and Daddy talk about it again until he started showing signs of Alzheimer’s.

Telling Myra what was going on wouldn’t do any good. She’d think I’d lost my mind like Daddy, especially after my own belligerence over the curse all these years. And for all I knew, telling her would put her in danger as well.

I kissed her cheek and moved around her toward the laundry room. “I’m fine. Stop worrying so much.”

“Ellie?”

I stopped in the doorway and turned toward her, hiding the fear blooming in my chest.

“I know the inn has been hard for you. You work here every day and then you put money into it—”

“Myra, stop.”

“You don’t have to do it. We’ll probably lose this place anyway.”

I’d known that for a while, and since Myra handled all the books, she had to know it too, but this was the first time she’d admitted it.

“I know.”

“You know?” Tears filled her eyes. “And you do it anyway?”

My chin trembled. “Myra, I love you and I love Daddy. I’ll do anything for either of you. This included.” I spun around to get the towels.

“I’m considering selling.”

Sighing, I leaned into the door frame, but kept my back to her. I couldn’t face her. Face the proof that I’d failed her and Daddy. The inn had been owned by our family for over a hundred and fifty years, and it was up to me to make sure it stayed that way. But I couldn’t figure out how to do it, no matter how hard I tried. “Don’t do that, Myra. Just hang on a bit longer.”

“It’s not fair to you. I see you and how exhausted . . . ” Her voice broke. “You’re young. You should have fun instead of—”

I rushed to her and pulled her into an embrace. “Stop, Myra. This is my home too, even if I don’t live here. Too much is happening right now to make a decision this big. Don’t think about selling yet. All these tourists will bring more business. Things might turn around. Just wait and see how everything turns out.” If the curse wasn’t fixed, I’d pack Daddy and Myra into my own car and get them the hell out of here if I had to. We wouldn’t be anywhere around Roanoke, in the line of fire.

Something in my tone caught her attention. She pulled back and looked into my eyes. “What do you mean wait and see how everything turns out?”

I resisted the urge to sigh. I was tired and not thinking straight. I needed to watch what I said. I forced a grin. “Wait and see if I win the lottery.”

“You don’t buy lottery tickets.”

“Not yet I don’t.” I headed back to the laundry room. “But I’m feeling lucky today.” I hoped to God that was true.

She was gone when I came out with the towels. I perched the basket on my hip and headed for the front porch. It was almost seven thirty, and the bed and breakfast guests would be coming down to eat before they left for the day or checked out.

I found Daddy on the porch, rocking in his chair. He wasn’t usually there in the morning. Myra often had him sit in the office with her, watching TV, but she must have known I’d want to see him.

I loved her all the more for it.

“Hey, Daddy.” I sat in the rocker next to him and plopped the basket on the floor.

His gazed lifted, confusion flickering in his eyes.

My vision blurred with tears, and I turned my attention to the towels and swallowed the burning lump in my throat. He wasn’t my daddy today. When I could talk, I forced a cheerful voice. “It’s a beautiful morning, isn’t it?”

“The curse is broken.”

My hands stopped midair, holding a partially folded towel. I set it in my lap and looked into his face. “Yes.”

His jaw quivered. “I have to save Ellie. I have to keep her safe from the evil spirits with the words of protection. I have to find the other Keeper.” He started to get out of his chair, his voice rising in fear.

Words of protection? Were there words to help me protect myself? I got up and eased him back in the chair. “Daddy, it’s okay. You’re not the Keeper anymore.”

He shook his head and arms violently, trying to throw off my hands. “Who are you? Where’s my baby? I have to save my baby!”

I was used to his regressions, when he thought I was a child again. But that didn’t buffer the pain and disappointment that pierced my heart with each occurrence. This time was too much. Collin, the spirits last night, the realization that I’d lost the one thing I needed to make this all stop, but most of all knowing that I’d truly failed my father both with the curse and the inn, all piled onto the fact that Daddy was near hysterical and there was nothing I could do about it. Tears flooded my cheeks.

I sucked in a breath. “John, it’s okay.” Part of me died every time I had to call him by his given name, but calling him Daddy when he was like this only made him more agitated. “Ellie’s safe.”

This calmed him a bit, and he searched my face. “Is she with Amanda?”

I couldn’t contain my sob. He thought Momma was still alive. “Yes.”

He shook his head, his eyes wild. “No! You’re lying! Amanda’s dead! Get away from me! You’re an evil spirit!” He began to mumble something in a language I didn’t understand.

He was using the words of protection.

I listened closely, forcing myself to calm down so I could get the words, but he was too upset and the words too unfamiliar to grasp.

Myra appeared in the doorway, concern on her face when she took in the sight of my father and my tear-streaked face. “It’s the curse, isn’t it?”

I nodded, a fresh batch of tears falling.

She gently pushed me to the side and squatted in front of Daddy. “John, it’s okay. Ellie’s safe. I’ve hidden her from the spirits using the protection symbols you showed me. She’s safe.”

He relaxed in his chair, but tensed when he realized I was still there. “A spirit is here.”

“No, John. That’s my friend, Elinor. She’s helping me with the inn today.”

I couldn’t take any more. I grabbed the basket and went back into the house, collapsing onto the sofa, bawling into the overstuffed cushions.

Several minutes later, Myra’s soft voice was in my ear. “Ellie, I’m so sorry.” She sat next to me, caressing the back of my head. “I know how hard it is when you see him like that.”

I sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm down, and wiped my cheeks. “It’s okay. I’m fine.”

“You’re not. Go home. Take the day off. We’ll manage fine without you here.”

I wished I could take the day completely off. Go lay out at the beach like Claire and I used to do before life got in the way and threw responsibility at us. But I had Curse Keeper work to do today. I had to save the world, as absurd as it seemed. “What did you mean when you told Daddy that you’d hidden me away with symbols?”

Her mouth lifted into a grim smile. “I told you that he was upset yesterday. He thought you were a little girl and said he couldn’t find you so I told him that I’d hidden you somewhere the spirits couldn’t reach you. But he said it wasn’t enough, and he wrote down several symbols that he said I needed to put outside your door.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and sat up straighter. “Do you still have the paper?”

“Well, yeah, but . . . ”

“Could I have it?”

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why?”

Obviously, I couldn’t tell her the truth. “If Daddy gets upset again, maybe I could write one or two down to convince him that I’m not an evil spirit.”

Myra considered what I said for a moment before nodding. “That might actually be a good idea.” She got up and opened a drawer in the small antique desk in the corner. After she pulled out a folded piece of paper, she handed it to me. “Here. Just be careful with it. I don’t want to encourage his delusions.”

I took the paper and clutched it in my hand. “I’ll be careful.”

“You go home. If you stay . . . your dad . . . ”

I stood and wiped my face again, fighting back more tears. I couldn’t bear the thought that my presence upset him. “I know.”

“He loves you, Ellie. Deep inside, in the part of him that’s trapped, he loves you. That’s why he’s so frantic to save the little girl you.”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak, and headed for the door. As I passed the dining room, a pair of antique silver candlesticks on the buffet in front of the window caught my eye. How much were they worth? Probably a lot. They’d been in our family for years, most likely centuries. I closed my eyes and shook my head. What was I thinking?

Did I really have a choice?

With a grieving heart, I stuffed the two pieces into my bag and headed out the door. Myra was bound to notice them missing. What would I tell her? I wanted to cry all over again, but crying only made me weak, and I had to be strong. Evil lurked around me and somehow I knew it would feed off my weakness. I had to be strong, and I had to pretend to be brave even if I didn’t feel brave.

Collin’s truck was parked outside my apartment building when I got home. I peered in the rolled-down windows; he wasn’t in the cab. I wasn’t surprised to see him sitting in the chair on my front porch, but I was surprised to see him with two cups of coffee from the coffee shop on the other side of the alley. He stood and handed me one. “I took you for a skinny caramel macchiato girl.”

“How did you know that?” I unlocked the door, then took the cup from him, narrowing my eyes with suspicion. Why was he being so nice?

“You can tell a lot about a person from the coffee they drink. Caramel means you aren’t serious about your coffee drinking. The macchiato part makes you feel sophisticated. And the nonfat goes without saying.”

Was he insinuating that I was fat? “There’s no way you could possibly know what I drink.”

He grinned, a real grin, not the smartass one he mostly used. “I asked Tiffany at the coffee shop across the alley what you usually get.”

“And she told you? You could have been a stalker!” I opened the door and went inside, but Collin stayed on the porch.

He shrugged. “I have a way with women.”

Talk about an understatement.

He pointed to the symbols on the ground and all around my door. “Did they work?”

“The door worked just fine.”

He waved toward my bedroom. “What happened to your window?”

“A bird flew into it.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “A bird? Anything else?”

Something about the way he asked made me uneasy. Like he’d expected me to have trouble last night. I cocked an eyebrow. “Did anything happen to you last night?”

He remained expressionless. “Nope. I had an uneventful evening eating a frozen pizza and watching mindless TV.”

He was lying to me. I wasn’t sure how I knew it, but I did. Perhaps it was the Keeper link, but no matter how I knew, the fact that he was lying set me on edge. His warning when we were in Rodanthe, that he’d do anything to get what he wanted, remained fresh in my memory.

“What happened after the bird flew in the window?”

I should have told him, but some instinct told me to keep it to myself. And at the moment, instinct was all I had to go on. “Did you expect something to happen?”

He took a deep breath and glanced around the doorway. “Did you stay here last night?”

Now I was really suspicious. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s pretty early, and you’ve already been out and are now getting home. Before eight o’clock.”

I took a sip of my coffee. “I just got home from my second job.”

“You have two jobs, but you still had to pawn your relic? How many pairs of shoes do you own?”

Let Collin Dailey think whatever he liked as long as he didn’t know about Daddy. “Are we going to Rodanthe or not?”

“Did you get some money?”

“How was I supposed to get money when I was locked in my apartment all night?”

“So you didn’t?”

“Not exactly.” I didn’t want him to know I’d just gotten the candlesticks or he’d ask me where they came from. I wasn’t sure why I felt a desperate fear that he’d discover Daddy, but it was more instinct. I’d been basing a lot of decisions off of instinct over the last twenty-four-plus hours. I didn’t see any reason to change now.

“What does ‘not exactly’ mean?” He still stood on my porch. Why hadn’t he come in?

I carried my backpack into my bedroom, leaving the door open. “It means I realized I had something else to take to the pawnshop.”

I found another bag in my closet and transferred the candlesticks. Just as I was getting ready to head back into the living room I remembered the paper in the pocket of my skirt. I pulled it out and unfolded the note. Several Native American symbols covered the page, written in shaky handwriting. I studied them closely, trying to commit them to memory so I could compare them to what Collin had written outside my door. I stuffed the paper in my purse and left my bedroom. Collin was still outside the door.

“What do you have to pawn?” he asked as soon as he saw me.

“Silver candlesticks.” I handed him the bag, pretending like they didn’t matter. I had to forget the stupid things, because I’d never see them again. If I was lucky enough to get a thousand dollars for them, I’d never have the money to buy them back.

Collin opened the bag and pulled one out. He released a low whistle. “You’re telling me that you sold your little pewter cup before you departed with these?” Disbelief dripped from his words.

“Correction: I didn’t sell my cup. I pawned it. I meant to buy it back just like all the other times.”

“All the other times?”

I stepped out of my apartment, setting my coffee on the railing of the porch so I could lock up again. I paused to take in the marks around my door. I immediately recognized at least three of them from the paper. “What are these things?”

“Protection symbols.”

“They keep out the evil spirits?”

“Not just the evil ones. The good ones too.”

I shot him a questioning look. “Good ones?”

“Not all spirits are evil. There are good ones, just like people. And sometimes people—and spirits—are a mixture of both.”

While Ahone’s messenger had appeared unthreatening, Okeus’s certainly didn’t. I decided if I encountered any more spirits before closing the gate, I was assuming the worst about them.

I held out my palm and showed him my mark. “And this?”

“The Curse Keeper symbol. The circle represents the spirit world. The square represents our world. They are neither inside nor outside one another, but coexist.”

“You have one too? What does yours look like?”

He held out his hand, palm up. I grabbed it and pulled it closer. It looked identical to mine.

“If you wanted to hold my hand, you only had to ask.”

I rolled my eyes. “As if.” I placed my open palm next to his. “They’re the same.”

“Of course. It’s the mark of the Curse Keeper. Since we’re both Keepers . . . ” His voice trailed off.

I looked up into his face and winked. “And here I thought your mark would be better since you’re so superior to me.”

To my surprise, Collin laughed. “Obviously, I didn’t have a say in the matter.”

“My mark appeared when you grabbed my hand in the restaurant.” My eyes widened and I whispered. “You knew. You did this.”

Disbelief and worry replaced his amusement. “No. When I came to the restaurant I didn’t know, but when I couldn’t breathe, I began to suspect. It was just like my grandmother always told me it would happen. And when you were so close, it was as though I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing your hand. As though you were a magnet, drawing my hand to yours. I told you already. I couldn’t have stopped it if I wanted to.”

“But that’s what broke the curse.”

A softness I’d never seen before filled his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

I leaned my back into the door. “What’s done is done.”

He watched me, waiting.

“My mark tingles or burns when something is near.”

His eyes hardened. “When were you near a spirit?”

Oh shit. I needed more sleep. I sucked at keeping secrets when I was tired. “Yesterday at the house in Rodanthe. When you touched me, it tingled then. But even before that. When I looked into the ocean while I was standing next to you. I felt it then.”

Collin’s shoulders relaxed. “When I said we were like magnets, I meant it. The power in our blood is strong, but it’s stronger when the two of us are together, and even more so when our marks touch. We’re naturally drawn to each other.” He moved closer and lowered his voice with a wink. “Thank God you’re not an eighty-two-year-old woman.”

“What if I were an eighty-two-year-old man?”

“Even worse.”

“So . . . ” I found it difficult to think with him so close. “You’re saying that what I feel right now is because of the curse, the power or magic in our blood?”

“It depends. What are you feeling right now?” He turned his hooded eyes on me, giving me a come-hither stare.

I swallowed. “An electrical charge. Why? What are you feeling?”

A sly grin spread across his face. “An electrical charge.”

I couldn’t get caught in Collin’s seductive trap. I knew he had a way with women and maybe he thought I’d be more cooperative if he put me under his sexy spell. Or maybe he didn’t have a goal. Maybe he couldn’t help himself. “Then I guess we’ll come in handy if there’s a power outage.” I gave his chest a small shove. “Let’s go.”

Collin laughed while I tromped down the stairs. “It’s going to be an interesting day.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Our truce ended less than a minute later when I told Collin I wanted to sell my candlesticks to Oscar.

“I am not driving back to Kill Devil Hills,” Collin growled, standing in front of his truck.

“I’m not selling them to someone else. I trust Oscar. So if you don’t want to waste your gas, I’ll drive my own car!”

He dangled the bag in the air over his head, wearing an evil smile. “Seeing how I have the bag, I get to decide where we go.”

I reached for it, but Collin held the pack higher, out of my reach.

“Really?” I asked. “What? Are you a twelve-year-old boy now?”

He laughed. “I think all men are really twelve-year-old boys deep down inside.”

“I’m serious, Collin. They’re mine. Give them back.”

He watched me for a moment, then handed me the bag, but he didn’t release his grasp. “Ellie, do you plan to pawn these or sell them?”

I wasn’t sure why he cared, but his face had softened again. It was as though his façade had dropped, and he let me see the real him for a moment.

God, I’m a pushover. “Sell them.” I looked away. “I’ll never be able to buy them back.”

Collin’s voice lowered with a tenderness I didn’t expect. “You can pawn them for ninety days, Ellie. Then you get sixty more to pay them off. That’s five months.”

I looked into his face, shaking my head. “Can you imagine the interest? Oscar charges twenty-two percent. I’ll never come up with the money to pay it off.” I shoved them back at him, ordering the tears in my eyes to dry up as I walked around to the truck’s passenger door.

Collin slid in the truck and set the bag on the seat between us. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I don’t have anything else.”

He didn’t start the truck, instead staring out the windshield. “No. There’s another way. I can get the cup. Why don’t you stay here and wait for me? I’ll be back in a few hours.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t believe he was being so nice. If you could call offering to steal from some unsuspecting woman nice. Strangely enough, with Collin, it was. “No, it’s my cup, and you’re right. I shouldn’t have pawned it. I need to accept responsibility and fix this myself.”

He nodded, then started the truck.

We drove in silence until we hit the bridge. Collin slowed down and cast a worried look at me, but the blood had already rushed to my feet, leaving me lightheaded.

Dead birds covered the pavement. Hundreds of them.

Yesterday we’d seen seagulls but today there were multiple species. Doves, pigeons, gulls, wrens, owls, ducks, and several hawks.

The combination of seeing the birds and leaving the island tightened my chest, and I gasped for air.

“Ellie?”

“They’re getting stronger, Collin.”

“It’s okay.”

“No it’s not! They’re getting stronger, and Okeus is going to come after me.” I grabbed the dashboard and the door. “How am I supposed to protect myself?” I sounded hysterical. I was hysterical. This was proof that I was as good as dead. It was only a matter of time. Days. Especially after last night.

Collin pulled over to the side of the road, the sickening thuds of tires rolling over bird carcasses making me want to vomit.

“Why do you think Okeus is after you?”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“What aren’t you telling me, Ellie?”

Collin knew more than I did, which is why, logically, I knew I should tell him what happened last night with both messengers. He might be able to protect me. But it burned in my gut that I was dependent on him for protection. Besides, Collin was hiding things from me. He’d told me himself that he couldn’t be trusted. For now, I’d keep the information to myself and see if I could re-create the symbols around my window. And if Collin proved himself trustworthy before then, I’d tell him. “You told me that they would come after me. On Evelyn Abernathy’s porch.”

He tilted his head, distrust in his eyes. “How do you know about Okeus?”

“A simple Internet search.”

“Simple?”

I turned to look out into the sound. “Okay, not so simple. It took some digging.”

“Why did you decide on Okeus? Why not Ahone or a windengo or the Great Spirit?”

“Because Okeus is evil.”

Collin sighed. “Okeus isn’t pure evil, Ellie, just as Ahone isn’t pure good. I told you, just like people, they’re a mixture of both.”

“But the Internet—”

“Ellie, so much about the Croatan beliefs and rituals was lost that most people have no idea what they are talking about. Sure Okeus can be wrathful, but he can also be good to his people. He’d come in handy in a time of war.”

“That’s good, if you’re on his side.”

“It’s no different than warring countries invoking God to help them.”

Collin seemed to be defending Okeus too much to suit me. More reason not to tell him about Okeus’s warning. Had Okeus made Collin the same offer? Had Collin accepted? “You said that the symbols of protection kept me safe last night. What kept you safe? You left my apartment when it was getting dark. Did you come across any spirits?”

His face hardened. “No.”

“Nothing? Weren’t you worried?”

He turned away. “No.”

“What? The spirits won’t mess with Big Bad Collin?”

His jaw tightened. “I know how to protect myself.”

“So teach me.”

He inhaled and pushed out his breath in frustration. “Fine. If we get the cup back your way, then I’ll teach you how to protect yourself.”

I cocked my head in disbelief. “If we get the cup back my way? Why wouldn’t you just teach me? It’s like you want me to get killed.”

He shook his head and turned toward me. “You don’t know anything, Ellie.”

“So teach me.”

“You should already know this. It’s not my job to teach you. Which parent was the Keeper before you? Why don’t you ask him or her to fill you in?”

My breath caught in my chest. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

I didn’t want to tell him about Daddy. “My momma’s gone.” I purposely left my family’s Keeper line vague. The less Collin knew about my family, the better.

That gave him pause. Finally, he said, “I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “She left years ago. I’m over it.” Mostly.

Shifting the truck into drive, he shot me a glance before turning his attention to the road. “It’s nine in the morning. We have eleven more hours of daylight. Let’s focus on getting the cup; then we’ll deal with the rest.”

I needed the cup whether he helped me or not. I knew there were words of protection, thanks to Daddy’s mumbling. If Daddy knew them, Collin was sure to know them too. That meant I had eleven more hours to get him to spill. I might have to resort to my own bag of tricks. “Okay.”

“We need to sell your candlesticks first.” No-nonsense Collin was back. It was probably better this way. At least I knew where I really stood with him. When he was nice, I felt like I was part of a con job.

“Yeah.”

“I know a guy who will give you top dollar for them, but only if you sell. Are you sure you want to sell them? Five months—”

“Sell.”

He turned south on Highway 12. We rode in silence all the way to Rodanthe. I gaped as he drove through the town.

“Wait.” I turned around to watch the town disappearing behind us. “Where are we going? Where’s your guy?”

“Cape Hatteras.”

“Cape Hatteras? But Cape Hatteras is farther than Kill Devil Hills.”

“I know a guy in Buxton.”

“And I know a guy in Kill Devil Hills. Oscar.”

Collin’s face remained expressionless. “I don’t like your guy.”

“I don’t care if you don’t like him. They’re my candlesticks!”

He turned toward me, lifting his eyebrows. “Are they?” His gaze returned to the road.

The realization hit me like a Mack truck: He was protecting me. He thought I’d stolen the candlesticks, and he assumed Oscar would turn me in if he found out. Just when I thought I’d figured him out.

Damn him.

Collin drove into Buxton and pulled up in front of a thrift store. The building was completely run down, with several massive metal buildings behind it, all surrounded by a dilapidated wooden fence.

“Really? You’re going to get a good price here?”

Collin opened his door. “Trust me.” He got out and looked through the open window. “Stay here.”

The hell with that.

I followed him to the front door.

His mouth puckered into a frown of disapproval. “I told you to wait. I mean it, Ellie.”

I put a hand on my hip. “Yesterday, you told me not to trust you. This is me not trusting you.”

He shook his head and a cocky grin spread across his face. “Me and my big mouth.”

We entered the store, and I nearly gagged from the smell of decay. I leaned close to him, whispering, “You can’t be serious.”

The oldest, most broken-down crap I’d ever seen filled the store. And if the inventory didn’t make me doubtful, the ambiance did. Concrete walls and floor, dim lighting. It looked like a scene from some horror movie.

Collin shot me a look of warning and then walked toward the back room, lowering his voice. “Let me do all the talking.”

I pinched my lips together in an exaggerated manner and made a face at him.

He snorted. “Mature, really mature.”

A teenage girl sporting a goth look stood behind a counter but didn’t say anything as we slipped behind a curtain hanging over a doorway. Collin must have been here before because he seemed to know where he was going, heading for a room in the far back corner. He maneuvered through a maze of odds and ends in the storage room, then opened a closed door without knocking.

This room was better lit, but not by much. Tables lined the walls, covered with multiple electronic parts and pieces. An obese man who appeared to be in his forties sat at one of the tables, turning a tiny screwdriver inside the torn-apart computer in front of him.

The guy looked up, saw Collin, then turned his gaze to me, staring at my face, then sliding down to my legs and lingering there. I was used to guys checking out my legs, especially since I wore a lot of skirts, but this guy creeped me out.

“What can I do for you, Dailey?” he asked, but kept his gaze on me.

“I’ve got something to sell, Marino.”

Marino turned back to his computer. “I’m not sure you have anything I’m interested in. Not after our last deal.”

Collin pulled a candlestick from the bag and set it on the table next to the computer.

Marino lifted an eyebrow. “Where’d you get it?”

“A guy down in—”

Shaking his head in annoyance, Marino waved to the door. “Never mind. Get out.”

I took a step toward him. “They’re mine.”

Collin cursed under his breath.

Marino spun his office chair around to face me, crossing his arms over his gut. His eyes widened in amusement. “Yours?”

“Why do you think I’m here with Dailey? He’s helping me.”

Marino’s belly laugh filled the room. “Helping you? Sweetheart, Collin Dailey doesn’t help anyone unless it helps him.”

I tilted my head and gave him a saucy look. “I’m not stupid. I figured that out less than five minutes after I met him.” Fear set my nerve endings on edge, but my hand didn’t tingle. I suspected this guy might be dangerous, but he was a human threat, not supernatural.

Marino laughed again. “I like you. You’ve got spunk. You I’ll work with.” He picked up the ornately detailed silver piece and spun it in his hand, examining every square inch. “How many you got?”

“Two.”

“And how much do you want for the pair?”

Collin tensed next to me. He really didn’t think I knew what I was doing.

“Twenty-five hundred.”

Marino looked up. “Twenty-five hundred? Are you insane?”

“I’m hanging out with Collin.” I waved toward him. “What do you think?”

Marino laughed again, bracing his hands on his legs. “Now I really like you. I’ll give you one thousand.”

“Two thousand and not a penny less. If you don’t want them, I have a guy in Kill Devil Hills who does.”

Marino leaned back in his chair and rested his hand on the table, studying me. I really didn’t like the way his eyes lingered. “Mikey? He won’t pay you more than eight hundred.”

I lifted a shoulder in a half shrug and gave him the barest hint of a smile. “I’ll take my chances.” I moved toward the table with an outstretched arm.

“Eighteen hundred. Final offer.”

I paused for a second. “Deal.”

Marino heaved out of his chair, huffing as he moved toward a safe in the corner that I hadn’t noticed earlier. He opened it, counted a small stack of hundred dollar bills, then handed them to me.

I moved to take the cash, but he held the bundle tight. Marino narrowed his eyes at Collin. “You can leave.”

Collin tensed. “Sorry, I’m not going anywhere without the lady.”

“Lady?” Marino chuckled, eyeing me again. “I’ll give you that considering your usual acquaintances. It makes me all the more intrigued. Give us twenty minutes.”

Twenty minutes? I didn’t even want to consider what Marino wanted to do for twenty minutes. My skin crawled being this close to him.

Collin grabbed the candlestick. “Ellie, let’s go.”

I needed the money. How else would I get the cup back? “Mr. Marino, I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding here.”

“The only misunderstanding is Collin’s refusal to do as I say.”

I released my hold on the cash. “Collin has nothing to do with any of this. These are my candlesticks, and it’s my transaction. Either you buy them or you don’t, but that’s the only exchange going on today.”

He sighed and his forehead wrinkled as he considered my words. “Five minutes.”

I hesitated.

“Ellie,” Collin growled.

I lifted my chin. “Two.” What could happen in two minutes?

“Ellie!”

Marino smiled. “Deal. If you like, I’ll give you the cash now.”

I snatched the money from his hand before I changed my mind. Marino laughed as I spun around and handed it to Collin while jerking the candlestick out of his tight hold.

Anger radiated off of him. “What the hell are you doing—have you lost your mind?” he hissed as he leaned close. “Marino is not a guy you can fuck with.”

The gravity of what I had just agreed to hit me full force, but we needed the cash. “I have no intention of fucking him,” I whispered. “Look, I’m not as innocent as you seem to think. I can handle this.” I forced a confidence I didn’t feel into my words.

Collin gritted his teeth and turned to Marino, the veins on his neck bulging. “I’m waiting for her outside this door, and if I get the slightest inclination she doesn’t want to be here, I’m coming in to get her.”

Marino laughed and waved his hand to the door. “The time starts as soon as you leave.”

Collin stood with his hand on the doorknob, searching my face.

Go I mouthed, my back still to Marino.

Collin stormed out and slammed the door shut behind him, and the force caused a faded picture with dogs playing poker to shake against the wall.

I spun around, my heart hammering a staccato of fear. “My two minutes starts now.”

“No need to worry, Ellie. I only want to talk. I’m curious.”

Talking was good. I could do talking. “About what?”

“What is Collin Dailey’s interest in you?”

“It’s a family thing.”

“You’re related then? You’re not together?”

“Not exactly.”

“Not exactly to which question?”

“Both.”

He grinned and moved closer. “You’re telling me that you’re not fucking Dailey?”

I flinched. “That’s a rude way to put it.”

“Ellie, Collin only fucks women. He never gets into a relationship with them, and he sure as hell never loves them. So why is he so protective of you?”

None of what Marino said surprised me, but his bluntness caught me off guard. “I told you. It’s a family thing. He feels obligated.”

Marino shook his head. “The only person Collin Dailey feels obligated to is Collin Dailey. If he’s not fucking you, and he’s keeping you with him, then you must have something he considers valuable.”

While that was true, I was sure Marino would never guess what Collin really wanted, and I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him.

“One minute,” Collin shouted through the door.

Marino turned his head to the side, narrowing his eyes. “Fascinating.” Excitement filled his eyes.

My breath hung in my throat. “What?”

“The man outside that door is not behaving like the man I know. Why?”

“I have no idea. He’s only helping me sell my candlesticks.”

He laughed. “You’re a liar. A good one, but Collin gives you away. If he wants you so badly, that makes you incredibly desirable.” He reached his hand to my cheek and slid it down to my throat.

I took a step backward. “You think he loves me?”

He laughed again. “Hell no. I told you Collin doesn’t love women. He’s only capable of loving himself, but you have something that he’ll risk his own life for, and that, my darling, is intriguing. I want to know what it is.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Dropping his hand, he studied me again. “I think you do. This is about the Ricardo deal, isn’t it?”

My eyes widened in surprise. What was he talking about?

Marino’s grin spread across his face. “I knew it.”

The door burst open and Collin filled the doorway. “Time’s up. Let’s go, Ellie.”

I turned around, and Marino moved next to me, blocking my path with his arm. “I want her. I’ll pay you for her.”

“Excuse me?” I said.

Collin’s face paled. “She’s not for sale.”

“Five thousand.”

“I said she’s not for sale.”

“You can’t do that!” I shouted, indignant. “You can’t sell people!” But I knew that it could be done. Human trafficking was all too real. Who the hell was Collin mixed up with?

Both men ignored me, caught in their own standoff.

Marino plastered a smile on his face and held out his hands. “I’ll forgive your debt on that rat trap you call a boat.”

Collin’s expression weakened.

Marino grinned. “And I’ll throw in ten thousand.”

Collin paused. “What about my map?”

My eyes bulged in disbelief. “What the hell are you doing, Collin?”

Marino waved a hand. “Fine, you can have the map too.”

I’m going to vomit. Nausea swept over me, and I couldn’t move. Collin was considering Marino’s offer. He was going to sell me.

“Why do you want her so much?” Collin asked.

“Because you do.”

Collin looked at the wall, his face expressionless. “She gave you her two minutes. We had a deal and we’ve met our end. You’re a son of a bitch, Marino, but at least you’re known for being a man of your word. Are you going to change that now? Over her?” He said the last words with contempt. “I can assure you that she’s not worth it. She’s one of the worst fucks I’ve ever had, and you and I both know I’ve had more than I can count.”

Marino turned to me, lowering his voice. “Every word of protest only makes me want her more.” He lifted the back of his hand to my cheek and I smacked it away. He chuckled. “But you’re right. I am a man of my word.”

Collin kept his gaze on Marino, his chin lifted. “Ellie, let’s go.”

I stepped toward him, lightheaded and shaky, but I forced myself to keep it together and clenched my hands into fists at my sides.

Marino sat in his chair, grunting as he landed. “This isn’t over, Collin. We’ll visit this again.”

“And she’ll be history by then.”

“Then bring her to me when you’re done, and perhaps we’ll forget all of this ugliness.”

I moved into the storage room, and Collin fell in step behind me, leaning into my ear. “Keep going and don’t stop until you get out the front door. Here.” He put a set of keys in my hand. “You need to go.”

Whipping my head around, my mouth dropped open. “Where are you going?”

“I’ve got something to take care of.”

I stopped, but Collin stood behind me and pushed me to the door. “What? The map you were going to sell me for?”

“We don’t have time for this, Ellie. Will you just do what I ask?”

“No.”

Collin opened the door to the parking lot and dragged me outside. “For God’s sake, Ellie.”

I jerked out of his grasp. “One of the worst fucks you’ve ever had? Are you kidding me?” I knew standing there yelling at him was stupid. Dangerous even. I needed to get the hell out of there. But anger gave me power and fear made me helpless, so I was hanging onto my anger.

His face reddened. “Get in the truck.”

“No.”

The veins on his neck and temple throbbed. Collin looked like he was about to have a stroke. “I swear to God, Ellie, I will tie you up and gag you if you don’t get in the truck right now.”

He was serious. He would really do it.

When he saw the hesitation on my face, he pushed me toward the driver’s door.

I shouted in frustration and pounded my hand on the door panel.

He shoved me inside, climbed in next to me, then wrenched the keys from my grip and drove a block away, pulling into the parking lot of a car wash. “Drive two blocks south, then three blocks east to the Buxton Police Department. Park out front and wait for me. You’ll be safe. Marino wouldn’t dare touch you there.”

“We need to discuss the fact that you considered selling me.”

He stopped again and cocked his head. “You seriously can’t think I considered selling you to Marino.”

I glared. “It sure looked like it to me when you were bargaining with him.”

“Are you really that stupid? I need you. As much as it pains me to admit.”

“Then I’m not leaving. I’m going with you, Collin.”

“The hell you are.”

I was more scared than I’d ever been in my life, even more so than last night, and the last thing I wanted to do was go anywhere near that horrible man’s business. But I also knew I couldn’t be alone. I was sticking with Collin whether he liked it or not. “If you don’t take me with you, I’ll just follow you.”

He pounded his fist into the steering wheel. “Son of a bitch. You are the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever met.”

“I’ve made two of your top lists. Yay, me. I’m going.”

“I’m not saving your ass next time.”

“Yeah, I love you too. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Collin left the truck parked in the car wash parking lot. We hiked across a field toward a warehouse, the weeds scratching my legs. Wearing my lucky skirt meant I wasn’t dressed for this, but at least I’d worn my Vans instead of sandals. “What is this map anyway?”

“You don’t need to worry about it.”

“Is it curse related?”

“Yes.”

“Then I get to worry about it. What is it?”

He cursed under his breath. “A map that shows important locations. The portal to the spirit world. The sites where there were temples erected to the gods. The gods might be hiding there while they get stronger.”

“You don’t think I need to know about that?” I sighed in exasperation. “And you got pissed at me for pawning my cup.”

His body tensed, and his fists balled at his side. “The key difference is that I didn’t pawn the map. Marino stole it from my brother.”

“You have a brother? Younger?”

He stopped and looked down at me in exasperation. “Would I be the Curse Keeper if he were older?” Closing his eyes, he shook his head. “Please tell me that you know the answer to that.”

I plastered on a fake smile and recited, “The oldest child becomes the Keeper once they turn eighteen.” I glared at him. “I learned that when I was four years old.”

“Is that all you learned?”

“No.” I didn’t want to discuss my Keeper knowledge, or lack of it, at the moment. “If you weren’t going to sell me, why did you pretend to go along with Marino and bargain with him?”

He groaned and resumed his trek across the field. “Ellie, I only played along because I wanted to know if he still had my map. How many times have I told you that I need you? You’re no good to me if you’re stuck with Marino or dead.”

“That has got to be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.” Sarcasm dripped from my words.

“Besides, we never would have been in that position if you’d done what I said and kept your mouth shut.”

“Marino wasn’t going to deal with you.”

“He would have come around.” But his tone told me he knew it was a lie.

“Why haven’t you gotten the map before now?”

“I thought he’d sold it. I never expected him to admit that he had it. My hope was that he’d tell me who he’d sold it to.”

“Why would Marino want to buy me?” The possible answer to my question made me queasy.

“Not what you think. I was stupid to bring you here and even more stupid to show my hand to Marino. He knows I don’t give a fuck about women so for me to show the slightest bit of interest in you set alarms off in his head. I’m sure he thinks you have some key information that makes you so valuable to me that I don’t want you out of my sight. He assumes that means money, and lots of it. Marino sees big fat dollar signs, and he thinks you hold the key to getting it.”

Collin’s answer appeased me. Sort of. “So is that what you do? Steal things and sell them to Marino?”

Collin grinned with a shrug.

“If he thinks you’re going to use me to steal something and then turn around and sell it to him, then why would he want me? Why not just wait for you to bring it to him?”

“To cut out the middleman, Ellie. Any time you can eliminate the middleman, you do it.”

I didn’t like the way he used the word eliminate. “He asked if I knew about the Ricardo deal.”

“Fuck. It was those goddamn candlesticks.” Collin sucked in several deep breaths and shook his head. “There’s nothing to be done about it now.”

We stopped at a six-foot privacy fence and squatted next to it, Collin peeking through a crack between the boards.

“Is this a good idea?” I asked, pressing my face to the cedar plank. The wood was so old and rough I’d be lucky to not get splinters.

“Theft is always a bad idea, Ellie,” Collin said with a mocking tone.

“I meant stealing the map right after you confronted Marino, in broad daylight.”

“No. If he expects me to try to get it, it would be tonight. Not during the day. No one would be that crazy.” He turned to me and smiled a mischievous grin. He thought this was fun. Collin Dailey was one of those freaky, thrill-seeking idiots. He noticed the expression on my face and raised his eyebrows playfully. “Not too late to back out. You can wait right here for me.”

I was tempted. Marino scared the shit out of me, and I didn’t want to go anywhere near him or anything that belonged to him. But I didn’t trust Collin. He kept things from me—like the map—and I needed information so I wouldn’t be so dependent on him. If he found the map, who was to say he wouldn’t hide it and tell me he hadn’t? Like it or not, I was stuck with him. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

His smile broadened, and I swore that there was something in his eyes that looked like a challenge. I hoped I was imagining things.

He pulled his backpack off his shoulder and set it on the ground between us, removing a pair of gloves. “Don’t touch anything. Marino won’t call the police, but he might look for our prints.” He looked up. “You don’t have a criminal record do you?”

My head jerked back. “No!”

He turned his attention to his pack. “Then you’re probably safe. No prints on file to match you to.”

I didn’t want to ask about Collin’s criminal record. The bolt cutters he pulled out of the backpack he kept stored in his truck answered that question.

“Anything else I should know?”

“Stick close to me. Keep quiet. If we see anyone, let me do the talking.”

“Okay.”

His mouth pinched with irritation. “You said that last time and look where that got us.”

“It got us eighteen hundred dollars, and the whereabouts to your map. You’re welcome.”

Collin shook his head. “I don’t think we’ll have any trouble, but if we do, run back to the truck and let me deal with it.” He stared into my eyes, a serious expression on his face. “Promise me that you’ll listen to me this time.”

“You expect me to just leave you?”

“I can get out easier if I’m on my own and I don’t have to worry about you.”

I grinned. “Awww . . . You’re worried about me.”

“Although I’m beginning to rethink this belief, for now, dragging you around alive is easier than carting you around dead. If you want to call that worrying about you, then yes, I am.” He cocked his head and lifted an eyebrow. “If it makes you feel any better, if I didn’t need you, I’d leave you behind without a second thought.”

Good to know.

He slung the bag over his shoulder, stuffed his hands into the gloves, and grabbed the bolt cutters. “Let’s get this over with.”

We skirted the fence until Collin found two loose boards. He lifted them so I could climb through, then he followed behind me. We stood at the back of a mini-junkyard. Old cars, motorcycles, even bikes littered the ground. A large metal building stood in front of us.

Collin pointed to the rusted storage unit. The hundred-foot-long or so structure took up most of the fenced-off area. “I think it’s in there.”

I trailed behind as he hung close to the building, making his way to the front. Stopping at the corner, he scanned the lot, the muscles on his neck and arms tightening. After a couple of seconds, he held a finger up to his mouth, then pointed around the corner.

I nodded, swallowing the lump of fear in my throat. This was real. We were breaking into this building. While part of me was terrified, a hidden part of me was more alive than I’d ever felt. Well, almost as alive as I felt when I’d been close to Collin that morning. I decided to attribute that occurrence to a phenomenon out of my control. The Curse Keeper blood had caused my reaction, and I’d do best to remember that not only was my reaction not real, but that Collin would screw me and forget about me the minute our job was done. Marino had confirmed that less than a half an hour before.

But this adrenaline rush surging through my own blood had nothing to do with the Curse Keeper magic. Collin may have been one of those thrill-seeking idiots, but it turned out that Elinor Dare Lancaster was too. No one was more surprised than me.

Collin slipped around the corner and motioned for me to wait. The storage shed was locked with a chain and a padlock. All it took were two snips of the bolt cutters before the chain dropped to the ground with a thud. He pushed the sliding door open, looked inside, then motioned for me to come. When I reached him, he pushed me inside, then closed the door behind us, plunging us into darkness.

After my encounter with the spirits last night, darkness wasn’t something I welcomed. But I reminded myself that it was bright daylight outside, even if there was hardly any light in here. I ran my thumb along the raised outline of the symbol on my palm, taking comfort that it didn’t tingle. At the moment, the real threat was the man in a room several hundred feet away.

Collin flipped on a flashlight, jerking me out of my thoughts. He knew exactly where to go, heading to a row of filing cabinets in the back corner. I trailed along, my eyes adjusting so that I could make out rows of metal shelves on the other side.

Collin handed me the flashlight and whispered, “You might as well make yourself useful. Hold this and shine it in the bag, then where I point.”

I took the flashlight and nodded.

He opened a small tool kit and removed several small tools. “Here.” He pointed to the lock on the first cabinet. It only took a few jiggles before the lock popped. Collin opened the drawer and started thumbing through files before moving to the next drawer.

“What’s it look like?” I whispered.

“A map.”

“No shit. Big? Small? Old? Is it original?”

He grimaced. “No, it’s not original. The original would have been on an animal skin and probably would have decomposed by now.” His condescending tone was beginning to bug the crap out of me.

“So it’s new?”

“Not exactly.”

I put my hand over his, glaring up into his face. “Then what exactly is it?”

He flipped his hand around and grabbed mine, pressing our palms together. Collin might have been wearing a glove, but that didn’t stop the mark on my hand from blazing with power.

The spirits might be getting stronger, but Collin and I were getting stronger too.

He froze, his irritation draining away.

An electrical current danced across my skin. I felt alive. Powerful. Hyperaware of everything around me. There was a cricket in the corner, and spiders crawling behind the cabinets we stood in front of. A bird perched in a tree in the corner of the lot, watching a worm that wriggled across the surface.

I lowered the flashlight, the pool of light shining on my feet.

“You feel it too?” Collin asked, all pretense gone.

I nodded.

“We feel the Manitou.” Awe filled his voice.

“What’s the Manitou?”

“The life force that flows through every living thing.”

It was simultaneously overwhelming and comforting. The sense that there was more than just me or Collin, that there was so much more out there. And we could feel it. Experience it. Being a Keeper meant I had a responsibility, but for the first time I realized I also had a gift.

The current between us drew me closer and I found myself pressed against his chest. I closed my eyes and heard the blood rushing through his veins and the rapid beat of his heart. I reached outside of the two of us and felt a group of flies hovering over a dead mouse in a corner. A cat slinking through the grass. A dog lapping water from a bowl.

My hand burned and my eyes flew open in surprise. I started to jerk away from Collin, but his fingers looped over my hand, keeping our palms together.

“My mark is burning.”

Collin’s eyes widened. “There’s something here.”

“Marino?” But before Collin shook his head, I knew it was something worse. I felt it. Something dark and oppressive. It didn’t have a physical form, but its presence occupied a space on the other side of the warehouse. Fear mingled with the electrical current flowing throughout my body.

Then the current was gone—Collin had pulled his hand from mine.

“Shit.” He shut the drawer and eased open the one below it. “Hold up the light.”

I’d forgotten the flashlight in my hand. “You can’t be serious. You’re still looking?”

His eyes were wild. “We need the map.”

I could hardly catch my breath. “What’s out there, Collin?” I couldn’t feel its force anymore, but I knew it was lurking. The mark on my hand was on fire.

“I don’t know, but from the strength, I’d say it’s a god.” He kept his attention on the files, shutting the drawer and moving to the next one.

“There’s a vengeful god in this building with us, yet we’re still here? I’m not staying here waiting for something mean and nasty to get me.” I turned around to leave. I only had to make it to the sunlight, and then I’d be safe. I hoped.

Collin grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. “You do not want to leave me right now. It will get you, Ellie. You need to stick with me, and we’ll get out of this together.”

My hand shook and the flashlight beam skittered across the ground. “You’re going to get us both killed.”

His mouth lifted into a sarcastic grin. “Not today.” He used his tools on the next cabinet, popping the lock and moving to the top drawer.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Whatever was out there was closer. “Collin!”

“Another second . . . ” He pulled an old piece of parchment out of a file and spread it open. “Got it!”

Something cold and heavy tickled my neck. The weight of it buckled my knees. The mark on my palm itched and burned.

An icy dagger dug into my shoulder blade. I screamed.

Collin spun his head toward me, shock and horror on his face.

Whatever had me jerked me backward, and I fell, sliding across the warehouse floor. “Collin!” The flashlight dropped to the floor with a loud clank, rolling toward the wall.

I couldn’t see what was pulling me, but I slapped a hand to the spot on my shoulder and felt nothing. Nothing was there, yet I felt its grip sink even deeper into my shoulder blade. How the hell did I fight nothing? I skittered toward the storage shelves and frantically reached for a metal support beam, looping my fingers around the steel. The spirit continued to pull, the pain in my shoulder unbearable. I swallowed a sob as my legs flew in the air, parallel to the floor. I hung four feet over the ground.

“Collin!”

The room had plunged into darkness and I couldn’t see him anywhere. And he sure wasn’t answering.

The spirit stopped pulling, but kept me hovering over the ground. A cold current of air wound up my bare leg. I kicked and thrashed, but it continued coiling around my calf, up to my thigh. Everywhere it touched, the body heat flowed out of me.

This thing was going to suck the life out of me.

“Collin!”

I couldn’t die like this, in some dank, nasty warehouse in Buxton. If Marino found my body, he’d probably toss me into the ocean, and Myra would never know what happened to me. Why hadn’t Collin taught me the words of protection? Goddamn him. And now he’d deserted me just like he promised he would. Maybe he decided I was more useful to him dead after all.

The coil wrapped around my other leg and both limbs went numb.

No! I refused to just give in. I wasn’t going out without a fight. Somewhere in my head were the words I needed, hiding behind the mental wall I’d built to block them out. Why couldn’t I break through?

I latched onto one word, a word I’d heard Daddy mumble that morning. “Umpe.”

The spirit paused for a second before continuing its quest. I began to shiver from the cold seeping in my body.

There were more words. What else had Daddy said? Another word appeared in my head, connected to the first. “Mowcottowosh umpe.”

The coiling current of air, now circled around my waist, stopped. Somehow I knew once it hit my chest I’d be dead. I took advantage of the pause to shake my legs. The god’s grasp loosened.

The doors to the building flung open, spilling sunlight into the space. The bands around my stomach retracted, but clung to my legs. The dagger in the back of my shoulder was still in place and began to burrow deeper. Fuzziness flooded my head and I fought against it. If I passed out, I was a dead woman.

Collin stood in front of me, holding up his glowing palm and reciting words in the ancient language Daddy had uttered that morning, words I didn’t understand.

The god’s hold loosened, and I fell, the cement floor knocking the wind out of me. The pain in my right shoulder blade was excruciating.

“Ellie, we have to go.” Collin reached his hand toward me, impatience in his voice.

“I’d love to get up,” I mumbled, gasping for breath as I crawled toward him, “but the stab wound in my back is making it difficult.”

“What stab wound?”

Men’s voices shouted outside. We’d made enough noise that we were sure to have caught Marino’s attention in the building next door.

I climbed to my feet, and Collin grabbed my left arm, throwing it over his shoulder.

“Can you walk?”

I nodded. Now that I was up and the coils were gone, some of the feeling had returned to my legs. I was weak, but the pain in my back was intense, sending waves through my head and threatening to steal my consciousness.

“There’s a back panel we can crawl through. It should buy us some time with Marino.”

I didn’t answer, instead focusing on moving in the direction Collin dragged me. We maneuvered behind the shelves to the back corner. Collin dropped his hold, and I collapsed to my knees.

Collin squatted and went to work on a square in the wall, close to the floor. He slid the panel door to the side, peered out the hole, then looked over at me. “You crawl through first, and I’ll be right behind you.”

I lowered to my stomach and suppressed a grunt, considering stealth seemed to be top priority, but it wasn’t easy. Every part of me ached from dropping to the floor when the spirit released its hold. I belly crawled to the hole and started through the space, but it must not have been fast enough to suit Collin. I felt his hand on my ass, pushing me through. When we were both out, he reached in to slide the panel back in place, then grabbed my arm and dragged me to the fence.

Collin lowered me to the ground and studied my face, looking worried. “Can you walk to the truck?”

I nodded, not trusting myself to talk. I’d crawl to the truck if I had to. There was no way I was sticking behind to let Marino get me.

Collin lifted the boards to the fence and pushed me between the slats. I fell to the ground face-first, but before I had time to roll to my side, Collin had me up and moving. The injury in my shoulder blade was icy cold and now spreading down my back. It took every ounce of energy to keep from fainting. I’d never been a swooning kind of girl, and I refused to give in to it now. Especially around Collin. I’d never hear the end of it if I passed out.

Halfway across the field, my legs gave out, but before I hit the ground, Collin bent down and threw me over his shoulder. As he took off, he braced one of his hands on my upper thigh, beneath my skirt. Lucky for him I was in too much pain to protest.

When he reached the truck, he opened the door and dumped me inside, none too gently. I landed on my side and stayed there while Collin climbed in and tore out of the parking lot, my thoughts slowly fading away.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I drifted in and out of consciousness until I realized Collin had stopped the truck. Two things struck me: I was shivering so violently that I’d bitten the inside of my cheek, and Collin was unbuttoning my shirt.

I slapped at his hand, but my uncoordinated move missed. “What are you doing?”

“Ellie, I have to see.”

He had perched me upright with my back in the corner between the seat and the passenger door. I glanced out the windshield and noticed we were surrounded by trees. And nothing else. Why had he taken me into the woods? Panic raced through my body, and I tried to push him away.

My feeble efforts didn’t stop his progress. He was obviously used to undressing women, because he had my shirt unbuttoned and tugged off in only a few seconds. Just as I was about to scream, he turned me at the waist and pushed my chest against the door, moving my braid out of the way to look at my back.

“Fuck!” he growled. He opened the glove compartment and threw things around.

“What?” I gasped, trying to catch my breath. “What are you looking for?”

“A pen. A marker. Anything to write with.” He grabbed my purse and rifled through it, pulling out an ink pen, then he took hold of my shoulder.

I felt the pressure of the ballpoint on my skin and cried out in pain.

The pen started to move and after a few strokes, my back was on fire, countering the cold. I gripped the frame of the open window, refusing to cry out again. “What are you doing?” I managed.

“Saving your life.”

After he finished, the burning sensation continued, but it was easier to breathe. I rested my forehead against the door while the pain subsided. “What happened?”

“In the warehouse or just now?”

“Both.”

“You were attacked by a spirit, probably a god.”

“I figured that part out already. Was it Okeus?”

There was a pause before he said in a tight voice, “No. I don’t think so.” He paused. “For one thing, he didn’t announce his presence. He’s supposed to be arrogant enough that he wants those he appears to to know that it’s him. And second, I don’t believe Okeus would leave a mark on your back like this thing just did.”

“A mark on my back? What the hell are you talking about, Collin?”

“Tell me exactly what happened after it got you.”

I turned around, closing my eyes for a second to stop the spinning in my head. “Not until you tell me where you were. Why didn’t you help me? Where were you?”

“I was there. I saved you.”

“Not right away. Not until the thing almost killed me. Where were you?”

He closed his glove compartment. “Tidying up.”

“What does that mean?”

“I didn’t want to leave any signs that we were there.”

“Because the commotion we caused didn’t clue them in?”

“We could have been anyone for all Marino knows. If I’d left evidence that it was us, he’d send someone after us.”

“Someone scarier than the thing that stabbed me and then wrapped coils around my legs and up my body, zapping the heat from my body?”

“Is that what it did?”

“No, I just made that up. Of course that’s what it did. Which god was it?”

“I suspect a wind god. Possibly Wapi, the god of the north. He left his mark on your back. What you felt, him sucking the heat from you—he was consuming your Manitou, like the birds we saw. He left his mark in order to find you later and finish the job.”

My heart tried to fling itself from my chest. Now I had two evil gods intent on finishing me off. “What did you write on my back?”

“A symbol to counteract his.”

I began to shake again, but this time from fear and not cold. “What’s to stop him from finding me and doing it again?”

“The symbol I put on you will protect you from him stealing your Manitou. He can still kill you, but not by taking your Manitou. But if any of the other gods takes your Manitou, you’ll be condemned to Popogusso.”

“I take it Popogusso is someplace I don’t want to go?”

“Not unless you have a desire to spend eternity in hell.”

I broke out into to a cold sweat. Having the life sucked out of me was worse than I thought. “Duly noted.”

“I figured it would take another day or two before they would be strong enough to attack us. Obviously, I was wrong.” He sounded a bit pained to admit it.

“Will you teach me to protect myself now?”

He studied me for a moment. “I have something better that I was waiting to bring up. Since you have so blatantly disregarded everything to do with the curse in the past, I figured you’d fight this as well. I was waiting for you to be more accepting of your circumstances.”

I cocked my head. I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of this. “What is it?”

Collin grabbed the bottom of his T-shirt and began to pull it over his head.

“What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer, instead tossing his shirt to the floor.

I scooted back in the seat. “I am not having sex with you.”

A cocky grin spread over his face. “That’s not why I took off my shirt. Nice to know that was your first thought though.”

A blush rose to my cheeks. “Then why did you . . . ?” But I’d figured it out before I finished the sentence. An elaborate Native American symbol was tattooed on his chest, over his heart. A circle intersected with two squares, the eight points similar to the points of a compass. Smaller symbols surrounded the outer area and the center of the circle had a vertical zigzag mark. My mouth dropped open and my eyes rose to his. “You don’t expect—”

“No, I don’t expect you to get a permanent tattoo, but I’ve been thinking about it. We can give you a henna mark. It will last for at least a week, long enough to protect you until after the ceremony.”

I could live with a henna tattoo, but then I remembered my palm. I held out my outstretched hand. “What about this? Is it permanent?”

He took my hand and traced the outline of the circle, sending shivers up my back. “I’m not sure. I think it probably is.”

I sighed. There was nothing I could do about that. I’d wear it the rest of my life as long as it saved my hide and did its job, whatever the job was. “Does the henna tattoo have to be on my chest? It might show through my uniform at work.”

He grinned again, still tracing my mark. “No, it can be anywhere on your body, although you wouldn’t have to worry with the uniform shirt I saw. Are you a stripper at your second job?”

I shot him a glare.

“The Curse Keepers in the Manteo line have always had the symbol tattooed on our chests on our eighteenth birthday. The day we accept our role.”

His words sunk deep in my heart, and I was ashamed at the way I’d ignored my part in this. And now I was paying the price. “What does the symbol mean?”

“I’ll explain it to you when I tattoo you.”

“You’re going to do it?”

“I put the mark on your back just now. Besides, I know the symbol and the ceremony.”

There was a ceremony? I should have suspected. Native American history was steeped in ceremonies and stories.

I realized that Collin was still holding my hand. And that he was shirtless. And so was I. I tried to pull my hand free, but his fingers dug in as he grinned.

“I can read you like a book, Ellie. You wear your emotions on your face. You’d make a terrible con. I bet you suck at poker.”

“Good thing I have no intention of becoming a con.” No sense telling him I’d never played poker.

“What do you want to do with your life?” He still wore his grin, but his tone turned serious. “Do you plan on being a waitress the rest of your life? Are you waiting for some rich tourist to show up and sweep you off your feet so you can get your house with a three-car garage and granite counters?”

He had no right to judge me, but he’d heard me tell Oscar pretty much the same thing the day before so I guess I couldn’t blame him. I could have defended myself, but instead decided to turn it around on him. “What do you want to become? You want to be a thief for the rest of your life?”

The look in his eyes turned wicked.

“You told Lila you lived in Wanchese, and Marino said you had a boat. Are you a fisherman?” Wanchese was the other town on Roanoke Island, the commercial fishing port and where a lot of fishermen lived.

He winked. “Guilty as charged.”

“Somehow being a criminal and a commercial fisherman seem contradictory.”

“Don’t be so sure about that.”

“You used to live in Buxton.”

“Good job, Detective Lancaster,” he teased. “What else have you deduced about me?”

“You have a younger brother.”

“That doesn’t count. I told you that one.”

“You are loyal to your family and traditions.”

Surprisingly, the smile fell from his face. “Yes, Ellie I am. To a fault. Don’t forget it.”

I wasn’t sure what that meant and I was afraid to ask, not that I thought he’d tell me anyway. “What does mowcottowosh umpe mean?”

His grip tightened. “Where did you hear that?”

I sure wasn’t going to tell him that my father had recited it to me in an attempt to drive me away, thinking I was an evil spirit. “I must have heard you say it when you got rid of the god.”

“I never said those words.”

“Do you know what they mean?”

He turned his head to look out the windshield.

“You do know. Tell me. Why would I know them if you didn’t say them?”

“The Manteo Keepers have known things your side doesn’t. Information beyond what you should have learned as the Dare Keeper. Manteo performed the ceremony that created the curse, an act he regretted to the day he died. He spent the rest of his life trying to prepare our line for the day the curse broke.”

“So why would I know words you didn’t use?”

“Those words come from the protection spell for the Dare line. Mowcottowosh umpe means ‘black water.’”

“Why would black water stop a god?”

“It didn’t stop a god. I never said those words.”

“Maybe you didn’t, but I did. And maybe it didn’t stop the god entirely, but it made him pause.”

Collin didn’t answer, instead staring at the mark on my palm.

“If the god put his mark on me so it could come back to suck my Manitou later, I guess that means it’s not dead.”

“Gods and spirits don’t die. They can only be subdued temporarily or sent back to the spirit world.”

“So what did you do to it?”

“I used the power of my Curse Keeper mark along with the words of protection to send him away.”

“Why not send him back to the spirit world?”

“Two reasons. One, while I think you and I can take care of lesser spirits on our own, we have to combine our power to send gods and demons back. Like in the warehouse when our palms touched. And two, anything we send back right now won’t stay there. The gate to the spirit world is open and it would only return. They will only stay locked away if the gate is closed.”

“Will you teach me the words of protection?”

“No.”

I started to pull away, but his hand tightened around my wrist.

“I can’t teach them to you because you have your own. Our line didn’t pass yours down because they assumed you would take your role seriously. Obviously, they were wrong.” In spite of his words, his voice was soft and nonaccusatory.

I watched his face. Collin was still hiding things from me, but at least he was finally sharing information. “We’re stronger together now. Will our power increase?”

“Probably.”

“What do we do with it?”

He looked up and smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “So curious now. Where was this curiosity when you were growing up? When you should have learned all of this?”

I had no intention of sharing my ugly past with Collin Dailey, especially when he refused to share his. Some things were better left buried. “What time is it?”

He looked confused. “What?”

“I have to be at work at four. What time is it?”

“A little before noon.”

“That early?” It had been an eventful day. I tugged on my hand. “Can I put my shirt on now?”

He dropped his hold. “I never stopped you from putting it back on before.”

We both knew that was a lie, but I figured arguing the point would only dig me deeper. We seemed to be working together now so why stir things up again? Besides, I’d sat next to him for several minutes topless except for my white bra, and it seemed to have no effect on him. That was a good thing, so why did it bother me?

Maybe because staring at his bare chest did strange things to my stomach and other lower parts.

Collin grabbed his shirt off the floor as I picked up my blouse off the seat. As he bent over, I noticed more symbols tattooed on his back and his arms. What did they mean? Did I only need just one?

“We can get something to eat on the way back to Rodanthe. Hopefully, Mrs. Evelyn Abernathy will be home, and we can retrieve your cup.”

“And get me to work on time, right?” I’d left fifteen minutes early the day before. I needed all the hours I could get.

“There are more important things to worry about than your waitress job.” Cranky Collin was back. Yay.

“I have bills to pay, Collin.”

“And so do I, Ellie, but look where my priorities lie.”

Ah, another dig. And we’d been getting along so well. “We have at least two hours to work on getting the cup back, so calm down.”

He tugged his shirt over his head and started the truck. “I’ll calm down when this whole mess is over.”

“That makes two of us.”

We drove out of the woods and back into Buxton. I looked at him in surprise. “Is this a good idea? Shouldn’t we get out of here?”

“We should, but since you can’t protect yourself from evil spirits, I have to get some supplies so I can mark you.”

I needed the mark whether I knew the words of protection or not, but I decided to be the bigger person and not point that fact out.

Collin pulled off the highway at a rundown strip mall, stopping in front of the Curl Up and Dye hair salon.

“Do you need a haircut or are you trying to tell me something?”

He made a face. “Very funny. I have to get something here.”

“Is this another front for more shady activities?”

His eyebrows rose as he turned to me. “I just admitted to partaking in nefarious activities earlier so this should come as no surprise. Does that mean you’re going to stay in the truck this time?”

“No.”

He shook his head with a grimace. “You are the biggest pain in the ass.”

“You said that already. Let’s go.” I had the door open and was climbing out.

As we made our way to the front door, Collin leaned toward me. “I suppose asking you to keep quiet and let me do all the talking is wasted breath?”

“Probably.” I opened the front door and waved him in. “After you, sir.”

He chuckled, although it looked as though it pained him to do so.

When we entered the salon—and I use the word loosely—the eyes of six women fixated on Collin. Their jaws dropped and I could swear one of the customers actually drooled. Then they turned to me and glared. Part of me wanted to tell them that they were hugely mistaken. The last man on earth I’d be with was Collin Dailey, but Collin would have loved that a little too much. No sense feeding that man’s ego any more than it already had been.

One of the beauticians sauntered toward him, her hips swinging so much it was a wonder they didn’t cause an earthquake. Collin gave her an appreciative leer.

She stopped in front of him, giving him a seductive pout. “What can I do for you, sugar?”

Collin glanced down at her wedding ring, then back up to her. “Seeing how you’re already married, I suppose I’ll have to settle for second best now.”

The woman touched her mouth and actually looked like she was about to blush. Please. I couldn’t believe women fell for this bullshit.

“Any chance Rosalina is here?”

The woman grinned. “Rosalina, huh? Yeah, she’s in the back on break.” She looked over her shoulder and yelled, “Rosalina!”

A Hispanic woman poked her head out from the back room. “Yeah?”

“A gorgeous man is here asking for you.”

A woman who looked to be in her early twenties walked out and smiled. “Collin.” She glided toward him with a grace no one else in this salon possessed—in fact few women alive possessed that kind of grace. She was beautiful, and not the made-up beauty most of the women here were trying to achieve. Her thick, long, black hair was pulled back into a braid, but it looked loose and messy in a fashion model kind of way. Her face was practically makeup free, but her thick dark lashes made it apparent she didn’t need mascara. She was beautiful, and she was the perfect counterpart to Collin’s good looks. Brad and Angelina had nothing on these two.

When she reached him, she put her hands on his arm and stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Where’ve you been the last month?”

“Around.”

That was an interesting piece of information. I had a feeling Collin was new to Wanchese. Had he moved there a month ago? Why? I took a step closer to them. “Aren’t you going to introduce us, Collin?” I’d planned to actually sit back and observe this outing, but this opportunity was too good to pass up.

Collin’s shoulders tightened. “Rosalina, this is Ellie. Ellie, Rosalina.”

That was a disappointment. I wanted more information. “Nice to meet you, Rosalina. How do you two know each other?”

Rosalina looked from Collin to me, then back again. She didn’t look amused. Was she jealous? Of me? “Family friends. And you?”

“I guess you could say the same.”

“So then you two aren’t together?”

Collin laughed. “Rosalina, you know me better than that.”

What the hell did that mean? That I wasn’t good enough to get laid by the demigod Collin Fucking Dailey? Again, why did I care?

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. “As if. I have no interest in him.”

The woman looked surprised, as did the other women in the salon, all of whom were listening to our conversation. An old woman looked over her shoulder at the woman cutting her hair. “Is she one of those lesbians? You know they’re quite popular now.”

I started to set her straight, but what did I care what these women thought? Instead, Collin patted my head like I was a puppy. “Yes, she is. She’s into alternative lifestyles, which is why I need to talk to you, Rosalina.”

I didn’t like the sound of where this was going.

He moved to a corner with her, and he whispered something. She nodded and whispered to him, then disappeared in the back room. His eyes found mine. “Ellie, why don’t you wait in the truck?”

He was up to something, and I’d bet my ass it was something no good. “I think I’ll stick around.”

A few minutes later, Rosalina returned with a brown paper bag. They whispered again and Collin handed her some cash. She glanced down at it, then kissed him on the cheek again. But the way her hands clung to his arm and her lips lingered on his cheek told me she wanted more. Did Collin not want her or was she smart enough to not act on her desire, steering clear of Collin the man-whore?

Collin spun around and grabbed my arm, maneuvering me toward the door.

“What was that about?” I asked when we reached the sidewalk.

He grinned. “Jealous?”

My forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Jealous? Jealous over what?” I climbed into the truck and waited for him to get in on the other side. “I want to know what’s in the paper bag.”

“You really have to ask?” He started the truck and was about to back up when Rosalina burst out the door, a white paper in her hand.

She moved to the driver’s side door and handed Collin an envelope through the window. “Conner said to give this to you when I saw you.”

Collin’s hand tightened on the steering wheel. “Conner knew I’d come see you?” This obviously sounded like bad news to Collin.

“Yeah, about a week after you left, he brought it to me and told me to have everything ready.”

I leaned over the brown bag that sat between us, nudging the top open with my finger. All I could make out was a box, a folded piece of paper, and a few cuticle sticks.

Collin jerked the envelope from Rosalina’s hand. His jaw clenched. “Connor needs to stay the fuck out of it.”

She held her hands up as she backed up to the curb. “Don’t shoot the messenger.”

Collin ignored her and backed out of the space.

I watched Rosalina standing on the curb, a sad look on her face. “Who’s Conner?”

If looks really could kill, the one Collin gave me then would have made it look like I’d been attacked by a serial killer. “None of your fucking business.”

So our truce was over. Again.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Collin stopped at a convenience store and pulled up to a gas pump. “I’m going to go pay for gas. I suggest you head to the bathroom and then get something to eat.”

“What am I, six years old? I think I can figure out my own bodily functions.”

He actually grinned.

I grabbed my purse, and he followed me into the store, standing so close I could feel the heat steaming off his body.

“What are you, my bodyguard?”

“When you’re in Buxton, yes.”

Marino. For once I kept my sarcastic comments to myself.

He followed me to the women’s restroom, looking like an attentive boyfriend. Several women in the store cast looks of longing and jealousy in our direction. If they only knew.

“I’m going to get us something to eat and pay for the gas. I can keep an eye on the restroom door most of the time, but if you have any trouble, scream.”

I nodded and swallowed.

“Where’s your phone?”

“What?” But it didn’t take a genius to know we might need to call each other. I dug it out of my purse and handed it to him.

He punched his number in. After answering his phone, he handed mine back to me. Then he opened the bathroom door and pushed me in. “If you don’t see me when you open the door, stay inside until you do.”

I closed the door behind me and locked it, thinking about how flimsy those little locks on doorknobs actually were. Marino only had to slam the door with his massive body and it would come crumbling down. But then, people like Marino never did the dirty work. They got someone else to do it for them.

After I finished my business, I washed my hands and looked at myself in the mirror. I could see why Rosalina had looked at me in surprise if she thought that Collin and I were together. While she was supermodel perfect, I was average height, average weight. Pretty, but with an average face. My dark red hair was unruly most of the summer, and my skin was so pale it literally glowed under black light.

Why was I comparing myself to Rosalina?

I had no delusions that Collin was interested in me, and even if he was, if I were smart, I’d steer clear of getting involved with him. But then there was the history of my failure with men. Did I expect too much, hoping for the kind of relationship Daddy had with Momma? Should I learn to settle?

I shook my head with a sigh. Now was not the time to reason out my love life. Or lack thereof.

There were dirt smudges on my white shirt. I grabbed a wet paper towel and scrubbed it clean the best I could. We still had to see Evelyn Abernathy, and I didn’t want to look like a homeless beggar.

When I opened the door, Collin stood in front of the refrigerated case, but he was with two men and none of them looked happy.

“ . . . wouldn’t know anything about that. I’ve been at the Curl Up and Dye all morning,” Collin said. “If you don’t believe me, stop by and check it out for yourself. The ladies loved having me there.”

One of the guys, a muscled guy who stood taller than Collin, crossed his arms. “I’m sure they did.”

“Anything else I can do for you boys?” Collin asked.

“Where’s the girl?” the other guy asked.

Collin leaned his shoulder into the glass. “I left her at the Curl Up and Dye. Why do you ask?”

“Marino’s not done with her.”

“Unfortunately for Marino, I’m not done with her either.”

“Should we remind you what happened the last time you pissed off Marino?”

Collin rubbed his jaw. “That’s not necessary.”

“He’s giving you two days.”

Collin gave them a half-shrug and a smirk. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The men walked away and I heard the tinkle of the entrance door. Collin turned to look down the hallway. When he saw me, he held up a finger and pointed to the bathroom. I went back inside and locked the door.

Marino was serious. I felt a little safer knowing that Collin needed me until we repaired the curse, but I had no delusions that he’d protect me when this was done. What would I do then?

My cell phone rang in my purse and I jumped, startled out of my thoughts. When I dug it out, I saw an unfamiliar number. Oh, God. Had Marino found out who I was? All he knew was my first name. What if he’d found out my last name and got my number?

“Hello?” I answered with a shaky voice.

“Meet me at the back exit in five minutes. I’ll call you when I’m ready.” Collin hung up and didn’t wait for me to answer.

Less than five minutes later, Collin called again. “I’m pulling around back. Come out, get in, and stay low.” Then he hung up again.

Taking a deep breath, I exited the bathroom, my stomach a jittery ball of nerves.

A middle-aged woman braced her butt against the hallway wall. She threw up her hands in exasperation. “Took you long enough!”

“Sorry.” I turned my attention to the store, and when I didn’t see Marino’s men, I headed down the hallway to the exit. Collin’s truck was rounding the back corner of the convenience store. I waited until he pulled up next to the door before I ran to the passenger door and climbed in. I yanked the door shut, but Collin was pushing my head down.

“They’re watching me, and they’re going to wonder why I drove back here. I’m pulling over to the air pump and putting some air in my tire. Stay down.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice.

He stopped the truck and hopped out. I crouched on the floor of the truck, thankful for the first time that Collin drove an old clunker from when they made vehicles big and their interiors bigger.

I heard the sound of the air pump and then a minute later, the driver door opened. I lifted my head in alarm, relieved to see Collin slide in the seat and shift the truck into drive.

After several minutes, I asked, “Can I get up now?”

“Yes. I haven’t seen any sign of them for a few miles.”

I climbed up on the seat, smoothing my skirt over my legs.

Collin cast a glance in my direction and grinned. “No sense doing that. I already had a look up your skirt earlier.”

Resting my elbow on the open window ledge, I leaned my head on my hand. “I hope you enjoyed the view.” But my words lacked the sarcastic punch required to make it effective.

Collin didn’t seem to notice. “I’ve seen better.”

My day had sucked and it wasn’t even one o’clock. So much for my lucky skirt. My close call with Marino’s men had put me at the edge, but Collin’s statement was the final straw. It was stupid and immature and irrational, but tears filled my eyes, and I tried to swallow the burning lump in my throat.

Collin turned toward me, horror on his face when he realized I was close to tears. Not the what can I do to help her kind of horror or even the I’ve gone too far and hurt her feelings horror either. It was the flat-out disgust of a man caught in a truck with a crying woman.

“Leave me the fuck alone!” I shouted. I wanted to jump out of the moving truck and die from embarrassment and massive internal injuries.

His hand tightened on the steering wheel. “I didn’t mean what I said about your ass. You have a very nice ass.” It was halfhearted and he obviously said it to get me to stop crying.

“Shut up, Collin!”

His hand flopped over, palm open as he tried to make his point. His mark was in plain view. “I’d say you rank at least in the top fifty percent, maybe even top twenty.”

I gritted my teeth. “Shut. Up. I’m not crying over your immature comment about my ass, so get over yourself.”

He looked stunned.

“I don’t give a flying fuck what you think of my ass, and you better get that through your head right now!” I shouted, and it felt good. It was like letting the valve off a pressure cooker that had been building all day.

Collin looked confused. “Okay . . . ”

“I was almost killed by an angry wind god, and Jabba the Hutt wants to buy me. I think that grants me a few seconds of tears.”

He paused, then slowly nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“And when I came to in the woods, you were stripping my shirt off without explanation—”

“You were unconscious!”

“—you just started drawing on my back with a fucking ink pen—”

“I was saving your life!”

“And you told Marino he can have me when you’re done with me. What the fuck? I am not someone’s possession!”

“Again, trying to save your life.”

“And I’m a lousy fuck? What the fuck was that?”

Collin grinned.

“What the fuck are you smiling about?”

He smirked. “Before a minute ago, I probably heard you say fuck less than a handful of times. In the past thirty seconds, I’ve lost count.”

“How often I say fuck is none of your fucking business.”

He lifted a shoulder with a sheepish grin. “True. I’m a fan of the word myself.” He smirked. “In more ways than one.”

I punched him in the arm. “You do not get to laugh at me when I’m pissed at you.”

He smiled. “I can’t help it. You’re kind of cute like this.”

Cute was the last word I expected Collin Dailey to use, especially regarding me.

He held up his hands in surrender. “Go ahead and cry if you want to. I’m not stopping you.”

“Shut up!” I yelled and hit his arm again.

He reached over his chest and covered my hand with his left one, probably to avoid our marks touching. “You’ve got quite the temper.” He looked over with something in his eyes I hadn’t seen before. Appreciation? Respect?

I snatched my hand from his and turned my back to him.

“So are you going to cry or not? I’ve got to warn you that I don’t have any tissues.”

“I don’t feel like crying anymore.” It was true. My anger had dried up my tears.

“For the record, I officially retract my first comment about your ass. However, to make a final judgment, I’d really need to see it again.” His hand lifted the edge of my skirt.

I slapped his hand. “Not a chance.”

His hand covered mine again. “I’m sorry.”

My jaw dropped, and I turned around to face him. I never, ever expected to hear Collin Dailey apologize for anything. Ever.

“You’ve been through a lot this morning and you’ve handled it so well, I never questioned how you were really handling it.” He shrugged. “I’ve had my fair share of incidents and this morning set me on edge. I can’t imagine what it’s done to little Ellie Lancaster of Roanoke Island, whose life goal is to be a waitress and get married.”

I could have taken offense at his statement, but it was obvious he meant no malice. This was Collin’s way of apologizing. I was flabbergasted. “Thanks.”

His face turned serious. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

I nodded. I’d figured that out already.

He swallowed, clearly uncomfortable. This was probably as honest as Collin got with someone. “Look, I’ll help you the best I can with this, but I’m not really . . . that kind of guy.”

“I know. I don’t expect you to be.”

His eyebrows rose in surprise.

“I’m not blind, Collin. I know who you are, or rather what you are. I don’t expect anything from you other than information, and to do your part in the ceremony. You don’t owe me anything, and it’s not your fault if I’ve forgotten everything about being the Dare Keeper.”

He seemed to accept my answer. “So how about we start again?”

“And how many times would that be that we started again?”

“Does it matter?”

I shook my head. Collin was making an effort. Who was I to argue? “How did you get involved with Marino anyway?”

Collin shifted in his seat, looking out the windshield. “It’s a long and sordid tale all revolving around a boat.”

“Your boat?”

“Yep. The Lucky Star. It was my father’s. My family have been commercial fishermen for generations. The Croatan were fishermen. We like to follow tradition.”

“Is your brother a fisherman too?”

His face hardened. “No, he turned his back on his family and our tradition.”

“You mean he doesn’t believe in the curse?”

He sighed. “No.”

I supposed if his brother was younger, it didn’t matter if he believed or not. Collin was the Keeper. But I could see how it must have hurt Collin. Just like I’d hurt my father.

“You went to Marino for money?”

“My father knew Marino. My father up and left one day, fifteen years ago. We never saw him again. There were bills and I was a kid, barely ten, but I was the man of the family. I felt a responsibility to take care of my mother and my little brother. On weekends I worked on a boat with my uncle, and he’d pay me.”

“You were a kid, Collin. It wasn’t your responsibility.”

He shook his head and glanced at me. “You don’t understand, Ellie. It’s the way of our family. I dropped out of high school my junior year and started fishing on my father’s boat. But it was old and hadn’t been used for several years. I needed money to fix it. Money I didn’t have. My dad used to deal with Marino. A couple of months after my dad disappeared, Marino stopped by and told me if there was anything my family needed to come seek his help. So I did.”

I knew about that kind of responsibility and that kind of desperation. Collin and I were more alike than I realized.

“It started as small jobs for him and then I branched out on my own. He’d buy whatever I had. Before I realized it I was too deep to get out. When you get caught up in Marino’s web, there’s really no getting out of it. Not permanently. I’ve tried before, and it doesn’t work.”

“So why don’t you sell the boat and start over with something else?”

A hardness covered his face. “Some of us want more than husbands and fancy houses.”

“And who the hell says that’s what I want, Collin? You hear one thing out of context and think the worst of me.”

“So what do you want?”

I released a loud sigh. “Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve spent twenty-three years feeling like I didn’t fit in anywhere. Like I couldn’t find my place in the world. Something was always missing. Maybe this was it.”

Collin was silent for a moment. “I know what you mean.”

“So what happens when it’s over? When we close the gate? Do we just go back to our lives before?”

Collin shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know.”

He was lying. For a man who usually snowed women, he sucked at lying to me.

“So we get my cup, then what?”

“Hopefully, we get your cup this afternoon, then we’ll go mark you with the symbol.”

“After I get off work.”

“Ellie,” he grumbled.

“Look, you have Marino for money. I have my job at the New Moon. And while you think I’m using my money to buy new shoes, I’m really helping keep my father’s bed and breakfast afloat. So you’re not the only one fighting to find money for family obligations.”

He looked surprised. “I had no idea.”

“I know. And now you do. I don’t tell many people. I’m not sure why I told you.”

He turned to me. “I don’t tell anyone my story either. So I guess we’re even.”

We were far from even, but I’d save that until later.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

After encountering Marino’s men at the convenience store, Collin had been in such a hurry he hadn’t gotten food. The last thing I’d eaten was the muffin at Myra’s around seven that morning. Collin must have realized the last thing he’d seen me consume was the coffee he brought me. After my earlier emotional outburst, he was probably worried I’d freak out again. He stopped in Avon and picked up sandwiches and bottles of water. I had to admit that I felt better after I ate something. I even felt hopeful. Collin and I had reached a new level in our partnership and for the first time, I let myself think that I was capable of helping Collin close the gate.

It was after two o’clock when we reached Rodanthe. Collin parked in front of Mrs. Abernathy’s house. A car was parked in the carport.

Collin turned off the engine and pointed to the car. “Okay, Ellie. Lesson one in the art of casing a place. Figure out as much as you can about your mark.”

“You mean victim.”

He shrugged. “Semantics.” He turned to me. “Tell me what you know about Mrs. Evelyn Abernathy.”

“She lives in a beach house.”

He pursed his lips and gave a slight nod. “I was hoping for more than that. What does the fact that she lives in a beach house tell you?”

“That she has money.”

“Good, but not necessarily. It might have been a family property that she’s hanging onto by her fingernails. I suspect that’s not the case here. Why?”

I remembered looking inside the house the night before. “The inside. The kitchen looked new and the furniture was nice.”

“Good. What else?”

I studied the house again. “Her car. It looks expensive.”

“It is. It’s a Lexus. And not just a Lexus, an ES.”

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

He shook his head in mock disgust. “Any self-respecting gold digger would know her Lexus models.”

“I’ll add that to my to-do list.”

“Good girl. Nothing but the best luxury car for you.” He tapped my nose.

I batted his hand away. “So why do we care about this?”

“She has money, and she bought the cup in a pawnshop. She’s a collector, and she knows her stuff. She knows the real steals aren’t in the antique malls but the grungy places. She’s not afraid to get her hands dirty to find just the right piece. But I don’t think she has an emotional attachment to it.”

“How would you know that?”

“The way she displayed her books and knickknacks. It was all very put together and organized. The displays of a collector with an emotional attachment have a more ‘lived with’ look. The collectors read the books. They use the bowls. They handle the pewter cups.” He looked at me. “But the serious collector displays for maximum exposure. They want people to see the fruit of their search. It’s a game, and part of the game is displaying the trophy. We’re lucky. She’ll be more likely to sell it since she doesn’t have an emotional attachment, but that means money matters to her. It will cost more.”

My eyes widened in disbelief. “Where did you learn that?”

“Casing the Joint 101 at the school for Mischief and Shenaniganry, of course. I think I passed you in the hall on the way to Entrapping the Eligible Billionaire Bachelor.”

I couldn’t help grinning. “Very funny. So what do we do with all of this?”

“We use it to get what we want. We use everything at our disposal to get what we want. Always.”

That came as no surprise. I’d learned that the day before, but I was surprised he admitted it.

“Let me do all the talking.”

“It’s my cup, Collin.”

He turned to me in exasperation. “I have more experience with this, Ellie.”

There was no arguing with that, but my gut reaction was that it would be best to go with the emotional ploy. Nevertheless I was glad we had money. “Are you going to pay for it? You still have the eighteen hundred dollars.”

“More like sixteen hundred dollars.”

“What?”

“I had to get gas. And then food.”

“Gas and food don’t cost two hundred dollars, Collin. Where did the rest go?”

“I had to pay for the supplies for your henna tattoo.”

I remembered him handing a bill to Rosalina, and my anger exploded. “You paid one hundred dollars for henna supplies? There’s no way on God’s green earth they cost that much.”

He shrugged. “I gave Rosalina a tip.”

“You paid her one hundred dollars. With my money?”

“Consider it a finder’s fee.”

“It’s my money, Collin.” Knowing he paid one of his many women with my money pissed me off more than I cared to admit. “Give it to me.”

“Give you what?”

“My money. Hand it over now. I only gave it to you before because I didn’t feel like holding that much cash when Marino felt me up.”

Collin’s gaze turned murderous. “Marino felt you up?”

I gave him a dirty look. “I’ll never kiss and tell. Now give me my money.”

“You kissed him?”

“Will you just give me my damned money already!”

He reached into the glove compartment, pulled out a wad of bills, and handed it to me. I counted the stack. “Nice try. There’s only twelve hundred here. I want the rest.”

“I took you to Marino. That has to count for something.”

“Yeah, it means I owe you a swift kick in the nuts. I wanted to go to Oscar. I can guarantee you that I wouldn’t be in this trouble if I’d gone to him.”

Collin didn’t protest, instead pulling out his wallet, then taking out three hundred dollars and handing it to me.

I continued to hold out my hand. “The rest?”

“What the hell, Ellie? Are you going to nickel and dime me over this?”

“Yes.”

He handed me another bill. “There.”

I suspected there was more but decided to let it go for now. I stuffed the money into my purse and hopped out of the truck, walking toward Mrs. Abernathy’s house.

Collin ran after me, moving in front of me and blocking my path. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Getting my cup, now get out of my way.”

His eyes widened in fear. “What’s your plan?”

“Do you really think coming up with a plan to con this woman out of her cup should be discussed out here in the open?

“No, it shouldn’t. Let’s go back to the truck.” He grabbed my bicep and started to drag me to the curb.

He was never going to cave, and I wasn’t willing to make a scene.

“Let go. I have to tie my shoe or I’m going to trip.”

Grumbling, he released his hold. I bent down and pretended to mess with my shoestring, then bolted for the door. The look of surprise on Collin’s face when I looked over my shoulder was priceless. But it only took him a half second to catch up to me on the back deck. Just as I knocked on the door.

“Ellie, let me handle this,” he growled through gritted teeth.

“Kiss my ass, Collin,” I muttered back.

“You fuck this up, and I’ll do more than that to your ass.”

Why did that send a shiver up my back? Focus, Ellie.

An older woman made her way to the door and my stomach began to flip-flop. Damn. In my determination to beat Collin to the door, I hadn’t come up with a plan yet.

She wore capri pants and a blouse that looked freshly pressed. Her white-gray hair was cut short and she wore makeup, but in a fresh sort of way. She opened the door and gave me an inquisitive perusal. I knew I looked like a hot mess. My shirt was still stained despite my effort to clean it in the restroom in Buxton and my legs were covered in scratches. Collin had said she was a serious collector, and I had no doubt about that, but the softness in her eyes when she took in the sight of me made me rethink our tactic.

Her eyes shifted from me to Collin and back again as she held onto the door. “Can I help you?”

“I hope so.” I paused. “Mrs. Abernathy?”

She nodded, but looked nervous.

“I’m so sorry to bother you and I know I really shouldn’t be here but . . . ” My voice broke.

Wariness filled her eyes and she took a step back.

“You bought a pewter cup at the pawnshop in Kill Devil Hills. My boyfriend left me and he stole a bunch of my things and pawned them. I didn’t know until it was too late. I went to get my cup and I found out it had been sold.” This time I forced my voice to break. “I’m so sorry to show up at your door, and I’m not supposed to know who bought it, but I accidently found out who you were and I just had to see if there was any chance of getting it back.”

She looked up at Collin. At least she hadn’t sent me packing. She looked him over and narrowed her eyes. “Your boyfriend pawned it?”

I glanced over at Collin and looped my arm around his, leaning into him. “Oh, no! Enrique’s not my boyfriend,” I laughed. “Enrique’s gay.” I hugged his arm. “I don’t know what I’d do without him after Tony left and destroyed everything.”

The woman frowned.

She wasn’t going to talk to me. Maybe I should have done this Collin’s way. What would we do if we couldn’t get it back? I was tired and scared and started to cry, real tears. “Please, I know I have no right to be here. The cup doesn’t look like much, but it was my mother’s.” My voice broke again, and I wiped a tear from my face. “It’s one of the few things I have left of hers.”

The tension eased from her body and she took a step back. “Come in, both of you come in.”

We followed her into the living room. I still clung to Collin’s arm, and I looked up, giving him an evil grin. The glare he gave me said I’d pay for this later. Mrs. Abernathy motioned to the sofa, and I pulled Collin down next to me.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” she said as she sat in an overstuffed chair next to us.

I leaned my head into Collin’s shoulder and gave her a sad smile. “My ex-boyfriend Tony just swept me off my feet and before I knew it, he moved in with me. But it didn’t take long before he started staying out late, and things started going missing. Just little things at first, things I thought I’d misplaced, but Enrique here told me ‘Girl, he’s stealing your stuff.’ Didn’t you, Enrique?”

Collin’s arm tensed, but he gave me a goofy grin, tilting his head. “I warned you.” He looked up at Mrs. Abernathy and raised his eyebrows in an exaggerated lift. “She’s stubborn. This girl won’t listen to a word I say.” His hand squeezed my arm in a painful grip.

I had to stop myself from giggling. Collin was playing his role, digs at me and all.

I took a deep breath to focus. “Tony was just so . . . ”

“Nerdy?” Collin supplied.

“No.”

“Lacking in the bedroom?”

“No.”

Collin’s eyes widened and he leaned toward the woman across from us. “Marianne was always complaining about how disappointing he was, and I was like, ‘You need to find you a real man.’” He tilted his head to the side, his eyes widening. “Like that Collin fellow that comes into the Short Stop I work at. That boy is fine.”

I gritted my teeth. “Enrique, you and I both know that Collin fellow is worse than Tony. Out of the fryin’ pan into the roaring bonfire with that boy.”

Collin tilted his head toward me and nodded with a smug smile. “But I’m sure he’s much better than Tony in the bedroom.”

I pinched my lips together, my eyebrows rising. “That’s not what I heard, but then, poor Mrs. Abernathy doesn’t want to hear about your fantasy man.” I patted his leg and turned to her. “I’m sorry about that. Enrique is just a little protective of me.”

He patted my knee. “Especially since the accident.” He nodded with a knowing look.

Her eyes widened. “What accident?”

Collin tilted his head toward me. “Sweetie, go on ahead and tell her about the accident.”

I was going to murder him the minute we got out of this house. “Enrique, love. That’s not why we’re here. We’re here to see about my cup.”

He waved a hand in the air. “Don’t you let her fool you. The accident is part of it.”

“Enrique.”

“What accident?” Mrs. Abernathy asked.

“Well . . . ” I stammered. “Enrique is making too much of it really. I was in a car accident. But it was just a fender bender.” I waved my hand. “No big deal.”

“Um, um, um. That’s not it, precious. You don’t have to hide it anymore.” Collin leaned forward. “Don’t you let her fool you.” He turned to me and patted my cheek. “You are so brave. It’s okay, you can trust this kind woman.” Collin turned back to her again. “I keep telling her that she has to let people in. She has to learn to trust again. You know?”

“Enrique, you’re getting much too personal with poor Mrs. Abernathy. Perhaps you should wait in the car.”

She shook her head. “Oh no. He’s such a good friend. You’re so lucky to have him.”

Collin gave me a smug smile. “Hear that? I keep telling you that all the time.”

My fingernails dug into his arm. “And you know how much I appreciate it.”

Collin shook his head. “That boy stole her things and sold ’em for drug money. Can you imagine? Family heirlooms.”

I reached out and put my hand on Mrs. Abernathy’s knee. “I can live without most of it. They’re just things, you know? But one in particular is precious to me. It belonged to my mother. It was the one thing I have left since she died when I was a little girl.” Real tears came to my eyes. “It’s an antique pewter cup and I know that you bought it. I have money to pay you for it. I’ll even pay you more than you bought it for. I’m begging you to please understand and help me get the last piece of my mother back.”

“Is that the accident Enrique mentioned?”

“Yes,” I said, cutting off Collin. “My mother was killed when I was little, in a horrible accident, and my life hasn’t been the same since then.” To my horror, my voice broke as I held back a sob. Her death had affected everything in my life. The curse included. I’d vowed that I was done with the curse after she died. Because she died. My mother’s death left a gaping hole in my heart that was never filled, no matter what I did to fix it.

“I’m so sorry,” she said quietly.

“The cup has been in our family for years, and honestly, Tony pawned and sold some much more valuable things. I don’t care about any of them. I realize the cup doesn’t look like much, but it was the most priceless thing I owned. If you could consider—” My chin trembled and I wiped a tear from my face. “If you would just think about selling it back to me, I’d be forever grateful.”

She stood and leaned over to give me a hug. “You poor thing. Of course I’ll sell it back to you.”

“Thank you.”

The cup was still on the shelf we saw it on the night before. She pulled it down and handed it to me. “Here you go, dear.”

I hugged it to my chest, grateful I’d actually gotten it back. “How much do I owe you?”

“Five hundred dollars.”

“Only five hundred dollars?” I asked in surprise. I knew she paid more than that. “You don’t want more? Are you sure?”

Collin squeezed my arm. “Of course she’s sure, sweetie. Don’t be questioning Mrs. Abernathy.”

Mrs. Abernathy nodded, “Yes, I’m sure. Five hundred.”

Holding the cup in one hand, I dug five one hundred dollar bills out of my purse. I stood and handed her the money, then hugged her tight. “Thank you.” My tears made my voice crack. The guilt of this woman losing money to help me was about to do me in. I lied to her and took advantage of her kindheartedness. I tried to comfort myself with the knowledge that I might actually be saving her life.

Mrs. Abernathy took a step back and patted my face. “You take good care of that cup now.”

I nodded.

“And be careful about who you give your heart to. Too bad Enrique isn’t . . . your type.”

Collin twisted his face into an exaggerated smirk. “Don’t you know it.”

“You’re so lucky to have a friend like Enrique.” She patted Collin’s arm. “And maybe you should give that Collin a chance. You just never know.”

“See?” Collin said. “Even Mrs. Abernathy thinks you should give that fine man a chance.”

I pushed him toward the door. “Thank you again, Mrs. Abernathy.”

“God bless you, dear,” she said standing in the doorway, watching us head to the steps. “You take good care of her, Enrique.”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. I’ll take care of her all right.”

He pushed the small of my back, practically shoving me down the stairs and toward the truck. I was too busy clinging to the pewter cup to care. We had my relic. Now we only needed Collin’s and we were set.

We got in the truck, and Collin turned to me with a glare. “Your gay friend?”

“I’m lousy in bed?”

He waved his hand from his face to his abdomen. “What about this suggests that you can call me gay?”

“Do you really want to ask that? Besides, it worked. When will you learn to trust me?”

His mouth tightened. “When will you start doing what I ask?”

“Probably never.”

“Well, there you go.” His grimace made his mouth pucker.

He left the neighborhood and pulled onto the highway, his irritation ebbing after a few miles. “Did you have that planned when you knocked on her door?” I heard appreciation in his voice.

I curled my feet underneath me. “No. I worked it out as I went along.”

He laughed. “Are you sure you didn’t take Con Artist 101? You’re a natural.”

“I was too busy in my Entrap Your Man With Hot Sex lab.” What possessed me to say that? The adrenaline rush for what we just got away with was making me reckless.

“They have a lab for that?”

His eyebrows rose and he looked me up and down, a different look in his eye than I was used to seeing. What was it? Respect? Lust? My brain wasn’t sure I liked his change in attitude toward me, but my traitorous body did, tingling in unmentionable places. I shrugged. “Gotta make sure I can ensnare my rich husband, right? Obviously, I need help with the exterior package since my ass doesn’t meet the Collin Dailey QA standards.” Good God. What the hell was I doing? It was as though I was drunk. I was drunk on thievery.

A grin spread across his face, but both hands gripped the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white, as though if he let go, his hands might do something he’d regret.

Now that was a laugh and a sure sign that my imagination had jumped into overdrive. I doubted there was much in Collin’s life he regretted.

“Good story about your mom. That sealed the deal. And the tears. Perfect.” He shook his head. “I never thought you had it in you, Ellie Lancaster.”

I looked out the window, my euphoria evaporating.

Collin must have sensed my mood change. “That was a story, wasn’t it?”

My throat burned, and I blinked to keep the tears in my eyes from falling. I will not cry. I will not cry. I took a deep breath and exhaled. “No. My mother died when I was little.”

He paused. “Was the cup hers?”

“No. My father was the Keeper before me.” We sat in silence for several seconds. I looked out the windshield, refusing to look at Collin. “My father told me the Curse Keeper stories before I could talk. Daddy took his role very seriously, and my preparation to take over when I was eighteen, even more so. He worked at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site visitor center, the home of the Lost Colony, always watching. Always waiting. My mother, on the other hand, did not believe.” I bit my lip. “She was an archaeologist at the site and thought the curse was nonsense. She always told me to remember that they were just stories. But she loved my father more than the air she breathed, and he loved her just as much, so she indulged us our fairy tales as she called them. But I could tell she hated every minute of it.”

I took a deep breath and rested my elbow on the window, my head in my hand. I turned to Collin. “We were perfect. The perfect family until everything changed.”

Collin swallowed, looking uncomfortable. “What happened?”

“One cold and stormy winter night when I was eight years old, a man broke into our house.” I released a dry laugh. “It sounds so freaking cliché doesn’t it?”

Collin didn’t answer, his gaze on the road.

I should stop. It was obvious from the horrified look on Collin’s face that he didn’t want to know the intimate, ugly details of my life, but I’d suppressed it for so long, once I opened the door, it was all rushing out. Besides, he deserved an explanation. “Daddy wasn’t home. He was at a meeting or something. Momma had just gotten me ready for bed. I remember I was wearing my favorite nightgown. It was long and white and very lacy. I always felt like a princess when I wore it. I was picking out a book to read with Momma when I heard a noise downstairs. I think it was the sound of breaking glass. I’m not really sure.” I shook my head, as though I could lodge the memories back in place. “I haven’t thought of this in so long.”

“Ellie, you don’t have to tell me this.”

But I did. I needed him to know. “I grabbed my stuffed bunny and stood at the top of the stairs. I heard a man shouting, ‘Where is she?’ My mother was screaming, screaming my name. I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to help Momma, but I couldn’t make myself go downstairs. I sat on the top step, clutching my bunny.” I took another breath to steady my shaking voice. “I don’t remember much else, bits and pieces that make no sense. A man, but a hood covered his face. And blood. So much blood. I was covered in it and so was my bunny.”

“Ellie.” Collin’s voice broke.

“It was my fault. It was my fault she died.”

Collin pulled the truck to the side of the road. He shoved the gearshift into park and turned toward me, pain in his eyes. “It wasn’t your fault, Ellie. How could it be your fault?”

“I told Claire. Only days before. Daddy always told me terrible things would happen if we shared the secret.”

“Ellie, you don’t know that’s why she died. It was some sick, horrible person. That wasn’t your fault.”

“No, Collin. He was looking for me. The man was looking for me. He knew my name.”

Collin’s face paled.

“If I’d gone downstairs. If I’d just gone down there, he wouldn’t have killed my mother.”

He looked like he was going to throw up when he grabbed both of my arms. “No, Ellie. He might have killed you too.”

My chin trembled, and I choked back a sob. “But then my mother might be alive.”

Collin’s chest heaved as emotions flickered in his eyes. Fear. Worry. Indecision. Finally, he shook his head. “No, Ellie. There was nothing you could have done.”

“I was a coward.” There it was. The burden I’d carried for years. That my cowardice killed my mother, along with my disobedience. I’d never confessed it to anyone. Not even Claire, yet I was telling Collin. Why?

“If that man killed your mother, a grown woman, how could an eight-year-old girl stop him? You are far from being a coward. Look at this morning. You stood up to Marino. Most grown men won’t do that.”

I closed my eyes. “I didn’t tell you this for pity. I told you to explain.” I opened my eyes and found him watching me with a guarded expression. “When my mother died that night, all my knowledge of the curse disappeared except for the most basic information. I don’t remember anything about the spirits or gods. Or the words of protection. Or anything about the ceremony. Daddy tried to teach me again, but I was sure the curse killed my mother as punishment for me telling Claire. I decided if the curse could kill my mother for something I did, it was evil and I didn’t want anything to do with it. If nothing else, I figured I owed it to my mother for giving her life for mine. She didn’t want me to believe the curse so I wouldn’t.”

Collin dropped his hold on my arms and turned to look out the windshield.

“I’d ask my dad to tell me now, and I have since you showed up, but he has Alzheimer’s. He has more bad days than good and I haven’t gotten anything.” I shook my head in self-disgust. “I had a chance to learn it all again, and I threw it away. But I regret it now. I’ve regretted it since the moment you walked into the New Moon.”

Collin sighed. “It’s okay. We’ll figure this out together.” But he refused to look at me.

Collin would have never given up on his Curse Keeper responsibilities. He had a symbol tattooed over his heart, knowing there was little possibility that he’d need it. How did I make up for that kind of dedication?

He turned back to the steering wheel and turned on his blinker. “We need to get you back to Manteo so you won’t be late for work.”

“But you didn’t want me to go to work. You said I needed to get my priorities straight.”

He shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road. “I don’t want to do anything else curse related until I mark you with the henna tattoo, and I want to wait until after dark to mark you. So you might as well get some hours in at the restaurant while you wait for sunset.”

“Thanks.”

We drove the rest of the way in silence, Collin doing his best to ignore me. When he parked outside my apartment, I got out of the truck and started for the stairs.

“Ellie.”

I looked over my shoulder at him.

His mouth opened, but he hesitated, then smiled softly. “I’ll see you later tonight.”

And then he was gone.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Tourists had flooded Manteo, even more so than usual, and the New Moon was packed. I was busy nonstop with people waiting thirty minutes or longer for a table. I had the outdoor patio section, which I liked from time to time. Sure it was hot, but it fed my people-watching obsession. And working the patio meant I could keep an eye on things, not that I’d know what to do if a spirit showed up. It was hard to believe that only a few days ago I was looking for adventure. Be careful what you wish for, Ellie.

Claire’s ghost tour started and ended a block away. She waved to me when her group—the largest I’d ever seen—passed by so I wasn’t surprised she dropped in half an hour later. The sun had begun to set, and I was getting nervous. What if a spirit attacked with all of these people around? The responsible part of me wondered if I should take off from work, but now was very bad timing. The New Moon had never been busier and Marlena needed me. Not to mention I really needed the money.

Claire leaned against the exterior wall and gave me a mischievous look. “Well?”

“Well, what?” I asked, picking plates off a table since our busboy had called in sick.

“Did Collin Dailey ever show his face again?”

I looked at her dumbfounded for a moment, my brain scrambling to catch up. The last time I’d seen or talked to her was when Collin had walked out of the back of the restaurant the day before. That seemed like a week ago. I shook my head with a snort.

“Is that a yes? What did he say?”

“You have no idea.”

“So tell me!”

I held my palm out to her. “Try this for starters. It’s so much more than just a mark on my hand.”

Her eyes grew as large as quarters. “So what is it?”

“It’s how we send the spirits and gods back. Collin has one too.”

“That is so romantic.”

I laughed and carried the plates to a plastic tub. “There isn’t a single romantic bone in Collin Dailey’s body. Trust me.”

She moved next to me. “Ellie, that man is hot. You have to fight evil spirits together. You share a mark on your hands and possess supernatural powers. What’s not romantic?”

“Trust me. Collin isn’t anything like that. He’s . . . ” I paused. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her about Marino or Mrs. Abernathy in Rodanthe. “His moral compass is questionable.”

“Moral compass?” This gave her a second pause. “That’s only important if you want a relationship with him. Just sleep with him.”

My mouth dropped open. “Will you listen to yourself? No, I will not just sleep with him. I won’t be one of many women Collin Dailey screws and then throws to the side so he can screw another one.”

Her eyes lit up. “You like him!”

“No! Maybe. I don’t know.” I crossed my arms.

“At least admit that he’s hot.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, he’s hot. Even a blind woman could see that. But it doesn’t matter if I like him or not. He’s not interested in that with me, and he’s made his indifference perfectly clear. Multiple times.”

She scrunched her nose. “Really?”

“Really. I don’t make the Collin Dailey cut.” And damn if that didn’t sting my pride. “Look, it doesn’t matter. We’re together because we have a job to do. Close the gate to the spirit world and save our world. End of story.”

Claire pouted. “You’re no fun.”

“You knew that years ago.”

She laughed. “It’s not for my lack of trying to corrupt you.”

“Maybe I can corrupt her instead.” Collin stepped out of the shadows dressed in dark jeans and a black T-shirt and looking even sexier than usual. His voice was low and seductive, like hot oil sliding down my back, making my knees weak. His statement was more than flirtation.

How much had he heard?

He stopped in front of Claire, whose mouth now gaped. “I’m Collin. I don’t think we’ve been officially introduced. Yesterday in the storeroom doesn’t count.”

“Claire,” she mumbled.

“What are you doing here, Collin?” I forced irritation in my voice. I couldn’t bring myself to admit that I was glad he was here.

My tone didn’t faze him as he continued on his seduction track. “I can’t let you wander around in the dark alone, now can I? And we have a date.”

Our date was my henna tattoo application, but Claire didn’t know that. She beamed with excitement.

Before I realized what was happening, Collin pulled me to his chest. I had to put my hands on his shoulders to keep from stumbling. He wrapped an arm around my back, his hold tight enough that I couldn’t get loose without a fight. I searched his face, trying to find signs of head trauma. Because brain injury was the only explanation I could come up with for his behavior.

A sexy grin spread slowly across his face, as though he had a secret. “I’ve been thinking about you all day. I can’t wait to get another look at your ass.”

Irritation rippled through my body. He was playing me in front of Claire. This was payback for casting him in the role of my flaming gay friend Enrique. I wasn’t about to admit defeat.

I lowered my eyelids and looked up through my lashes, putting some heat in my voice. “I’ve been thinking about you too.” I lifted my hand to his cheek, my fingertips trailing over the stumble of his five o’clock shadow. “And I can’t wait for you to see my ass.”

Surprise flickered in his eyes, and then he grinned. The player was getting played and he knew it. The question was how far were we going to take this before one of us called uncle?

His other hand found my waist and skimmed up my back, pulling me even closer. “I’m going to undress you slowly so I can take in every inch of your perfect body.”

Holy shit, he played dirty. I reminded myself this was a game, but my body refused to listen.

Claire continued to watch us, practically melting into a pile of goo. Collin was obviously quite pleased with himself.

I ran my fingertip over his lower lip and looked into his eyes, smiling seductively. “You have no idea how much I want that.” I slid my hand to his neck and stood on my tiptoes, my mouth so close to his, I felt his breath on my cheek. “But won’t your boyfriend get jealous?”

He laughed, still holding onto me.

I’d won. “Good try, Collin. You’re a terrible con. Stick to the thievery.”

“Maybe you’re just immune to my charm. Like a mutant.”

I was most definitely not immune to his charm, but the mutant issue was still up for debate.

He dropped his hold and stepped back. The hot night air pushed between us, but my body felt cold and lonely without him pressed against me. With all the men I had dated, I had never once felt a fraction of what I felt in Collin’s arms. And that was dangerous.

Claire shook her head in confusion. “What just happened here?”

I gave her a face. “Collin was paying me back for something I did to him this afternoon.” I had no doubt he had heard more of my conversation with Claire than I would have liked. “He has zero interest in me.”

Collin smirked until Claire turned to him with her steely gaze. “You’re shitting me, right? You claim to have no interest in her? At all?”

His eyebrows lifted in surprise and he stammered. “I . . . ” There was no right way to answer her questions, but it was fun to watch him sweat.

“I saw the chemistry between you two, and I’m pretty damn sure I need a cigarette now. Or two. I definitely need to go home and get laid.”

“Claire!”

“You two keep lying to yourselves, but what a waste.” She turned toward the sidewalk. “Call me later.”

As she walked away, I turned my wrath on Collin. “Not funny, Collin.”

His gaze found mine, his face completely serious. “Who said I had no interest in you?”

I couldn’t deal with his games right now. “My shift ends in fifteen minutes. You can either wait for me here or wait in my apartment.”

“You’d let me into your apartment without you?”

I shrugged. “Sure, why not? It’s not like you’d steal anything from me, would you?”

He grinned. “And face your fiery, redheaded temper? No thanks. With it getting dark, I’d rather keep you in eyesight. I think I’ll get a beer and wait for you here.”

I tossed my head. “Whatever. What do you want?”

“The house pale ale.”

I put my hand on my hip and leered. “And here I took you for a stout man.” I spun around before he could answer, but I heard his laughter when I went inside.

I had to work about ten minutes later than scheduled, but Collin sat on the patio, drinking his bottle of beer and watching the crowd. His shoulders were tight, and I knew him well enough to know that he was on edge. I suspected it had nothing to do with what happened between us earlier and more to do with the fact that I was fair game to vengeful gods.

Marlena, who had seen the whole incident on the patio, was beside herself. “While I don’t usually encourage that type of behavior in the workplace, I can’t say that I’m sorry it happened. Please tell me he’s waiting for you so you can take him home.”

“Yes, I’m taking him home.” I was sure I’d later regret telling her, but it gave her momentary happiness. Who was I to take that away from her?

Collin stood when he saw me come out, ever the attentive date. Hardly anyone was around to pay attention so I wasn’t sure who the show was for. We walked to his truck, the windows down as always.

“Aren’t you worried someone will steal it or anything in it?”

“No. The beauty of driving something like this is that no one wants it or thinks anything worth stealing is inside it.” He reached in the window and pulled out a shopping bag.

“Where are the henna supplies?”

“In here. Along with other things.” He lingered on the words. What did that mean?

After we went upstairs and into my apartment and Collin began to pull candles out of his bag and set them on the coffee table. “Where do you want it?”

Why was he putting out candles? “Want what?”

“Your mark. Have you decided where you want it?”

“No. We were so busy tonight I didn’t have much time to think about it. Why is yours over your heart?”

He stood several feet way. He simultaneously felt much too close and agonizingly too far away. “It’s a reminder that the Curse Keeper magic flows within our blood, and that our hearts must be pure to carry out our duty.”

Collin Dailey’s heart pure? I wanted to laugh, but he was so close he was stealing my breath.

He studied me with a serious expression. “I’ve been thinking about it and I think the tattoo should be close to your heart. There aren’t any rules about it, but the heart holds magical powers. The closer to your heart, the safer you’ll be.”

“I don’t want to put it on my chest.”

“You don’t have to.” How could he make four ordinary words sound sexy? Did he even know what he was doing to me, or was exuding pheromones as natural as breathing for him? “I don’t want to put it there anyway.”

“Why?”

His gaze dropped to my chest and he started to say something, then stopped. “I think we should put it on your back. If we put it on your left shoulder blade, it will still be over your heart.”

“And the henna will be temporary?”

“Yes.”

Why did this make me so nervous? “So what do we need to do?”

“I need to set everything up. Do you have to go to the bathroom or get something to eat?”

“Still concerned about my bodily functions?” I teased.

Again he started to say something and stopped. “So are you telling me that you’re ready?”

“No.” I disappeared into the bathroom and stared at my reflection in the mirror, caught off guard. I looked different. My cheeks were slightly flushed, my eyes brighter than usual. Had Collin done this to me? Was it the Curse Keeper magic?

I considered changing clothes. I was wearing a khaki skirt for work and my white blouse, the same one I’d worn all day. It was still dirty, but I hadn’t had a clean white shirt to wear to work. Besides, I wasn’t sure what one wore to a marking ceremony, and I didn’t want Collin to think I cared about what I wore around him. Even if I did.

When I went back into the living room, the smell of lemons practically knocked me over. Collin was at the kitchen counter mixing a brown paste in a plastic bowl. He looked up as I walked in. “I’m mixing the henna.”

“Okay.” I reminded myself this was temporary. Claire had several tattoos, but they were too permanent to suit me. I couldn’t even commit to a shampoo brand. How could I permanently mark my body?

When Collin finished, he set the bowl on the coffee table as well as a spray bottle and several wooden sticks. “I’m going to start now, so you can’t talk, okay? We want this to work and we want the protection symbol to be strong. I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen. I’m going to add some elements that aren’t in the normal ceremony. Usually the mark is just a symbol of our commitment. For the first time in four hundred years, its purpose is real.”

I nodded.

“Stay over by the bar until I motion for you.” He began to set white pillar candles in a circle around the sofa, lighting them while he chanted something in his ancient language. One candle remained unlit. Collin stood in front of it and reached a hand toward me.

I hesitated while Collin studied my face, his hand still extended. I was placing my life in his hands. He had the power to protect me. And the power to condemn me. Why should I doubt his intentions? He needed me just as much as I needed him. While I had no delusions that he cared about me, I also couldn’t believe he wanted to cause me harm. In the end, it didn’t matter. I needed this mark of protection. I was as good as dead without it. But I also realized that I could never go back to who I was before. I’d never be that Ellie again.

I reached my hand toward him but held back just inches away. Why did this feel so significant? So pregnant with possibilities and heartache? I looked into his eyes and saw a man I didn’t recognize. He wasn’t Collin Dailey, the man of questionable character. He was Collin Dailey, descendant of Manteo, Keeper of the Curse.

I put my hand in his and stepped inside the circle.

Collin bent over and lit the last candle, then led me toward the sofa. He stopped in front of it, his eyes on mine, his expression so stoic it made me nervous. Collin Dailey cared about nothing and no one, but Collin Dailey the Curse Keeper bore his responsibility seriously.

Then he began to chant, words I didn’t understand, but power swirled around us. My mark tingled, and I closed my eyes. Collin began to unbutton my shirt, and I let him, my body alive with magic and lust. I wanted him to take off my shirt. I wanted him to do so much more.

His fingers brushed against the skin of my chest, and he slowly pulled my blouse open, lingering at my shoulders and sliding it down my arms. This must be what it was like to be seduced by Collin. Tonight, even if just for one night, I was going to let myself pretend he was seducing me.

My shirt fell to the floor, but Collin’s hands remained on my arms, so feather light he gave me chills. Would he think my goose bumps were due to cold or desire? Did it matter?

His hands glided up my arms, to my neck and then my face, as he continued to chant. He cupped my cheeks, the heels of his palms resting on my jaw, his fingers barely stroking my skin. I opened my eyes, surprised at the intensity on his face. His mouth moved as the soft guttural sounds escaped, and I became mesmerized by his lips.

The words changed tempo and tone. Collin gently trailed his hands to my shoulders, his fingers pressing with tenderness as he pushed me down to sit on the sofa. He turned me gently, so that I faced the door. His fingers moved down my back, one hand sweeping my braid over my right shoulder with a softness I didn’t expect. He inserted a finger under my left bra strap and slowly slid it over my shoulder and down my arm. Then Collin’s chanting became louder and more insistent as his palm rested on my shoulder blade and a force surged in me, heat radiating out from Collin’s hand.

My eyelids sank closed. Never had I felt this way with a man. It had to be the power that flowed through our veins. Magic and hunger stirred inside me, summoned by Collin, both through his words and his touch.

His hands were on my shoulders again, urging me forward so that my chest was on the sofa. His words changed again as his right hand left my body. And then I felt something wet touch my back, and Collin began to paint, my skin tingling with power with every stroke.

The design on Collin’s chest was intricate, and I knew he was duplicating his own mark on my back. He spent several minutes drawing and reciting the ancient words. When the design was complete, he sprayed something cold on my skin, and the smell of lemons permeated the room. I suppressed the shiver that crawled up my spine.

His hands cupped my shoulders again and gently pulled me to my feet, turning me slowly, ever so slowly. When I faced him, he removed his hands. My eyes flew open at the loss. He took a step back and pulled his shirt over his head, dropping it to the floor. Then he moved toward me, until only inches separated us. Again we were face-to-face and shirtless. But this was different. So very different.

His right hand reached for mine, raising it and opening my fingers. He traced the mark on my palm before placing my hand over the mark on his chest, resting his heavy, strong hand over mine.

I looked up at him in wonder as his eyes closed. He still chanted the ancient words. My fingers stretched and flexed, the hair on his chest tickling my fingertips. Heat blazed through my palm, reaching out for the heat of Collin’s mark. His muscles tensed, and he inhaled, his recitation louder and more intense.

Collin’s eyelids eased open, and he moved my hand away, holding it between us. He released his grip, and his right hand rose to meet mine, pressing our palms together and lacing our fingers. As our marks aligned, the two halves of our power became one.

Then the universe opened and sang.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The rush of power sucked my breath away. I was aware of everything at once, the Manitou of every living thing. Plants, animals, people. Bacteria, insects, fungus. The pulse and throb of their life force echoed around me. Inside me. Through me.

I was aware of the wind and the water, the earth and stars. The sand dunes in Nags Head, the ocean waves of the Atlantic, the storm brewing fifty miles away. I was in the center of the universe. I was outside the universe. I was everywhere at once.

What I experienced in the warehouse in Buxton was only a small sample of what I felt now. I wasn’t just a Keeper of the Curse; I was a Keeper of the Manitou of every living thing threatened by the gods and spirits. I felt the loss of the dead birds we’d seen over the last two days, the unbalance it caused. And more I hadn’t even known about. Deer in the forest. Cows on a farm on the mainland. Dogs, cats, raccoons. The Manitou cried for the loss.

It was up to me and the man before me to right the wrongs.

A magic more ancient than gods, as old as the birth of the world, flowed through our veins. Manteo hadn’t simply used the power of the Croatan gods to create the curse; he’d appealed to a much older force.

The birth of the world began with the earth and the water. I was the child of the water, born of the sea. Collin was the child of the earth, born of the land. We were the yin and yang of the Curse.

I looked up at Collin, seeing the same rapture on his face that I felt. I could feel his heart beating in his chest. The inhale and exhale of his lungs. The hair follicles on his skin standing on end. We were linked together by a force older than the world. By power that was strengthened with our union.

His lips parted in surprise as his gaze lowered to my face, and I realized that he’d stopped his chant. His fingers tightened over my hand, squeezing our palms tighter. His free hand wrapped around me, his palm pressing into the small of my back. We were skin to skin from the waist up with the exception of my bra, the rise and fall of our chests synchronized.

My skin tingled, burning with the ancient force and longing. I brought my left hand to his chest, the need to have every part of my body touch him overpowering all reason. His fingers moved higher up my back, flexing and gripping my skin as though he felt the same way.

I lifted my chin, looking deep into Collin’s eyes. The blatant desire staring back at me made me want him even more. I slid my hand up his neck, my fingertips trailing over his pulse. His lips parted more, his breath coming in shorter gasps. I wanted to taste him, to nip his lower lip and run my tongue over it. To mingle our breaths in an attempt to join even more. Instead, I watched and waited. This was Collin’s ceremony. I was only a participant.

He lowered his face, his hooded eyes concentrating on my lips. I stretched my neck, my lips drawn to his, but he stopped short, his hot breath fanning on my face. I breathed him in, wanting every part of him that he was willing to offer.

“Ellie.” My name uttered by his tongue sent chills up my spine.

I needed him, more than the air that I breathed. I was his. He only had to ask.

His hand pulled away from my back and cupped the side of my head, tilting it upward. His breath was hard and fast. I felt the desire coursing through his blood, the proof of it pressed against my body. I waited for him to touch his lips to mine, but he remained agonizing inches away.

He moved closer in slow motion, our lips a hairbreadth apart.

I only had to stand on my tiptoes to reach him, but I wanted him to be the one to close the distance. To join with me.

And he did.

He kissed me with a gentleness I didn’t expect, a hesitancy that surprised me. I kissed him back with more eagerness, and he released a groan before matching my fervor. His hand on my face moved around to the back of my head, holding me close while his tongue delved into my mouth.

Not only could I feel Collin’s physical response, but I could sense his emotional one as well. He wanted me, badly. But he was also experiencing guilt.

His lips left mine, and he pressed my forehead to his chin. “Ellie.” This time my name was tight and choked.

We remained like that, both of us catching our breath for several excruciating moments, until he removed his hand from the back of my head and retreated a step. Our joined hands were all that kept us connected. But I knew that was next.

His fingers uncurled but his palm still pressed against mine, the power between us too irresistible to release. His eyes, full of regret and hunger, searched mine. Whatever he found was what he needed. Resignation pulled his mouth into a frown and his hand lowered.

I stood in front of him for several shocked seconds, unsure what to do.

Collin took another step back. “You should be protected now.”

The mark on my back might protect me from evil spirits, but what was going to protect my heart from Collin Dailey?

“Okay,” I mumbled. My knees were weak, but I refused to show any sign of his effect on me, other than what I’d already displayed. Although if he was as aware of me as I was of him, he already knew.

Turning away from me, he scooped up his shirt and pulled it over his head. He began picking up the candles, blowing them out and putting them in his bag. The melted wax seeped into the brown bag, dark stains spreading outward. I wondered if I should help him, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I couldn’t bring myself to move from the spot where I stood. After throwing the bowl of henna and the stick into a small plastic bag and putting them in his larger one, he paused in front of me, uncertainty on his face.

“Tomorrow we should get my relic. It’s down in Morehead City. If we’re lucky, we’ll get it right away, but if not . . . you should probably pack an overnight bag.”

“Okay.” Five minutes ago, that would have sent a thrill through my blood, but now it filled me with dread and regret. Still, it had to be done.

“While you were at work, I put fresh markings outside your doorway and inside around your window frames. You should be okay tonight, but if you need me, feel free to call.”

I nodded, but his suggestion was worthless, and we both knew it. If I were to come face-to-face with a god or spirit, Collin would never get here in time, but what else was he going to say? If a spirit sneaks in, good luck with that?

“Your mark . . . ” His voice sounded strained, and his eyes shifted to the corner. “Try not to sleep on it or do anything to smear it. The lemon-sugar juice I sprayed on it will help the henna set, but you need to leave it undisturbed at least until morning. The longer it has to set, the longer it will last.”

“Okay.”

There was nothing left to say so he moved to the door and hesitated. His mouth opened, his jaw working, then he shook his head and left.

I watched the door, standing in the exact spot where he pulled away from me, although I wasn’t sure why on both counts. The last thing I expected was Collin Dailey to walk through my door again tonight. My head was a swirl of emotions I couldn’t sort through, but one rose above the others, bobbing at the surface: rejection. Collin had screwed countless women, but he’d walked away from me.

It didn’t make any sense, but if I let myself really think about him, nothing about Collin Dailey made sense. I knew he’d wanted me, I’d felt the physical proof, yet it wasn’t enough. Why? I knew it wasn’t honor—there wasn’t an honorable bone in his body. So what had stopped him? Why had he felt guilt?

There was no sense dwelling on things I couldn’t control. I was not going to get to the bottom of Collin Dailey’s behavior tonight—as if I ever would—and I was curious what my henna tattoo looked like. I hadn’t had a chance to peek at what he’d drawn on my back in his truck either, so I went to the bathroom and turned my back to the mirror.

The symbol Collin had just applied was as close to the one on his chest as I remembered. The stain on top of my skin was beginning to dry. On my other side was an ink pen drawing of a circle surrounding a square—the Curse Keeper mark on our palms—but also zigzag lines in the center and on all four sides. Underneath the ink was a faded mark, much more primitive. Three dark slashes that looked like claw marks at an angle. Above the marks was a crescent moon. It was hard to believe an ink drawing had saved my life, but I’d seen just as strange, if not stranger things over the last few days.

I needed to talk to Daddy again. The ceremony to close the gate was looming in the not so distant future and even though Collin knew how to perform it, I’d feel better going into the event with some inkling of knowledge. Maybe I’d have time to see Daddy in the morning. And hopefully he wouldn’t mistake me for an evil spirit. There was no tempering the pain that went with that, no matter how much I prepared myself.

I’d also have to get time off from work, from both Myra and the New Moon. I sighed. I might have to end up selling more of Daddy and Myra’s antiques. My only hope at this point was that the increase in tourists would boost the Dare Inn revenue. Still, it was so hopelessly in debt, I wasn’t sure if anything could save it at this point. How ironic that the cause of the increased tourism that might save the inn was the curse that destroyed my family.

The wind howled outside my door with an eerie groan. Collin thought I was safe with the marks on my back and the symbols around my windows and door, but I was still on edge and didn’t want to be alone. There was only one person who could help me feel better, and I knew she’d drop everything and run over if I asked. Especially if she thought she could get some details about Collin.

Claire answered on the second ring. “So what happened after I left?”

“At the restaurant or my apartment?”

“Collin went to your apartment?”

“Not only that, he took my shirt off.”

“You’re shitting me! I told you that the two of you had major chemistry. So why are you calling me now? Isn’t he still there? Why not wait until tomorrow to catch me up?”

“He’s gone. And I had to call you tonight because I’m going to Morehead City tomorrow, and I have a ton to tell you. In person.”

“You’ve thrown me two things to latch on to: First, why are you going to Morehead City, and more importantly who with? And second, did Collin take off anything else besides your shirt?”

“That’s three things, not two. Come over, and I’ll tell you everything.”

“I’m on my way.”

She must have been sprinting out her front door when she hung up, because she knocked on my door in record time. In fact, she was still wearing her pajamas. “When was the last time we had a slumber party?” she asked, walking past me at the door and flopping on the sofa. “And yes, I noticed that you’re still shirtless. Are you dying to show me a hickey? Because I have to tell you that hickeys are so high school.”

“No.” I pinched my lips into a frown. “I don’t want to show you a hickey. Disgusting. Give me some credit, will you?”

“Then what’s with the striptease?”

I turned around to show her my back.

“What the hell is that? You got another tattoo? The girl who would rather pierce her nose than get inked?”

“Yes, I mean no. I mean it’s a tattoo, but it’s henna, and technically, it’s not another tattoo because the one on my palm isn’t a tattoo.”

“Where and when did you get it?”

“Collin did it. After I got off work.”

She leaned back and crossed her legs. “Let me get this straight. Hotter-than-hell Collin came into your apartment, took off your shirt . . . ” She paused, raising her eyebrows and waiting for confirmation.

I nodded.

“ . . . and then proceeded to give you a henna tattoo.”

“Pretty much. Yeah.”

“Okay.” Her face twisted in confusion. “I think you need to start from the beginning.”

So I did, telling her everything. About going to the pawnshop in Kill Devil Hills, going to Buxton, my run-in with Marino, breaking into the warehouse, Rosalina, Collin drawing on my back to counteract the god’s hold on my soul, getting the cup back, and finally, my embarrassing situation with Collin tonight.

“I don’t know why you’re embarrassed,” Claire grumbled. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You can’t help it if Collin can’t man up.”

“Oh, he manned up all right. I felt the proof.”

Claire’s eyebrows rose and she smirked. “See? That’s an improvement over your last date.”

“Little good it does me.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “You’re not giving up, are you?”

“Giving up? The man doesn’t want to have sex with me, Claire. What is there to give up?”

“Of course he wants to have sex with you. But something is holding him back, which I admit, is incredibly hard to believe with that generic white bra you’re wearing there.” She faked a yawn.

I threw a pillow at her. “Shut up.”

“Really, Ellie? That’s the best you could do?”

“I never expected to be shirtless with him. He wasn’t interested in me.”

“Yeah, I got that in front of the New Moon when you two were practically dry humping.”

“We were not!”

“Maybe not, but you were well on your way. I got so hot watching you two I had to go home and have sex with Drew within two minutes of walking in the door. I’m sure you can imagine his confusion.”

“Yeah, poor Drew,” I chuckled.

“The point is that while the flesh is willing, his spirit hesitates. We both know that he’s not a man of principles when it comes to sex. It wouldn’t take much to break him, so the question is do you want to?”

I shot her a look of surprise.

“You have to admit he isn’t your usual type, Ellie. You go for dry, boring, and predictable. Collin Dailey is none of those things.”

“Tell me about it. Collin Dailey is not boyfriend material.” I still had no doubt that once we performed the gate-closing ceremony, I’d never see him again.

Claire leaned over her crossed legs and held her hand out. “Maybe you don’t need a boyfriend. I mean, look how well that route has gone. You’ve spent your entire romantic life searching for the fireworks and romance you think your parents had, and you’ve barely lit a match with all those other guys. Maybe you should go for a fling and get the need for fire out of your system. Sometimes fire’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

I remembered Collin’s hands on my skin and how alive I’d felt beneath his touch. He was like a drug I couldn’t resist. But everything came with a price. “Sometimes people get burned playing with fire.”

“But they sure have fun before they do.”

I sighed.

Claire rested her hand on my knee. “Look, I’m not telling you to do it. I’m just saying think about it, but don’t get your heart involved. You and I both know the most you’ll get from a guy like that is a few rounds of hot rolling in the sheets, but sometimes there’s nothing wrong with just a hot roll in the sheets.”

I nodded. The wind howled again, and I tensed. “Did you mean it about having a slumber party? I really don’t want to be alone. But I understand if you don’t want to. Those things out there are real, Claire.”

“What? And miss the chance to see a real live spirit? Pull out the chick flicks and pop some popcorn. If you’re lucky, maybe I’ll give you a pedicure. You never know, Collin might be a foot man.”

I shuddered. I hoped to God he wasn’t.

“But you’re on your own with a bikini wax. I gotta draw the line somewhere.”

“Not to worry. I don’t want you anywhere near my bikini line.”

Claire got off the sofa and patted my head. “Good girl. Playing hard to get just might be the way to get someone in your panties after all.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Pounding outside my door and the sound of someone shouting my name woke me from my troubled sleep around four in the morning. I’d been dreaming of animals again, all of them crying out to me. Curse Keeper, daughter of the sea, help us.

At first, I wondered if the noise outside was Collin, although I couldn’t figure out why he’d come back this late. I’d been sleeping face-first on the sofa, trying not to lay on my henna tattoo. I propped up on my elbows, checking on Claire who was stretched out on the overstuffed chair and ottoman, covered in an afghan.

Maybe I was imagining things. I started to lie back down until I heard it again.

“Curse Keeper.” The title was slurred as an insult, which could only mean one thing—an evil spirit was outside my door.

Shit.

The markings around the door would keep the spirit out, and the tattoo on my back would keep it from sucking my Manitou like a slushy from the Stop and Go, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t hurt me. However, I doubted ignoring it would make the thing go away.

I reached over and shook Claire’s leg. “Claire.”

She startled, bolting upright. “What? What is it?”

“Listen.”

Her eyes widened in the dark room, the only light coming from my closed bathroom door. I hadn’t slept with a nightlight since a few years after Momma died. Maybe it was time to rethink that one.

We waited, our ears straining. The wind blew against my door and my windows. That was the only sound for several seconds until I heard it again. A banging on my porch and a voice. “Curse Keeper.”

Claire’s eyes bugged even more. “Shit.” Her mouth hung open, and it took her a second to recover. She leaned toward me, whispering, “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it will just go away. I should see what it wants.” But I didn’t want to see what it wanted. I wanted to hide in my room. Under the covers. With a flashlight. But I reminded myself that that wasn’t what Curse Keepers did. They didn’t cower in the dark. Dammit. Someone needed to rewrite the job description, whatever the hell it actually was.

Claire waited for me to do something.

Swallowing a lump of fear, I climbed off the sofa, realizing I was still wearing my bra and the short pajama bottoms I’d changed into earlier. I could put on a shirt but the last thing I wanted to do was screw up the symbol on my back, especially given what waited outside my door. I highly doubted it mattered what I wore to face an evil spirit.

I moved next to the door and leaned into it. “What do you want?”

“I wish to have an audience with you.”

Didn’t that sound polite and civilized? “No.”

The wind beat against the door in a frenzy.

Was it a wind god or Okeus or his messenger or some other mean and nasty thing? “Who are you?”

“I am Kanim, the messenger of the rightful creator god!” it shouted with more wind effects.

The stupid thing was going to wake up my neighbors, and then it would probably suck out their Manitou. Did I want to be responsible for that?

“Can’t we have this audience through the door?”

“No.”

I took a deep breath, working to steady my nerves. I had to face this messenger, but I wasn’t dumb enough to just open the door. “I’ll open the door, but I have to have your word that you won’t hurt me.”

I figured the request was pointless. Even if it said yes, could I really trust it? No honor among thieves, and all those other platitudes. But this wasn’t a thief in the traditional sense, although I was sure you could count stealing people’s life force and sending them to Popogusso as thievery. Even so, I was probably about to meet the messenger of a god, who probably had some sense of honor, if I could go on what little I knew of Greek and Roman mythology. Sure, the Native American pantheon wasn’t the same thing, but I couldn’t help but wonder if they all came from some god/spiritual motherland.

Claire jumped out of her chair and rushed forward, grabbing my arm. “Ellie, you can’t be serious. What’s to keep that thing from hurting you anyway?”

“I have to, Claire. If I don’t face it, it will hurt someone else. I know it.” Despite the Collin-centric portion of the ceremony there at the end, I’d been left with a bigger realization. It was my responsibility to protect other living beings—animals and humans alike—and that sense of duty was firmly embedded in my head.

“You have my word,” the spirit answered.

“Claire, stand out of the doorway.”

“Ellie!”

“Look, you wanted this thing to be real and it is. So step aside and let me do what I have to do.”

She backed up a couple of feet, moving to the side. I knew part of it killed her. She was dying to see what was behind the door.

I took another deep breath. Collin had faced the wind god yesterday and sent it away. I could protect myself from a messenger if I needed to. Of course, Collin knew the Manteo line words of protection. I knew two words of the Dare portion. That wasn’t going to me any good. I shook my head. No sense dwelling on the negative. I was going into this with a positive can-do spirit.

Boy, was that stupid.

The moment I opened the door, a gust of wind blew me backward, onto the sofa. I had to roll to the side to keep from smearing my mark.

“How dare you question the messenger of the god of creation!” the voice boomed.

The spirit shimmered, still a black fuzzy blob, but bigger and denser. I thought for a few seconds that I could see a human face and form.

“Ellie!” Claire screamed.

“I’m fine. Stay where you are!” I shouted, crawling to my knees.

“I warned you, pathetic Curse Keeper. Okeus’s patience is thin.”

The wind continued to blow, but I wasn’t backing down to this egotistical supernatural asshole. I climbed to my feet, fighting to keep my balance against the blast. “Haven’t you heard that patience is a virtue?”

The gust increased, but I bent my knees and grabbed hold of the chair.

“Have you made your decision?” Kanim boomed.

“What was the question?”

The wind screeched, an angry sound that made my skin crawl. Last night I knew that Kanim was too weak to kill me. Tonight I wasn’t so sure, not after the wind god almost did me in at the warehouse. The gods and spirits were stronger at night, and I suspected this thing was responsible for a large portion of the animals that had been killed—and probably for the creepy birds on my porch the past two mornings. Still, I wasn’t going to let him think I knew that.

Kanim’s form shimmered. “Will you keep the gate open?”

I lifted my chin in an attempt to look brave. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Every night you refuse to accept Okeus’s offer, a sacrifice will be made. Do you still refuse?”

A sacrifice? I didn’t like the sound of that, but there was no way I would accept his offer. “Yes, I still refuse.”

I had tried to prepare myself for his response, but I couldn’t prepare myself for the blast that threw me back and sideways into my fridge.

“Ellie!” Claire shouted.

Pain shot through my right side, where I slammed into the appliance. Goddamn piece of Croatan fucking god shit.

I climbed to my feet, grunting with pain and anger. Moving on instinct, my right hand rose and I began to chant, words I’d never heard from my father or Collin, words as old as the earth, born of ancient magic. They rolled off my tongue as easily as water rolled down a hill. The primeval sounds made no sense, yet their meaning echoed in my head. “I am the daughter of the sea, born of the essence present at the beginning of time and the end of the world. I am black water and crystal streams. The ocean waves and the raindrops in the sky. I am life and death and everything in between. I compel you to leave my sight.”

The spirit screeched and flew backward, disappearing into the night.

Claire stared from the open doorway to me, her eyes huge. “What just happened? What did you do?”

I didn’t answer for several seconds, still in shock. “I . . . I sent him away.”

“You sent away the messenger of a god?”

I focused on my palm, the mark still tingling from the power that lingered there. Where had those words come from? Had Collin’s ceremony and the symbol on my back loosened some of my memories? “I’m a Curse Keeper, Claire. My job is to send the gods back to the spirit world.” I moved toward the door and looked around to see if anything else lurked in the darkness. When I didn’t see anything, I shut the door and turned to her.

Claire lifted her shaking hand to her mouth. “What can that thing do?”

I sighed. “I’m not sure. Collin thinks the spirits are still weak, but they are gaining strength. The spirits and gods are feeding on the life force of animals to restore their energy. At some point they will be strong enough to kill people.”

If possible, Claire’s eyes widened even more.

“I’m going to stop them, Claire. Collin and I will close the gate and send them back.”

She nodded.

I couldn’t believe she was so shaken up. Claire was one of the bravest people I knew, especially when it came to the spirit world.

She helped me pick up the photos and things the spirit had strewn about. Neither of us felt like going back to sleep so I used the last of my coffee grounds to brew half a pot. We searched the Internet to see how to deal with the henna paste dried to my back without disturbing the tattoo. To my disappointment, I couldn’t take a shower until tonight at the earliest. I hadn’t had a shower since the day before, and I’d been in the heat.

After Claire removed the dried stain with olive oil, I went into the bathroom to wash the rest of my body with a washcloth. When I came out, Claire had the coffeepot turned upside down over her cup. She glanced up. “Seeing how drinking alcohol isn’t an option at six thirty a.m., I called Drew and told him to bring some coffee over along with some clothes for me.”

“Drew didn’t mind?”

“Please. After last night, he owes me.”

Drew showed up fifteen minutes later, wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt, carrying a duffel bag. He stopped outside the doorway, taking in the symbols marked across the threshold and on the door. His eyebrows rose as he nodded toward them, then back over his shoulder. “Did you know you had dead birds on your porch? And they’re in some kind of pattern. Do I even want to know?”

Claire pulled him through the door. “No. You don’t. Please tell me you brought the coffee.”

He reached into the duffel and pulled out a bag, handing it over to her. “You are an evil woman making me get up so early.”

She planted a kiss on his mouth. “And you love me that way.”

A grin spread across his face. “You know it. I can’t wait for you to be Mrs. Drew Reeves.”

She kissed him for several seconds. “Only one more month.” She turned back to look at me. “You have a fitting for your maid of honor dress next week.”

Thinking about trying on a maid of honor dress in the midst of hell on earth seemed laughable, but then again, no more so than me insisting that I go to work the night before. Life went on, evil spirits or not. Or at least, I hoped it did. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

Claire poured the grounds into a filter and glared at me. “Maybe you’ll have a plus one. And maybe he won’t be a loser.”

I sighed. “If you’re talking about Collin, forget about it. He’s not interested. Circumstances have just thrust him upon me.”

She winked at Drew. “I bet soon she won’t be complaining about someone being thrust upon her.” Claire snickered. “Let’s just say that Collin needs a little push to take some initiative.”

“Claire!” I shouted. Good Lord, was nothing secret?

Drew plopped onto a barstool and rested his chin on his hand. “Really, Ellie. Oh? Do tell.”

I shook my head with mock irritation. “Drew, sometimes you are such a girl.”

Claire announced she was hungry.

“You know I don’t have any food here,” I said. “You’re going to have to go get something.”

“Seriously,” Claire grumbled. “You’re not even responsible enough to feed yourself. How do you expect to save humanity?”

“You have no idea how many times I’ve asked myself the same question.”

Drew’s face scrunched in confusion. “Why is Ellie saving humanity?”

Claire’s mouth dropped.

“Umm . . . ” I mumbled, my heart racing. I couldn’t believe she’d been so careless.

Holding out her hands, Claire grinned. “Isn’t that what she does at the New Moon? She saves humanity by feeding them.”

Drew didn’t look convinced, but he let it drop.

Claire disappeared into my room with Drew’s bag and came out dressed several minutes later. “If you won’t feed me, I’m forced to go get breakfast from Poor Richard’s. Thank God they open at seven.” She picked up her purse and walked out the door.

I followed her, coffee cup in hand, being careful to walk around the circle of birds. “You’re going to get me something, right?”

She continued to descend the stairs, raising her hand to flip me off.

“I take it that’s a no,” I mumbled to Drew, who’d come up next to me.

“Nah, she’ll be over having to leave the apartment to get food by the time she orders.”

I hoped so. I was starving.

My porch was a mess. I had two flowerpots on either side of the door and both were toppled over, as were my two plastic chairs. Could I expect visits from evil gods every night? I might need to bring everything inside. We swept up the birds into a bag—three robins, three blackbirds, and a cardinal. I had three more nights to close the gate and we weren’t any closer to accomplishing that than we had been when the curse broke.

The morning was beautiful. The sun was out, and it was warm, but not hot enough to cause a sweat. It was early enough that the tourists weren’t out so the streets were still quiet. And while my porch didn’t face the sound—in fact it faced the back of the shops on the next street—I could still smell the salt of the ocean in the air. I sat on a chair and took a sip of coffee while Drew sat next to me.

“So you and Claire had fun last night?” he asked.

I pursed my lips in an exaggerated pinch. “Yep.”

“You do know that I know something is up, right?”

I turned to look at him.

He grabbed my right hand and opened my fingers. “A tattoo on your palm? And something as primitive as a circle and a square? Then the symbols all over your door. That’s so unlike you.” His eyes narrowed. “Have you joined a cult or something?”

“What? No!”

“Then is this some belated rebellion against Myra? Because we all know how much she hates tattoos.”

“No, but it’s a family thing. Let’s leave it at that.”

“Okay, but you know you can talk to me if you need to. You and I have been friends even longer then you and Claire.”

I offered him a smile. “Thanks, Drew.” Leaning my head against the porch rail, I cradled my coffee cup to my chest while Drew examined my palm.

I’d had little sleep the last several nights, and the way Drew stroked my hand was relaxing. I began to drift off.

“Well isn’t this cozy?” Collin’s dry voice startled me out of my doze.

I tried to pull my hand away from Drew’s, but he held tight.

“Good morning,” Drew said with a bit too much cheerfulness to suit me. He must have realized who our visitor was. Damn Claire and her big mouth.

“Is it?” Collin’s gaze fell on Drew’s and my linked hands, his eyes narrowing slightly. “You must be one of Ellie’s many friends.”

Drew caught Collin’s tone and sat up. “As a matter of fact, I am. Drew.” And that was it. No explanation that he was Claire’s fiancé.

I still cradled my cup, slouching against the porch. I understood how bad this must look. I was in my short pajama bottoms and I’d put on a tank top after Claire had rubbed off the excess stain. Drew looked like he was freshly awake with his unshaved face, bed head, and sweatpants. The coffee mug in his free hand sealed the deal.

Collin tensed. “Collin.”

Drew grinned. “Oh, I know who you are.”

Collin turned his steely gaze to me. “I hope you didn’t screw up your mark lying on your back half the night.”

His insinuation was obvious. I pulled my hand from Drew’s death grip and raised an eyebrow, giving Collin my own deadly gaze. “Don’t worry. I prefer to be on top.”

Drew choked on his coffee, but Collin and I continued our stare-down for several seconds. To my satisfaction, he broke first. “Are you ready to go to Morehead City or were you too busy to pack?”

I smirked. “Sorry. I didn’t think you’d be here so early.”

“Obviously.”

“I still have work to do.”

His mouth lifted in an ugly smile. “Is that what you call it?”

I wanted to tell Collin Fucking Dailey to kiss my fucking ass. Who the hell did he think he was? And did he really think so little of me? He was the one who ran out the night before. He’d made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t interested. So what did he care who I slept with? He’d already admitted that he’d screwed more women than he could count.

But instead, I smiled up at him like I had a secret, just to piss him off more.

Drew, on the other hand, had had enough. “I think you better watch how you speak to her.”

Collin raised his hands in surrender. “I’d love to tell you she’s all yours, but she seems to have a revolving bedroom door.”

Drew was out of his seat, grabbing Collin’s shirt with both hands.

“Drew!” I shouted, jumping to my feet.

“What the hell did I miss?” Claire asked, standing at the top of stairs breathless and holding a white paper bag.

I pulled Drew’s hands away from Collin. Despite Drew’s honorable intentions, I had no doubt that Collin would kick his ass. “Collin dropped by earlier than expected and is apparently surprised to see I have a guest this early.”

Claire’s eyes widened in understanding, her mouth forming an O.

“I was just about to tell Collin that my revolving bedroom door is my own business.”

A frown covered her face. “Oh.”

“I need to go in and pack.” I reached for the door, refusing to look at Collin. “You do whatever the hell you want.”

“Because you sure do,” Collin said dryly.

“Damn fucking straight.”

To my surprise, he followed me inside. I ignored him and went into my bedroom, shutting the door. I sat on the bed, a sick feeling washing through me. What just happened? Did Collin really think that I would have called some other guy to come in and pinch hit for him after we’d shared that kiss—that connection—last night?

The door opened and I jerked my head up, about to give Collin a verbal berating, but it was Claire with a worried look on her face. “Are you okay?”

My shoulders tightened. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

Her brow knitted in confusion. “With Collin . . . and Drew . . . ”

Pinching my mouth in disapproval, I shook my head. “Whatever.”

She sat next to me. “I can go straighten him out.”

Anger burned its way to the surface. “Don’t you dare. If he thinks so little of me, let him. I deserve better than that.”

“True.” She paused. “But you know why he’s so irritated, right? If you really want him, that’s a good sign that he cares.”

“Ha! Cares about me? As if.” I scowled. “He jumped to conclusions because he has double standards. He probably went out and got his friend with benefits to come over, and he thought I did the same thing.”

Claire giggled.

I glared. “What the hell is so funny?”

“Thinking about you and Drew—together.”

I shuddered. “Eww. That would be like doing it with my brother. If I had one. I’ve known Drew since preschool.”

“But Collin doesn’t know that.”

I stood and grabbed my small suitcase out of my closet. “I don’t care what he knows or doesn’t. I still say if he’s so willing to believe the worst of me, let him. I’m not going to set the record straight.” Claire started to say something, but I pointed at her. “And neither are you.”

Sighing, she stood and froze, then turned to me. “Why don’t you get ready and I’ll pack for you?”

“Don’t you need to get to work?” Claire worked as a maid at the Tranquil House Inn, but her boss was pretty lenient with her frequent tardiness.

She waved a hand. “I’ll be fine. Drew brought my uniform. What do you think you need?”

“I don’t know. A couple of days of clothes. And a dark pair of jeans and shirt.” I shook my head at her questioning look. “Don’t ask.” I grabbed a skirt that matched the black tank top I already wore, clean black lacy underwear, and a matching bra, and went into the bathroom. Collin might not see what I was wearing underneath, but I’d know what he was missing and gloat.

Claire saw what I grabbed and an amused smirk crossed her face, but amazingly enough, she didn’t say a word.

Feeling vindictive, I decided to make Collin sorry he’d passed this opportunity by. I put more care into my makeup than usual and took down the braid I’d worn since yesterday morning. My long hair rippled with waves and I fluffed it with my fingers.

When I walked out of the bathroom carrying my cosmetics bag, Claire gave a low whistle. “You sure look like a woman who doesn’t care what he thinks.” She took the bag from my hand and tucked it in the suitcase.

“Shut up.”

“I’m not complaining.”

I took a deep breath. I was about to spend more alone time with a man who was pissed at me. But then again, half the time we’d spent together had involved him being pissed at me so what was new?

I called Myra and told her I wouldn’t be in for a few days. I expected her to ask questions, but the only thing she asked was if I was okay. Unfortunately, Marlena wasn’t as understanding.

“What do you mean you won’t be in for a few days?”

“I’ve got something to take care of.”

“I’ve got something for you to take care of too. Your shift.”

“Marlena, please. You know I don’t ever ask for special favors. I always pull my weight. This is important.”

“This is the worst possible time, Ellie,” she sighed. “The number of tourists grows every day.”

“I’ll be back soon. I promise.” And hopefully, everything would be right again.

“You better or I can’t guarantee you’ll have a job.”

Great.

I grabbed my bag, none too eager to see Collin, but Claire held onto it, searching my eyes.

“He’s angry because he’s jealous.”

I released a wry laugh. “Collin Dailey? Jealous over me?”

She nodded.

“You’re crazy.”

“Look, you two are going away together, and who knows what will happen. I’m just saying if you want to play with a little fire, the kindling is already smoldering.”

“You suck at this metaphor stuff.”

“Shut up.” Claire pulled me into a hug. “Just be careful. With your heart. And everything else.”

“Thanks.” I gave her a squeeze. “I love you too.”

I broke away and walked out into the living room. Collin and Drew were locked in some manly display of cold stares. When the bedroom door opened, both men turned their attention toward me.

Collin stood, his mouth parted as he watched me walk out with my bag. I grabbed my purse off the kitchen counter and checked my wallet to make sure I still had nine hundred dollars. I spun around and gave him a grim smile. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

Claire leaned into my ear. “That smoking kindling? It’s blazing.”

“Shut up,” I said, but damned if I didn’t hope that Claire was right.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Collin followed me to the truck and reached for my suitcase when I got to my door. To my surprise, he opened it for me. I stood in silence and shock.

“What?” he asked, irritated, but his earlier anger seemed to have eased.

“Opening doors, Collin? One would think I wasn’t a slut.”

He sighed, guilt straining his face. “I was out of line. What you do is your business.”

“That’s right. Just like what you do is yours. Now let’s go.”

He set my suitcase in the truck bed and climbed in, driving out of town, heading for the bridge to the mainland.

I should have been prepared for the dead animals, but I wasn’t. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be prepared for such a sight. Especially since twice the day before I’d felt the Manitou and the loss from the animals’ presence.

Collin must have felt it too. His grip tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white.

“What happens if we don’t close the gate?” I tried not to look at the side of the road. The sight of all the carcasses made me ill. “Will the spirits kill every living thing?”

He sighed. “No. They coexisted for thousands of years with animals and people. I think it’s because they’ve been locked away for so long. Like I told you, they need the energy. But I have to wonder if part of it is for show. To let the world know they are back.”

“That’s not scary at all.”

He shrugged. “If the gate doesn’t close, I think they would eventually settle down.”

“After they killed half the population of every living species.”

“You have to look at it from their perspective. They were jailed for hundreds of years for no reason. I’m not surprised they’re pissed.”

My mouth dropped open. “Are you seriously defending them?”

He sucked in a deep breath and stared at me for several seconds before turning back to the road. “No. But I am saying that everything and everyone has a reason for what they do. If someone hurts you, and you understand why they did it, hopefully that understanding makes the hurt easier to accept.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass why a wind god wants my Manitou. I’m still going to be cursing him when I’m stuck in hell for eternity.”

He cleared his throat. “They found a body in the botanical gardens this morning.”

I sat up, the blood rushing from my head. “What?”

“I wouldn’t necessarily think anything of it, but it was propped against the statue of Queen Elizabeth. A man, no visible signs of trauma. The police said he was from out of town.”

“Maybe it was a coincidence. A drunk who got locked in the gardens and died of a heart attack.”

“Ellie, he was frozen solid. In June.”

I took a deep breath, worried I would pass out.

“I think this was a sign. To you.”

“Why do you say that? Why me?”

“To scare you.” He cast a worried glance in my direction.

My heart thudded against my chest. I needed to tell Collin about the visits from the spirit messengers. Yesterday I didn’t trust Collin, and while he wasn’t completely forthcoming, now I had no reason not to trust him with this. Especially after the ceremony and the mark of protection he’d given me.

“Collin—”

His phone rang, and he scowled as he pulled it out of his pocket. He answered and listened for several seconds before responding. “Why do you think I have the map? Are you saying it’s gone?” He was silent, anger furrowing his brow. His free hand tightened on the steering wheel. “If he wants the Ricardo deal taken care of, he needs to back the fuck off and let me do it.” Another pause. “Ellie’s not any part of this. That was all a coincidence.” He shot a glance in my direction. “I don’t give a shit what Marino wants.”

My stomach tightened. Somehow with everything that happened yesterday afternoon and last night, I’d forgotten about Marino. How could I forget about Marino?

Collin ended the call and shoved the phone in his pocket.

I took a deep breath and released it. “Marino still wants me.”

His face taut, Collin kept his eyes on the road. “He’s convinced you have some inside information and he wants it. Shit.” He ran a hand over his head.

“Is there any way to convince him that I don’t?”

“No.”

This was bad, very bad. “And if he finds me?”

“He won’t.” He shifted in his seat, staring straight ahead. “We need to talk about last night.”

More horror rushed through me, as if that were possible. Which part of last night was he referring to? I didn’t want to talk about any part of last night, but especially one particular part of last night. I was stuck in a moving truck with this man, and I was pretty sure he wanted to rehash my humiliation. “No, we don’t.”

“Ellie. I want to talk about your mark and how I strengthened it.”

“Oh.” Is this better or worse than talking about how he rejected me? I wasn’t sure.

“I meant to check it this morning.” He paused. “Did it get smeared or smudged?”

Something inside me coiled tight. Before he sounded angry about the fact I might have slept with Drew; now he sounded like he was asking me about the weather. “Not to worry, Collin,” I said in a snotty tone. “I told you I like it on top.”

His jawed tightened and he swallowed. “Ellie.”

“Too much information for you, Collin? Maybe this is my way of sharing so you’ll share more information with me. Lord knows you keep most of it to yourself.”

He looked as though he were counting to ten in his head. Finally, he said, “I simply want to know if your symbol is intact. If it’s not, I want to fix it before tonight.”

Weary of fighting, I rested my elbow on the window, placing my forehead in my hand. “When I checked it this morning, it looked fine.”

His hands twisted on the steering wheel, barely enough to notice. “I realized that I never told you how to care for it. That’s why I was there so early.”

“I looked it up on the Internet. I saw you could remove the dried stain after five to six hours with olive oil.”

“How did you reach it?”

I laughed, short and ugly. “You have to ask? I had help. And I was shirtless.”

“Ellie, I was out of line—”

“Shut up, Collin.” God, this was going to be a long couple of hours.

He was silent for several miles, before he started again. “When I was marked at eighteen, I had a ceremony, but it was only to cleanse my soul to receive the symbol. I had the actual tattoo done by a tattoo artist.”

“Is that what you did last night? Cleanse my soul?” What we’d done last night had sullied my soul more than cleansed it. I hoped the stupid mark took.

“Some, but not most of it. We have a power now, individually and together. I hoped using that power would increase the strength of the protection symbol.”

It did more than that. The entire ceremony had stirred some ancient power in my blood, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to confess that to Collin yet, especially when lusting after him seemed to go hand in hand with it. “So how will we know if it worked or not?”

“I guess if you get attacked and a spirit or god tries to take your Manitou.”

“Yay,” I mumbled. “I can’t wait.”

Collin turned toward me, his face serious. “I’ll be with you, Ellie.”

Something about his expression and the huskiness in his voice set my stomach aflutter. Damn him. “What? Are you going to be with me every minute of the day until this thing is done? And then what about Marino?”

“Marino won’t care about you after the Ricardo deal is done.”

“And how long will that take?”

“A few weeks. Maybe a month.”

“What the hell is the Ricardo deal?”

He shot me a glance. “The less you know about it the better.”

“Easy for you to say. If I’m being hunted by some criminal, I’d at least like to know what it is that I’m supposed to know.”

“Seriously, Ellie. In case Marino does find you somehow, the less you know the better. If he thinks you know anything, he’ll assume you’re lying about the rest.”

My anger exploded and I clenched my fists to keep from hitting him. “Why the hell didn’t you take me to Oscar? Why did you take me to Marino?”

“I told you to stay in the car!”

Tears burned my eyes, but I’d be damned if I’d cry over this.

Collin released a sigh. “Marino doesn’t know anything about you. You live a quiet life in Manteo. There’s no chance he’ll find you. You’ll be fine. I promise.”

There was no way he could guarantee that, and we both knew it. “Be careful what you promise, Collin. I don’t tolerate broken promises very well.”

Marino was a situation that couldn’t be fixed at this moment, so I decided to focus on a situation where I had some control, even if it was very little. I had to feel like I was in control of something. “When you placed your palm on my back, just before you drew my henna tattoo, you were infusing me with your power?”

“Yeah.”

“What about when you put my hand over your tattoo?”

“It was the same thing. You have power, Ellie, whether you realize it or not.”

I realized it now, but I couldn’t help wondering if there was more to the power infusions. Collin had said he thought I could send lesser spirits back to the spirit realm without his help. Where and how would I learn how to do that? Would the ability just come to me like the words of protection had last night? Did I really want to chance it to find out?

“And our power together?” I asked. What I’d felt with our palms touching, with our marks connected—it had been unlike anything I’d ever experienced.

He looked at me again, still serious. “True magic.”

“Do you know how to use it to close the gate?”

He nodded, but shifted in his seat. “Manteo performed the original ceremony so I’ll perform this one. I’ll tell you what I need you to do.”

“When we touched last night . . . ” I refused to bring up the surge of desire we’d both obviously felt, but there were other things I needed answers to. “I was aware of things I didn’t know before. In fact, things I don’t think were even told to me when I was little.”

“I didn’t know some of it either.”

“But you knew about the Manitou?”

He frowned. “Yes, but not that we’d be aware of its presence.” Why did that bother him? Other than getting answers and additional power, experiencing the Manitou was the best part of this entire job.

“Did you know I was the daughter of the sea and you were the son of the earth?” Which I found ironic, given that Collin was the fisherman.

His jaw dropped as he shot me a quick glance. “You found that out last night when we were connected?”

“Yes, and that the curse was born of an ancient magic that flowed through the universe before the birth of the world.”

He scowled. “What else did you find out?”

“Did you know this stuff already?”

“It’s part of our stories, Ellie. It’s our tradition.” The hint of arrogance wasn’t lost on me.

“But you didn’t experience those things last night? You didn’t feel . . . connected to everything, or like all the origins of the universe were right in front of you?” His grimace was my answer. “So what did you feel last night when we touched hands?” It was a loaded question, and I hesitated to ask, but he was surprised I’d found out what I had. I knew he’d felt something, experienced something. The expression on his face last night had told me so.

“I felt the Manitou.”

“But did you feel everything else?”

“We need to talk about what happens in Morehead City.”

“Okay.” He’d dug his feet in and wouldn’t answer any more of my questions. I might as well let him change the subject.

“We’ll go to the museum and check out the security measures as well as the location of the exhibit with the bowl.”

“We’re just going to walk in as us?”

“Sure. Why not? When the bowl goes missing, who would suspect that you or I took it?”

He had a point.

“Do you have a plan to get it?”

“I need to check the situation out first.”

We drove the rest of the way in silence. Collin’s damned unair-conditioned truck was hot as hell. If I’d been thinking straight, I would have offered to drive my car. It wasn’t in the greatest shape, but it had air-conditioning and it couldn’t be much worse than Collin’s Red Death mobile.

The last few hours of the drive had been hot in other ways. Sitting next to Collin, my mind kept drifting to the night before. The more I tried to refocus, the more my mind latched on and refused to let go. The breeze lifted my gauzy skirt a few times, and I had to put my hand on the fabric to keep it from showing my sexy lingerie, although some deep and sinful part of me wished that I didn’t take the precaution.

Collin’s face pinched with irritation. “Do you ever wear pants?”

“Do you ever shave?” Not that I was complaining, despite my irritated tone. My traitorous mind thought about his five o’clock shadow under my fingertips the night before. I needed to think about something else. Anything else. Like scrubbing toilets.

We stopped for lunch in Morehead City before we went to the museum. I realized this was the farthest I’d ever been from Roanoke Island and not felt the debilitating pressure on my chest. If the feeling was curse related, Collin was sure to know about it.

“You’re right.” He nodded after I asked, looking down at his plate of food. “It was a way to make sure the Keepers never got too far away to fix the curse.”

“But if they lived hundreds of miles apart, there was little chance the curse could be broken.”

“Checks and balances, Ellie. The curse locked away the spirits, but there was a price to be paid.”

“Steeper than the colony disappearing?”

“The gods needed a chance to be free.”

“But who set the rules? Obviously, not the gods or they wouldn’t be locked up.”

“Not all of the gods were locked away.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“Ahone rarely dwelled on the land. He lived in the heavens. He escaped the curse, but tradition says he lent his power to it. He made the rules.”

“He wanted the gods and spirits locked up. Why?”

“Jealousy? Pride? Who knows. But the other gods are liable to seek their own revenge.”

So did that mean Ahone’s messenger couldn’t be trusted? Was Ahone really trying to save humanity or was he trying to save himself? “But that doesn’t explain why I can get so far from Roanoke Island now. With the curse broken, you’d think I’d feel the pressure now more than ever.”

His mouth lifted into a soft smile. “Isn’t it obvious, Ellie? You can leave because we’re together.”

It was early afternoon when we got back into the truck to drive to the museum, and I was tired after two nights with little sleep. I dozed, my head leaning back on the headrest. When I realized the truck had stopped, I opened my eyes, surprised to find Collin watching me with an amused grin.

I sat up and smoothed down my skirt. Was he grinning because he’d seen my panties? I frowned. “What?”

“You snore.”

“What? I do not!”

“You do. I never would have guessed.” He opened his door and hopped out.

I grabbed my purse and followed him. “I do not snore!”

He laughed and pulled out his phone. “I have a video if you’d like proof.”

“You didn’t!” Livid, I ran for him, reaching for his phone. “Give me that!”

He stopped and held it over his head. “Why? It’s cute.”

Growling, I grabbed his arm and tugged. “You delete that right now!”

A wicked grin spread across his face. It was a challenge. “Make me.”

I had multiple options. Most of them involved some type of kicking or striking him in the groin. I could only come up with a handful of other ideas after that. But it wasn’t lost on me that we were in the parking lot of the museum we planned to rob. It was probably a good idea to keep a low profile and not cause a scene. My hands dropped, and I put a hand on my hip. “Fine. Keep it.”

His grin never wavered. “Giving up so easily, hotheaded Ellie Lancaster?”

I lifted my chin and gave him a haughty glare. “I’ve decided to be the bigger person.”

Disappointment flickered in his eyes for a half second before he smirked. “Suit yourself.” He lowered his arm and I darted for the phone, catching him off guard.

I got a good hold on it but he held tight, my hand over his.

“If you wanted to hold my hand, Ellie, you only had to ask.”

That was the second time he’d said that to me. I gave him a saucy grin. “Fine. I want to hold your hand.”

His eyebrow arched. He shoved his phone into his pocket, then took hold of my left hand with his right. He tugged me closer so my chest was against his. “Happy now?” he teased.

I stared into his face, trying to catch my breath. This was ridiculous. I was getting hot and bothered holding Collin Dailey’s fucking hand. No, I wasn’t happy now. There was only one thing that was going to make me happy at this point, and it involved his hands touching intimate parts under my clothes.

Collin’s grin faded as his eyelids lowered slightly, his pupils dilating. His grip on my hand tightened, keeping me next to him as his dark eyes searched mine. And he seemed to be struggling to breathe normally.

A car horn blared, and I jumped. We were standing in the middle of the parking lot. What the hell was wrong with me? I needed to get myself together.

Collin pulled me out of the way, then dropped my hand. I regretted the loss instantly. Damn. I was in so much trouble.

He started for the museum entrance, leaving me to trail behind, and I was glad. I couldn’t face him. What was he thinking? He had to know that I wanted him. I hadn’t hidden my desire, practically offering myself to him on a silver platter. There was no way he missed it. He read people. He knew.

But I was pretty good at reading people too. Especially when a guy was interested in me. Collin Dailey was interested, yet he held back. Why?

I didn’t have time to dwell on it. Collin had already entered the building, leaving me on the sidewalk. Watching him disappear inside, I realized he wasn’t necessarily rejecting me. Whenever we got close, he ran away. Could it be that Collin Dailey was afraid of getting close to me? I nearly laughed. Talk about delusions of grandeur. He probably worried I’d be some clingy chick, and he’d be stuck with me until this thing was done and for some time after.

When I entered the lobby, Collin had already purchased two tickets and waited for me with mock impatience. “For someone complaining about the heat, you sure were reluctant to get out of it.”

If he only knew.

He lingered in the lobby a few minutes more, pretending to look at a map of the exhibits. I caught his eyes wandering around the room, cataloguing the locks on the doors, the sprinklers in the ceiling, the sleepy-looking guard—wearing a blue volunteer vest—and where he was positioned. Then Collin looped his arm through mine and grinned. “Time to go inside.”

Watching the way he took in everything filled me with awe. A strange reaction to nefarious activities, and a true sign that this guy had crawled under my skin. Still, while I’d seen him in a few shady situations, I’d never seen him in full action. I pretended to check out exhibits, but my focus was too much on Collin. I wasn’t sure how closely he wanted me to stick to him, but when I stopped at an exhibit about colonists in the eighteen hundreds with genuine interest, Collin moved ahead of me, out of sight. Once he realized I wasn’t close, he came back and whispered in my ear, “We need to stick together.”

I nodded, but it was a waste of time. He’d already taken off again.

The museum was bigger than I expected. We hadn’t yet found the exhibit that displayed the wooden bowl, and I was beginning to wonder if the stupid thing was here. Several exhibits later, Collin’s shoulders tensed ever so slightly. No one else would have noticed but it was obvious to me since obsessively watching Collin Dailey had become my new hobby. I really needed to get a new one.

I stood next to him, staring into the case about Powhatan Indians and artifacts from the time of Pocahontas.

“It’s not here,” he hissed in my ear.

I tried not to visibly react, but this was my worst nightmare come true. Well, second worst. The first was what would happen if we didn’t get the bowl and close the gate in time.

He walked around a glass case. An empty platform at one end had a placard that read, SIXTEENTH-CENTURY CEREMONIAL BOWL, POWHATAN TRIBE.

I squinted in confusion. “I thought the bowl was Croatan.”

“It is. They’re fucking idiots who don’t know shit.” Good to know he was as worried about the bowl’s absence as I was. His head jerked up and he searched the room until his gaze landed on a volunteer moving toward us. He plastered on a smile. “Excuse me.” He gestured toward us. “We have a question.”

The elderly man wearing a blue vest stopped next to the case. The top of his head was so bald it was shiny, but the hair on the sides of his head was long and swept over the top in an attempt to hide it. “How can I help you?”

“Actually,” Collin said, “I was wondering about the piece that’s missing there.” He pointed to the empty spot. “Do you know where it’s gone?”

The volunteer smiled. “Oh, good question, and it’s a shame you’re going to miss it. The bowl was sent for cleaning, but will be back on display in two days. Some experts believe it was used in John Smith’s cleansing ceremony, before he was presented to Pocahontas’s father.”

Collin grinned, his mouth lifting higher on one side. “You don’t say. My girlfriend here is obsessed with anything to do with Pocahontas.” He wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me close to his body. “Aren’t you, Myrtle?”

Myrtle? “I’m not sure I’d call it an obsession . . . ”

Collin cocked his head and leaned toward the man, lowering his voice into a conspiratorial tone. “Don’t let her fool you. She told me it all started when she saw the Disney movie when she was a little girl. She pretty much devoted her life to anything to do with the story of Pocahontas and John Smith after that. She has an entire room filled with anything to do with the topic and, I swear, she has over a hundred Pocahontas dolls.”

The volunteer’s eyes widened as he shot a concerned look at me. “Oh, my.”

“She even has a tattoo on her butt cheek. A heart shape that strangely enough resembles the princess herself, with a flaming arrow shot into it with the words John Smith trailing behind in smoke.”

“Oh. My.”

I turned slightly and grabbed a handful of my skirt. “Would you like to see it?”

The man swallowed, his eyes now on my legs and my slowly rising hem.

Collin tensed. “She really should be on one of those hoarder shows, but what are you going to do?” Collin asked with a half shrug. He squeezed me tighter. “I love her.”

“Those dolls are collector’s items, Fred, and you know it.” I gave the man a nod. “You can’t put a price on history, now can you?”

The volunteer looked confused. “That’s true.”

“And as for the tattoo . . . ” I lowered my voice. “Sometimes I just have to be naughty.” I gave a little shudder.

The volunteer brushed a long strand of hair out of his eyes to get a better look at me.

“Myrtle, behave,” Collin grumbled.

“Do you think Pocahontas herself touched the bowl?” I asked in a half whisper. “I’d give anything to see that.”

The man shook his head, checking out my legs again. “Unfortunately, it won’t be on display for two more days.”

“But is it here? In the museum? Just knowing I might be in the same space as something Pocahontas touched would be like . . . the best experience of my entire life.”

Collin’s fingers dug into my waist. “Even better than me, Myrtle?”

I pinched my lips together and shrugged, waggling my eyebrows.

“It’s due back tomorrow, and they’ll put it back on display the day after.”

I touched the man’s arm. “But it used to be in the case? Right there?”

He nodded, looking down at my hand.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “OMG. To breathe the same air that surrounded an object an Indian princess touched.” I released a groan.

“Are you all right, dear?”

“Myrtle.” Collin’s tight voice spurred me on.

My eyes flew open, and I pressed my hand to my chest. “Oh . . . to think . . . ” I moaned again. “Pocahontas . . . touched something . . . here.” I slid my hand down to my stomach in a slow sweep.

Other visitors began to stop and stare.

Collin released my waist and grabbed my arm. “Myrtle, I think we need to get your medication.”

“But Fred . . . ” I moaned, long and loud. “John Smith . . . ”

Collin pulled me to the exit, looking over his shoulder at the volunteer. “Thank you for your help.”

When we went into the next exhibit room, Collin released his hold. “What was that?”

“I found out that the bowl is coming back tomorrow, right?”

“I’m talking about the rest of it.”

“Payback’s a bitch.”

“Now we’re going to be suspects after your suspicious display.”

“Oh, please. Like my hundred-strong Pocahontas doll collection and the tattoo weren’t enough?”

“After your Enrique act, I couldn’t resist.” He grinned and shook his head. “That was quite the show. If I hadn’t stopped you, where was that going?”

I looked up at him, and stroked his jawline with my fingertip. “Ever seen When Harry Met Sally?”

His body tensed.

I gave him a wicked smile and spun around, heading for the exit. Let him think about that for a while.

CHAPTER TWENTY

After we got back in the truck, Collin watched the museum, his hands folded over the steering wheel, deep in concentration.

“So do you have a plan?”

“Yeah.”

I waited several seconds. “Are you going to tell me?”

He grinned that wicked smile he got when he knew he had something I wanted. But to my surprise, he answered. “I’d staked this place out before. I wanted to see if anything had changed.”

“You had? When?”

“About six months ago, after my brother gave the bowl to the museum.”

This surprised me on so many levels. First, although I knew Collin had a brother who didn’t believe, I found it amazing that he disbelieved enough to actually give the bowl away. And two, that Collin had the nerve to get mad at me for pawning my cup. I smacked him on the arm.

He shrunk back in surprise. “What was that for?”

“There are too many transgressions to list.”

He narrowed his eyes in confusion, then shook his head. “Do you want to know the plan or not?”

“Yes,” I grumbled.

Again he looked confused before he shrugged it off. “My biggest concern before was how to get the bowl out of its glass display, so the fact that it’s already out and not due to go back in until tomorrow is a godsend. What we need to do is get it tomorrow night, after it’s been returned to the museum, but before it’s put back on display.”

“How in the world do you plan to break into a museum? They have alarms.”

“I told you, Ellie. I’ve scoped this place out. I know how to get past the alarm system.”

My mouth dropped open in disbelief. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Oh, Ellie. When will you learn to trust me?”

“When hell freezes over.”

I expected him to make some sarcastic comment, but instead, he turned serious and studied me for several seconds. “Good girl.”

What did that mean?

He moved on before I could ask. “We’ll break in tomorrow night around midnight.”

“But won’t they consider us suspects?” I now regretted my earlier performance. I had no desire to do jail time for stealing some old bowl.

“You don’t know the beautiful part of my plan.” A shit-eating grin spread over his face.

“Are you going to sit there grinning like an idiot all day or are you going to explain your genius idea?”

“We’ll make a switch.”

“Excuse me?”

“I have a nearly identical bowl. They’ll never realize that it’s not the original—or at least not for a very long time. I hope. By then, we’ll be ancient history, no pun intended. They’ll never associate the theft with us.”

“Do I want to know where you got the replacement bowl?”

“Probably not.” I suspected this fell into the same category as the Ricardo deal. The less I knew about criminal activity, the better. “So why didn’t you get it sooner? Why leave the bowl here for six months?”

“If I stole it and my brother found out, he’d just give it to someone else. The safest place for the bowl was behind a glass case until I needed it.”

My suspicion went on high alert. “Wait. How did you know you’d need it? This curse has been in existence for hundreds of years. Why would you need the bowl?” He claimed he didn’t know who I was when he’d come into the restaurant. What if he was lying?

But why would he want to break the curse? It didn’t make sense, and I was too paranoid.

His face hardened. “Was I supposed to tell the next Keeper he or she could find the bowl in the museum? I’d have to retrieve the relic sometime, in order to pass it down along with the responsibility of being Keeper.”

I scoffed. “The only way you were passing down the Keeper title was if you had a kid. You don’t seem like the daddy type.”

“You never know, Ellie. People change.”

I’d like to think that. For some reason, I harbored a small, secret desire that Collin Dailey would denounce his life of crime and become a responsible citizen and then, just maybe, I’d have a chance with him. But that was irrational and stupid, and I’d better not forget it. If I wanted a fling with him, fine. But I could suffer no delusions that a relationship with Collin could be anything more. “So what do we do until tomorrow night?”

He turned back to face the museum. “It’s a long drive back to Manteo, just to turn around and come back tomorrow. We could stay here for the night.”

Butterflies squirmed in my stomach. “That was why we packed clothes, right?”

He grinned. “Okay.” Then he turned out of the parking lot and drove down the Outer Banks.

When he pulled into the parking lot of a motel on the beach, I gave him a suspicious glance. I knew his financial situation. He didn’t have eight hundred dollars to buy back my cup.

“How can we afford this?”

He shrugged and opened his door. “I know a guy.”

I followed him out. “You know a guy? What the hell does that mean?”

“I’ve got it covered, Ellie.”

I was sure he did. The question was did he have it covered by legal or illegal means?

We walked into the lobby, and I realized from the nineties décor that the motel was older and a little run-down. Nevertheless, beachfront property was premium. Run-down or not, I was sure Collin couldn’t afford it.

Collin rested his forearm on the registration desk counter and smiled his one hundred megawatt death-by-sex smile. I could see the girl on the other side of the counter turn to putty in his hands. I decided to sit back and watch the master work his magic.

“So, sweetheart.” Collin leaned closer and lowered his voice. “What’s the best room you’ve got?”

“Um. They’re all the same.” She cast an ugly look in my direction before returning her gaze to Collin, batting her eyelashes. “They all face the ocean. But there are three levels and the rooms on the third floor on the north side have a better view.”

“And how much is one of those rooms?”

She told him, and despite his financial straits, he didn’t flinch. “Is Tommy here?”

She blinked in surprise. “You know Tommy?”

“Tommy told me that porcelain is king.”

She tilted her head and looked at him with more awe.

What was up with the “porcelain is king” crap?

She handed him a room key. “You’re in Room 326. It has the best view.”

Collin slid the key card off the counter in one smooth movement. “Thank you”—he looked at her name tag—“Tammy.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Pressley.”

Mr. Pressley?

He started to walk away, but turned around and smiled again. “Is there anything to do around here for entertainment, Tammy?”

“I’d be happy to show you a good time.”

I gave a little shudder, sure I’d heard her wrong. Did she seriously say that in front of me?

Collin leaned closer and shrugged a shoulder toward me, lowering his voice as though I couldn’t hear him. “I’m a little preoccupied at the moment, but you never know when things will change.” He winked and a slow smile lit up her face. “In the meantime, is there anything else I can do?”

“Sapphire Cove, the next town up, is having a street fair tonight.”

He scowled. “Anything else?”

“There’s a go-cart track with mini golf a half mile down the highway.”

He obviously liked the sound of that even less. “Thanks,” he grumbled as he ushered me out the door and back to the truck.

“Porcelain is king? Mr. Pressley? What was all of that?”

He spun around with a grin. “Think about it long enough and you’ll get it.” He grabbed my suitcase and two duffel bags out of the truck bed and headed for the stairs.

“Do I even want to know about your tête-à-tête with Tammy?”

“Insurance.”

“Excuse me?”

“Ellie, when you’ve been in my line of business long enough, you learn to make friends whenever possible.”

“And what exactly is your line of business?”

He shot me a grin. “Getting what I want.”

At least he was honest about it. I wondered how much time he spent fishing on his boat and how much he spent on shady activities.

We climbed two flights and walked along the outdoor walkway to our room. While Collin opened the door, I stared out into the ocean, the rhythmic sound of waves drawing my attention.

Collin stood behind me, enclosing me with his arms as he braced his hands on either side of me on the rail. “You feel it don’t you?” he whispered huskily in my ear. “The call of the water.”

I nodded. “Do you feel it too?”

He swept my hair off my shoulder, his face close to my neck. “I’m the son of the earth, Ellie. You’re the daughter of the sea. The call is for you.”

What was he up to? I couldn’t imagine that he was trying to start anything. Once again, I wondered if he couldn’t help himself. The Collin Fucking Dailey charm was as natural as the air he breathed. He probably had to purposely suppress it.

“You feel a call from the land.”

“Yes.”

“So is it hard for you when you’re on the water? Does part of you ache for the land?”

“I’m sure it’s no different from how you feel when you’re on the ocean.”

“I’ve never been.”

His body tensed, ever so slightly. “Never been what?”

“On the ocean.”

“How is that possible? You live less than a hundred feet from the sound.”

I shrugged. “Momma was deathly afraid of water, and my obsession with it didn’t help. So she purposely made sure I never went on a boat.”

“And later? After she died? Was that some desire to please her since you felt responsible for her death?”

Collin was dangerous. He was much too intuitive to suit me. “Partly. The other part was the few times a friend had a boat and offered to take me out on the sea. But they weren’t the most trustworthy of people, and I decided it wasn’t worth risking my life.”

“Good call, but you need the water, Ellie. It feeds your own Manitou.”

I stiffened at the thought of dead sea animals. I could never steal life so callously.

Collin sensed my horror and ran a hand down my arm. “Not like that. This is different.”

It was a lovely thought, but I didn’t have access to a boat. But perhaps that explained why Collin seemed so much stronger than me.

We stayed like that for several minutes, me watching the ocean and resting against the balcony railing, Collin pressed against my back, his arms on either side of me. I knew I should be thankful for this moment with him, but I was greedy. I wanted more of him, not just this.

Collin’s arms dropped and he turned around and went into the room. When he left, it was as though a piece of me went missing. Just as I was about to chide myself for being overdramatic, I realized the truth of it: Collin and I were equal halves of a whole. Perhaps we could have simply done our job, combining our power when needed in the ceremony, but last night had bound us in a way that I was sure Collin didn’t anticipate. Did he feel it too? If he did, why did he fight it so?

I not only needed Collin Dailey, I wanted him. I could try to ignore it for the rest of the time I had left with him and regret until my dying breath that I never seized this opportunity. Or I could go through it and have my heart broken when he left, because I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would.

My heart would be broken no matter what choice I made.

The door to the room was still open, but I wasn’t ready to face him yet. Besides, I wanted to see if he had a point about the water. I headed down the stairs and kicked off my shoes, carrying them in my hand as I trekked across the fifty-foot beach toward the water. The closer I got to the water’s edge, the stronger the pull. When my feet hit the wet sand, I curled my toes and waited for a wave to wash over me. My knees almost buckled at the rush of power and I gasped out loud.

My eyes sank closed as I absorbed both the power and what it meant. As well as the potential disadvantage it gave me. Collin was a fisherman, but he spent a lot of time on the land. The ceremony would most likely take place on the land, possibly miles from water. There was nothing I could do about that. Would I be strong enough to be useful?

I decided to ignore what I couldn’t control—Collin, my power or lack thereof—and enjoy this moment. The realization that I did have a purpose: Elinor Dare Lancaster, Curse Keeper. I walked deeper into the waves, the water crashing into my legs as I tilted my head back, my face absorbing the sunlight. My skirt flapped, the hem soaking up saltwater, and my hair blew around my face. I could almost feel the Manitou of creatures around me, just a tickle of their presence. I had been right the day before in the warehouse. This wasn’t just a curse. It was a blessing.

I wasn’t sure how long I stayed there, straddling both worlds, but it was long enough to become cold from the water and the wind. My long hair had become hopelessly tangled, and I reached up to brush it out of my face as I turned around to go back to the room. I stopped mid-turn, surprised to see Collin standing ten feet behind me. The raw desire in his eyes stole my breath. Collin Dailey wanted me as much as I wanted him. The knowledge knotted my stomach and caused an ache inside, an ache that I needed him to touch. To fill. I took a step toward him and stopped as he backed up several paces, then turned around and returned to the room without me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Collin didn’t say a word when I returned. He sat in a chair by the window and watched a game show on the television.

On the walk back to the room, I decided I could go about this one of two ways: I could sulk the rest of our time together or I could figure out a way to break Collin Dailey. The second option held much more appeal. On so many levels.

I flopped on the bed next to him. “What are we doing tonight?”

He kept his attention on the television, an obvious ploy to get me to leave him alone. There was no way Collin was that interested in a tampon commercial.

“I don’t know. I guess eat dinner.”

“I want to go to the street fair.”

His eyebrows slowly rose as his mouth parted. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope.”

He shook his head. “No. No way.”

We’d see about that. I stood up and walked toward the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower.”

That got his attention. “That’s not a good idea. You might screw up your mark.”

I gave him a saucy look. “Then I guess you’ll just have to redo it.”

“Ellie.”

I set my bag on the bed and unzipped it enough to pull out my cosmetics bag. “I haven’t had a shower in days, Collin. I’m sure the mark has set by now. Have mercy on me.” But I didn’t want him to show me mercy. I wanted—I stopped the thought before I attacked him. I had no doubt he would eventually cave, but there was also no doubt that Collin was stubborn. Too bad for him he’d met his match. But I didn’t want to smell like sweat and lemons when I seduced him and that meant I needed a shower.

He slumped in the chair, rolling his eyes in disgust. “Do whatever you want. You do anyway.”

The sooner he accepted that, the better off he’d be.

I was in the bathroom long enough to steam up the mirror. I had to make sure I was ready for shenanigans with Collin Dailey and that included shaving. Plus I hoped he was out there thinking about me. Naked.

When I opened the door, he jerked upright, purposely trying to ignore me and shifting in his seat. He cast a glance my way, which turned into a double take when he realized I’d come out wrapped in the flimsy terry-cloth robe. His eyes stayed on me. Collin Dailey looked like a starving man, and he wasn’t hungry for food.

“Do you want to check my back? To make sure I didn’t screw up my mark?” I partially turned my back toward him, dropping my robe off my shoulder.

He looked away. “No,” he responded more gruffly than necessary.

I almost chuckled and went back into the bathroom. I towel dried my hair and found a blow-dryer to help with the rest. When I was done, it was a frizzy mess. I sighed.

Since Claire had packed my bag, I wasn’t sure what she’d included. Thankfully, she’d had more foresight than I had. I pulled out a black lacy shirt and a gauzy skirt, along with a lacy black bra and panties buried underneath.

I dressed and put on a little makeup. It was too hot to wear much more than blush, eye shadow and mascara, and lip stain. Next I plaited my hair into a soft, messy braid over my shoulder that reminded me a bit of Rosalina’s. That gave me pause. I didn’t want to remind Collin of Rosalina. I stared at myself in the mirror to get the full effect. I’d never be the beauty that Rosalina was, but I could manage pretty. Tonight I wore slightly more eye makeup than usual. I still passed for pretty, but with a bit of maturity.

When I emerged from the bathroom, Collin was pacing the floor. He turned toward me, and froze.

“Do you need to get ready?” I asked.

He nodded, then swallowed.

I smiled. Imagine that. A speechless Collin Dailey. Someone needed to mark that down for posterity.

He pulled a set of clothes out of his bag and moved past me. I purposely made it difficult. He looked like he was in pain when he closed the bathroom door. The sound of the shower soon followed. Collin didn’t linger under the water long. He was in and out of the bathroom in less than ten minutes.

He picked up his wallet and truck keys off the dresser. “No street fair,” he growled, stuffing the wallet into his back pocket. Lucky wallet. I’d love to be that close to Collin’s ass. Good Lord. When had I become this person?

He glanced up and saw where I was staring and got flustered. What was Collin afraid of? Was he as worried that I’d break his heart as I was that he would break mine? What a joke. It was more likely he worried I’d pull some hysterical woman freak-out when he left.

Collin opened the door and held it for me. “You look very handsome,” I said in a slow, sexy voice as I walked by him. He was more than handsome. I couldn’t imagine how People magazine hadn’t put his picture on their cover as the sexiest man alive.

Even though Collin had tried to keep his distance in our room, outside he fell in step beside me, his hand on the small of my back. I hid my smile. I didn’t want to spook him. When we got to the truck, he opened the door for me. Unlike that morning, I didn’t comment. I realized this wasn’t something Collin did—open car doors for women. What exactly did it mean that he did it for me?

It took us less than ten minutes to get downtown. The streets were crowded and several were blocked off. Collin parked on a side road and was over on my side of the truck as I got out. I loved that Collin had told me no street fair, but then drove us there anyway. The boy was breaking.

“What are you hungry for?” I asked in a husky voice.

It took him several seconds to answer. “I don’t care.”

“Do you want to walk around and see what’s here?”

“Sure.”

I almost felt badly for him. Almost. I still hadn’t figured out why he was resisting me so hard, but at least I wasn’t making a fool of myself. He wanted me. Bad.

We stopped at a bar and grill and sat in the patio area on the sidewalk, watching the people pass by. Collin leaned back in his seat, uncharacteristically quiet. It occurred to me that if he had a reason for not acting on his feelings toward me, maybe I should respect that. He was clearly uncomfortable.

“Collin,” I said, putting my hand on the table surface in front of him.

His eyes darted to mine.

“I didn’t sleep with Drew last night. He’s Claire’s fiancé.”

“I know.”

That caught me by surprise. “You didn’t look like you knew when you showed up this morning.”

“Not at first I didn’t, but the minute Claire arrived, I saw the way they looked at each other.” He still scowled.

I thought clearing our misunderstanding would make things better. “We can go. If you want to get something to go, we can just take it back to the room.”

He watched me for several seconds, then shook his head. “No. I want to be here.”

I released my breath.

“I need a beer.” He motioned for the waitress to come over and ordered a pale ale.

“I’ll take one too.”

He smirked.

“What?” I asked when the waitress left.

“I thought you preferred men who were stout.”

I smiled. My Collin was back and had accepted my challenge. “No, I said I took you for a stout man.” My eyebrows rose. “Was I wrong?”

A slow sexy grin spread across his face. “I’ll let you figure that out for yourself.”

My body flushed.

He leaned forward and waited for my response. Score one for Collin. He slid his hand across the table and reached for my hand, slowly turning it over. His fingertip traced the lines in my palm and I shivered. He grinned at the small victory. “Did you know I can read palms?”

I shook my head.

His finger traced a long line from my thumb to my wrist. “This is your life line.” He bent over it. “Yours is quite long and bold. You’ll live a very long and very large life.” He found a line that ran down the middle of my hand. “This is your fate line.” He studied it and grinned up at me. “You are destined for the best night of your life, Ellie Lancaster.”

I wasn’t sure how it was possible, but this was the second time Collin had got me hot just holding my hand. I could only imagine what it would be like when we finally slept together. There was no doubt we would. At this point it was a game of who would cave first.

His finger moved to a line on the other side of my hand. “This is your love line. It, combined with your fate line, says you will meet a dark, handsome man who will make you beg for mercy for toying with his principles.”

I lowered my voice. “And does it say where I’ll meet such a man?”

He lifted my hand to his mouth and licked the tip of my ring finger. “The Romans thought there was a direct connection from the left ring finger to the heart. But I think it goes somewhere else.”

I tried to suppress a moan as my eyelids fluttered. Oh God. I wasn’t sure I’d make it through dinner.

A languid smile lit up his face. Collin was in his element and our roles had been reversed.

Collin sucked on my fingertip. “Do you want to read my palm?”

The feeling shot right to my groin and I sucked in a breath. “What?”

He chuckled. “You seem distracted, Ellie.”

“No.” My voice wavered. “I’m fine.”

He opened his left palm and traced his love line with my finger. Dear God, even that turned me on.

“This is my love line. Do you know what it says?”

“No.”

“It says an incredibly sexy, but totally infuriating redheaded woman will barge into my life and drive me insane.”

His sentence made me pause. “But insane in a good way?”

His smile was genuine. “Insane in a way I never thought possible.” Then his wicked look returned, and he moved my finger to his fate line. “See how long and bold this line is? It’s an indication of my sexual prowess.”

I burst out laughing.

He leaned away, taken aback. “What’s so funny?”

“Your sexual prowess?”

His eyes narrowed. “Is that a challenge?”

I grinned. “Oh, you have no idea.”

The tables had turned again, and he was the one who looked like he was about to strip me naked right there on the table.

His voice lowered, and he leaned close. “You said you like it on top. I spent all day imagining it.”

Oh. Shit.

The waitress came back with our drinks and asked to take our order. We hadn’t even looked at the menu yet. Dear God. We still had to sit through dinner. I’d be begging Collin to screw me in the bathroom at this rate.

“I just want an appetizer.” I shoved the menu at the waitress.

Collin grinned, keeping his eyes on me.

“Which one?” the waitress asked.

“Uh . . . ”

“How about crab cakes?” Collin asked. “And the grilled shrimp.”

I nodded. I’d eat raw carrots if it would speed this up and get us back to the motel, and I hated raw carrots.

She took the menus and left.

“Where were we?” Collin asked.

Torturing me for playing with your principles.

He continued his torture until the food arrived. As the waitress started to leave, Collin called her back, asking for the bill. I was glad to see I wasn’t the only impatient one.

We’d barely eaten the last shrimp when Collin stood and reached for my hand. He pulled me into the crowd, his right hand wrapped tight around my left as though I would disappear. The sounds of a live band in the street caught my attention.

“Collin, I want to dance.”

He shook his head. “I don’t dance.”

I pulled him toward the music, making our way through the crowd. He didn’t resist, in spite of his protest.

I stopped a comfortable distance away so that we could hear the music but still converse. I swayed in time to the beat. “Why don’t you dance?”

His gaze wandered to my hips. “I dance. Just not this kind.”

“You know another kind?”

A wicked smile lit up his face. “How about you teach me how to dance your way, and I’ll teach you how to dance mine.”

Oh. Shit. “Deal.”

He looked amused. “So tell me what to do.”

I hadn’t eaten much at dinner and the beer had gone straight to my head. I gave him a sexy look. “You don’t strike me as the kind of guy who likes to be told what to do.”

“You’d be surprised.”

I took a deep breath. Focus. “We can either stand apart or we can be together.”

Collin’s hands settled on my waist. “Always together, Ellie. Always.”

I placed my hands on his chest, but kept several inches between us.

“Now what?” Collin asked.

“Now you move to the music.”

We danced, a slow seductive swaying of our hips. Collin’s heart beat fast under my hand. I searched his eyes, finding evidence that Collin Dailey wasn’t immune to me. “So far I don’t think our dances are all that different.”

Collin pulled me flush to his body, his hands still on my waist. “I need you closer.”

My stomach fluttered. “I thought I was teaching this dance.”

“From what I’ve seen, mine is so much better.”

“You’re not giving mine a chance.”

“I’ve been giving yours a chance for hours.” Collin slid his hands underneath the hem of my shirt, his fingertips skimming my back above my waistband. “Are you a witch, Ellie Lancaster? Have you cast a spell to entrance me?” He looked half serious and leaned his forehead down to mine, then whispered, “Or are you an angel sent to save my soul?”

I closed my eyes. If he didn’t kiss me soon, I would combust.

His hands slid up my back, outside my shirt, his hands splayed and digging in as they moved. “You have no idea how much I want you.”

“I want you too.”

He groaned, and one of his hands found my neck, traveling up to cup the side of my head, our bodies moving to the slow tempo of the band. His mouth leaned close to mine, so agonizingly close. “Don’t trust me, Ellie. You can’t trust me.” His voice cracked with pain.

How many times had he told me that? “I know who you are, Collin. I’m going into this with eyes wide open.” I reached for the back of his head, trying to bring his mouth to mine, but he held back. What was he waiting for? What did he need from me? “No man has made me feel even a fraction of what I feel with you, Collin. I know this is short term. I know you’ll be gone once the gate is closed. But I still want you.”

His eyes closed, and his hold on my head tightened.

“What do you want from me, Collin? Do you want me to beg?” God help me, I was willing to do it.

“I’ll hurt you, Ellie. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I know you won’t stick around. You’ll hurt me so much more if you reject me, Collin. Please.”

He groaned again.

I stood on my tiptoes, pressing my lips to his. He stood still, his chest rising and falling against mine. My tongue ran along his bottom lip, finding an opening, then exploring his mouth.

His shackles fell off and he took over, his tongue joining mine, giving me what I wanted, but it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. He pulled away, his breath coming in tight bursts. “Time for my lesson.”

I nodded, but he was pulling me through the crowd toward the truck. He lifted me up and shoved me through the driver’s door, following close behind. I lay on my back on the seat, and Collin leaned over me. His mouth was on mine, his hands up my shirt. I pressed my hips to his, needing more.

He growled, his body rising and denying me his mouth. I reached for him, intending to pull him back down. Dear God, please don’t let him change his mind.

“Ellie, I’m not going to fuck you in this truck like a couple of high school kids where anyone can see us.”

Good point.

He sat up and started the truck, throwing it into reverse. The drive to the motel took half the time it took to get downtown. From the look on Collin’s face, a couple of times I wondered if he was going to change his mind and pull over to the side of the road anyway.

When he pulled into the parking lot, he had the door open, sliding me out the driver’s side before the engine died. He shut the door and pushed me against the side of the truck. “I’ll never make it upstairs if I don’t kiss you now.” His mouth found mine before I could answer, kissing me so thoroughly my knees buckled.

His arm wrapped around my waist, snugging me close. “Ellie, what the hell have you done to me?”

His mouth continued its onslaught, his tongue giving me a preview of what was to come. I moaned. I needed more.

He broke away, his breathing labored. “Upstairs. Now.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

He wrapped his hand around my wrist and he dragged me toward the stairs, practically running up the steps. His legs were longer than mine and I had trouble keeping up. “Collin, wait.” This Collin Dailey surprised me. I always took him as a man in total control, even with sex. Especially with sex. To see that I made him this way made me even hotter.

He stopped on the first landing and pulled me against his chest, his mouth on mine again. “You’re too slow.”

I slid my hand up the back of his shirt, my fingertips soaking in the feel of him. “You don’t like it slow?”

“I love it slow. Right now I want you fast.” His lips and tongue worked a magic on mine I never thought possible. When he stepped away, my legs trembled before he grabbed my wrist again, pulling me up the next flight of stairs to the third floor. How did he expect me to run up stairs when I could hardly stand?

We’d barely reached the landing when he pushed me against the wall of the building, his lips and tongue paving a path from my ear to the pulse point on my neck. I grabbed the back of his head, resisting the urge to push him lower.

“Our door is less than fifty feet away,” he growled against my chest, “yet I want you so much I’d fuck you right here if I thought no one would see us.”

My stomach tightened and I groaned, urging his mouth back to mine. “Collin.” I took control with my tongue, showing him how much I wanted exactly the same thing he did.

He leaned back, and he glanced around with a worried expression. “It’s dark. I need to get you inside.” He led me toward our room, his hand trembling with the plastic card key.

When he pushed the door open, I took the lead, yanking him inside and stripping my shirt over my head and tossing it to the floor.

He pulled me in his arms again, his lips over mine, his hands roaming my back and shoulders. “Wait.” He moved away from me and toward the dresser, picking up a piece of what looked like charcoal and returning to the door.

“What are you doing?”

“Protecting you.” He began to draw symbols around the door as fast as his hand would move.

That was the sexiest thing anyone had ever done for me.

“What do they mean?” I asked, standing behind him in my skirt and bra.

His hand paused, then his sketching resumed, slower this time. “The stars and moon ask the ancient force of night to protect you. I put them in each corner to make sure every side is sealed. On either side of them is a sun.” He sketched out a sun with an arrow. “The sun is asleep, but its power is far reaching. This asks the sun to join with night, adding its power.”

Next he drew a lightning bolt on the left side of the suns and something that looked like raindrops on the opposite side. “The air which is ruled by the wind gods. Placing them between the power of the sun and night, prevents the wind gods from using the air to harm you.”

Tears filled my eyes. I had no idea.

“The mountains represent the land.” He drew a zigzagged line. “My power.” His voice was husky as his hand etched the symbols eight times on the door. “All forces join together to protect that which should be protected above all else.”

He drew waves in the center of each side. “The sea.”

I studied the door and symbols, speechless. “What protects you?” I finally choked out.

He turned around to face me, raw lust in his eyes. “Nothing can protect me, Ellie. I was a goner the minute I met you.” He tossed the charcoal on the dresser as he took two purposeful steps toward me, his hand reaching for my waist. “Are you sure? Are you really, really sure?”

How could he ask me that after what he’d just done? My heart was forever lost to this man. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

“Then you have too many clothes on.” Collin quickly unfastened the button on my skirt. It puddled to the floor as I lifted the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it up. Collin tugged it the rest of the way over his head and let it drop. He gaze wandered up my legs, over my black lacy panties, lingering on my bra until settling on my face.

“God, you’re beautiful.”

He reached for my face and brought it to his, his earlier frenzy seeming to have dissipated. Mine had settled into a deeper level. A primeval concoction of lust and need and something more significant, a feeling I couldn’t name, but that was stronger than the other two combined. I knew I’d never experience this with anyone else ever.

His tongue sought out mine, a slow dance of heat and desire. I pressed my body to his, needing to touch him. Every part of him. I reached down and pressed against his crotch.

Collin released a long groan. My other hand fumbled with his belt, but he brushed it away, making quick work of the belt, button, and zipper.

I pulled him to the bed and sat on the edge. I slid my fingers into the top of his waistband and eased them down over his thighs. A thrill ran through my blood at the sight of his dark briefs. His jeans hung at his knees as my hands skimmed his outer thighs, moving toward the bulge in his underwear. Within a few strokes, Collin grabbed my hands and pushed me back on the bed, kicking his jeans off in the process. He used his body to pin mine, his hands holding mine over my head.

“You drive me crazy.” His frenzy was back as his mouth devoured mine, then moved down to my chest, licking the tender skin over the top of my bra. “You still have too many clothes on.” His hand reached under my back, unsnapping the bra strap with expert fingers. He pulled the straps down my arms and had barely tossed it aside when his mouth found my breast and his hands reclaimed mine.

I arched, wanting every part of me closer to him. I wrapped my legs around his waist, rolling my hips into his.

A low rumble filled his chest as he moved to my other breast, my hands still pressed to the bed. “Collin, I want to touch you.”

He released my hands and shifted positions, sitting back on his knees and staring down at me.

“I can’t reach you now.” I propped up on my elbows.

“I want to look at you.” His gaze landed on my panties. His fingers hooked the lace on my hip and dragged down, his face lowered, his lips planting kisses in the silk’s wake.

My head dropped back as I released a moan. “Collin, please.”

His mouth moved up to my breast, his eyes on mine.

I grabbed his head and pulled his mouth to mine. “I want you.”

He was frenzy and fire again, his hands and mouth everywhere. He rolled us over and I was on top, straddling a key part of him still covered by underwear. I sat up and trailed a finger down his chest to the band of his briefs, giving him a sexy smile. “You have on too many clothes.”

“What are you going to do about that?”

I loved seeing him like this, flat on his back, hunger in his eyes, the sign of his desire for me hidden only by a piece of fabric.

I reached for his waistband, but moved too slow to suit him. He sat up, pushing my legs down around his thighs. He kissed me long and slow, one hand finding my breast while the other delved lower. I gasped and he leaned back, his eyes dark with wanting. “I see the appeal of you being on top.” He kissed me again, his hands working a magic that had nothing to do with the curse or the power in our blood.

“Collin, please.” I pleaded.

“Don’t move.” His hands left my body and he leaned forward to pull his jeans off the floor, digging in his pocket to remove a foil package. He grabbed my hips and pulled me up to my knees, giving him enough room to remove his underwear and put on the condom.

We sat there for several seconds, staring into each other’s eyes, indecision flickering in his.

“Collin, I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you right now.”

He grabbed my hips again and guided me over him and slowly pulled me down. We groaned together as he filled me, and when he was sure I was okay, he began his dance. He was the puppet master, and he controlled my every move. I was climbing, climbing, so close to the edge, and we’d only just begun.

“Not yet, Ellie. Wait for me.” He stopped and kissed me thoroughly, his tongue showing me what the other part of him waited to continue.

He released my hips, and my body found its own rhythm. His hand slid up my bare back, his fingers digging, claiming. Didn’t he know I was already his?

“Collin,” I gasped.

“Not yet.” His hips began to move against mine, and we began a new dance, his movement more hurried, needy.

“Collin.” I was wound so tight I wasn’t sure I’d ever become untangled.

His left hand grabbed my right one, placing it over his mark and his hand found mine on my back.

I cried out, shattered to pieces at the assault of power and sex. Collin pushed deep, using his free hand to pull me closer, releasing a loud groan as he arched up.

We fought to catch our breath. I opened my eyes to see his face inches from mine, his eyes still dark with lust and need. “Are you an angel or an enchantress, Ellie Lancaster?”

I kissed him long and slow, nipping his lower lip and licking behind it. “I’m whichever you want me to be.”

I felt him stirring again.

“You must be an enchantress. You have me under your spell.”

He kissed me this time, making my pulse rise.

“And what does that make you?” I teased.

“Yours.”

Collin had to be joking. There was no way he’d say that to me. Unless he was playing me, but why would he? I’d already told him I expected him to leave when the gate was closed. I didn’t have time to think about it because he kissed me again, and I lost all conscious thought except for what he was doing to me at that moment.

We made love again, Collin on top this time. Afterward, he lay next to me, bringing the side of my body flush with his stomach and chest. He propped up on one elbow and brushed several strands of hair plastered to my cheek and forehead. “I’d suggest we take a shower, but it would probably be a waste.”

Just the mention of having sex with him again made my body flush.

Collin grinned. “You are insatiable, Ellie Lancaster. You’ll kill me with sex.” His mouth lowered to mine, placing soft kisses at the corners. “Maybe you’re a succubus.”

“Those aren’t real,” I murmured closing my eyes.

“Don’t be so sure about that.” The tone in his voice told me he meant it.

My eyes flew open. “You’re serious.”

He stared into my eyes.

“What else is out there?”

“I’m not sure. Everything. Anything. But just like there are good and bad people, there are good and bad spirits. The bad ones will seek you out specifically. You’re a Curse Keeper and you have a pure soul. Tomorrow we have to work on teaching you to protect yourself.”

I laughed. “I think I just proved I don’t have a pure soul, Collin.”

“What we just did had nothing to do with the pureness of your soul, Ellie.”

He was serious. I scooted backward and propped a pillow under my head. “Why do you think I have a pure soul?”

“The first time we linked, in the warehouse, I felt it. Your aura shined many times brighter than all of those around me. Honestly, I didn’t expect it. Pure souls are rare.”

“You see auras when we’re linked?”

“You don’t?”

“No. I feel their presence. Almost like omnipotence. Do you?”

“No.” His eyes darkened with worry. “But the Manitou gives each person their own gifts.”

“So what makes a pure soul?”

“Everything and everyone has a Manitou. When a being dies, its Manitou returns to the collective, if you will, and gets recycled. Unless it’s consumed by a god or demon and then it’s lost forever. But sometimes something or someone is born with a fresh Manitou. That makes them a pure soul.”

“So why would someone be born with a fresh Manitou?”

“The world becomes tired and stale. So the larger forces release beings with pure souls. People and animals. Often around the same time or same life cycles, usually hundreds of years apart. According to the legends of my ancestors, anyway. My grandmother said that the Manitou of pure souls were present at the creation of the universe.”

“By larger forces, you mean like night and day? Like the symbols you posted on the door?”

“Yes, and water and land. Everything has a counterpart. A yin and yang.”

I picked up his left hand, lacing our fingers. “Like you and me.”

His eyes darkened. “Yes, like you and me.” He sounded so serious. And worried. Why would that worry him?

“Does the fact I’m a pure soul have anything to with the curse and closing the gate?”

His hand tightened around mine, his voice even tighter. “No. It’s a coincidence.”

“But the gods will know that I am a pure soul?”

His eyes were full of regret and worry as they looked up into mine. “Yes.”

“You said I need to learn to defend myself, but why would I need to learn if we close the gate? Won’t they all go back? Won’t I be safe?”

He pulled his hand from mine and began to stroke the skin on my abdomen with his fingertip. His mouth followed his fingers.

My stomach tightened, and I released a low moan. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Learning to defend yourself is a fail-safe.” He found my breast, and I gasped. “In case we don’t close it.”

“Why wouldn’t we close it? We’re getting the bowl tomorrow night.”

He captured my mouth with his, sending me into a dizzy tailspin. How could this man set my body alive? Would it still be like this without the magic in our blood? His face hovered inches from mine. “You’re a pure soul, Ellie. I don’t want to take any chances. Humor me.”

If humoring him included what we were doing right then, I’d humor him the rest of my life.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I woke to sunshine and Collin’s mouth on my face and knew immediately this had to be a dream. My bedroom window faced west. When I opened my eyes, Collin was planting kisses along my jaw and working his way down to my neck. I closed my eyes again. “I had the most wonderful dream.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“I dreamed that I had wild, mind-blowing sex with the most gorgeous man alive.”

“And who might this sexy, gorgeous man be?”

“Oh, I never said he was sexy.”

“The two usually go hand in hand. And you didn’t answer my question.”

“I think his name was Collin.” I grinned. “Colin Firth. I love a sexy British accent.”

He threw a pillow at me and I laughed.

His eyes widened. “Colin Firth? You really think that old man is capable of giving you what we had last night?”

I sat up. “Well, to give an accurate answer, I’d have to give the old man a chance.”

“Or I could give you another demonstration.”

“Careful, Collin. I’ll think you’re an incubus.”

His smile fell, and he cupped my cheek, leaning close to kiss me. “I’ll do everything I can to protect you.”

My shoulders tensed at his sudden change in mood. “You already do, Collin.”

He shook off his frown. “There was a purpose to your wakeup call. I was going to give you a surprise, but now I’m not so sure if you’re going to insult my sexual prowess.”

I giggled. “It’s hard to take you seriously when you use that word.”

He raised his eyebrow in an exaggerated waggle. “I believe the stories of my sexual prowess are known far and wide.”

I leaned back on my elbows, letting the sheet drop to my waist. “Oh really?” I shook my head. “I never heard a one of them.”

He got to his knees and pulled me to mine, our naked bodies flush against one another. “I don’t remember any complaints last night, Miss Lancaster.” His hands slid slowly down my back and down to my ass. “Do you need a demonstration?” He lowered his head to my neck and nipped the tender skin.

“That might be necessary.”

“Maybe later.”

“I’ll break you down, Collin Dailey.”

He turned serious. “You already did.” He kissed me again, a toe-curling kiss that left me lightheaded and dizzy. Then he got up and left me kneeling in the middle of the bed. “Maybe you’ll think next time before you try to besmirch my reputation.”

“Come back. I’ll apologize.” I lingered on the last word.

“No, first your surprise.”

“You really have one? I thought you were kidding.” Collin didn’t seem like the kind of man who gave surprises.

“I really have one.” He tossed some clothing toward me. “You’ll need to put this on.”

I picked it up and realized it was my bikini. “Do I want to know how you got this?”

“It was in your suitcase. Put it on.”

“We’re going to go lay out on the beach?”

“Later, if that’s what you want to do. My surprise first.”

I couldn’t imagine what surprise he could possibly have that involved a bikini. Collin didn’t seem like a frolicking-at-the-edge-of-the-ocean kind of guy either. But I got up and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and put it on. When I walked out, Collin was in his swim trunks. If my surprise included seeing a shirtless Collin all day, I could live with that.

I held out a bottle of sunscreen. “Can you help me? I take it that we’ll be outside?”

He took the bottle, and I turned around as he swept my loose braid over my shoulder. He kissed the back of my neck. “I liked your hair last night.”

“Thank you,” I murmured. This Collin was so foreign to me that he took some getting used to. When he finished, I put on the coverup Claire had packed. What had possessed her to think of my swimsuit? Probably wishful thinking.

Collin held the door open, holding several towels. “After you.”

Outside the door, we encountered a rude reminder of the curse: two dead blackbirds, four robins, and a cardinal. Collin turned back to me, his face expressionless. “Is this what you find every morning?”

I nodded. “You don’t?”

“No.” His voice was hard. He kept his eyes on the birds as he kicked them out of the pattern. He went back into the room and called the front desk, asking them to send someone to clean them up.

Would there be another sacrifice today? The messenger had said there would be a sacrifice every day I didn’t choose to side with Okeus. The guilt was overwhelming, but I knew if I pledged my loyalty to him, things would become so much worse. “Collin, something happened a couple of nights ago—”

He kissed me. “No. We’re not going to talk about that right now. The sun is out and you’re safe. We’re going to enjoy the morning and deal with everything else later.”

A new panic flooded my senses. “But the body in the botanical gardens yesterday, you said you thought it was a message to me.” I grabbed his arm, my nails digging into this skin. “What if they go after my father and my stepmother? I have to go back!”

His hand cupped my cheek as he gazed into my eyes with reassurance. “Relax, Ellie. I already thought of that. After I heard about the body, I realized your family might not be safe. I poured salt across the doorways to the bed and breakfast.”

My hold loosened. “How did you know about the bed and breakfast?”

His eyes wrinkled in confusion. “You told me you were helping keep your father’s bed and breakfast afloat. Your last name is Lancaster. It wasn’t hard to find out which place was his.”

“But why would you do that, Collin? What made you think to protect them?”

“Because I know they are important to you.” He kissed me gently. “I meant to tell you yesterday, but then the phone call from Marino’s guy threw me off.”

“Thank you.” Those two words seemed so inadequate to express how much what he’d done meant to me, but the look in his eyes told me that he knew.

With Collin, I really felt we could be okay. Collin knew how to handle the spirits and the gods, but I also brought power to the union. We were stronger together than our two separate selves. We were getting his bowl tonight. We’d close the gate in time.

The morning was beautiful. The sun shone bright and the waves crashed onto the shore. I leaned against the railing, and Collin put his arm around my back. “Is it calling to you now?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Then let’s answer it.”

We went down the stairs to the beach. I couldn’t help thinking about climbing those same stairs last night. I still couldn’t believe how quickly things had changed. Collin must have been thinking the same thing because he gave me a wicked smile on the second-floor landing.

At the bottom of the staircase, Collin stopped next to two surfboards propped against the motel. “I take it you’ve never surfed.”

My stomach tingled with excitement. “Are you serious?”

He grinned and handed me one of the boards. “So that’s no?”

“What are you doing? We can’t just take these.”

“Relax. A friend of mine dropped them off.”

I cocked my head. “Let me guess, you know a guy?”

He winked. “I always know a guy. I called him before you woke up.” He picked up a bag and his board and we walked to the water.

“Shouldn’t we be doing something more important?” I asked. “Like preparing for tonight? Or teaching me to defend myself?”

“Trust me.”

A girl could get whiplash with his trust me/trust me not flip-flopping. He’d proven that he cared about me and my well-being. I trusted him. My stomach twisted with both excitement and nerves. “I take it that you surf.”

“Any self-respecting boy growing up in Buxton surfed.” He dropped the towels on the sand. “Drop your board on the sand first.”

I did as he instructed and stripped off my coverup, tossing it on top of the towels.

Collin had that hungry look in his eyes again.

“I thought you were teaching me to surf.”

“I got distracted by the view.” He grinned. “First you need to learn how to stand on the board. Move to the center with your left foot forward.”

I placed both feet on the board. “Now what?”

“Now bend your knees, keeping them over your toes. Then squat slightly and hold your arms out from your body.”

I did as he instructed and winced. “Someone gave my inner thighs a workout last night.”

Collin moved closer, his voice husky. “You’re distracting me again.”

I shrugged sheepishly. “Sorry.”

His hand skimmed my bare waist. “No, you’re not.”

“You’re right.”

“Do you want to learn to surf or not?”

It was a tough decision. “I do. Now what?”

“Now we’re going to practice getting up on the board.”

He explained how to paddle into the waves and how to get to my feet once I was in a wave and ready to surf. After he showed me how to wax the board and we strapped the boards to our ankles, his face glowed with excitement. “I think you’re ready.”

We walked into the water and the first step in, I gasped and froze as the rush of power swept through me. Collin turned around.

When I caught my breath, I shook my head. “I’ve walked in the ocean before but never had this happen.”

“It’s because of the curse. Now that it’s broken, you need the power of the sea. You probably felt it before but at a much lower level so you didn’t recognize it.” He turned serious again. “Ananias Dare traveled to the new land by the ocean, so he represented the sea in the creation of the curse. Manteo needed forces more powerful than the gods in order to contain them. Ahone wasn’t enough help on his own. Whenever you feel weak, you’ll need to return to the sea to recharge. Not fresh water. It has to be the sea. That’s part of the reason we’re out here.”

“And the second part?”

He didn’t answer.

I’d never needed the sea before. Intrigued by and drawn to it, yes. Why would I need the power of the sea if the spirits were all contained when we closed the gate? “Collin, doesn’t closing the gate send all the spirits back?”

He paused. “Yes.”

“Then why do I need to know this?”

He took my hand in his. “There are no guarantees. I want to plan for a worst-case scenario, okay?”

The surge of power had stabilized so we walked deep enough into the water to slide onto the boards and paddle out to the waves. After we got far enough out, Collin taught me how to sit on the board and find the right wave.

I was really going to do this. While I was nervous, my nervousness was outweighed by excitement. “What if I fall off?”

“You probably will at first, but try to fall off the back.”

“Anything else?”

“Have fun.”

The first few attempts, I did fall off, but then I found my balance and rode out several small waves. Collin, of course, was not only good, but all kinds of sexy. When I wasn’t concentrating on staying on the board, I was watching him.

He caught me several times and grinned. I was sure I only added fuel to the massive Collin Dailey ego. He paddled next to me. “Let’s go out a bit farther. I want to try something.”

When we got out far enough to suit him, we both sat up, our boards parallel. “I want to touch our palms together out on the water. I’m curious to see if it does anything for you since we’re in the sea.”

“Do you think it will?”

“There’s only one way to find out.” He paused. “We sometimes lose ourselves when we do this. If I think you’re in trouble, I’m going to break the connection, and you do the same.”

My hands were jittery. “Okay.”

“Ready?”

I lifted my palm and held it forward. Collin stretched his hand and grasped mine, linking our fingers.

The jolt was stronger than before, but the sensation was the same. Awareness of every living thing flooded my senses. The pulse of their life force throbbed within me. Surrounded me. Saturated me. The fish around us. The plant life in the sea. The microbes not seen by the human eye. Raw power danced across my skin, soaking through my pores, permeating every cell in my body.

My consciousness exploded, racing backward, through time and space to the birth of everything. And it was familiar. I’d been there, not just now, but there to witness the miracle when it happened. A primeval memory buried deep in the structure of my DNA.

A massive explosion of gas and energy filled the void of nothingness, rushing through my head. Power, so much power, engulfed me and swallowed me whole, as I raced through the creation of time and space. Stars burst into life, violent explosions of light and wind, fire and ice. Reds and blues and greens. Bright balls and gaseous clouds. The cosmos ruptured into life, reaching out into the far corners of the universe, carrying me along with it.

My trajectory slowed, circling around another explosion of orange and yellow light, a dying star, swirling in vortex, spinning, spinning, spinning until a giant ball of yellow light filled the black void. The light blinded me and the energy seared my core as the new star imploded. The sun.

I slingshotted off, caught in the debris spewed out from the implosion. Particles of dust and rocks clumped together to form a molten mass, twirling on an axis, circling the star.

Earth was born.

Trillions and trillions of rocks carrying droplets of water bombarded the cooling mass. An outer crust covered the earth while the water released from the meteorites formed oceans. In steaming springs of boiling water, created from the union of land and water, an essence rose from the water and the Manitou was born.

Life.

And the birth of the gods.

Ahone, creator god, emerged from the dust of the land. He held his arms wide and called plant life into being. And when he saw the beauty before his eyes, he created animals of every kind. But still he wanted more. He put pieces of land and sea into a bag and shook them in it, creating man and woman. Humanity was his most prized creation, and he loved man and woman too much to set them free.

The four wind gods, angry and covetous beings, lacked the power to create, only able to destroy. They swirled around the earth becoming more and more angry at the beauty Ahone had made, but it wasn’t until they discovered men and women that they rebelled.

Jealousy burned hot and fierce in the winds, and they decided to punish the creator of all life. They chose Ahone’s greatest source of pride and threatened to destroy humanity if he refused to give up his power before the dawn of the seventh day.

Ahone loved his children and refused to kill them, yet he didn’t want to hand his power to the hateful wind gods. His tears fell and flooded the earth, wiping out half of his creation. The earth, sympathetic to Ahone’s pain, returned the tears to the air, creating clouds to foil the winds.

But still, Ahone did not turn over his power. On the eve of the seventh day, in his misery and despair, Ahone split himself in two, giving the majority of his power to his twin, Okeus.

While Ahone kept empathy and compassion, Okeus only knew greed and anger, receiving the ugly parts of Ahone.

The wind gods railed at Ahone’s trickery, but were forced to concede. They swore they would leave humanity unharmed unless man performed a transgression worthy of retaliation. So Ahone shook out his bag and placed man and woman of all races in all four corners of the earth.

Jealous of his brother’s creation of man and woman, Okeus made creations of his own. But Okeus lacked the love and compassion that filled Ahone, and Okeus’s creations were abominations. He set them far and wide upon the earth to hunt and stalk man.

Ahone and Okeus sculpted the shells of their creations, but the land and sea’s gift of Manitou gave them life.

The gods, spirits, man, and Okeus’s creations reached a balance, coexisting for thousands and thousands of years until the white man invaded the land of Ahone’s people, throwing unbalance back into the world.

Manteo, son of the Croatan chief and friend to Ananias Dare and his people, called upon the parents of the gods—land and sea—to contain their power and spare humanity in his desperate attempt to calm the chaos. Ahone stepped forward to add his now weakened power of creation. A gate was formed at the threshold of Popogusso, and the gods and spirits were sucked from the earth and locked away, where they cursed man and especially the Curse Keepers. All the gods except for Ahone, who watched for centuries, while the Curse Keepers waited for the seam dividing the realms to unravel.

The wind gods remembered their vow to Ahone and spent over four hundred years plotting their revenge.

Finally, two Keepers met and the gate was opened, but only by a crack, and two spirits and a god escaped. Aposo and Kanim, messengers for Ahone and Okeus, and Wapi, the wind god of the north.

The three other wind gods remained locked behind the gate, their anger and hate oozing through the crack in the gate to Popogusso, along with a host of Okeus’s abominations.

They seethed, waiting for the gate to open the rest of the way.

They sensed my presence outside their gate, the threshold to both worlds. They cursed me with multiple tongues and multiple languages, reaching arms and legs, tentacles and tails through the crack in their desperate attempts to reach me.

“We are coming for you, Curse Keeper, daughter of the sea, witness to creation. In the dead of night, we will be watching and waiting. We will come for you, and we will make you suffer in retribution for the misery your people caused. You will curse the day you were created a thousand times over.” Hundreds of tongues echoed the chant, my title on their tongues. “Curse Keeper, daughter of the sea, witness to creation, we are coming for you.”

I was ripped back to my world, still choking on their hatred and gasping for air in a vacuum of nothingness. But I clung to my lifeline—my palm melded to Collin’s.

“Ellie!” he shouted my name, terror in his voice, as a wave crashed over my head, dragging me down and severing my hold.

I was underwater, the current around me a mass of chaos, but there was no panic.

I was the daughter of the sea.

My palmed burned, and not from my connection to Collin. Wapi, the wind god of the north, was here, churning the water with his gusts. The fish in the water tried to escape, but the current created by the wind pulled them closer to me.

My connection with Collin had been broken, but I could feel the wind god stealing the life from the fish around me. They swam against the current, frenzied, and then went still. The temperature of the water dropped and sent a chill to my bones. The fish were being frozen like the tourist the day before.

The wind god was toying with me, sucking their Manitou as he spun around me and moving in tighter and tighter in a spiral.

During my first encounter with the wind god, I had been terrified. I was still scared, but I told myself I had knowledge and power this time. I had to trust the Curse Keeper magic. Suddenly, instinct, buried millions of years, burst free.

My head broke the surface, and my burning lungs sucked in a deep breath before the wind god’s tentacles pulled me down again. I had the power to send him away. I only had to stay above water long enough to do what I needed to do.

My eyes burned from the salt water as the waves sent me head over heels and I slammed into a wall of dead fish. Panicking, I fought the urge to scream—a scream would be disastrous under water, especially when I didn’t even know which way was up. Collin had marked me so the wind god couldn’t steal my Manitou, or at least I hoped. That theory hadn’t been proven yet.

Something tugged on my ankle, and I remembered the surfboard strapped to my leg. Reaching for the strap, I pulled myself toward it, my lungs aching for air.

My head bobbed above water. I grabbed the board and lunged over the edge, coughing and gasping. Collin was over fifty yards away, frantically swimming toward me. Another wave rushed toward me, but I was the daughter of the sea. The water gave me power.

“You have discovered your true self,” the wind god hissed.

I spun my head around, trying to find him. How could I fight him if I couldn’t see him? “I know the gate is only partially open, and your brothers are trapped inside.”

The god laughed, a high-pitched sound that pierced my ears. “So you know when the gates are opened, they are coming for you.”

Terror crawled along my spine. How could I face hundreds of spirits who were out to get me? But I didn’t have to face them, not if we sealed the gate. I only had to face this one. “Then why are you trying to kill me now?”

“Stupid human, I’m not here to kill you now. I need you. We seek our revenge and it’s much too early for that.”

“Then why are you here?”

Collin was twenty yards away, desperation and fatigue straining his face.

The wind god created a vortex of air, circling around me, blocking out everything in sight.

“Then why are you here?”

“To make you fear me.” Cold tentacles wrapped around my arms, icy cold seeping into my body. I shivered violently.

The vortex closed tighter, lifting the board—and me along with it—a foot into the air.

I held up my palm, the nerve endings at the edges of the mark burning with power. “I am the daughter of the sea, born of the essence present at the beginning of time and the end of the world. I am black water and crystal streams. The ocean waves and the raindrops in the sky. I am life and death and everything in between. I compel you to leave my sight.”

The vortex disappeared, as did the wind god. I collapsed on the board, my heart pounding furiously against my chest.

Collin reached me within seconds, his eyes wild with fear. “What did you do?” He leaned over the opposite side of the board, grabbing my arms as though if he let go, I’d get attacked again. His eyes widened in shock when he felt how cold they were. “Ellie, what happened?”

“I sent it away.”

“How?”

“I remembered.”

“Remembered what?”

“Everything.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Collin stiffened, his face tight. “What does that mean?”

I searched his eyes, hesitating. “I remembered the words of protection. I sent the wind god away.”

“What else?”

No, I wasn’t imagining it. He was worried about what I’d discovered. “I remembered the birth of creation. I was there.”

His mouth dropped and awe replaced his anxiety. “The memory of a pure soul.” His hand reached for my face, and he pulled my lips to his. “You scared the shit out of me. Don’t ever do that again.”

“What happened?”

“You completely zoned out, and I couldn’t pull our hands apart. It was as though they were magically sealed.”

“After my vision ended, I was aware that I was still melded to you. Then my hand broke free. When did the wind god show up?”

“Right before you broke free.”

This was the second time I’d encountered him. Two of the three times Collin and I had pressed our palms together, the wind god showed up. The third time, we’d been behind Collin’s protective symbols in my apartment. “He was here for me. He told me that he was.”

Collin’s face paled. “What did he say?”

I shivered. “That he wanted to make me fear him.”

Fear filled Collin’s eyes as he turned from side to side to see the dead fish floating on the surface of the water. “Did he try to take your Manitou this time?”

“I felt a tendril curl around me, but he told me he wasn’t going to kill me. That he needed me.”

Collin took a deep breath. “He’s grown in strength. He’s out in the daylight. You’re not safe anymore.”

Did Collin know that the gate was only partially open? And why was I always the target? “Why doesn’t he come after you?”

“What are you talking about, Ellie? We were together. Both times.”

“Exactly. We were together both times. The first time he only attacked me. This time he said he specifically came for me.”

“It’s because of your pure soul, I told you that last night.”

“Why did you wait to tell me that I had a pure soul? Why didn’t you tell me when you found out?”

He gave me a grim smile. “This isn’t something I want to discuss hanging off a surfboard in the ocean while we wait for gods or spirits to return to finish you off. Let’s go back to our room and change and get something to eat.”

“Why are you evading my question?”

Collin’s eyes hardened. “What part of trying to get you to safety constitutes evading your question?”

“You could have answered it already, Collin.”

“Fine. I didn’t tell you because I figured we’d close the gate, and you’d never need to know. Happy now?”

He was lying. Everyone else in the world would have believed him, but the slight twitch of his left eyelid told me he wasn’t telling me the truth.

I nodded, but I was far from happy. Collin was still hiding things from me. In fairness, there were things I still hadn’t told him. But there came a point when it was difficult to say, Oh by the way, I forgot to mention I saw the gates of hell in a vision.

“Let’s just go back, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know. We were lucky this time. I don’t want to take any chances.”

He was right, and I was too suspicious. Collin had done everything within his resources to help me and protect me, even before when I had annoyed the hell out of him. How could I expect less of him now? Especially now.

Collin had unstrapped his surfboard to reach me faster, so he retrieved it and we made our way to the beach. He handed me a towel and watched me dry off, but our earlier playfulness was gone. Collin was on edge.

We left the surfboards where we found them and went back to our room. I stood by the bathroom door and watched Collin lean his arm against the wall, staring out the window with an anxious look.

“I’m going to take a shower.”

He looked up in surprise, almost as though he were so deep in thought he’d forgotten that I was there. Worry etched lines across his forehead, drawing down his mouth.

I moved to him, pressing my chest to his, and stroked the side of his face. “Don’t worry. We’ll get the bowl tonight, and then we’ll close the gate. We’ll be okay.” I stood on tiptoes and drew his bottom lip between my own.

He released a deep sound in his chest and brought me closer, his tongue plunging into my mouth.

My tongue joined his as my heart pounded, lust coursing through my blood. His hands cradled my head, tilting it back to give him better access for his demanding exploration.

How could this man have this effect on me? I’d only known him a few days, but I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anyone in my entire life. My hands dug into his back, pulling him closer. I needed him closer.

He kissed me—wild and desperate as though if he’d let go, he’d lose me. One of his hands dropped from my face and found the string to my bikini top at the base of my neck, then the one below. Collin backed up to the bed, pulling me with him, his mouth still possessing mine. He stripped off his swim trunks and my bikini bottom. He spun us around and pushed me down on the bed, his body over mine in seconds.

He was between my legs when he stopped, breathless, staring at me with such intensity it was amazing I could still think straight.

I reached my hand to his face, my thumb running along his stubble. “We’ll be okay.”

His eyes glassed over. “Are you an angel or an enchantress, Ellie?” His voice broke and he leaned his forehead against mine.

What did he need from me that I wasn’t giving? I remembered the first time he’d asked. Was I a witch who enchanted him or an angel sent to save his soul? Collin had been involved in a whole host of unscrupulous activities, most of which I hoped to never know, but that man contradicted the man I knew. Why? Was this the real Collin, the man he refused to show the world? He’d been forced to take care of his mother and brother since he was ten years old. Who was I to judge him for what he’d done to make ends meet? But the deeds he’d done were burned deep within his soul. Maybe he thought things could be different with me. Or maybe I was fooling myself and he’d be gone in two days. He’d break my heart one way or the other, but I’d known that going in. At this moment, he desperately needed something and I was the one he wanted to give it to him. “I’m an angel, Collin,” I whispered. “I’m an angel.”

His mouth found mine as he entered me, both possessive and demanding. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I struggled to keep up, but Collin slowed, smoothing back my hair. “I’m sorry.”

I kissed him and began to move. “It’s okay.”

Collin lifted his head, his eyes burning bright. “Ellie, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I can’t lose you.”

His words shocked me and made me want him more. This man, who never committed to anyone or anything, claimed to want me.

“I’m not going anywhere.” It was my turn to kiss him with possessiveness. Could I hope for this to last more than a few days? I refused to let my mind dwell on it as my body responded to Collin’s touch.

My response rekindled his desire. We made love in a frenzy of need and fear. Collin cried out my name, his arms around my back, pulling me as humanly close as possible, and yet it didn’t seem to be enough.

I grabbed his hand, pressing our palms together.

The now-familiar jolt rushed through my body, every nerve ending alive. I gasped at the sensation. While I was still aware of the Manitou of the living creatures around us, this experience was more centrally focused.

Collin stilled, his mouth opening in surprise.

I laced our fingers, holding tight, and slowly lifted my hips to his.

Euphoria replaced his anxiety as he began to rock against me, more controlled and purposeful. He pressed my hand to the mattress, over my head.

I felt his beating heart, and the blood rushing through his veins, the surge of hormones. The smell of him intensified, sweat and musk and sex filling my nose. I felt his desire as though it were a force of its own. Emotions, thick and heavy, settled over my body. Collin might have other secrets but he couldn’t hide this. Part of his soul was laid bare for me to examine. I’d never wanted anyone as much as I wanted Collin Dailey, but he felt the same way about me. His fear was real. He was terrified he’d lose me.

His breathing slowed, and he rolled us so that I was on top again. I pressed our joined hands to the bed, leaning over to kiss him, needing him to fill every part of me as I began to slide against him, every movement intensified. Every nerve ending tingled.

He sat up and moved to the edge of the bed, and I straddled him like the night before, our two joined hands resting against his chest, his other arm wrapped tight around my back. His mouth lowered to my breast, and I arched back to give him better access as my hips began a new rhythm, gasping for breath as my body ached for more.

The son of the land and the daughter of the sea.

Collin’s head lifted, and his mouth found mine as we joined our bodies and our souls with forces older than the gods themselves. I had no idea of the consequences when I joined our marks together, but the rightness of this suffused every part of me, and my connection to Collin told me he wanted it too. We performed our own ancient ceremony, both aware of the reverence.

I lifted my free hand to the back of his neck, staring into Collin’s eyes. Naked desire laid bare. We couldn’t hide our feelings. Not with this. We were two halves to a whole. Water, the mother of creation. Land, the father who supported it. We were forever joined, our souls tethered. In this moment, the truth came to life: Whether the gate closed or not, I would never be whole without this man by my side.

My passion climbed to dizzying heights, and urgency took over, Collin’s pace matching my own. My lips sought his, our tongues joining the dance. I pressed my palm closer to Collin’s as I pushed hard onto his thighs, needing more. And as I teetered on the edge, I truly became one with Collin, losing track of where I ended and he began. A fusion of flesh and soul.

When I fell, nerve endings exploded as wave after wave of ecstasy overtook me.

“Ellie!” Collin’s hand dug into my back, and he followed behind me.

I rested my forehead against Collin’s as I fought to catch my breath, our hands still linked. I unfurled my fingers, but Collin held tight, holding my hand to his chest.

“Not yet.” His husky voice whispered in my ear.

I kissed him lightly. “Am I an angel or an enchantress, Collin?”

His free hand rested on the side of my neck. “Angel. I hope to God you’re an angel.” He kissed me, then slid his hand from mine. “Ellie, do you know what you did?” Fear colored his eyes again.

I nodded. I’d burned our souls together for eternity. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

He shook his head. “No. Don’t be sorry. Not now. Not for this.”

“I didn’t realize . . . it wasn’t until—”

His mouth stilled mine. “I didn’t know it would happen either until it was too late. It’s okay.”

I smiled, thankful he wasn’t angry.

Collin lay down and pulled me with him, our bodies curling together. I rested my head on his chest and dozed off, his arm around my back in possession and comfort. My entire life I’d been searching for my purpose and here it was in my arms. Collin and being a Curse Keeper.

“Collin, why did you come to the restaurant that day?”

He released a chuckle. “I was hungry.”

“Very funny. You live in Wanchese, right?” I looked up into his face, and he nodded. “So why were you in Manteo?”

“I heard the New Moon had a great beer selection.” The words were smooth and believable. So why did his eyelid twitch?

“Did you know who I was when you came in?”

He grinned. “If I remember correctly, and I admit my memory might have been addled from the air vacuum, but I found out your name from your name tag.” He paused. “And it was on a very lovely chest.”

I propped up on an elbow. “Collin, I’m serious.”

His smile fell. “Ellie, how would I know who you were?”

I shrugged. Although I knew the likelihood was nearly impossible, I couldn’t help but wonder.

“My turn.” He propped up on his side so that we were face-to-face. “Why didn’t you tell me that you lost all your memories of the curse after your mother died?”

“I did. Yesterday. In the truck.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why did you let me accuse you of being irresponsible?”

“It didn’t seem important why I’d lost my memories. I just had.”

“But I thought you’d purposely been irresponsible, when in fact, you had no control over it.”

“But I did have control over relearning what I needed to know. I purposely chose not to learn it again. That was irresponsible.”

His mouth pursed, and I knew he disagreed, but he didn’t press the issue. “Okay, your turn. What else do you want to know?”

“Why didn’t you tell me I had a pure soul?”

He sighed and rolled on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He raised the arm he had around my waist over his head. He was pulling away from me. “It was in the warehouse when we joined hands, and I was intent on getting the map, Ellie. I still didn’t trust you. I thought you’d blatantly disregarded everything to do with the curse while I was the one who made sure to memorize every detail, make every preparation.” His arm lowered and his eyes found mine. “I was the worthy one, yet you were the one who received the gift. I guess I thought you didn’t deserve to know.”

I was sure that was the most honest answer Collin had ever given me. Perhaps given anyone.

“And then the god attacked you, and when I realized what he had done, I knew others would come after you. Of course they’d come after you, but now they’d be more zealous. You were a rare prize. I had to make sure you were protected. It was my responsibility. As a Curse Keeper.”

“What happened in my apartment didn’t feel like responsibility.”

He pulled my mouth to his, kissing me long and slow. “It wasn’t. I can assure you of that. By then I’d figured out why you’d forgotten. And after everything that day . . . ” He kissed me again. “I wanted you more than I’d ever wanted anyone in my life. But you deserved better. You still do.”

“Isn’t that for me to decide, Collin?”

Fear and pain filled his eyes. “Ellie, you don’t know what I’ve done.”

“Shhh.” I leaned over him, my hair brushing his chest. “Your past? I don’t want to know. Let’s start over.”

“How many times can we start over?” He was throwing my words from that day back at me.

“Does it matter? As many times as it takes.”

“We’re bound together, Ellie. I’m sorry.” His voice broke. Did he regret what had happened minutes ago? He’d just told me that he didn’t, and our connection told me that wasn’t a lie. He tilted my head back, searching my eyes. “One day you’ll hate me, and you’ll curse these past few moments. When that day comes, just know that I wish I could do it all over again. From the beginning.”

What was he not telling me? I knew his past was ugly. Our encounter with Marino was all the proof I needed. Part of me knew I should ask, but I didn’t want to lose this moment with him.

I gave him a soft smile. “Your turn. What else do you want to know?”

He shook his head. “I know everything I need to know.”

I licked his bottom lip. “Too bad. I was going to tell you that I had almost decided you were a better lover than Colin Firth.”

He laughed. “Oh really? What about your research?”

“I’ll need to do continuous research with you to make sure you maintain your standards, but you’re safe for the next few hours.”

His eyebrows lifted playfully. “Only the next few hours?”

“Not to worry. I’m sure you’ll prove your prowess all over again.”

Collin rolled me over onto my back. “I caught that dig at my skills. You’ll pay for that Ellie Lancaster.”

I smiled. I was counting on it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Collin was worried I’d get attacked again, and he refused to leave the room until he thought I was prepared. He ordered a pizza while I took a shower and we ate, sitting cross-legged on the bed while we discussed strategy.

“I think you should get the symbol on your back permanently tattooed. Today.”

My mouth dropped open. “You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

“Why would I do that? We’re going to close the gate. Isn’t that being pessimistic?”

“It’s called preparing for the worst-case scenario, Ellie. I told you that already.”

I leaned over and gave him a kiss. “What about hope?”

His serious eyes studied mine. “Sometimes hope is not enough.”

Collin was really spooked, and that made me nervous. He was the one who knew how to perform this ceremony. I sat up. “What aren’t you telling me, Collin?”

“I’m telling you that even with the best preparations, we may not be able to close the gate. Manteo was sure he had the ceremony right the first time and look what happened. There’s no guarantee this will work. You need to be prepared for that.”

“Don’t you mean we need to be prepared for that?”

“Of course, we. But you’re the pure soul.”

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”

He climbed off the bed and dragged his hand over his head, refusing to look at me.

Fear burrowed in the pit of my stomach. “Collin, you’re scaring me more by keeping whatever it is from me. I need to know.”

His mouth contorted as he wrestled with what to say. Finally, he sighed and sat on the bed. “I think I’ve forgotten part of the words for the ceremony. It’s been nagging at me for several days. I thought the words would come back, but they’re not.”

My eyes widened. “What does that mean? That the ceremony won’t work?”

“No, I think we’ll be fine. I changed the cleansing ceremony when I marked you. Before it was much more about preparing the Keeper’s Manitou, but yours is pure so I focused more on infusing it with power. And the protection mark works. The wind god didn’t try to take your Manitou this morning.”

“Because he didn’t want to kill me. He very well could have killed me for all we know.”

He shook his head, worry puckering his mouth. “Maybe. All I know is that I’ve never been more scared in my life.”

He was opening up, so I decided I needed to as well. “What if I told you that the door to hell wasn’t all the way open?”

He turned rigid. “What are you talking about?”

“I saw it. When you and I were together on the ocean. I saw the gate to the spirit world. Only three beings escaped—messengers for Ahone and Okeus, and the wind god. The rest are still behind the gate. Waiting. If we don’t close the gate before the seventh day, they’ll all go free.”

Collin’s face paled, and he looked terrified. “Only three? We always assumed the gate would open entirely, and we’d have a week.”

“There are hundreds more waiting to come out. We have to close that gate, Collin.”

He nodded, looking like he was about to throw up.

Should I tell him the spirits and gods threatened me? He was already freaked out and worried about my safety. Besides, he already knew they’d want me specifically. Telling him about the threats seemed like overkill.

“Did you see anything else?”

“I saw the birth of the gods. I saw Ahone cry a flood when the wind gods threatened to kill humanity. I saw Ahone split himself in two to create his twin, Okeus. I saw Okeus create his own children—demons. And then I saw the gate.” I wrapped my fingers around Collin’s hand. “We have to close the gate. I refuse to consider the alternative.”

“Do you realize what an incredible gift you were given?” he asked in awe.

I nodded. More than he knew.

He took a deep breath. “Only three beings? You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not safe.”

“Enough of that. Teach me how to get through the next two days.”

He swallowed and nodded his head. “You know the words to protect yourself? You said you remembered?”

“They came to me the other night, after you marked me with the henna tattoo. In the middle of the night, Kanim, the messenger for Okeus, came to see me. For a second time.”

“Second time?” His eyes hardened.

I shook my head. “The first night was after we’d gone to Rodanthe and you told me not to trust you, which wasn’t hard. I didn’t trust you. The messengers for Ahone and Okeus both visited me that night. In fact, Okeus’s messenger was the one who broke my window.”

“Why would you keep that from me?”

“I didn’t trust you. You were hiding things from me. Okeus’s messenger told me that I needed to side with him.”

“And Ahone’s?”

“Ahone’s messenger told me that I needed to make sure the gate was closed. That he’d sacrificed to save humanity before and he’d do it again.”

“And the second time? Did Ahone’s messenger come?”

“No, just Okeus’s. He told me that there would be a sacrifice made for every night I refused to accept his offer.” My chest constricted. “Do you know if there was a sacrifice made last night?”

“I don’t know Ellie. Maybe the hundreds of dead fish today were enough.”

We both knew that wasn’t true. I stood up and grabbed my purse, digging through it.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking on my family.”

I called Claire. I was pretty sure Collin hadn’t protected her.

“Hey, Ellie. Are you still out of town?”

My eyes sank closed with relief. “Yeah.”

“And how’s it going?” Something in her voice was off.

“Great, but I need to check on something.” I paused for a second. “I heard there was a man found dead in the botanical gardens yesterday, by the statue of Queen Elizabeth. Do you know if there was anything like that today?”

“Yeah . . . ” Something was wrong.

Fear washed through me, and I sank to the bed. “Is it my dad or Myra?”

Collin’s hand gripped my shoulders from behind me.

“No. No. They’re fine.” She tried to sound reassuring, but she was holding something back.

“Then who, Claire? Just tell me.”

“It was Lila. They found her in front of the restaurant this morning.”

“Lila?” My voice cracked.

“I’m sorry.”

The first guy was some random guy, but Lila was someone I knew. We weren’t exactly friends, but her death upset me, especially if she were dead because of me.

“There’s . . . one more thing.” The way she drew out the words told me it was as bad as Lila, if not worse.

“What?”

“The guy they found in the gardens was Dwight.”

“Dwight?”

These people were sacrifices made because I wouldn’t side with Okeus. Collin was right. Their deaths were a message. There were two nights left. Who was next? A good friend and then family?

Oh, God.

I swung around to face Collin.

He reached for me as his forehead wrinkled with concern. His fingertips lightly stroked my arm. Collin is worried.

I jumped off the bed. “Claire, you’re not safe!”

“What are you talking about?” But there was fear in her voice.

“They’re coming for you next.” I pinned my gaze on Collin. “We have to go back.”

His face tightened. “No. We need the bowl first.”

Tears filled my eyes. “They’re going to go after Claire next, Collin. I know it.”

He pulled the phone out of my hand. “Claire, listen to me. I need you to get sea salt and pour it across every opening to your house—doors, windows, chimneys. Everything.” He paused. “No. You can’t tell Drew what’s going on. Just tell him that something on your ghost tour spooked you.” He was silent and relief covered his face. “Good, now I need you to do something else. Can you go to Ellie’s parent’s and do the same thing there? Ellie’s right. I think they’ll target you next. But the salt will keep them out. Even so, stay inside as much as possible. Especially at night. Call Ellie back if you have any questions.” Collin handed the phone back to me.

I pressed the phone to my face. “Claire, I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing? This is not your fault.”

But it was and I didn’t know how to stop it. “Thanks for taking care of Dad and Myra.”

“Not to worry. I’m working there for you this afternoon. I’ll take care of it then.”

“Thanks, Claire. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Collin pulled me into a tight embrace. “They’ll be fine, Ellie. We’ll get the bowl and head back tonight.”

“Salt? Will it work? Why not use salt for my place then? Why mark the doorway and windowsills with symbols?”

“I promise it will work, and the marks are because you’re different. The marks are insurance.”

“We could tell Claire how to mark the doors.”

“It wouldn’t work, Ellie. Our Curse Keeper magic makes the symbols work.”

“I suppose my words of protection only work for me too.”

“Yes, just like mine only work for me. What are your words?”

“I am the daughter of the sea, born of the essence present at the beginning of time and the end of the world. I am black water and crystal streams. The ocean waves and the raindrops in the sky. I am life and death and everything in between. I compel you to leave my sight.” I shrugged, self-conscious. I felt like I was back in high school English class reciting Shakespeare. “When I say them to a god, I hear the words in English in my head, but the sounds coming out of my mouth are definitely not.”

“You’re probably saying them in the ancient language. Legend has it the ancient language was created by the gods. Your words are a lot like mine, which is what I expected.”

“What are yours?” The bits and pieces I’d heard him use in the warehouse were in the ancient language.

“I am the son of the earth, born of space and heaven. I am black earth and sandy loams. The mountain ranges and the rolling hills. I am the foundation of life and the receiver of death and everything in between. I compel you to leave my sight.”

“So that will send a god away, but not lock it away?”

“Right.”

“But you said we could send lesser spirits back on our own.”

“That requires more than words. You need symbols too. The symbols themselves are meaningless unless you ask the force or spirit to help. To protect you from the gods, I used forces greater than them, as well as my Keeper power. The lesser spirits are tricky if we are on our own. We need to find their weakness, and we might need to hang around the spirit awhile to figure it out. We can send it away with our words of protection, but not permanently.”

“And demons?”

“They’re like gods. Some mimic man, others animals. The problem is that they can masquerade as another creature and you might not know it.”

“Great.”

His hand covered mine. “Ellie, just remember that these beings spent thousands and thousands of years roaming the earth before our ancestors banished them. If the gate stays open, I think they can coexist with the rest of creation.”

I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “You’re kidding, right? They eat people and animals.”

“It’s just like The Lion King, the circle of life. No one faults the lion for hunting prey. They are simply existing.”

“They fault the lions when the lions are hunting people.”

He leaned his head back and groaned.

“Fine,” I said. “Let’s say the gods and spirits are released and let loose and they learn to coexist in a magical, ideal circle of life. You’re forgetting one key piece here, Collin. Me. They want me.”

He slowly shook his head. “No. I haven’t forgotten you.”

I patted his leg. “So we focus on getting the bowl, then closing the gate tomorrow night.”

Collin turned his head toward the window and nodded. Why did that upset him?

I started to ask when Collin’s cell vibrated on the dresser.

He looked up, startled out of his musings, and reached for it. I realized the entire time I’d been with Collin I’d only known his phone to ring once.

“Yeah,” he answered. Whatever he heard on the other end hardened his eyes. He disconnected the call, then opened the door and peered out. “Fuck.”

“What?”

“Marino’s men. Shit.” He took two deep breaths.

“Where are they?”

“Here. The only exit is the staircase and they’re in the parking lot.” His jaw tightened. “Ellie, we can’t get out, and they’re coming up.”

My chest constricted. “What are we going to do?”

“They’re looking for you. We only have to keep them from finding you.”

“How are we going to do that?”

The skin around his mouth blanched. Squaring his shoulders, he picked up the motel phone. “Hey, Tammy, this is Mr. Pressley. Did two men come to the front desk looking for me?”

Tammy. The front desk clerk who threw herself at Collin while I was standing there.

Collin lowered his voice to a husky drawl. “I’m needing some fresh towels. I wondered if you could bring some up right away.” He paused again. “I know you’re covering the desk, sweetheart. But it can’t wait. I needed those towels up here like five minutes ago.” His voice was heavy with innuendo.

My mouth dropped open.

“Go out the back. And hurry, sugar.” Collin hung up the phone and bent down, lifting up the bed skirt.

“What the hell was that?”

He dropped the fabric, cursing. “Marino’s boys know I have a woman up here, but they haven’t been inside the lobby. My friend came back to pick up the surfboards and saw them. He’s stalling them as long as he can. When they get up here, if I have Tammy here instead of you, they’ll leave.”

It was brilliant and disgusting all at the same time. “What exactly do you plan on doing with Tammy?”

“Whatever it takes for them to think you’re not here.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Ellie. I need you to cooperate.” He opened the door to the closet, and a low sound of frustration rumbled in his throat “This is so fucking obvious, and the second place they’ll look. I’m going to have to make my performance stellar so they don’t search at all.”

“Where’s the first place they’ll look?”

“The shower.” He grabbed my arm and shoved me inside.

I glanced around the room. Evidence of what Collin and I had been doing for the last twenty-four hours was everywhere. My chest tightened. “What will they do if they find me?”

Fear flashed in his eyes before they hardened again.

I heard a knock on the door, and I seized his arm, terror clawing at the back of my head. “Collin.”

He pressed his lips to mine for a quick kiss. “I’m not going to let them find you, Ellie. Trust me.” He turned to the door and then back at me. “Whatever you hear out here . . . ” He swallowed and looked nervous. “Just keep in mind that I’ll do whatever the hell I have to do to protect you.”

I nodded as he shut the door.

A few seconds later, Collin’s voice floated through the shuttered slats of the closet door. “Hello, sweetheart.” His voice was low and sexy. “I thought you’d never get here.”

“Where’s the girl you were with?” The receptionist’s voice was pouty.

“Who knows? She knew I was interested in you, and she had a hissy fit and left. And now it’s just you and me.” I could see their feet through the slanted cracks, hers tripping toward Collin as though he’d pulled her to him.

“What about the towels?”

“Sweetheart, I don’t give a fuck about the towels. It’s you I want.”

“Why’s her stuff still here?”

“I bought it all for her and she left it behind. Why are we wasting time talking about her?”

I strained to hear what they were doing. About thirty seconds later, I realized the sounds I heard were Collin making out with the receptionist. I swallowed my disgust and my nausea, reminding myself that he was doing it to protect me.

“You feel good.” Collin mumbled.

A few articles of clothing fell to the floor, and I squeezed my eyes shut. He is doing this for you. I’d been with him enough to know that this was his con voice. It still didn’t help when I heard the sound of the mattress dipping as they dropped onto the bed.

Several seconds later, I heard pounding on the door. “Dailey! We know you’re in there!”

“Who’s that?” Tammy asked.

“My bookie.” Collin grumbled, then yelled, “Keep your pants on while I find mine.”

He took off his pants?

“Open up this fucking door or we’ll knock it down.”

The door creaked open and Collin asked, “What do you want? As you can see, I’m busy.”

“Where’s the girl?”

“Uh, open your fucking eyes.” Collin’s smartass tone was clipped. “She’s mostly naked on the bed.”

My stomach rolled. He’d gotten her mostly naked.

“Not that girl. Ellie.”

“Who’s Ellie?” the receptionist asked.

I forced my breathing to slow down. I’d be damned if they found me in the closet because I was hyperventilating.

“Ellie . . . Ellie . . . ” Collin drawled, then laughed. “I think she was two women ago. Or was it three?”

“How many women do you sleep around with?” Tammy screeched.

“When was the last time you saw her?” Marino’s guy asked.

“Which one?” Collin asked.

“Ellie, smartass.”

“It’s hard to remember. After I helped her sell her candlesticks, I dropped her off back in Greenville.”

“What the hell was she doing in Buxton if she’s from Greenville?”

“Boys . . . ” Collin’s voice took on his sexy tone. “I don’t know why women do what they do. I’m only glad they do it.”

“What’s her last name?”

“I rarely ask. It gets too complicated.”

“Let’s hope, for your sake, you asked this time.”

Collin sighed long and heavy. “Let me think. I’m pretty sure it was Mitchell. Ellie Mitchell.”

“And she lives in Greenville?”

“Hell if I know. That’s where we hooked up, and that’s where I dropped her off. At a dive motel off of Highway 43.”

“What were you doing in Greenville? It’s a little out of your usual range.”

“I heard there was a poker game I didn’t want to miss.”

“You get around, Dailey,” the man grumbled.

“You have no idea. Now if you don’t mind, boys . . . I was in the middle of something.”

“Marino’s not done with you yet.”

“He never is.”

The door shut and Collin sighed. A few seconds later, his hardened voice asked, “Where were we, Trixie?”

He’s going to finish what he started?

“It’s Tammy.” Tammy sounded irritated.

“Trixie. Tammy.” Collin sounded bored. “What’s the difference?”

“What’s the difference?”

“You’re here to fuck me, right? You’re not here to hear me say your name.”

“Are you serious?” she screeched.

“What?”

The bed groaned. “I’m out of here.”

“I don’t get it. What’s the problem?”

She cursed, and I heard a thump on the floor. “If I get fired for this, I’m coming back up to beat the shit out of you.”

“Take a number, sweetheart.”

The door slammed, but I stayed in the closet, unable to go out and face the room. To see the bed where I’d experienced the most intimate moments of my life, cheapened by Collin laying on it with that girl. While I was in the closet listening.

But that wasn’t fair. Collin hadn’t enjoyed a minute of it. I’d heard it in his voice. Nevertheless, I still wanted to vomit.

I opened the door and a shirtless Collin sat on the bed, his elbows on his thighs, his face buried in his hands. At least he’d had his pants on. He looked up, fear in his eyes, waiting.

We stared at each other for several seconds, until my eyes drifted to the head of the bed. She’d laid there. With Collin.

He must have seen the horror on my face, because he jumped off the mattress and reached for me.

I held my hand up and turned away. “Don’t.”

“Ellie, please don’t do this. I did it to save you.”

My chin trembled. I will not cry. I will not cry. I believed with all my heart that he did it to save me, yet I still couldn’t make the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach go away. I took a deep breath. “I know. I believe you.” I looked into his eyes. “I just need a minute, okay?”

He nodded, looking defeated. I hated that I was doing this to him. He’d tried to set up the scene so Marino’s men wouldn’t search the room, and it had worked perfectly. But I couldn’t get the mental image of him kissing someone else out of my head. Or taking off her clothes. And instead of thanking him, I was hurting him. “Collin, I’m sorry. I know you did it for me, but I just . . . ” My voice broke, and the tears I’d held back broke loose in a sob.

“Ellie, I’m sorry.” He wrapped his arms around my back, and I buried my face in his chest. “This is all my fault.”

“I can’t do this, Collin. I can’t be this person, fighting for my life.” I pulled back and searched his face. “This isn’t me. I’m a waitress from Manteo whose idea of an exciting night is sneaking onto the Nags Head sand dunes after the Jockey’s Ridge State Park closes.”

“I know.”

“In the past few days my life has been in danger countless times. I’ve been attacked by supernatural beings and chased by some goon who has a grudge against you.” I smacked his chest with my hand. “I told you I wanted to go to Kill Devil Hills! I wanted to go see Oscar.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“But this. This.” I pointed to the bed. “I know I should be grateful. Thankful.” I hiccuped a sob. “I’m so mad at me right now.”

“You? Ellie, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I knew exactly who you were going into this. I knew you wouldn’t stick around. I knew you’d replace me with some other woman, but I’d hoped to God you would wait until after you left me. I’d convinced myself I could live with a short-term thing. But that was a lie. I knew you’d break my heart.”

“Ellie.” His voice sounded strangled.

“But I thought that I could survive the grief. I knew I’d found what I’d been looking for with every fucking man that’s walked in and out of my life. Goddamn my luck for finding it with a guy who wouldn’t stick around. But I didn’t care. I wanted you so bad that I fucking didn’t care.”

Collin’s eyes searched mine.

“How could you treat that girl like that, Collin? How could you be so cold?”

His chest heaved. “I . . . I had to get rid of her.”

I shook my head, disgusted with myself. “I’m no different than that girl. I threw myself at you just like she did.”

Horror filled his eyes. “God, Ellie. No! You are nothing like her!”

“How can you say that? All I can hear is you telling me ‘You’re here to fuck me, not hear me say your name.’”

“No! Ellie, you’re a thousand times better than any woman I’ve ever been with. I’d never do that to you.”

“Why? Why wouldn’t you?”

His hands grabbed my arms. “Don’t you feel it when we’re together? How we’re two halves of a whole. We truly are the children of the earth and the sea. We belong together, Ellie. God fucking knows I don’t deserve the chance to be with you. You’ve only seen a small part of my life, and it’s ugly. But you make me want to be someone worthy of you. When I’m with you, I think maybe I can be.”

“Collin.” Why was he telling me this?

He grabbed my face. “I want you. You. You know this Ellie. You saw it when we were linked. Our souls are bonded. Do you think I’d just throw that away?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”

“I need you, Ellie. I need you. Please believe that.”

Tears rolled down my face.

“Please, just give me a chance. Please don’t give up on me.” His mouth found mine, and I fell into him, unable to resist his pull on my heart.

Everything he said was true. I needed him too. I’d only known him five days, but my life would be empty without him. I knew who he was going into this. How could I punish him for that?

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

We packed up and left soon after our discussion. It was early evening and we still had several hours before Collin planned to break into the museum. We grabbed some fast food and ate dinner on the beach closer to Morehead City, watching the waves crash onto the shore.

I’d calmed down after my breakdown, and now I was embarrassed. I’d confessed things I’d never intended, but instead of pushing Collin away, my revelations brought him closer. He seemed relieved that I was still with him. At the moment, I was more worried about breaking into the museum. “What’s your plan to get past the security system?”

“I have the code.”

“You’re kidding. How could you get the code?”

He grinned.

“Let me guess. You have a friend.”

Tilting his head with a cocky gleam in his eye, he stuffed a fry in his mouth. “You’re learning.”

“So we use the code, break in, switch the bowl, and leave?”

“After we find the bowl. That might take awhile.”

“Are there guards? Cameras?”

His eyebrow rose, amused. “Listen to you. One would never guess this was your first in.”

“Shut up, Collin. And technically, it’s my second.”

“It’s no to both of your questions. It’s a bare-budget museum.”

He’d been trying his best to go back to the way things were before. Before I caught a glimpse of his real world in our motel room earlier. The way he watched me now, he knew I was thinking about this afternoon.

“Ellie, this morning . . . ” He paused “We didn’t use a condom earlier, and I presumed, since you didn’t mention it, that you’re on birth control.”

“I have an IUD.”

His mouth pinched and he nodded. “That’s not why I’m bringing it up. I trust you to be responsible in regards to that. The last thing either of us needs is for you to get pregnant. I brought it up because of what happened this afternoon.” He bit his lip and stared out into the water. “I’ve slept around. A lot. That’s no secret. But I want you to know I always used a condom until this morning. Always. You weren’t exposed to anything.”

I gave him a soft smile. “Thanks.”

He was silent for several seconds. “I’m worried about bringing you into the museum. If for some reason we get caught, you’re looking at felony charges. I don’t want to put you in that situation. But at the same time, I don’t want to leave you anywhere. Especially at night. So I’ll leave the decision up to you. If you don’t want to come, I can either put you in a motel somewhere and mark up the door. Or I can take you home now and drive back and break in.”

“You’d really drive over six hours round-trip, just to take me home if I wanted?”

His anxious eyes found mine. “Yeah. If that’s what you want.”

“Do you really think my family and Claire are safe?”

He nodded. “Honestly, as long as they have salt guarding the thresholds to their houses, they’re probably safer if you’re not with them.”

That was hard to hear, but not unexpected. “I want to stay with you.”

“Are you sure?”

I knew what he was really saying—that I wasn’t stuck with him. That I could try to lay low for a day, show up for the gate closing ceremony, and then go back to my life, alone. There was no way that I could do that even if I didn’t want to be with Collin. I’d shirked my responsibilities for too long. I might not know as much about the curse as Collin, but I wanted to share equal responsibility. Besides, with us getting so close to the deadline, I could only imagine what the gods would do to stop us. We were safer together. Just like my family was safer without me.

I nodded. “I’m sure.”

“Okay.” He grinned, his eyes dancing. “Let’s plan a break-in.”

Shaking my head, I chuckled. “I think you’re enjoying this just a little too much.”

“Oh really?” His eyebrows rose in mock surprise. “And you’re telling me you didn’t enjoy breaking into Marino’s warehouse?”

“I did not.”

“You did. I watch people, Ellie. I notice things.”

What else had he noticed about me? “That was different. He’s a crook who stole your map. This is a museum.”

“A museum that stole my bowl.”

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. “I thought your brother gave the bowl to the museum.”

“He did, but it’s my bowl. Which means they should have given it back when I requested it.”

“You actually asked them to return the bowl?”

“You’re damn right I did. It’s mine.”

I shrugged. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.”

“Which is a fucking lie. But I’ll get it back tonight.”

Collin had somehow gotten a layout of the back rooms of the museum and although he didn’t know for sure where the bowl would be, he had a general idea. The museum was relatively small so even if we had to search the entire employees-only area, it wouldn’t take more than an hour.

Collin turned serious again. “I want to talk about tomorrow night.”

My stomach did somersaults. I knew we needed to discuss it, but to do so would make it more real.

“The map is old and doesn’t have any familiar landmarks, but from what I’ve determined, the original ceremony took place next to an oak tree. I think it’s the big oak tree in the Elizabethan Gardens, next to the Fort Raleigh visitor center.”

“So we have to go to the botanical gardens?” Was that the reason Dwight was found there?

“Yes, and we have to complete the ceremony before sunrise. Like Ahone giving up his power to Okeus, the ceremony has to be performed before the dawn of the seventh day.”

“Why can’t we do it during the day?”

“Because the powers we need to invoke are stronger at night. Not to mention we’d attract all kinds of attention during the day. It’s a public place.”

“So our next date is another break-in, this time at the Elizabethan Gardens. Collin, you know how to show a girl a good time,” I teased, nudging his arm with my shoulder.

“No easing into a life of crime for you.” But his voice was strained, like he hated involving me.

I leaned over and kissed him long and slow. “We’re in this together. I know what I’m getting into.”

He nodded, but he didn’t look so sure.

“So we break in to the botanical gardens tomorrow after dark?”

“I want to wait until the early hours of the morning to decrease our odds of getting caught. We should have time to get everything set up and make sure the ceremony is complete by sunrise.” He looked away. “But right now we need to concentrate on the current break-in.”

We stayed on the beach for another hour, both of us reluctant to leave. We would head back to Manteo after we got the bowl, and draw that much closer to the ceremony that would either save humanity—or doom humanity forever.

Collin drove into the museum parking lot, parking in the back. I was nervous, even if I didn’t want to admit it to Collin. He didn’t seem very worried about getting caught, despite his offer to keep me uninvolved. Still, I had no desire to add my fingerprints to the national data bank so Marino could track me down.

I wasn’t wearing the all-black outfit I’d had Claire pack. Instead I wore a pair of denim shorts, a tank top, and my Vans. “I don’t feel appropriately dressed for a break-in.”

“Not to worry, Ellie. It’s not black tie.”

“Very funny. You know what I mean.”

“There’s no dress code for breaking in. You’re fine.”

“Easy for you to say.” He wore dark jeans and a T-shirt.

He leaned over and kissed me. “Look at it this way: If you get arrested, you’ll look gorgeous in your mug shots.”

“You think I look gorgeous?” I asked in surprise.

“Of course I think you look gorgeous. Let’s go before you start wanting to discuss how you should have worn your hair.” He opened his door before I could answer, pulling his bag out of the truck bed.

I met him at the side of the truck, my stomach flopping like a fish.

“I only have one pair of gloves, so don’t touch anything.”

“Got it.”

He looked up with a grin. “And try to stay out of trouble this time.”

“Me? You’re the one who left me with a wind god and as a result, I almost got my Manitou sucked out.”

He stood, his jaw squared with determination as he handed me one of the two flashlights in his hand. “That won’t happen again.”

“It better not or I’ll kick your ass.”

“I have no doubt you will.” I heard the grin in his voice. “Let’s go.” Collin picked up his duffel bag full of thievery tools and we headed for the back door. “There are two codes. The first gets us in the door. The other lets us stay inside. I’ve been told the second security keypad is in an office down the hall, and we have thirty seconds to enter the code before the alarm goes off.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay.” We were really doing this.

He grabbed my waist and pulled me to him, studying my face. “Ellie, it’s not too late to change your mind. If you want to wait in the truck, we can roll up the windows and I’ll mark them up.”

I shook my head. “No. We’re in this together.”

Lifting my chin with his fingers, Collin’s gaze hardened. “I know what I’m doing. If I think we’re in any danger of getting caught, we’re out of here.”

“What about the bowl?”

“We can’t perform the ceremony if we’re in jail, can we? We’ll cut our losses and hope we can make something else work.”

For some reason that made me feel better, even though I was terrified the ceremony wouldn’t work. If we were in jail, we’d never be able to protect ourselves. And the last thing I wanted was to be vulnerable to the hundreds of spirits whose entire exit plan centered on torturing me.

Collin pulled out his phone and checked his texts. He punched a code into a keypad on the side of the door and within seconds, the door popped open. Collin shot me a smile before he headed in, motioning for me to stay close to the door.

He moved down the dim hall, his flashlight bouncing around and searching open doorways. He disappeared in one room and came back out in about ten seconds. “We’re good.”

I closed my eyes for a moment as I sighed in relief. “Where do we look?”

“There are three possibilities. We’ll search those rooms, then go from there.”

“Will it be in a case or something?”

“Probably.” Collin continued down the hall to a locked door. “If they keep the bowl under a glass box in the museum, it stands to reason they’d lock it up back here.” He pulled out his lock-picking set and told me to point my flashlight at the lock.

“I sense a déjà vu moment,” I whispered, my stomach rolling.

“We’re fine. I told you we won’t have a repeat of last time.”

I cringed. “I hope not.”

Collin tripped the lock and opened the door to small storage room filled with shelves. Most were empty, but a shelf by the door held a small metal box.

Collin headed straight for it. After he jimmied the lock, he opened the lid and grinned ear to ear.

I stood on my tiptoes, shining my flashlight into the box. It contained an almost flat, dark wood bowl with a thick lip. “It doesn’t look like much.”

“Neither does your cup.” He handed the bowl to me and removed the fake one from his duffel bag. I had to agree that to my nonexpert eye, the bowls looked similar. Collin put the new one in the box and reset the lock.

He removed his relic from my hands and stuffed it into a cloth bag, then into his duffel bag. “See? I told you. And in record time.”

“Okay, let’s go,” I said, heading straight for the back door. This all seemed entirely too easy.

Collin reset both alarms, then grabbed the handle to the exterior door.

“I suddenly have a very strange feeling that something bad’s about to happen.”

“Don’t say that. We’re almost home free.”

And we were. Until we opened the back door and came face-to-face with Marino’s men. The two guys I’d seen in the convenience store the other day stood ten feet from the museum’s exit.

“Fuck,” Collin mumbled, grabbing my arm and dragging me back inside.

“You disappear in there and we’ll set off the alarm and stick around to make sure the police pick you up.” The tall guy grinned. “And we all know you don’t want that.”

Collin slung his bag over his shoulder and held his hands out from his body. “No need for that, boys.” He walked out the door.

I stayed in the doorway, unsure what to do. Getting arrested might be preferable to going with these guys. One thing was sure: If I didn’t shut the door within seconds, the alarm would go off. But Collin was outside, and I’d already decided that I was sticking with him. I stepped through the opening, shutting the door behind me.

“I was just tellin’ Tony here that it was a good night for a break-in. And lo and behold, look who we run into. Isn’t that right, Tony?”

The short guy chuckled. “You know it, Vinnie.”

Collin moved in front of me. “What a coincidence.”

“Not really, once Marino figured out you took the map. It wasn’t hard to put together where you’d go next.”

“Changed your woman already?” Tony asked, and Vinnie laughed.

Collin’s gaze made a slow sweep of the parking lot. “Yeah, I told you. I get around.”

“Marino doesn’t like liars, Dailey.”

Collin titled his head. “Then why did he hire you two?”

“Smartass, huh? Good thing we’re not here for you.” Vinnie’s gaze turned to me. “You’re a hard woman to find, Ellie. Why don’t you come on out and join us.”

Leaving the sanctuary of the shadows, I lifted my chin, refusing to let them know I was scared, even though I was terrified. “I’m not surprised. I don’t spend much time in gutters, and I’m sure that’s your natural habitat.”

“Ellie,” Collin growled under his breath.

Vinnie laughed. “Ho boy. I can see why Marino wants her, but she doesn’t seem your usual type, Dailey.”

“You know I don’t have a type. I’m not partial.”

“Then you won’t mind if we take her off your hands, and you can run along. We’ll even let you keep whatever you have in that bag.”

Collin’s back stiffened. “I don’t think so. I’m not done with her yet.”

“Does she know about the woman you were screwing hours ago?” the other guy asked.

My skin crawled, but I put my hand on my hip. “I don’t care who he sleeps with.”

“Then you won’t mind coming with us.”

I swallowed the lump of fear in my throat. “Actually, I do. I came here with Collin, and I plan to leave with him.”

Marino’s man smiled, but the fake friendliness was gone. “Here’s the simple truth of it, Ellie. You don’t have a choice. So you either come along with us and ride to Marino’s in comfort, or you do things the hard way.” His eyes narrowed as he looked up and down my body. “And trust me, they will be hard.”

Collin’s hands fisted at his sides.

Terror flooded my head and I struggled to think straight. How are we going to get out of this?

Vinnie reached a hand toward me. “Now come here.”

My feet froze to the concrete, my breath coming in uneven pants.

His voice lowered. “Don’t make me come over there, Ellie.”

Collin bolted toward them. “Ellie, run!”

I had a half-second delayed reaction before I ran toward the front of the museum.

Marino’s men had already anticipated my move.

Collin intercepted Tony, tackling him to the pavement while the taller guy caught me quickly, his long legs making him twice as fast. Vinnie grabbed my arm and pulled me against his body. “That was a very bad decision.”

Anger replaced my fear. “I’m warning you to let go of me.”

He laughed loudly. “You’re warning me?” His grip on my bicep tightened as he tugged me toward the sedan parked at the curb.

Collin and Tony had gotten to their feet. Collin pushed Tony’s shoulder and tried to get around him, but Tony shoved him back. Collin stumbled, keeping his eyes on me.

I jerked my arm, but Vinnie’s hold tightened. I kicked his legs and reached for his face to scratch him but got his neck instead. I got several blows in before he snagged my other arm and hauled me to his chest, excitement in his eyes. “You’re a feisty one.”

“Get your fucking hands off of her!” Collin shouted.

The guy holding me started to laugh. “You got it bad, Dailey.” He turned his attention back to me. “No wonder Marino wants her so much.” He dragged me to the car. I stomped on his foot, but he just laughed as he opened the back door. I leaned backward, anything to keep from being put inside, when birds began to screech and fly from the forest in a mass exodus, swarming over our heads.

The mark on my hand tingled.

Something fell from the sky, landing on the roof of the car with a thud.

A dead bird.

A new terror overtook me.

“What the hell?” Vinnie stood upright, confusion in his voice.

Two more birds crashed to the sidewalk.

I swung my head to look at Collin. His eyes were wild with panic as a slew of animals—deer, raccoons, rabbits, mice, and squirrels—fled in terror from the woods.

Hundreds of dead birds rained from the sky. Their frozen bodies landed on my head, on the car, on the sidewalk, and I screamed.

Vinnie dropped one of my arms to cover his head as he renewed his efforts to get me into the car. I was beginning to wonder if that wasn’t the safest place after all.

I felt the spirit before I saw it. My hand burned and the smell of sulfur permeated the air, an oppressive blanket of evil following behind. A dark horizontal stream of smoke swirled toward us, aiming straight for me.

Collin regained his wits and struggled to get past Tony.

“What the fuck?” Vinnie growled, his fingers twisting into the flesh on my arm as I squirmed to get out of his hold.

The smoke stopped next to Vinnie and became a shimmering, silvery, charcoal-gray, dense mass. “Have you made your decision, Curse Keeper?”

Okeus’s messenger. And Kanim was much stronger than before.

The man’s hold on my arm loosened slightly. “What the fuck?”

“Silence!” The spirit’s voice boomed through the air. A tendril of smoke shot out, covering Vinnie’s face, wrapping black coils around his head and chest. His knees buckled, yet he still held on to me, pulling me down with him. The hand on my arm turned cold, and I screamed, unable to escape his grip. He fell to the ground, dragging me to my knees and trapping my right hand underneath him.

The guy blocking Collin had stopped fighting, his mouth open in shock. Collin stood next to him, frozen, watching in terror.

The mass now shimmered above the ground, next to Vinnie’s body. “Curse Keeper, daughter of the sea, witness to creation. Join with your lord and master, Okeus, or suffer the consequences.”

I struggled to catch my breath as I frantically tried to free my arm. The guy’s hand had literally frozen around my bicep. I took a breath. “If you wanted me dead, you would have killed me already. Okeus needs me alive.” I knew he wanted the gate opened, not left cracked. He needed me or it would be stuck.

The spirit howled and wind blew me back, but my arm was still trapped by Vinnie’s frozen body. “Do not think to control Okeus or his children, human. You will curse the day of your creation.”

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. Vomiting right now would totally blow my tough-girl attitude. “Not if I shut the gate first.”

Okeus’s messenger laughed. “You are stupid and blind. You don’t even know the truth.”

“What truth?” Could I even trust anything this thing said?

“You will pay for your arrogance, Curse Keeper. I will search out the ones you love and send them to Popogusso like your predecessors locked us away.”

The spirit’s smoke swirled close to me, its tentacles stretching toward my chest, and my hysteria rose. What if Collin was wrong about the symbol he’d drawn on my back? What if I was wrong about Okeus needing me alive?

Collin’s voice echoed through the night as he recited his words in the ancient tongue. His hand glowed, and determination tightened his face.

The messenger ceased moving toward me, then disappeared, howling. “You will regret this, Curse Keeper, son of the land.”

Collin was next to me in moments, prying Vinnie’s fingers from my arm to get me free. Collin grunted, then I heard the snap of breaking appendages.

My body rebelled and I vomited onto the sidewalk until I dry heaved.

The sedan engine started and drove away. Tony had left Vinnie and his fingers behind.

“Ellie, can you get up? We need to go.” Collin’s voice was gentle but insistent.

“Daddy.” I had no doubt that Okeus would go after him. It was a matter of when.

“Let’s get in the truck and you can call him, okay?”

I nodded but began to shake violently. I crawled to my knees and tried to stand. My legs wouldn’t support my weight, and I collapsed as I tried to hold back my sobs. My forearm landed on a dead bird. I shrieked and scooted backward, bumping into Vinnie’s frozen body.

I screamed.

Collin’s hand covered my mouth, and I looked up at him in panic. His eyes were wild and I was relieved to see he was as freaked out as I was.

“I’m going to help you to your feet. First, I’ll drop my hand, but you can’t scream, okay?”

I nodded, tears flowing down my cheeks.

He let go of my mouth and grabbed both of my arms, lifting me up. I took a step, swaying as my vision began to fade. My knees buckled, but Collin bent and scooped me up against his chest while I fought the darkness invading my head.

Collin grunted as he squatted to retrieve the bag he’d dropped. He hurried us to the truck, fumbling with the door handle before setting me on the seat. He tossed the bag at my feet, shut my door, and ran around to climb into the driver’s seat.

He tore out of the parking lot. “Ellie, can you roll up your window?” he asked while rolling up his.

I nodded and grappled with the knob, spinning it around. How fucking hard was it to roll up a fucking window? I let out a sob, then got upset and frustrated that I was crying. I hated crying. Crying was for babies, and I’d already met my crying quota for the next six months.

When I got the window up, I reached for my purse and pulled out my phone, calling Claire first.

“Claire, listen to me.” I tried to calm down but my fear raised my voice an octave. “Whatever you do, do not go outside! Don’t answer the door for anyone!”

“Ellie, what’s going on?”

“They’re going to try to hurt you, Claire. You and Daddy and Myra.”

“Do you want me to go over to your dad’s house?”

“No!” I took a deep breath. I needed to calm down. “No. You can’t go outside. Promise me you won’t go outside until the sun comes up.” But even the daylight wasn’t safe anymore. The wind god found me in broad daylight—twice. But the darkness was when they were strongest. “Promise me.”

“I promise. Are you okay, Ellie? What happened?”

“I’m . . . fine.” I’d already freaked out Claire enough. No sense telling her what just happened. “I just need to know you’re okay.”

“I’m fine. Drew is fine, although he thinks I’ve gone bat-shit crazy with the salt. Your dad and Myra were okay when I saw them this afternoon. Your dad was even kind of with it and wanted to know if you were working on closing the gate.”

“You’re kidding?” While I was grateful he was lucid enough to protect himself, I was sorry I wasn’t there to talk to him. Even though Collin had become forthcoming, Daddy probably had Dare Keeper answers I needed.

“I took a chance and told him that the spirits might be after him and Myra. He marked up the doors with the symbols Collin put on yours.”

“He did?”

“Yeah, so see? He’s safe. We’re fine. Just take care of you, okay?”

“I love you, Claire.”

“I love you too.”

I hung up and turned to Collin. “My dad was aware of what was going on today. He marked his doors.” My eyes sank closed. More than anything, I wanted to be with Daddy, for him to show me what he’d done. For him to hug me and tell me everything was going to be okay.

Collin pulled me toward him, putting his arm around my back. “See? It’s okay. We’re all safe.”

But we weren’t. Not really. We wouldn’t be safe until that fucking gate was closed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

To my annoyance, I cried for about twenty minutes. Every time I thought I had it under control, the dam I’d built up for my tears would crash open and I’d cry again. I tried to find my anger—that this was really happening, that I was the center of two life-threatening dramas—but it stayed buried deep, just like it had after my mother’s death.

I hadn’t seen a dead body since she died in front of me fifteen years ago. I purposely didn’t attend funerals, even refusing to go to my grandparents’ several years ago. I avoided hospitals. But tonight that man had died in front of me—holding on to my arm—and the shock and horror of the night my mother died raced into the void of nothingness in my head. I’d suppressed so much about that night. It had been the only way for me to survive, but now bits and pieces flitted around the edges of my thoughts.

The wind howled outside but my ears strained to hear other noises.

The grandfather clock. Tic. Tic. Tic.

A tree branch whacked the glass outside my bedroom window. Thomp. Thomp. Thomp.

I hid in my closet, my eyes squeezed shut. The door was wide open, but the room was dark and I huddled in the far back corner.

My mother’s labored breathing came from the hall.

And another sound. The most terrifying. Drip. Drip. Drip.

I stared at the floor in front of me. Dark colored droplets splatted on the hardwood floor, forming a tiny pool. I lifted my gaze. A man with a hood held a big knife in his hand. Lightning flashed outside the window, casting him in an eerie white light. His clothes were dark, his face hidden. Every part of him was black and gray except for the crimson blood dripping from his hand and the knife.

I screamed.

“Ellie, it’s okay. You’re okay.” Collin’s voice interrupted the rush of images, his hand brushing my head.

I jolted upright, wiping my hair out of my face. I was sweating like a pig, and my hair was plastered to my cheek. We were still in the truck, which was like a sauna with the windows rolled up. “What happened?”

“You fell asleep. Did you have a nightmare?”

I nodded, looking out the windows. My hands shook again, and I took a deep breath. My limited memories of the night of my mother’s death didn’t include any part of what I’d just dreamed. Had it really happened that way? Or had my subconscious mixed with my fear from tonight and the last few days and added to my existing trauma? Did it really matter? I focused on the road in front of us, trying to think about anything else but the pictures in my head.

“Was it about tonight?”

I shook my head, but my fear made it exaggerated. I needed to get my shit together. “No. It was about my mother.”

“Ellie—”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I swung my head around to take in the scenery. “Where are we?”

“About five minutes from Manteo.”

“I’ve been asleep that long? Why didn’t you wake me?”

“I didn’t see the point. Not until your nightmare. It took me several seconds to wake you up. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Okay?” I laughed, but my voice shook. I pressed my knuckle to my mouth, nipping the skin on the back of my finger. “Okay? How can I be okay? Dead birds rained from the sky. A man died right in front of me—holding my arm. He had his Manitou sucked out of him right there while we watched, and his body froze—and he was still holding my arm—until you broke his fingers to get me loose. You broke his fingers, Collin.” Nausea bubbled with my rising hysteria. “How can I be okay?”

Collin’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. His jaw clenched, and I’d never seen him look so uncertain in the time I’d known him. So lost.

“I’m scared, Collin. I’ve never been more scared in my life.”

His hand found mine and he encompassed it, squeezing tight as though I were his lifeline. And then it occurred to me that I was so busy going through my own personal freak-out that I’d never once stopped to think that Collin was going through this too. He was always so confident, so cocky. I never questioned that this might be just as hard for him. Sure, he’d heard all the stories and made all the preparations, but it was one thing to hear the tales and another to actually live through it.

“Are you okay?”

He turned to me, surprise on his face.

“Tonight had to freak you out just as much as it did me.”

“Yes, but not the same way. I had to stand there and watch Marino’s guy grab you, touch you, threaten you. I couldn’t get past Tony to help you. I couldn’t save you. The spirit did.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Collin?”

“If Okeus’s messenger hadn’t shown up, you’d be with Marino right now.”

“We would have figured something out.”

He didn’t answer, but he didn’t look convinced.

“Saying Okeus’s messenger saved me is like saying a lion saves a baby gazelle when the lion shows up to eat the hyena.”

“Ellie.” He swallowed and his fingers squeezed my hand tighter. “You told the spirit that Okeus needs you alive to open the gate the rest of the way. I think you might be right.” He shifted in his seat and cast a glance at me. “What if his appearance wasn’t a coincidence?”

“That would make Okeus omnipotent, Collin,” I whispered. “Even locked behind the gate.”

“He’s a god, Ellie.”

I couldn’t let my head go there, thinking the gods were actually watching my every move. “No. I think the messenger showed up to ask for my decision. It was pure coincidence that he arrived when he did.”

Collin turned down the street toward my apartment. Manteo was locked up for the night, all the good citizens asleep in their beds. Clueless to the terror outside their bedroom windows.

“He’s angry, Ellie. But tradition says that he’s a reasonable god.”

I tried to jerk my hand from Collin’s, but he refused to let go. “How can you say that?”

We had already reached my apartment and Collin parked in the empty space next to my car. He turned off the engine and turned to me, still holding my hand. He used his free hand to stroke the side of my face, his eyes imploring me to listen.

“Do you remember when I told you that they weren’t meant to be locked away? That locking them up had thrown the world off balance?”

I nodded.

“Have you ever once considered that maybe we shouldn’t close the gate?”

My mouth dropped open. Who was this man and what was he saying?

“Hear me out.” He released my hand and cradled my face. “If we fail this, Ellie, Okeus will come after you. Maybe you should make a deal with him. To save you.”

“What?” I looped my hands over his wrists. “At what price, Collin? At what cost? I save myself to doom countless others? How could I live with myself?”

“How can I live with myself if anything happens to you?”

“I am not your responsibility.”

Tears filled his eyes and he started to say something before he cleared his throat and looked away. When he turned back, the raw emotion on his face stunned me. “You’re my responsibility more than you know. More than I knew when I walked into the New Moon less than a week ago. One day, when you hate me for coming into your life, let alone letting you seal your soul to mine, when hearing my name fills your heart with pain, and you never want to see my face again . . . even then, you will be my responsibility.”

My breath caught in my throat. “You’re scaring me, Collin.”

“It’s okay.” His lips were soft on mine. “I don’t mean to scare you. I’m trying to let you know what you mean to me. I’m the reason for all of the chaos in your life. I walked into your restaurant and broke the curse. I took you to Marino. I’m the sole cause of the danger you’re facing, but God help me, I’m not sorry.” His eyes burned bright. “If it all goes away tomorrow . . . ” His voice broke and he swallowed. “I will never be sorry that I had this chance with you. And for that alone, you will hate me someday.”

“Collin.” Tears blurred my vision.

His mouth crushed mine, his hands tilting my head.

I pulled back, still holding his wrists. “Why do you think I’ll hate you? Because of your past? I know about your past. I don’t know it all, but I’ve seen an ugly glimpse, and I’m still here.” I squeezed his wrists. “I’m still here.”

He shook his head. “You don’t even know everything.”

“I don’t need to. I don’t want to. This is a chance for both of us to start over. Together. After tomorrow night, we’ll put all the ugliness in our past behind us and start over.”

He nodded, still upset. Then his face hardened. “We need to get you inside.” He opened his door and grabbed my hand, tugging me out the driver’s door.

The night was silent. The only sound was the water lapping at the dock to the lighthouse. No birds. No insects. No dogs barking in the night.

My front porch was littered with dead birds. A calling card from Okeus. I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again. This was real. I couldn’t close my eyes and pretend it wasn’t. It was time for Elinor Dare Lancaster to grow up.

Collin kicked the lifeless bodies to the side, making a path to the door. The symbols drawn there were faded and he paused. “I need to redo this. I’m not sure it will hold.”

“We need to redo it. Together. Teach me how.”

He nodded and pulled a piece of charcoal from his bag as I unlocked the door. He drew the same symbols he’d made in the motel room, explaining them again, questioning to make sure I understood. When it came time to put his mark on the door, he looked down at me and kissed me. “This part will be different.”

He drew a square intersecting a circle, the marks on our hands. Earth containing spirit. He placed his land symbol in the center of the square, diagonally, then handed me the charcoal. “Now draw your wave on the opposite angle and call upon the water force to add its protection.”

I took Collin’s position, stretching my arm to reach the top of the door, but I wasn’t tall enough. Collin wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me. I drew my water symbol, asking the ancient force of the sea to lend its protection to its daughter as well as the son of land. When I was done, Collin eased his grip, allowing me to slide down the front of his body. Such a simple movement, yet so highly charged with desire and need.

“Now the other three.” Collin’s voice was husky in my ear, and my body tingled.

I tried not to hurry the remaining symbols, giving them the same reverence as the first one. When I finished the last symbol, I moved to hand the charcoal back to Collin but his arms were around my waist, pulling my body to his, his mouth finding mine. The door opened behind me and he dragged us inside and shut us in, his mouth still on mine, claiming.

I stood on my tiptoes, my hands buried in his hair. Collin looped his hands around my thighs and lifted me to straddle his waist. His hands skimmed the backs of my legs, finding my ass and snugging me close. My legs wrapped tight around his back, and he lifted the hem of my tank top with impatient hands. I unfisted his hair to let him pull the shirt over my head, my impatient mouth finding his again.

He turned and pressed my back against the door. “Ellie Lancaster, my enchantress. You’ll be the death of me.”

Before I could ask what he meant, his mouth was on mine, his tongue demanding attention. I ground my pelvis into his, aching for him.

He moved us to my bedroom, laying me down on the bed. He stripped off his clothes while I watched, the perfection of his body highlighted by the streetlight that glowed through the gauzy curtain over my repaired window. Claire must have gotten it fixed while I was gone.

I got to my knees on the mattress in front of him, wanting to touch him, to seal this memory of him into my consciousness. My hands landed on his chest, the hair rough on my fingertips, his hard muscles sending waves of desire through my body.

He reached around me and unhooked my bra, then slid the straps over my shoulders, his mouth following on my right arm. He lifted my right palm to his mouth, kissing and licking the mark in the center.

I leaned back my head and moaned.

“You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” His silken words washed through my body, making me hungry for him. His hand combed through my hair. “I like your hair long and loose.” He bent down and his mouth found my breast and I gasped. His hand fisted the hair at the nape of my neck, arching my back to give him better access.

Molten desire shot to my core. “Collin.”

His free hand found the button on my shorts and then my zipper. Bringing his face to mine, he released my hair. Both of his thumbs hooked the sides of my waistband and slowly tugged. His palms circled my hips, sliding my shorts down the rest of the way to my knees, my panties following behind. His hand reached between my legs as he kissed me, his other hand in my hair again.

I reached for the evidence of his own desire, and he groaned, then pushed me down on the bed, pulling my shorts and panties off the rest of the way. He lay beside me, his hands and mouth everywhere, driving me into a frenzy.

“I want you to remember this. What you feel with me.” He kissed my mouth again, then met my gaze, his eyes bright with lust and need. “Remember that I am yours for now and forever. And no man will ever give you what I can.”

I grabbed the sides of his head. “No man has ever made me feel a fraction of what I feel with you. I’m not going anywhere.”

His knee nudged my legs apart, and he positioned himself between them, balancing himself on his forearms. “Tell me what you want, Ellie.”

Was he wanting me to talk dirty to him? I didn’t think so. This was deeper than that. I gazed into his searching eyes. I lifted my right hand to his cheek, and as I said the words, I realized how true they were. “I want you, Collin Dailey. I’ve always wanted you.”

His right hand grabbed mine, pressing our palms together and bringing them over my head as he entered me.

Bombarded with two extraordinary sensations at the same time, my mind scrambled to make sense of the rush, but my body followed instinct, matching Collin’s every move. I was the swirling dust in the beginning of the universe. I was the explosion of a supernova. I was the energy of the sun.

He started slowly, driving me crazy with need, the strain on his face betraying his own struggle to not quicken the pace.

I was the bee drinking nectar from flower. I was the blade of grass on a sunny meadow. I was the deer in the field.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, offering myself up to him, an ache so deep I knew he was the only one to fill it. To ever fill it. “Collin,” I begged. “Please.”

His pace quickened, his free hand reaching underneath me so he could get deeper.

I was the rain droplets in a storm cloud. I was the rushing water in a mountain stream. I was the vast, deep ocean.

I was climbing, climbing, climbing past the tallest mountaintop. Past the edge of the solar system. To the very edge of the universe.

I released a loud cry. My left hand circled his back and urged him deeper.

I was the first drop of water in the meteorite that hit the hot liquefied earth. The union of land and water.

And for one brief moment, I was whole.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Collin was gone when I woke up. I had a moment of panic when I realized he wasn’t in bed next to me, but I found a note on his pillow.

I have to prepare for tonight. You were too beautiful to wake up. No matter what happens tonight, know that I am always yours.
Collin

I hadn’t seen Myra since the morning I’d stolen the candlesticks. And I hadn’t checked on Daddy either, other than through Claire. I was eager to make sure they were okay.

Okeus had promised a sacrifice.

With trembling fingers, I called Claire, who whispered into the phone that she and Drew were fine, but she was going to lose her job if she didn’t get off the phone. Next I called Myra, who was cheerful when she answered.

“I overslept but wanted you to know I’m coming in this morning. Is Daddy okay?” I asked, already knowing the answer from her tone but needing to hear her say the words.

“He’s fine. Becky’s here helping, but I’d love to see you before I leave for the visitor center.”

If the people I cared about had been spared, then what did that mean about the sacrifice?

It was already after nine, but I was scheduled to work at the New Moon at four if Marlena let me come back. That meant I had the day to fill. My apartment didn’t have a washer and dryer, so I’d even have time to do some of my own laundry.

I took a shower and dressed in a pair of capri pants and my last clean T-shirt. I packed all my laundry and found my car keys since I had too much to carry four blocks. When I opened the front door, I prepared myself for the birds, expecting to see the macabre countdown, but the bodies were gone.

Collin.

I smiled to myself on my way to load the laundry into the back of the car when I noticed the crowd on the sidewalk in front of the New Moon.

Oh, God.

Dropping the over-piled basket onto the parking lot next to my car, I ran through the opening between the buildings, toward the street. Pushing my way through the dense crowd, I tried to keep my fear from spilling out into hysteria. I needed to see what was going on before I panicked.

I spotted Bob, the manager of Kitty Hawk Kites, standing in the middle of the throng. “Bob! What’s going on?”

He turned his pale face toward me. “Ellie, I’m so sorry.”

My terror broke loose. “What? What happened?”

“Marlena.”

I sucked in breath, fighting the blackness hovering at the edges of my vision. I was not going to pass out. “What happened?”

“They found her here. Outside the restaurant. Like Lila.” Bob grabbed my hands. “The sick person doing this is targeting this restaurant, Ellie. You’re not safe.”

I choked on a sob. No, the people around me weren’t safe. I stumbled to the curb and sat down, cradling my head between my hands and crying.

Bob sat next to me. “I think the police want to talk to you.”

Of course they would, and I’d have to lie. Would they be able to see that? Tilting my head back, I drew in a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. Sitting here crying on the curb wouldn’t help Marlena, and it wouldn’t help anyone else I loved or cared about. “I’m going to the Dare Inn to help Myra. If they ask about me, tell them they can find me there.”

“Okay, but be careful Ellie.”

Marlena. She was married with three kids. The most loving, giving person I’d ever met. Sure she could be pushy with my love life, but she loved me and now she was dead. Because of me.

I drove the few blocks to the bed and breakfast in a daze. What the hell was I doing? I was about to go inside and do my laundry and change linens and pretend that everything was okay.

Everything was so not okay.

The messenger had promised a friend and my family would be sacrificed. He’d stolen Marlena—who was next? Should I cave to Okeus’s demands? It would keep the people I loved safe.

But would it really? Ahone had warned that the gate needed to be closed, and he was a god. But I couldn’t ignore the fact that he alone had escaped the curse. Still, I knew deep in my gut that this was nothing compared to what would happen if the gate was opened all the way. I only had to make sure that Daddy and Myra were protected and get through tonight, and then this nightmare would be over.

I hauled my laundry to the back door of the residential house. Claire was right. Daddy had marked the doors. His symbols were a little different than Collin’s but for the most part, looked to be the same. That gave me some comfort. After I started a load of my darks, I went to the guesthouse and found Myra on the phone in the office. She smiled and waved when I walked in and made my way to the small kitchen.

Three couples sat at the tables in the dining room.

“Ellie.” Myra’s worried voice greeted me. “I’ve been worried about you. I heard about Lila and Dwight.”

My eyes welled with tears. “And now Marlena. They found her dead outside the restaurant. Just like Lila.”

Myra’s hand covered her mouth as her eyes widened. “Who’s doing this?”

I didn’t want to lie to Myra, but I knew she didn’t want the truth. “I don’t know.”

“Are you safe? Three people you know have been killed. Maybe you should stay with us.”

That was the last thing I should do. “That’s not saying much, Myra. We know half the people in town.” She started to protest, but I interrupted. “How’s Daddy?”

She shook her head, trying to jump conversation streams. “He was better yesterday and still is today. I’m glad you’re here. You should go see him.”

“Thanks, Myra.” I picked up a blueberry muffin to take with me and headed for the back door. I wasn’t very hungry but I needed all the strength I could get.

“Ellie?”

I turned back to her.

“I hope you know that this house and everything in it is yours too.”

I was confused for a moment until I remembered. The candlesticks. They seemed so long ago now, but it had only been a few days. I dropped my gaze. “I’m sorry.”

She grabbed both of my arms and stared into my face. “No, Ellie. There’s nothing to be sorry about. I’m sure you had a reason, even if you don’t want to share it.”

“I love you, Myra.”

“I love you too. Go see your dad.”

I found Daddy sitting in the living room watching television. His caregiver sat in a chair in the corner, knitting.

Daddy looked up. Confusion flickered in his eyes before he smiled. “Elliphant.”

A soft smile warmed my cheeks. “Hey Daddy.” I turned to the woman. “You can take a break while I sit with Daddy for a bit.”

She nodded and left her knitting in the chair before she left the room.

Daddy watched her go, then turned back to me. “The curse . . . ” Worry knotted his brow.

I sat next to him and held my palm toward him. “I have a surprise for you.” Why had I been so stubborn and not showed it to him the day I’d gotten it?

He picked up my hand, and his mouth dropped. “It’s real.”

“It’s very real.”

Tears filled his eyes. “After so long . . . so many years of waiting . . . ”

I felt so unworthy and so unwilling all at the same time. “I have a title. The gods call me Curse Keeper, daughter of the sea, witness to creation.”

His brow furrowed with confusion. “I knew about daughter of the sea, but witness to creation?”

“I have a pure soul. My Manitou was part of creation. When Collin and I touch our marks together, I can feel it. I feel the essence of every living creature. It’s so beautiful, Daddy. I wish it had been you. I don’t deserve this.”

“Shh . . . ” He pulled me into a hug, resting my cheek on his shoulder as he stroked my hair. “Don’t say such things. I confess, I would have given anything to be the Curse Keeper, but I’m proud of you. I’m glad it’s you.”

I blinked away my tears. “One of the times we touched, when I was in the ocean, I saw the birth of creation.”

He pulled back, looking into my face with wide eyes.

“My Manitou was a witness to the creation of the universe. In a vision, I relived my ancient memories. I saw the birth of the world, and Ahone arise from earth and create man. I saw him split himself and create his twin, Okeus. Collin says pure souls are very rare, but the gods and spirits will want my Manitou even more.”

He shook his head. “Ellie, I don’t understand.”

“Daddy, have you seen the dead birds and animals?”

He nodded.

“The gods are weak after being locked up for over four hundred years. Taking the life force of other creatures increases their strength. Did you know about that part?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“A pure soul has more energy than multiple Manitous and they want mine. I was attacked by a wind god, and Collin put his symbol on my back to protect me. It works.” At least, I chose to believe it did.

“They’ve attacked you?” He fidgeted with agitation. “Didn’t you remember the words of protection?”

“No, Daddy. You know I forgot everything, the words of protection included. But I remembered them after Collin gave me a symbol of protection.”

“What is this symbol of protection?”

“Do we not have one?”

“No.”

I turned around and lifted the hem of my T-shirt.

“I don’t recognize this, Ellie. Is this a real tattoo?”

“No, Daddy. It’s only henna. Collin has a permanent one on his chest. Are you sure you don’t remember it?”

“No. I recognize the symbols, but not the mark itself.”

“Collin says the Manteo line has information and traditions they passed down in preparation for the breaking of the curse. It’s probably something they came up with.”

His finger traced the symbols. “The circle represents the spirit world. The squares mean the earthly plane. I recognize the symbols for the sea and the land. But this one . . . ” His finger stopped and stiffened.

My back tensed. “What is it, Daddy?”

“Ellie, this one represents Okeus.”

Icy fingers of dread crawled up my spine, and I shivered. “It’s a symbol of protection, Daddy. It’s to protect me against Okeus and the winds gods.”

“The symbols are typically used to invoke the Manitou or other forces. The marks call upon the forces you’re asking for protection, not the forces you need protection from. Like the symbols I put on the door. You wouldn’t include the mark of the thing you were protecting against.” He grabbed my shoulder and turned me back to face him. “Ellie, are you sure this man has your best interests at heart?”

Fear jostled with reason as I tried to sort through Daddy’s information. If he had asked me about the Collin I met that first and even second time in the New Moon I would have questioned Collin’s motives, but the last few days had proven time and time again how much Collin cared about me. The fear in his eyes was real. His concern for me genuine. There was no disguising our hearts when our palms were linked. When I bound our souls, his fear of losing me was undeniable. “Yes, Daddy. I trust him with my life.”

“You said he has the symbol tattooed on him?”

“Yeah, Collin says when the Curse Keeper in the Manteo line turns eighteen, they have it tattooed on their chest.”

He wrung his hands, becoming more agitated. That was a bad sign and often meant his dementia was creeping back in. “You say the entire line gets this tattoo? It could explain the Okeus symbol. There’s a lot of duality with the curse. Land and the sea were evoked.”

“Yes, because they are forces older than the gods. The land and the sea gave birth to the gods. Collin uses the symbols of the moon and the stars and the sun to represent day on my door to protect me from the gods at night.”

Daddy rubbed his forehead, concentrating while he directed his gaze to the floor. “The story I was told said Manteo was quite distraught that they’d locked the gods away, and he knew that the gods would seek revenge when they finally broke loose. It could be that Manteo’s line chose to appeal to Okeus for mercy when he was freed. He’s the most powerful and the most vengeful of them all.”

I nodded.

“You say the other Keeper, Collin, has protected you multiple times. The symbol must be what he says it is.” He patted my hand. “Just be careful.” He kissed my forehead, fidgeting more. He got to his feet and began to pace.

I sucked in a deep breath. If he followed his usual pattern, he’d become incoherent soon.

He stopped pacing and looked at me. “Do you have the cup?”

“Yes, and we retrieved the Manteo bowl last night.”

“When’s the ceremony?”

“Tonight. In the middle of the night. In the botanical gardens at the big oak tree. Tomorrow’s the seventh day.”

“Already?” He rubbed his forehead, pressing hard.

“Yes, but I don’t remember anything of the ceremony. I forgot it all, Daddy.” My voice broke. “I’m sorry I didn’t let you teach me it all again.”

“The ceremony . . . the ceremony . . . The Manteo Keeper performs the ceremony.”

“What do we do with the cup and the bowl? Do we drink something at the ceremony?”

“Yes . . . I think it’s tea . . . ” He pressed harder on his forehead. “I wrote it down. I wrote it all down somewhere.”

“You wrote down the Curse Keeper information?” I wasn’t sure if I needed it now, but it would be nice to have the information for the ceremony, even though Collin knew what to do.

Daddy began to mumble as he paced.

I grabbed his arm and led him to the sofa. “Sit down, Daddy. You’re getting worn out.”

He shook his head, confusion replacing the clarity that had been there only moments before. I hated this stupid disease that stole my father.

I rubbed his arm and began to hum the old lullaby Momma used to sing me when I was little. It always calmed him down. He squinted. “Amanda?”

My heart sank. “No, Daddy. Momma’s gone.”

He looked around. “You look just like Amanda. Where did she go?”

I kissed his forehead. “I love you, Daddy. I’ll try to make you proud of me.”

Clarity flashed in his eyes for a brief moment before confusion returned. “Blood. No blood, Ellie.”

My chest tightened. No matter how many years passed, I’d never get over my mother’s murder. And neither would my father.

I sent Daddy’s caregiver back in to sit with him and returned to the inn to start changing linens. Myra had already gone to work at the visitor center, and her friend Becky was in the office when I got back. “Becky, I’m sorry I haven’t been around to help the last few days.”

“Don’t worry about it, Ellie. You work too hard.”

I forced a grin. “No rest for the wicked.”

She laughed. “Then why are you working so hard?”

I had plenty of time to dwell on what Daddy had told me. I had to admit that having Okeus’s mark on my back concerned me, except I knew that Collin had the exact same mark. And the mark had protected me. Why was I questioning him?

But Collin telling me over and over again not to trust him played in my head. And his surety that I would hate him. An uneasiness crept up my neck. I shook my head. I was nervous about tonight. That’s all this was. Nerves.

I decided to call Collin anyway for reassurance. He answered on the second ring, his voice panicked. “Ellie? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

I heard his sigh of relief.

“Why did you think something was wrong?”

“You don’t seem the phone call type.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I never saw you make a phone call when we’ve been together except to check on Claire and your family.”

“True.” I paused. “I just needed to hear your voice. I’m nervous.”

His voice tightened. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll protect you with my life.”

Those didn’t sound like the words of a man who had ill intentions toward me. Why was I doubting him? I felt slimy and unworthy of his concern. “I missed you this morning.”

“I missed you too. When this is over, let’s go away somewhere for a week, just you and me, a hotel with room service so we never have to leave.” He sounded sad and wistful.

“I’d like that.” I paused, my voice catching in my throat. “There was another body today. My boss, Marlena.”

“The woman who seated me both times I came in?”

“Yes.” My voice choked. “But she was more than my boss. She was my friend.”

“Ellie, I’m so sorry.”

“Okeus wants me to pledge my loyalty to him. I protected Claire last night, but I didn’t protect Marlena. Who will he kill tonight?”

Collin was silent.

“Has Okeus sent anyone to you? Has he sacrificed people you care about?”

I heard his breath in the phone. Finally, he answered, “Yes, he’s hurt someone I love.”

I felt so incredibly selfish. I’d done nothing but whine for days, and he never once complained. And I never asked. “Your brother?”

“It doesn’t matter, Ellie. It will all be behind us tonight.”

“But Daddy and Myra.”

“Redo the marks on their door after it gets dark and make sure they stay inside. They should be fine.”

Should be wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I knew it was the best he could offer.

He cleared his throat. “I have to go. Promise me that you’ll be careful until tonight, especially after it gets dark.”

I smiled. “I promise.”

I hung up and finished my work, shuffling my own laundry before starting the linens for the inn. I searched Daddy’s office, looking for the information he might have written down about the curse. He didn’t use the office much anymore, but Myra kept it as it had always been for when he had his clearer days. But my hunt turned up nothing. Where could he have kept it? Did it even exist?

Claire was waiting on my porch when I got home. She pointed to the door. “New artwork, I see.”

My eyebrows rose. “Aren’t you the observant one?”

“I heard about Marlena.”

Pressing my lips together, I nodded.

“That was supposed to be me, wasn’t it?”

Inhaling a deep breath to steady my nerves, I shrugged. “The spirit said a friend, Claire. Marlena was a friend too.”

Claire pulled me into a tight hug. When she dropped her hold, tears brimmed her eyes. “And you know what she wanted most in the world? For you to find a fine-lookin’ man.” She flashed an ornery grin even though her chin quivered. “And you did. At least you made her happy.”

I shook my head and snorted. “I guess you could say that. She nearly peed her pants when I told her I was taking Collin home the other night after work.”

She swiped her eyes. “You’re positively glowing when you talk about him. How was he?”

“Claire!”

“Come on, Ellie, give me something.”

I unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Let’s just say he was better than Dwight,” I said without thinking. I’d momentarily forgotten he was dead and guilt flooded my head. Dwight was dead because of me.

“Please, a jellyfish is better than Dwight.” But Claire’s usual sarcastic bite was missing. “Give me something else.”

She followed me in and shut the door while I set my laundry on my bed.

“Fine,” I said with a smug smile. “Nothing I’ve experienced has even come close to what we shared.” Little did she know.

She clapped her hands, happiness replacing her melancholy. “See? Didn’t I tell you? Say it. Come on.”

I forced a cheesy grin. “Fine. You were right. Happy now?”

“So what’s going on with the curse stuff?”

My smile fell. “The ceremony is tonight.”

“Are you two ready for that?”

“I think so. We have the cup and the bowl. Collin is preparing everything else today. We’ll beat the deadline. We should be good.” I hoped so.

“So what are you going to do after that? Are you going to join Match.com like I suggested?”

I squinted in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Now that you are back in the saddle and riding again, we want to keep it that way. You’ve tapped out the dating pool on Roanoke Island. Time to broaden your horizons.”

I tilted my head. “Claire, Collin doesn’t want this to be a couple-of-days thing.”

“What are you talking about, Ellie? You know that Collin is not a commitment-type guy. That’s why he was so perfect. Hot guy who fucks you blind—”

“Claire!”

“—and gets your confidence back so you can move on to someone more reliable.” She narrowed her eyes. “Oh, my God. You’re actually considering keeping him around.”

“He’s not what you think he is, Claire.”

“A womanizing man-whore? You’re really telling me that he’s not?”

I didn’t answer, trying to find the words to explain it.

She laughed, but it was bitter. “Let me guess, Collin told you that you’re different than any other woman he’s ever met, and he’s going to change for you.”

How did I answer that? When she put it that way, it sounded like a flat-out lie. But I’d seen a deeper Collin than he showed the world. Or was that all an act? No, I’d felt his bond to me through our marks. He couldn’t lie to me, not when we were connected like that.

“Please, dear God, tell me you haven’t fallen for him? I thought you were smarter than that.”

I turned my back to her and looked out the window.

“Ellie.” The disappointment in her voice hurt.

“Shut up, Claire.”

She sighed and sat on the bed, crossing her legs. “What the hell do I know? Maybe he will.”

I pulled my laundry out and started putting it away. “Yeah.” I hated myself for letting her make me doubt.

“Ellie.”

I turned to look at her.

“I hope for your sake he does. You deserve to be screwed by a guy like that every night and make babies so gorgeous that human eyes can’t look upon them.”

I grinned in spite of my worry, unsuccessfully hiding my chuckle. “I love you too. Now go home and get ready for your wedding next month.” I paused. “Claire, when it gets dark, I want to mark your door.”

“Seriously? The salt worked.”

“Thank God, but the spirit threatened to hurt someone I love. I want to make sure you’re protected. Just in case.”

I needed all the insurance I could get.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The restaurant had reopened after Lila’s death, but it remained closed after Marlena’s. She was the heart and soul of the New Moon. I wasn’t sure I could even face working there without her.

The police showed up at my apartment mid-afternoon. The marks on my door threw the two officers, but they recovered before they sat down on my sofa. One of the officers was familiar. I was sure the middle-aged man had been in the restaurant before. But the other I’d gone to school with, Tom Helmsworth.

The older officer took the lead with the questioning. “Do you know anyone who has a personal vendetta against the restaurant?”

I shook my head, pressing the back of my knuckles against my teeth. “No.”

“Have you ever felt unsafe working there?”

The only time I’d felt unsafe was the first day Collin showed up. “No. The New Moon is one of the best jobs I’ve ever had.”

“Do you have any idea who could have done this?”

Tears filled my eyes, and I shook my head.

Tom shifted his weight. “What’s with the door, Ellie?”

My breath caught. “You mean the marks?”

“Yeah.”

“Protection.”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you need protection from?”

Shit. Why did I tell him that? “I heard about the tourist and I heard about Lila. That they were frozen solid. That doesn’t exactly sound natural, now does it? I’m protecting myself from evil spirits.”

I expected Tom to laugh and call me crazy. Instead he kept his gaze on me, his face expressionless. “Why do you think these evil spirits would come after you?”

I swallowed. What did Tom know? This didn’t sound like idle curiosity. “It’s insurance. Just like the deadbolt on my door. I hope to God I’ll never need it, but it’s there in case I do.”

Tom didn’t seem satisfied, but he didn’t press for more information. He stood, and the other officer stood with him. “Well, thank you for your time, Ellie.”

I nodded. “Sure.” I walked them to the door and the older man started down the stairs, but Tom stopped on the porch and stared at my door.

“You know what I don’t get?” His eyes pierced mine.

My heart lurched. “No. What?”

“Where a woman white as Wonder Bread learned Native American symbols, and why she thought to put them on her door.”

My mouth dropped open, but I wasn’t sure what to say.

His voice lowered. “You can talk to me, Ellie. I can protect you. Is there something you have to tell me?”

I shook my head. “No.”

He knew I was lying, but there was nothing I could do about that right now. I only hoped he thought I had information and didn’t consider me a suspect.

Around seven, Collin sent me a text telling me he’d let me know when we’d go to the botanical gardens. Since the gardens were in the same complex as the Lost Colony grounds, Collin was smart to wait until the wee hours of the morning. So much activity was happening at the new excavation site—I still couldn’t believe they called it that when it was so obviously not excavated—that three or four a.m. were probably the safest hours, and still gave us enough time before the sunrise.

He sent me another text around nine telling me to be ready at two.

Why didn’t he call? Worry churned in my gut, fueled by doubt and fear.

I went to Claire’s around ten. I was on edge and conscious of my surroundings while I fisted and flexed my right hand. My fingertips brushed the raised edges of my mark, giving me small comfort. I could protect myself and the people I loved. I wasn’t helpless.

I wanted to wait until later to start on Claire’s door, when hopefully no one would see me, but I was afraid to wait too long. While Claire was eager to let me mark her entrances, Drew, on the other hand, took some convincing. Especially since I refused to give him an adequate reason.

She stood back as I made the symbols Colin showed me, leaving out his symbol and substituting mine instead. For the center symbol, I put Claire and Drew’s initials and prayed it was enough.

“That is so cool,” she said after I finished.

“Let’s just hope you don’t need it.”

When I left, I drove to the inn. Myra was an early-to-bed person, so I knew I wouldn’t run into her close to eleven thirty. Daddy had marked the doors, but some of the symbols Collin used were missing. I’d feel better if I redid them all, but the inn had a lot of exterior doors, and it would take me awhile.

I made my way around the building, putting Myra and Daddy’s initials in the spot that designated who needed protection, hoping it covered the guests too. But I put a fresh line of salt in all the openings for added insurance, even the windows I could reach. If the gate didn’t close, I’d ask Collin if there was something more appropriate to use. I chided myself for my pessimism, but I couldn’t shake the heavy dread that had settled around me.

I saved the front door that led out to the screened porch for last. I opened the screen door slowly to ease the creak in the hinges and nearly screamed when I saw Daddy in the corner, mumbling.

“Daddy! You scared me to death! Does Myra know you’re down here?” I knew for a fact she didn’t. There was no way she’d let him out here by himself.

Daddy ignored me, still mumbling, but I caught a few words. Black water, son of the sea.

He was saying the words of protection, but in English.

I took several steps closer. “Daddy?”

He stood in the darkest of shadows, probably the least safe place he could be. My palm began to tingle.

Shit.

My heart pounded against my ribs. I knew I could protect myself, but could I protect Daddy too? Did I have time to mark the front door?

“Curse Keeper.” A shimmering white-grayish light appeared on the porch out of thin air, and I stood in front of Daddy to shield him. “Daughter of the sea, witness to creation. The hour is close at hand. Do you intend to close the gate?”

Since this spirit wasn’t threatening me, he must be Ahone’s messenger. “Yes, but I’m not sure how.”

“Because you do not believe.”

“I believe now.”

“Yet you still have no faith.”

“It’s not a matter of faith. I just don’t remember.” Frustration welled in my chest. Were the memories buried deep inside, or had telling Claire wiped them away? Not that it mattered at this point. I had no hope of learning them in the next few hours.

“A sacrifice must be made to close the gate.”

I gasped. I expected something like this from Okeus, but not Ahone. “What kind of sacrifice?”

“You are safe tonight. From Ahone.”

I swallowed to keep from throwing up. “Okeus?”

“Okeus is not your greatest enemy tonight.”

“What does that mean?”

My father’s mumbling grew louder, and I glanced over my shoulder. Daddy had his hand up, muttering the words of protection in English. Would it work for him since he wasn’t the Keeper now? I doubted it, fear spreading through my body like a cancer.

“The curse was flawed from beginning to end. Alpha and Omega. The beginning of time to the end the world. The universe tends to chaos but thrives on balance. Gods were not meant to be contained, nor can they be commanded. A price must be paid for the arrogance of man. Each line must pay a price and the retribution is steep. A sacrifice must be made.”

My blood rushed in my ears. My palm burned, and I held it at my side, ready to send the spirit away, but he was here for a reason, and I hoped to find out why.

“What about Ahone? He was part of the curse.”

“He has suffered many times over, and he will suffer again. The son of the land has already made his sacrifice; now it is time for the daughter of the sea.”

What did Collin sacrifice? “Do you mean I must die?”

“Not tonight. Not by Ahone.”

Daddy’s mumbling stopped.

And then I knew, my eyes widening as my heart raced. “No! I’ve sacrificed one parent to this terrible curse already. I won’t give another.”

“Ahone will not close the gate without a sacrifice.” Then the spirit was gone.

A sacrifice? I forced myself to calm down and think rationally. I couldn’t sacrifice Daddy. I wouldn’t. The gate could stay cracked for eternity for all I cared. But if gods were after Daddy, I had to protect him.

“Daddy! You have to go inside.” I ran to the door, writing the symbols as quickly as I could. I’d made it to the symbol for air, when a wind blew me across the porch and sent me crashing into the wicker furniture.

“Curse Keeper.” My throat tightened at the derogatory tone. Okeus’s messenger. “It is time to make your decision.”

“Tell Okeus to go back to hell.”

“If you refuse, you must make your sacrifice.”

“What is up with you gods and your fucking sacrifices? Go to hell!”

Daddy stepped forward from the shadows. “I am ready to pay the price.”

“No!” I screamed. “No! He doesn’t know what he’s saying!” I scratched the next symbols.

Daddy turned to me, his eyes clear and coherent. “Your mother died for you, Ellie. Now it’s my turn.”

“No! I’m not going to lose you too!” I grabbed his arm and dragged him across the porch and toward the front door.

The spirit sent a blast of air toward us, but I held onto Daddy’s arm and managed to get the front door open and push Daddy inside.

“DO NOT DEFY OKEUS, CURSE KEEPER!” The loud voice shook the porch.

“Fuck you!” I shouted, lifting my palm and shoving it toward him, shouting the words of protection.

The spirit howled, screaming into the night as he disappeared.

I scratched the last of the symbols on the door as Myra appeared in her nightgown, bleary-eyed and frightened. “Ellie? What’s going on?”

“Daddy was outside, and he was almost attacked.”

Her eyes bulged, and she swung her gaze out to the yard. “Attacked by what?”

“Myra, the curse is real. It’s all real. Okeus, the dark creator god, has marked Daddy as a sacrifice, but as long as you keep him inside and behind the marked door, you’ll both be all right.” The gods might have marked Daddy, but I’d do everything to protect him.

Myra tilted her head. “Ellie, listen to yourself. What are you saying?”

I searched her eyes, pleading with her to understand. “I know it sounds crazy, Myra, but it’s real. Please. Please, keep Daddy inside. Hopefully this will all be a bad dream tomorrow. I have to go.” I ran toward the screen door.

“Ellie!”

I turned around to face her.

“I believe you.”

Those three words meant so much. I ran back and hugged her. “Thank you.”

“Ellie, be careful.”

I rushed to my car and drove back to my apartment, tightly wound, my thoughts a scrambled mess. Ahone’s messenger said that he and Okeus weren’t my biggest threat tonight. So what was? Collin? I just couldn’t believe it. I knew he wasn’t the most honorable man, but our link didn’t lie. It wasn’t Collin. Maybe Ahone’s messenger was warning me that the gate wouldn’t close if I didn’t make a sacrifice and I’d face my nightmare. Hundreds of spirits intent on torturing me. I fought to catch my breath. That definitely seemed like the biggest threat.

Both gods demanded a sacrifice, so what were my options? The way I saw it, I had three: One, I accept Okeus’s offer and pledge myself to him and save Daddy’s life. Two, I provide a sacrifice of some kind to Ahone to close the gate. Three, I do nothing. If I chose one, I’d save Daddy but lose the world, and most likely myself, to evil. If I chose three, I’d most likely spend the rest of my life constantly on guard, protecting Daddy and myself and watching the world be overrun with spirits. I only had one option I could live with, the second. But I could never sacrifice Daddy.

I would sacrifice myself.

A surreal calm settled over me. I thought my decision would freak me out more, and while I was terrified, I was more worried about what would happen if I didn’t follow through with it. What would Collin say? What had Collin sacrificed?

Unbelievably, I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up to my cell phone ringing.

“Ellie, I’m setting up here,” he said after I answered. “I’m worried that we’ll run out of time. I need you to meet me at the botanical gardens.”

“You’re already there?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you bring me with you?”

“I’ve been here for a couple of hours and didn’t want you out here out in the open.”

“But you’re out in the open.” I didn’t intend for my tone to sound so accusatory.

“What are you saying, Ellie?”

What was I doing? “Nothing. I’m sorry. I’m on edge.”

His voice softened. “I am too. It will be over soon.”

“I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” I hung up and grabbed my purse and keys, so nervous I thought I’d throw up. I looked around my apartment, wondering what would happen to all my things. Maybe I should have made a list of what I wanted done. But what did it matter? It was just stuff. The important thing was that I was saving the people I loved and everyone else in the world with them. Panic washed through me when I thought about how I would accomplish my own sacrifice, but I took a deep breath. Calm down. You can do this.

I was scared to be outside this deep in the night, but none of the gods bothered me. They were probably waiting to put on a show.

When I drove into the Lost Colony complex and pulled in the botanical gardens parking lot, I climbed out of the car and found Collin waiting for me in the shadows.

“Ellie.” He stepped out and held a hand toward me. He was shirtless, only wearing jeans and his shoes, but his body was covered with markings. As I stepped closer, I saw that his eyes shone bright with excitement and nervousness.

I took his hand, and he turned to walk to the back gate. He was so quiet. So solemn. Should I tell him about my decision? I couldn’t imagine he’d go along with it, not after all his protests of doing everything to save me. “Collin, I’m scared.”

He stopped and put his hands on my waist, bending over to kiss my lips gently. “I’m scared too, but we can do this. I believe in us. I have faith.”

Ahone’s messenger told me that I believed but I lacked faith. Is that what he meant?

He kissed me again, more possessively this time. When he pulled back, his eyes had changed, and held fierce determination.

He opened the back gate and we walked hand in hand toward the giant oak tree. Hundreds of pillar candles circled the tree trunk. It would have been beautiful if it wasn’t so serious.

“How long did it take you to set this up?”

“A few hours.”

“I would have helped you, Collin.”

He squeezed my hand. “I know, Ellie. I didn’t want to risk you being out in the open.”

Why did he always say that? Why didn’t he worry about himself?

When we got closer, I saw markings carved into the ground, intricate patterns dug into the grass. I recognized only a few. “What do they mean?”

“They’re like the symbols on your door. Calling upon the ancient forces, listing the gods and spirits that I know. The rest is a prayer of a sort.”

Inside the large circle was a smaller circle with a small round table and Collin’s bowl. “Did you bring the cup?”

I nodded, pulling it from my purse and handing it to him. I tossed my purse to the ground outside the ceremonial area. My legs shook.

“Are you ready?”

“What if this doesn’t work, Collin?”

“Have faith.”

Yet you still have no faith.

Was that the key to closing the gate? That, along with my sacrifice? I had to at least address this with Collin, even if I didn’t tell him my decision. “Collin, Ahone’s messenger told me I needed to make a sacrifice to close the gate. He said you’d already made yours.”

His eyes hardened. “You don’t have to sacrifice anything tonight, Ellie. I’ve made sure of that.”

“With your own sacrifice?”

“We need to get started.” Collin’s hand tightened on my mine and he led me into the smaller circle.

What had Collin sacrificed? I couldn’t imagine him sacrificing someone in his family. But I had two choices: either I trusted Collin or I didn’t.

Is there really any choice?

I stepped inside the circle and the entire world hushed, as though we’d stepped onto hallowed ground. I looked up into Collin’s face for reassurance.

He placed me in the middle of the smaller circle, next to the table. Then, standing in front of me, he leaned down to give me a gentle kiss. “It’s time.”

Collin began to chant in the ancient language. The sounds hung heavy in the air. Everything felt slower. Louder. More meaningful.

The moon floated full in the cloudless sky. The stars shone so brightly I felt like they would rain down upon us.

The veil to the spirit world was close. The air grew thick, and I dragged it into my lungs with each slow breath. Magic was heavy and oppressive here, and I felt helpless and weak in the face of it. I closed my eyes. I wasn’t helpless and weak. And I wasn’t doing this alone. I had Collin.

Collin stood in front of me, pouring a dark brown liquid from an old pot into the bowl and the cup, chanting his melancholy tune. I lifted my eyes to the heavens. We were but specks in this vast and infinite universe. I couldn’t be a pure soul for nothing. The gift that I carried meant something. Something other than food for the spirits.

Collin grabbed my face in his hands, devotion and determination in his eyes as his song continued. My soul was older than anything here. I carried an ancient history deep inside me. What did it mean? For what purpose?

I believe now.

Yet you still have no faith.

Collin pulled my shirt over my head and his hands skimmed my shoulders, his right palm landing on the symbol on my back. My back arched with the rush of power, and he brought me to his chest with loving arms.

Okeus’s symbol was on my back.

The symbols are typically used to invoke the Manitou or other forces. The marks call upon the forces you’re asking for protection, not the forces you need protection from . . . You wouldn’t include the mark of the thing you were protecting against.

Fear gripped my heart. Why was I frightened? Collin wouldn’t hurt me. Was this what Ahone meant? That I didn’t have faith in Collin?

Collin picked up a rope from the table, placing one end in my left hand. Then he put my right forearm against his right one, wrapping the rope around our arms, binding us together.

“Ellie, do you know what you did?”

I nodded. I’d burned our souls together for eternity. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

He shook his head. “No. Don’t be sorry. Not now. Not for this.”

When he finished, he took a deep breath, and his eyes darkened with desire. His free hand found my cheek, sliding down to my neck as his words filled the night. The air grew hazy and some part deep inside me recognized it as magic. How could I know that? Did I need to have faith in the magic inside me? I had to admit that something felt off. Collin was supposed to be performing a ceremony similar to what Manteo and Ananias Dare had performed. Yet somehow I knew this wasn’t the same as theirs. Collin was using the union of our souls to strengthen the ceremony. That had to be a good thing. The first ceremony failed.

I changed the cleansing ceremony when I marked you.

My heartbeat pounded in my head. It all boiled down to trust. Did I trust Collin or not? This man I’d seared my soul to, regardless of what he was doing now.

Collin picked up a knife from the table.

Don’t trust me, Ellie. You can’t trust me.

No. I refused to believe Collin would hurt me. He’d sworn time and time again he’d protect me. When we were joined with our marks, I saw into his soul.

One day, when you hate me for coming into your life, let alone letting you seal your soul to mine, when hearing my name fills your heart with pain, and you never want to see my face again . . . Even then, you will be my responsibility.

Tears streamed down my face, yet still my heart refused to believe. I thought Collin meant I’d hate him for his past, but the ancient wisdom borne in my soul told me I was wrong.

Collin knew I’d hate him for his betrayal.

I want you to remember this. What you feel with me. Remember that I am yours for now and forever. And no man will ever give you what I can.

He held the knife above our heads and I watched, mesmerized and in too much shock to fight him as he swiped the knife across my palm and then his. My hand was numb when he tilted our hands over the bowl and the cup, our blood dripping into the vessels. Smoke rose from the surface of the liquids, rising and joining together as it floated toward the tree.

Blood. No blood, Ellie.

I cried out in pain and shock as Collin pressed our marks together.

The world around me faded, and the spirit world burst free.

CHAPTER THIRTY

The knot in the giant oak tree began to glow and a bright light suffused the air, blinding me. But when I closed my eyes and blinked them open, I could see. The gate to hell swung open, the shouts and cries of three wind gods, the demons and other spirits, clung to the molecules in the air.

The wind god of the north appeared in the shape of a bird with a human head and flowing white hair. “Come my brothers. You are free!” Three large birds with human heads flew out of the tree and circled over Collin and me. They dove and pecked, but bounced off an invisible dome that surrounded us. They grimaced and shrieked. “We promised we would come for you Curse Keeper, daughter of the sea, witness to creation. We will make you pay. We will be lurking in the night for you.”

Okeus appeared next, moving through the gate toward the tree, in human form. He was handsome with raven hair, long on one side and short on the other. His eyes were black as the night. He held his arms open wide. “Come, my children! You are finally free!”

Grotesque creatures spilled out of the tree like ants, crawling over one another in their rush to freedom. They circled Collin and me. Collin stiffened and his free arm snaked around my back and pulled me to his chest. The creatures sniffed at the edge of our circle, clawing at the invisible shield. Hundreds covered the ground in the garden, knocking over the candles and trampling the marks in the grass. “We will hunt you in the night Curse Keeper, daughter of the sea, witness to creation. You will rue the day you came into existence. We will torture you for four hundred years as your people tortured us.”

Then they disappeared into the darkness. All but Okeus, who walked toward us, wearing a wicked smile. “Well done, son of the earth. You have opened the gate, and while I can give you continued protection, your reward will not be granted. You defied me by protecting the daughter of the sea.” Okeus turned to me, his finger piercing the shield. A sharp talon extended from where he should have had a fingernail. The tip touched my right arm and his claw sank deep, dragging across my skin and cutting a jagged design. His symbol.

I screamed from the pain, and my knees collapsed. Collin held me up, horror in his eyes.

“Until the day you die, you carry the mark of my curse.”

My vision swam as Okeus disappeared. Collin and I were alone with the open gate before us.

Ahone came next, descending from the sky, wearing a white robe and a long white beard. “Witness to creation, you believe, but do you have faith?”

Tears fell down my face. I didn’t know what to have faith in anymore.

“There are forces greater than the strength of the gods. You are witness to creation. You have seen this with your own eyes. You have been present in all of time and space. You were chosen for a reason, Curse Keeper, witness to creation. You must have faith.”

Anything we send back right now won’t stay there. The gate to the spirit world is open and it would only return. They will only stay locked away if the gate is closed.

The only chance humanity had at survival was if we shut the gate.

“I don’t know how.”

“You will when you have faith.”

“After I make my sacrifice?”

Ahone nodded.

Did I need Collin for this? I doubted that he’d even help, not that I wanted his help. I tugged the rope around my arm free and pushed Collin’s arm off of me. I held up my throbbing right hand, blood dripping down my wrist, and walked toward the gate. Ahone said the answer was there if I had faith.

What was the difference between belief and faith? I believed this was real because I’d seen it with my own eyes. But faith meant believing without proof.

Ahone interrupted my thoughts. “The sun is rising, witness to creation. When the sun touches the surface of the earth, the gate is sealed open forever.”

No pressure.

“Ellie,” Collin called behind me, panic in his voice. “What are you doing?”

Anger rose hot and scalding, and I turned and pointed my finger at him. “You shut the fuck up right now.”

Pain swam in his eyes. I turned to face the opening.

How was I going to do this? I didn’t know what to do, but I realized that was the point. Wasn’t that the purpose of faith? Trusting in something even when you didn’t know what to do? But how did I sacrifice myself and still close the gate?

“Daughter of the sea, the universe strives for balance. You are only half of a whole.”

As much as I abhorred the thought, I needed Collin’s power to help me do this.

“What is your sacrifice?” Ahone asked.

“Myself.”

Collin gasped. He moved next to me, grabbing my arm, his eyes widening in terror. “Ellie. No.”

Ahone shook his head. “You must give something of great value that will cause you pain to lose. You cannot sacrifice yourself.”

I swallowed a sob. I couldn’t close the gate without a sacrifice, and the sun would be up soon. What was I going to do?”

Daddy stepped out from behind the tree, still wearing his pajamas. “I am the sacrifice.”

“No!” I shouted. How did he get here? How did he know where to go? Horror magnified my panic. I told him. I turned to Ahone “He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

Daddy smiled, his face full of love and pride. “Ellie, I do know what I’m doing. I’ve lived my life so proud to call myself the Curse Keeper and now I get to be part of history in the making. Now I will live on in the legends.”

My legs shook. “Daddy, no. Please. Don’t leave me.”

“You and I both know I left you years ago.” He turned to Ahone. “I’m ready.”

I started to run to stop him, but Collin wrapped his arms around my stomach. “Ellie, don’t.”

“Get your fucking hands off me.”

But Collin’s grip tightened as Ahone reached a hand to Daddy’s chest. Ahone’s fingers turned to white smoke, which spiraled around Daddy’s body. Daddy’s head fell back and his legs grew limp.

The smoke gently lowered Daddy to the ground, then retreated to Ahone’s hand.

“Both of your sacrifices have been accepted. You may close the gate.”

Sobbing, I shook my head, leaning forward, but Collin’s arms kept my back pressed against his chest. I didn’t want to close the gate. I wanted Daddy.

“Ellie, don’t let your father’s death mean nothing,” Collin’s voice broke, whispering in my ear. “He wanted you to close it.”

I spun around to him, my sorrow exploding into rage. “You did this! You betrayed me! You opened the gate, Collin. How could you?”

He shook his head, tears in his eyes.

“It’s your fault my father is dead. I will never forgive you for betraying me, Collin. Never.”

“I know.” He sucked in a breath. The sadness and pain in his eyes were nearly my undoing. He took my hand and pushed his palm into my own.

In an instant, with the jolt of power, I was directly in front of the wide-open gate, searching deep inside my being for the ancient force. I realized my agonized soul was the key to finding it. Great sacrifice was needed to save the world. Ananias Dare had sacrificed his entire village, including his wife and child. Perhaps he’d done it inadvertently, but he’d done it all the same. I needed to feel deep pain to uncover the ancient magic. Didn’t Ahone realize that Collin’s betrayal was sacrifice enough?

I leaned my head back, my mark still linked to Collin’s, opening my left arm wide and summoning the force. A black hole filled the sky overhead.

“Collin, you opened the gate. You have to close it.”

He stood at my side, his eyes wide in confusion.

“Push the gate closed, Collin, or I will kick your fucking ass.”

He looked around as though he were in the middle of a dream, but he grabbed a thick iron spindle with his left hand and pushed the gate closed.

I pressed our still joined hands onto the metal bars. “We are daughter of the sea and son of the earth. I am witness to the birth of the earth and the birth of the sea, magic more ancient and powerful than that of the gods. Our union gave rise to their birth and our union will give rise to their death. I call upon our primordial power to seal the gate to hell.”

Sparks flew from the melding of the gate to the wall of the spirit world.

When I was sure it was sealed, I dropped Collin’s hand, and we stood under the giant oak tree, on trampled grass and overturned candles. The sun’s rays had begun to peek over the horizon.

Ahone stood next to the tree, Daddy’s body at his feet. “The universe strives for balance. The son of the earth has paid his sacrifice. The daughter of the sea has also paid hers. Daughter of the sea, you may now bear my mark.” Ahone disappeared into mist.

I rushed to Daddy and dropped to my knees. I reached a tentative hand toward him, terrified he’d be frozen. “Daddy,” I wailed as I stroked his face, thankful to find it still warm. He looked so peaceful, as though he were asleep. “Daddy. Wake up. Daddy!” I shook his shoulders, leaving bloody smears on his cheek and his pajamas. “Wake up!”

“Ellie, he’s not asleep.” Collin’s voice cracked behind me.

I pressed my cheek to Daddy’s chest, listening for the dull thud I’d hear when I was a little girl. The only sound was my own ragged breath from my sobs.

“Ellie, we have to get out of here.” Collin squatted behind me and gently gripped my shoulders.

My body stiffened. “Get your fucking hands off of me.”

His fingers slid slowly off of my arms, and he rose, but remained inches behind me.

I stood, spinning around to face Collin. “What was your sacrifice? Was it your brother?”

A hint of anger mixed with the pain etched on his face. “No. God, no.”

“What? What did you give Okeus?”

The morning hung pregnant with pause. “My soul.”

I gasped. It all made sense.

Are you a witch, Ellie Lancaster? Have you cast a spell to entrance me? Or are you an angel sent to save my soul?

“Why would you do that, Collin? Why would you sell the devil your soul?”

“You don’t understand, Ellie.”

I shook my head in disgust. “You’re right. I don’t understand. I thought I knew you.”

His eyes hardened. “I told you not to trust me.”

“That’s the only thing I should have believed.” The cool morning air hit my flushed skin and I shivered, then spun around, looking for my shirt.

“Ellie. I swear to God I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Don’t you mean you swear to Okeus?”

“Ellie, please. Just let me explain.”

I ignored him as I bent down to pick my T-shirt off the ground. Dizziness swamped my head as I stood back up, and I realized how much blood I had lost. My right arm was covered in it.

Collin reached for me, but I slapped him away with my left hand. “Don’t you touch me. You lost any right to touch me.”

“Ellie, please.” The pain in his voice almost broke me. Almost.

I tugged my shirt over my head. “You lied to me. You endangered my life. You endangered humanity for what? You sold your soul. What did Okeus promise you, Collin?”

“Ellie.”

“You knew. The day you came into the restaurant, you knew. You did this. You did this to me. The contents of hell have spilled upon the earth and every single creature has vowed to hunt me down and make me pay for their imprisonment. All for your selfish greed.” I found my purse on the ground and picked it up, pushing through another wave of dizziness. “I hope you’re happy, Collin. I hope it was worth it.”

“If I could do it all over again—”

My heart twisted with pain and grief. “You’d do the exact same thing. You told me that last night.” My voice caught on a sob, but I swallowed it. “You wouldn’t change any of it.”

He held out his palm toward me. His mark was there, covered in both of our blood. Hours ago it was a symbol of hope; now it was reminder of my idiocy. “I didn’t know, Ellie. I swear I didn’t know.”

“And now you do. But it doesn’t change a fucking thing.”

I turned around and took a deep breath. I was about to walk away from the one person in all of eternity who could make me whole. My literal other half. The pain was excruciating, a thousand times worse than any physical pain I had ever felt. I choked back a sob. Could I do this? Could I walk away from him?

How could I not after what he’d done?

I took a step, nearly collapsing from the pain of separation.

“Where are you going?” Collin called after me, his voice broken.

I stopped and looked over my shoulder. “I’m going to do what my father raised me to do. I’m going to save the world.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The idea for The Curse Keepers came to me in March 2012. The end of my urban fantasy series—The Chosen—was on the horizon and I was looking for a new project to start on when the series was finished.

Although I wasn’t sure what I would write about, I did know that I wanted to write another urban fantasy without vampires and werewolves. My friend and critique partner, Trisha Leigh, suggested I base it on the Lost Colony of Roanoke. In my version, the colony disappears because of a curse.

This story is based on historical events and figures. Manteo is real. He was a Croatan Indian who befriended the English when they first arrived in what is now North Carolina, years before the colony landed onshore. Manteo sailed to England with Wanchese, another Croatan Indian, and spent several years in England before he returned to the New World on the ship with the first colony. A ragtag band of 118 men, women, and children determined to create a new life free of religious persecution landed on Roanoke Island on July 22, 1587. Their governor was John White, but he soon returned to England to get more supplies, leaving behind his daughter Elinor/Eleanor (both spellings found interchangeably), newborn granddaughter Virginia, and son-in-law, Ananias Dare, along with the rest of the colonists, less one man who was murdered by a neighboring Native American tribe.

John White returned three years later to discover the colony had disappeared. Nothing was left behind, not even the buildings. While many wild speculations have been made—including my own, even if I know mine is fictional—the reality is that the colony, which faced constant threats from angry Native American tribes, probably moved either inland or farther down the coast to live with friendlier tribes.

Although information about the colony is hard to find, searching out information about the Croatan tribe has been even more difficult. I have never researched a book or series as much as I have The Curse Keepers. Nor have I found so few results from my searches.

Sadly, much has been lost about the Native Americans the first English settlers encountered. The English were far more concerned about converting the Indians to the English way rather than preserving the Native American history. I have spent months and months reading books, e-mailing professors of North Carolinian Native American history, and surfing through information on the Internet to come up with a spirit world for The Curse Keepers. I’ve pulled stories and gods from several coastal, early Native American tribes to come up with my own creation story.

The story of the Great Hare god and the jealous wind gods is recorded in several books. I also found belief in two creator gods, Ahone and Okeus (pronounced Ok-ee), one good and one evil. However, the story of Ahone splitting himself into two so he could save humanity is my own fabrication. I have also searched early Algonquian languages to come up with authentic Native American words for the names of the wind gods since no names are recorded. I found no record of a flood story, but so many beliefs share this story, I decided to include it in my own creation myth.

The Manitou is part of Algonquian belief. So is the spirit world hell, Popogusso. The idea of pure souls is my own creation. I have uncovered many other demons and monsters in ancient Native American folklore. They will make appearances in future books.

Manteo is a real town on Roanoke Island. Writing about a real town that is relatively small presented a challenge. I visited Manteo in April 2012 but only spent two days exploring the town, Roanoke Island, and the visitor center at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. I have a weeklong trip planned for July 2013 to research more of the island, including Wanchese, a fishing village, and the surrounding area, both on the Outer Banks and inland.

When I wrote The Curse Keepers, I wanted to capture the character of the town as much as possible, but I couldn’t keep everything exactly the same. I’ve changed the names of many real establishments. If you visit Manteo, you’ll probably be able to figure out most of them.

The Curse Keepers is rich with history, and it’s my hope that my respect for lost Native American tribes comes through in this book as well as future books.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

If it weren’t for my best friend and critique partner, Trisha Leigh, The Curse Keepers would never exist. When I was brainstorming a new urban fantasy series that didn’t include vampires or shape-shifters, Trisha suggested I come up with something based on the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Two hours of Google Chat later—despite the fact we live ten minutes apart and talk on the phone every day—the plot for The Curse Keepers was born.

Thank you to my awesome editor, Alison Dasho, who has worked with me on multiple books and helped me tweak the series synopsis and world building for The Curse Keepers. She always believes in me, even when my confidence wavers.

Thanks to my beta readers—Rhonda Cowswert, Wendy Webb, Becky Podjenksi, Marsha Norlock, Christie Timpson, Pamela Hargraves, and Emily Pearson. Rhonda is the best beta reader an author could hope for. She understands the number one rule of beta reading: Friends don’t let friends look stupid in print.

A huge thanks to the citizens of Manteo who answered questions about life in their town when I visited in April 2012. Also thanks to Becky Smith, a resident of Manteo who shared information through e-mail. I tried my best to get life in Manteo as accurate as possible. What I did get right is because of the generosity of the Manteo residents.

And finally, I want to thank my children, who have learned to accept the fact their mom has a different life than most moms. Between the multiple trips, the crazy sleep schedule, and the fact I work every day, Christmas included, they’ve not only accepted the changes in their lives but also give me their full support. They see that I’m living my dream. They can make theirs come true too.

To my father, whose love of early American History sparked an unexpected flame.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER ONE

Ananias Dare had expected August in the New World to be hot, but this was how he envisioned hell—full of heat and raging tempers.

His cotton shirt clung to his back and arms and sweat rolled down his neck, making his collar scratchy, but the cries of the infant coming from his shelter sent prickles down his spine.

He was a father.

“It’s a girl!” Agnes called out from behind the thatched walls.

Several men slapped Ananias’s back. “Well wishes, Dare!”

“Maybe a son next time,” gloated Tom, the father of three sons.

A girl. Pride and happiness swelled Ananias’s chest, but fear kept it contained. He wondered for the countless time what had possessed him to come to this godforsaken land. Why had he allowed his father-in-law to coerce him into crossing a damn ocean? The promise of a land rich with possibilities had been a lie.

There was only death in this place.

After a four-month voyage from England, the one hundred and seventeen voyagers had arrived on Roanoke Island less than a month ago. The natives were infuriated by the colonists’ presence, and they had already made their feelings known by killing Ananias’s friend, George Howe, six days after the settlers came ashore. Fear ran rampant because the Indians refused to consider a peaceful coexistence.

How long would it be before more died?

Roanoke Island had never been their true destination. Ananias’s father-in-law, Governor John White, had set his sights farther up the Virginia coast in Chesapeake Bay. But White had insisted they stop at Roanoke Island to collect the fifteen soldiers manning the fort the English had set up on their last excursion. All the search team had found was a deserted complex, overgrown with vegetation, and a single skeleton. There’d been no sign at all of the others. The news had spooked Fernandez, the fleet’s commander, and he had immediately insisted the colonists be sent ashore.

Despite Governor White’s insistence that the fort’s complete annihilation meant nothing, the colonists weren’t stupid. They knew this place was full of death and danger, but they had no choice in the matter. The two ships they’d arrived in bobbed offshore while the sailors prepared the vessels for the return voyage to England. The sight taunted the colonists because the captain refused to let them back on board or to take them farther north, saying it was too late in the summer. And now it was too late to plant the food that would help them survive the winter. They were stuck. And they were in dire trouble.

A sound came from the hut and Ananias snapped to attention. A tired smile covered Agnes’s face when she stuck her head out the flimsy door. “You can come in and see them now.”

Ananias took a deep breath before ducking his head and entering the sweltering shelter. His wife Elinor lay in the bed, her head slightly propped up. She held a wrapped bundle to her chest.

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly at his entrance, her face pale from exhaustion and physical exertion. The delivery had not been an easy one, and the sight of her sent relief rushing through his body.

“Do you want to see her?” Elinor murmured. There was no apology in her voice. They had discussed the possibility of a girl, and even though most parents coveted boys, especially in this rough and foreign land, Ananias thought all children were a blessing from God, no matter their sex.

A lump lodged in his throat as he sat on the edge of the makeshift bed, straw poking the backs of his legs. Elinor pulled back the linen to reveal a tiny red face, her cheeks puffy and her head slightly pointed. The shape of her crown ignited worry, but his wife laid her delicate hand on his arm. “The shape is no need for concern. Agnes says it is elongated from the extended labor and will soon become normal.”

Ananias nodded, relieved. Tears burned his eyes as he reached his hand toward the babe’s face.

“Say something, husband,” Elinor prompted, her voice shaky.

He looked into his wife’s worry-filled eyes, barely able to speak. “She’s beautiful, Ellie.”

A single tear slid down her cheek.

Ananias’s chest burned with a joy he had never known. God had blessed him with a beautiful, loving wife and now a child. Inside this stuffy hut, his world was a cocoon of happiness. But he couldn’t forget what lay in wait outside the door. Their new world was one of hardship and pain. He would allow himself this moment of pure joy, for who knew if he’d experience it again in this lifetime, as long or as short as that might be.

He caressed his wife’s cheek, his fingertips trailing over her soft skin. “Are you well? The labor took so long . . . I worried . . . ”

She reached up and pulled his face to hers. “I am well. Just very, very tired.”

Ananias kissed her lightly, as though she might break if he pressed too hard. “You and this child are the most important things to me in the world. I’ll do anything to protect you.”

“I know,” she murmured softly. “And it makes me love you even more.”

“What do you wish to name her?” he asked.

She closed her eyes, and he worried for a moment that her exhaustion had rendered her unconscious, but she smiled slightly. “Virginia. I want to name her after her new home.”

If naming her after this godforsaken land brought them luck, Ananias was all for it, but he worried the opposite might be true. Would it bring her doom? No matter, for he could refuse his wife nothing.

Coming to the New World had been proof of that.

Shouts arose outside, and Ananias nearly jumped off the bed, ready to protect his new family of three, but when the door pushed open, his father-in-law’s face appeared in the light-filled crack. “You have born the babe?”

“Aye,” Elinor smiled. “You now have a granddaughter.”

John turned his back to them, facing the crowd outside their home. “I’m a grandfather!”

Cheers and whistles filled the air in celebration, despite the fact that everyone already knew. With boredom and exhaustion as their common companions, the colonists devoured new information within minutes.

John remained outside the door as his friends expressed their well wishes to the governor. When he ducked through the doorway into the shelter, his presence consumed the small space that had been built to hold less than a handful of people. “May I see her?”

Elinor nodded and handed the baby to Ananias. He gathered his daughter gently in his arms. Virginia’s eyes were closed as she slept, probably worn out from the journey she had taken. As he cradled her close, love washed through him, tightening his chest so much it was difficult to breathe. This child was his blood, his hope of a legacy.

John reached for the baby, but Ananias hesitated, wariness spiking the hairs on his arms.

Together, Ananias and Elinor had created a precious life, and it was up to him to do everything in his power to protect her. He suddenly worried that he might need to protect her from her grandfather.

Elinor noticed his hesitation. “Go on, Ananias. Hand Virginia over.”

Ananias chided himself. This child was John White’s legacy as well, and there was no good reason for him to deny his wife’s request. He placed the sleeping babe in his father-in-law’s outstretched arms.

John looked down at his granddaughter. “You have named her Virginia?”

“Does this please you, Father?” Ananias heard the anxiety in Elinor’s voice.

John nodded. “Very much so.”

“I’m sorry it wasn’t a boy.”

Ananias’s head jerked toward his wife. Though he knew of her deep-seated fear that her father would have loved her more if she had been a boy, he hadn’t understood how much she’d wished to give him a grandson.

Ananias was now very pleased that his child was a girl.

But John shook his head with a smile. “No, my sweet Elinor. We must be grateful with all that the Lord provides for us. Even when what He provides bring us bitter disappointment.”

Given all they were facing, Ananias was sharp enough to realize John wasn’t referring to his granddaughter, but the words rankled nevertheless. His wife and child were in danger because of the persuasive influence of the man next to him.

John handed the baby back to Ananias, then leveled a stern expression at him. “Manteo and I are going to visit the Pomeiooc Indians. He believes the Dasamongueponke have fled there.”

Ananias’s mouth dropped open. “Was this your idea or Manteo’s?” Because of previous encounters between Englishmen and the Dasamongueponke and the Roanoke, the two Indian tribes of the Ossomocomuck had been a threat since the moment the colonists landed on the island, as evidenced by George Howe’s death. John had led an ill-fated attack on the Dasamongueponke village a few days earlier, and the colonists had accidentally killed and injured Croatan natives instead of their intended targets. In turn, they’d most likely alienated one of their only allies. White wanted to resolve the issue with their enemies before matters grew worse.

Manteo may have been born and raised a Croatan Indian, but the time he’d spent in England had changed him. The Croatan tribe had befriended the English when they first landed on these shores, three years and three voyages ago. While most natives resented the newcomers, the Croatan Indians had embraced them, even allowing one of their warriors—Manteo, the son of the Croatan chieftess—to venture to England along with Wanchese of the Dasamongueponke after their first encounter with the English. Both natives had returned to their homeland on the English explorers’ second voyage a year ago. While Manteo had embraced all things English and helped them deal with the savages, the elder Indian, Wanchese, had fled at the first opportunity. And he’d wasted no time in warning the savages that he saw the English as a threat.

Ananias called Manteo friend and knew him better than most Englishmen did, yet he couldn’t help but wonder if this visit to Pomeiooc was Manteo’s attempt to repair his own relationship with the natives. Especially after possibly estranging his own tribe after leading the attack on Dasamongueponke. Manteo seemed more English than Croatan these days, wearing English clothes and hairstyle. He’d always provided unbiased opinions, but lately, he had sided with John on things Ananias disagreed with, and it worried him. Nevertheless, the visit was a smart idea. Surely, relations with the natives would improve.

The governor squared his shoulders. “The decision was mine, but of course Manteo agrees with me.”

“Of course.” Perhaps it was the baby in his arms that made him defensive, but whatever the reason, Ananias couldn’t hide the bitterness in his words.

“Why is it that a savage will follow my orders when my own son-in-law will not?”

Ananias hesitated before answering. “Perhaps because I have so much more to lose.”

“Ananias!” Elinor said sharply.

He bowed his head, unwilling to upset his wife in her birth bed. This was a discussion better suited for another time. “I’m sorry, my love.” Swallowing bile, Ananias looked up at her father. “I meant no disrespect.”

John cupped Ananias’s upper arm. “It’s an emotional day when you become a father.” Love and happiness radiated from the man’s eyes. “I remember it well.”

Ananias hoped Elinor saw the joy on her father’s face, that she would see how much her father loved her, in spite of her gender. Then perhaps his beloved would find peace and make decisions based on her own wants and desires and not those of her father. If she had found that acceptance months ago, they might not be here now. But Ananias knew they’d be here all the same. Elinor would never let her father leave her forever.

No, Ananias was certain that Roanoke Island was their destiny, the end result be damned.

CHAPTER TWO

The two most influential men in Ananias’s life had left the village over a day and a half before, the day after Virginia’s birth. Although Ananias was worried, he knew their journey would probably keep them away for several days. Manteo, for all his new English manners, still clung to some of his old traditions. He’d told Ananias and John that he planned to conduct a cleansing ceremony on the natives’ sacred ground before they met with the chief of the Pomeiooc tribe. John had balked in the beginning. Manteo had been baptized less than a week ago and was a Christian now. John had insisted that it was unseemly for him to conjure native spirits. But Manteo had stood his ground, telling the governor they would need all the help they could get. And, with a darkening expression, he had insisted that his own soul needed cleansing.

Given the look on his friend’s face, Ananias couldn’t imagine what dark and ugly thing Manteo had done to warrant such a thing.

Finally, John relented, though he told Manteo that he must call on the One True God to cleanse their souls, not some heathen deities. Manteo had agreed, bowing his head in subservience, but Ananias had seen the smirk lighting up his eyes.

John White didn’t know Croatan, which meant that the details of Manteo’s ceremony would remain a mystery to him.

When John had announced his intention to go off into the wilderness with Manteo to face the hostile tribe, the men in the colony had balked. Despite all the good Manteo had done for the English, most of the men distrusted him.

“You’re walking into a trap, Governor!”

“That savage is going to hand them your head on a platter.”

Ananias wasn’t certain about the Pomeiooc Indians, but the Roanoke would surely welcome the governor’s head, considering the English had beheaded their chief and killed three hundred of their tribe barely a year earlier. Given the circumstances, Ananias was surprised the Roanoke hadn’t already killed the entire colony instead of just George. The English were far outnumbered and could easily be picked off with their arrows.

But John had held firm in his decision, using his powers of persuasion to placate the men, insisting that he could salvage their tenuous relationship with the natives, and Pomeiooc was the place to start. “Give me three days and if I don’t return, or if I return with word of an attack, be ready to strike.”

The men lifted fists into the air, shouting their plans to decimate the Indian tribe—all Indian tribes—while Manteo’s eyes found Ananias’s.

Ananias could sense what lay behind the native’s gaze, even if the other man never expressed the words. Manteo had taken part in the massacre against the Roanoke the previous year. Perhaps that was what had blackened his soul. Manteo refused to discuss it, even when Ananias filled him with enough ale to make most men spill their secrets. Manteo would just stare at him with mocking eyes, making Ananias wonder what thoughts really crossed his friend’s mind.

The fact the two men had been gone a little over a day was not worrisome. Native ceremonies often took days. While John would insist on a more compact ceremony, Ananias was sure it would take a full day at minimum.

No, the length of time they’d been gone wasn’t what worried him, it was the heavy presence of dread that had descended over the village the night before, during Ananias’s watch. The sky had been clear and starlit, but without warning a storm had swept in—wind, lightning, and rolling clouds, but no rain. With the storm had come the feeling that something was not right, although he couldn’t put his finger on what. It was like an itch you couldn’t satisfy, no matter where you scratched.

Ananias wouldn’t have worried so much if he were the only one who’d noticed. Several men on watch duty had become nervous and edgy, some even picking fights amongst themselves. Animals in the forest were skittish. Squirrels, deer, raccoons, rabbits, and all manner of beasts had burst from the trees, fleeing toward the coast. Birds filled the night sky, their screams standing Ananias’s hair on end. Something foul was in the forest and somehow Ananias knew it wasn’t the natives.

When Tom came to relieve him an hour later, the forest had quieted. Ananias made one more circuit of the village, assuring himself that all was well. He returned to his shelter, climbing into bed with his sleeping wife and child. Ananias finally fell asleep listening to the baby’s tiny breaths, telling himself that he’d overreacted.

Soon after daybreak, someone shouted. Ananias roused from his slumber, disoriented.

“They’re back!” came the call.

Their early return was a bad portent.

After quickly dressing, Ananias went to the center of the village to greet the men, not surprised to see a crowd had already assembled.

“Are we safe, Governor?”

John nodded with tired eyes. “Aye, for now.”

The other men took the governor’s words to mean something good, but Ananias saw the fear in Manteo’s eyes. It spooked him. Never in the year that he’d known the native had Ananias seen him worried or scared.

“So what’s our plan?” one of the men asked.

John’s gaze swept over the crowd assembled before him. “For now, nothing. I must think upon it more.” Without another word, he disappeared into his hut, leaving the crowd of men behind. They instantly turned toward Manteo.

The men feared the native too much to ask him direct questions, but Ananias wasn’t afraid to corner his friend. When Manteo walked away from the others, Ananias followed him to the edge of the camp, where he kept his home.

“Manteo, what did you find?”

Manteo shook his head and entered his hut.

Propriety forced Ananias to seek permission before entering another man’s dwelling, but he was past the point of such empty formalities. He followed Manteo inside. “Manteo, what did you find?”

The native squatted by the back wall. “A place of death.”

Ananias’s heart lurched and he choked out, “What does that mean? Are the Pomeiooc Indians joining with the Roanoke to attack us?”

Manteo gave a sharp jerk to his head. “No, they are not our concern at the moment.”

“Then what is?”

“Something bigger.”

Ananias’s breath caught. “What does that mean?”

Looking up into his eyes, Manteo said, “You should leave this place, my friend.”

Ananias’s mouth dried, and he swallowed. “Are you leaving?”

Manteo continued to stare for several uncomfortable seconds, his face hardening. “I have vowed to protect your people, and Governor White refuses to flee. Since I cannot break my vow, I am bound to stay.” He paused. “But I’ve seen something terrible, something beyond your imagination.”

“The savages?” Ananias choked out. “Will they massacre us all?”

Manteo sucked in a deep breath. “What I saw will make you wish the Roanoke would be merciful and end your life before the evil I saw is released. You must take your family and go back to England.”

Terror flooded Ananias’s body. “And you will not leave in the face of such danger?”

Manteo’s jaw hardened. “I am bound by my word to stay.”

Ananias spun and left the hut for his father-in-law’s home. Again, he defied propriety and forced his way in, finding the governor at a small writing table, his head in his hands.

“We must leave this place at once,” Ananias said with more strength than he felt.

“Where is this coming from? I specifically said we are safe for now.”

“But you and I both know that we are not. I went and saw Manteo. If we are safe, then why does such a fierce warrior look so frightened?”

John took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“We must leave.”

His father-in-law twisted his head to stare up at him. “And how will we manage that?”

“Get back on the ship and return to England.”

John stood, then grabbed his pitcher and poured water into a pewter cup. His eyes hardened as he raised the cup to his mouth. “And how do we do that, Ananias?”

Ananias’s anger rose above his fear. “Captain Fernandez’s ships are still anchored off the coast, Governor, and his repairs are nearly completed. We load everyone back on and go.”

John took a long drink, banging the cup on his desk. “Do you have the silver to pay for one hundred and seventeen passengers, Ananias? Soon to be one hundred and eighteen when Margery Harvie has her babe any day now. Who is going to pay? Captain Fernandez refused to even take us to our original destination. He’s certainly not willing to return us all to England.”

The younger man’s heart fluttered with desperation. “Surely the queen will reimburse the ship’s captain. Her citizens’ lives are at risk.”

“I took you for a foolish man, son-in-law, but I never thought you to be this daft.” He shook his head with a sneer. “You know that while the queen wishes the New World to be colonized, she refuses to pay. And our benefactor, Sir Raleigh, will never approve. If I were to bring everyone back . . . ” John sighed. “We have no choice in the matter. We must stay.”

“And face certain death?” Ananias’s voice rose to a disrespectful level. “You would sentence your daughter and granddaughter to that?”

“Your emotions are getting away from you, bricklayer.”

Bricklayer. What Ananias would give to return to his simple life of bricklaying in England. After all the heat and danger he’d faced in his short time in Virginia, he’d never again complain about the damp and cold English winters. “Manteo saw something out there that he claims is a worse threat than the natives. If that’s true, we need to take action.”

“Manteo betrayed me by saying anything to you. He had a dream, Ananias. Nothing more. He was shaken by it, but as every civilized man knows, dreams mean nothing. Now you will keep this to yourself and tell no one. We will not rile the colony over a phantasm.”

“And did you see anything?”

John’s hand trembled as he stalled and took another drink. “It was only a dream . . . most likely a hallucination induced by the ceremonial tea. As I said, it meant nothing.”

“How could you share the same dream? Doesn’t that mean something?”

“It means you are a coward.” His eyes pierced Ananias’s. “You will keep this to yourself. Have I made myself clear?”

Ananias gritted his teeth, refusing to agree, even though he knew he would. He would never upset his wife by crossing the governor.

“There is no certain death that awaits us. Only more conflict with the Indians, especially since Manteo and I never made it to Pomeiooc.” The elder man sat at the table, picking up his quill pen and grabbing a sheet of paper. “Now leave me.”

Ananias left his father-in-law, anger burning in his chest. When he returned home and expressed his concerns to his wife, she took her father’s side, as she always did.

“Did you not feel the evil slide through our camp last night, Ellie? Something happened. I know it.”

Fear filled her eyes then quickly faded. “Father told you it was a dream, Ananias, and he was right. That was all that happened to me as well.”

Ananias’s eyes widened. More dreams. “What did you see?”

She shook her head and looked toward the baby sleeping in the makeshift cradle. “Nothing. I saw nothing.” She turned her gaze toward her husband, irritation covering her face. “If Father says we’re safe, we’re safe. You’ve only been in this new land less than a couple of fortnights. Father has been here on two previous voyages.”

While Ananias’s fear sprung from little more than a feeling, three people close to him had had disturbing dreams that they refused to share. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “Ellie, please I beg you. Tell me what you saw.”

Her irritation fell away and she took his hands in hers. “I would tell you if I could remember, Ani, I swear. But all memory of the dream is gone and all that remains is fear. But if Father says it’s nothing to worry about, I’m sure we are fine.”

The baby mewled and Ananias bent over to scoop her up, holding her to his chest. “Manteo believes differently.”

She shook her head with a sigh. “I do not understand your friendship with that savage. He’s the only danger I see in our colony. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up slaying half of us in our sleep someday.”

“Manteo is our friend.”

“No savage can ever be trusted, Ananias. Remember this well.”

“He is a Christian man now, Ellie. He was baptized.”

She took the baby from his arms. “He will always be a savage first. Always.”

The next days passed with little incident other than the anxiety and fear that was still draped over the colony, setting everyone on edge. Many people had experienced dreams the night that John and Manteo had been gone, but no one remembered the details . . . except perhaps the governor and the native. Still, Manteo and Ananias had obeyed orders by keeping their fears and concerns to themselves.

In pubic, John insisted the village was in no danger and that the men on the night watch had let their imaginations get the better of them. He still insisted to Ananias that Manteo had been unnecessarily spooked in the woods and that anything the two men had seen was not real. The way John wrung his hands when he spoke made Ananias wonder who John was actually trying to convince.

Despite John’s assurances, rumors of evil spirits had begun to spread throughout the colony.

None of the angry tribes had shown any sign of attack, adding to the sense of foreboding. John insisted that the longer they waited, the greater the odds they wouldn’t retaliate.

Not even the baptism of Virginia Elinor Dare, the first English colonist born in the New World, could lift the settlers’ spirits for long.

Especially those of John White.

But despite John’s insistence that all was well, he took long walks into the woods, often accompanied by Manteo, which only added to the villagers’ collective unease. When questioned, he said they were strategizing how to increase their supplies for the winter, possibly seeking the aid of natives who were still sympathetic to their plight.

Nine days after Virginia’s birth, a boat came ashore from Captain Fernandez’s ship, and a sailor requested that the governor come aboard, ending weeks of no contact with the captain. Ananias watched his father-in-law’s small boat row out to the larger ship, dread churning the breakfast in his belly.

When John White came back an hour later, he brought the news many had expected. The ships were returning to Europe. The colonists would soon be on their own.

“All assistants need to assemble for a meeting after the evening meal,” the governor said after his announcement. “We have several matters to discuss.”

At supper, Ananias had a hard time choking down his fish while he watched Elinor nurse Virginia. Could he stand on the shore and watch the ship captain, the one man with the power to save his child, sail away and abandon them? Could he really stand back and do nothing?

He wasn’t the only one who was worried—the ten other assistants seemed just as anxious.

Before the voyage from England, twelve of the men had been appointed as assistants, their purpose to help John White govern the new land. Their number had been reduced to eleven after George Howe’s murder, and John had yet to assign a new member. When John called the meeting of the assistants to order, many offered protests, demanding they be allowed to return to England, which drew the governor’s anger.

“Did you expect to come to a land of milk and honey? Did you expect manna to fall from the sky?” he asked.

“We were promised a land of riches!” one of the men shouted.

“You were promised the chance for a better life,” John White countered. “No more, no less.”

“We are risking our families’ lives!” another yelled.

John narrowed his eyes, swinging his gaze around the group. “Every one of you knew what you were signing up for. You knew the danger and you knew the risk. I brought my own daughter, who was with child, no less. Do you think I would risk the life of the most precious thing in my life if I didn’t believe in this land?” He shook his head in disgust. “We may not be in our predetermined destination, but this is a good settlement for you for now.”

Something in his voice caught Ananias’s attention. “For us?”

John turned his gaze upon his son-in-law. “Until I return.”

The men became more agitated, but the governor settled them down and continued. “I will return to England with Fernandez and come back to you in the spring with more supplies and, if the queen is willing, an army.”

“We are supposed to stay here and wait for you to return?” Ananias’s friend, Roger Prat, asked in disgust.

John moved closer to the man and lowered his voice. “Roger, you have brought your son to this new land, and my own daughter and granddaughter are here, so I of all people understand your concern.” He placed his hand on Roger’s shoulder. “But I am leaving my family with you. Is that the act of a worried man? No, it’s the act of a man who believes in making this place a home for our children and our children’s children, free from religious persecution. Put your trust in God and have faith.”

“Go Governor!” one of the men shouted. “Bring supplies and more men so we can defend ourselves against the savages!”

The crowd took up the cheer, their worries seemingly assuaged.

Ananias did not join in. John’s decision angered him, particularly the way he was using Ellie and Virginia as bargaining chips to gain support. He weighed the threat of losing his temper with the cost of missing the rest of the discussion. Walking away won out. He stood no chance of changing the governor’s mind.

Ananias strode away from the group, heading for the trees. He wasn’t surprised to see Manteo at the edge of the woods, a stoic expression on his face.

“You knew?” Ananias challenged. “You knew he was leaving, and you didn’t tell me. Do you condone his decision?”

The native nodded. “Aye.”

“But he’s leaving without bringing my wife and child to safety!”

“And what about my own wife and children, Ananias Dare? Over fourteen seasons have passed and I have yet to see them. I have traveled the great sea four times and returned to the land of my birth twice, yet I still have not seen my family in all that time.”

Ananias’s mouth dropped. “You never told me you had children.”

“There is much you do not know.” Manteo took a step into the woods.

“What do I not know?”

Manteo moved deeper into the shadows. “Follow me, and I will show you.”

Anxiety crawled down Ananias’s back, but his need for answers outweighed his fear. “All right.”

They traveled deep into the woods, Manteo paving the way through the dark forest by what little moonlight filtered through the leaves overhead. Ananias stumbled several times, but Manteo neither commented nor waited for him to regain his footing. He simply trudged on in silence.

Ananias was used to Manteo’s silence. Sometimes he wondered if that was why he liked the native so well. Manteo demanded little conversation from him; in fact, he demanded little of anything. It was a welcome relief when he was accustomed to being around others who demanded so much.

Finally, Manteo stopped. “This is the place.”

Ananias’s foot got caught in a root and he nearly fell. “This is your place of death?” The only threat of death he saw was the possibility of breaking one’s neck.

“You have eyes but you do not see. Ears but you do not hear. You are in the presence of the spirit realm, yet you remain ignorant.”

Ananias shook his head. “What does that mean?”

“You are standing at the gate to the spirit world.”

“The gate to heaven?” Ananias dared to ask.

Manteo’s face darkened. “Popogusso.”

Ananias recognized the word from what little Croatan the native had taught him.

Hell.

Ananias’s heart raced and he swiveled around, searching for the entrance. “But there’s nothing here. I see nothing.”

“Do you see the wind, Ananias? Do you see the force that pulls all things to earth? Do you hear the One True God you English are so proud to claim? You neither see, nor hear, nor feel these things, yet you know they exist. The gate to hell is here. You may not feel it, but I do.”

“Is this what you saw with Governor White?”

“All nuppin know this place is hallowed, but I did not know its true significance until I performed my cleansing ceremony on this spot with the governor. The question is why this ceremony revealed the truth to me. Many ceremonies have been performed here, but to the best of my knowledge, no one before us saw what we saw. The only explanation I can come up with is that this was the first ceremony conducted with a nuppin and a tosh-shonte. Perhaps the participation of men from two worlds in a ceremony so sacred is what weakened the barrier and gave us a vision.”

An Englishman and an Indian being together in this place had made Manteo aware that it was the gate to hell? It seemed preposterous until Ananias considered that Manteo was one of the most levelheaded people he knew. “What did you see?”

“John White and I saw into the future.”

Ananias’s breath caught, remembering the fear in Manteo’s eyes the week before, as well as his cryptic words. “And you saw death?”

Manteo hesitated. “Kupi.” Yes. “The barrier between the worlds will break and evil from the depths of hell will spill upon the earth. From this place.”

“When?”

“I do not know.”

Evil from the depths of hell. That could only mean demons. “Can we stop it?”

“I do not know.” Manteo circled a small oak tree. “You must understand, gods and spirits already roam the earth. Just as you believe your One True God exists everywhere.”

Your One True God. So Manteo didn’t really believe in the English God, after all. Well, that was the least of Ananias’s worries. What Manteo claimed sounded crazy, but what was crazier was that Ananias believed him.

“What about demons?” he asked.

Manteo’s gaze found Ananias’s. “Some roam the earth. Most are locked away. Like in your own beliefs. Our gods are not so different.”

Ananias bristled. “There are no gods, Manteo. Only one God.”

“There is Ahone, our creator god, just like your One True God. He created the world and all life on it. Okeus is the other half of Ahone, our Satan. Our wind gods are what you call archangels.” Manteo stopped in front of him. “Our spirit worlds are the same, Ananias. We only call them different names.”

What Manteo said made sense, but it went against everything Ananias had ever been taught. Never mind their names, Ananias had to make sure his family was safe. “And you saw the demons escape? If we went to your island down the coast, would my wife and daughter be safe from this danger?”

“No. Once the demons escape, I think there will be a dormant period while they acclimate to our world, and then they will spread to the four corners of the earth.”

Ananias took a deep breath. “And John White saw this vision too?” Maybe John had been trying to soothe Ananias’s fears when he called what he and Manteo had experienced a dream. If he had seen the invasion of spirits into the world, then he would want to warn the queen. Perhaps that was the real reason he had chosen to return to England.

“Yes, but I do not know if his vision was the same as mine. We all see different things. We all have our own unique gifts from the Manitou.”

“What is this Manitou? An evil spirit?”

“No it is the life force that gives a soul to all living things. Like your Holy Ghost.”

“That’s not the same, Manteo. The Holy Ghost is part of the Holy Trinity.”

“Call our spirits whatever you like. To ignore them is foolish. They are coming.”

To believe Manteo meant Ananias was spitting into the face of the One True God. Blasphemy. Yet he couldn’t dismiss the heavy blanket of evil soaking through his skin and stealing his breath. A feeling that had become stronger and stronger since he’d stepped onto this spot.

God help him, blasphemy or not, Ananias believed it.

CHAPTER THREE

Two months had passed since John White’s departure, yet Ananias’s unease remained. The heat had disappeared, bringing cool air in its wake. There had only been minor skirmishes with the Roanoke tribe and no further contact with the Dasamongueponke. All was well in the colony, yet Ananias knew what was coming.

Hell was about to break loose.

He might have dismissed the threat as his father-in-law had done—writing it away as a dream, a vision—if Manteo hadn’t still been on edge. While the native had never been a jovial man, he brooded constantly now. To make matters worse, he had left two weeks ago to visit the Croatan and hadn’t returned. Ananias couldn’t help wondering if he would abandon them after all, regardless of his vow.

The men of the colony had hunted enough meat to carry them through the winter, and they were rationing the flour. Baby Virginia was not only growing but thriving. Ananias loved the evenings when his family of three retired to their small home. Elinor would sew while he played with his daughter. Whenever he walked into a room, she immediately smiled and had even begun to laugh. Despite the cloud that hung over him, Ananias’s heart was full.

Life was almost too perfect. Ananias couldn’t help thinking that this period of peace and contentment was the calm before the storm.

So Ananias wasn’t surprised when Manteo returned from his expedition on a cold, gray November afternoon, claiming he had disturbing news. When pressed for more information, he refused to say anything until the assistants were called for a meeting. They wasted no time in gathering in the center of the village, each man wearing a grave expression. The remaining townsfolk weren’t allowed to participate in the meeting, but they stood outside the circle, eager for the savage’s news.

Manteo’s gaze spun around the group. “The Roanoke have gathered a raiding party of over five hundred. They plan to attack.”

“How do you know?” one of the men asked. “You were supposed to be with your people.”

Manteo’s gaze darkened. “I encountered a scouting group on my return trip. I heard them discussing their plans.”

The group was silent for several seconds as they took in the news. One of the men finally asked, “Will your people fight with us?”

Manteo hesitated, glancing at Ananias before leveling his gaze at the speaker. “No. When I visited them, they told me they refuse to stand with you in any future encounters. They see you as the wrongdoers after your attack on Dasamongueponke . . . particularly after the massacre of the Roanoke a summer ago.”

“That makes no sense,” one of the men shouted. “There’s no love between your people and the Roanoke. Why would they side with them?”

Manteo’s eyes darkened. “The Croatan do not side with the Roanoke, but they do not find your people trustworthy. They feel you deceived the Roanoke and will do the same to them.”

An angry murmur spread through the group. “You call us your people now? One trip back to the Croatan and you’re no longer one of us?”

Manteo’s chest heaved and Ananias could tell he was restraining himself. “Two years ago, I swore to stand by your people. Nothing can release me from this bond.”

His answer seemed to appease the men, but their anxiety grew.

“So what do we do? Are we to be slaughtered?”

Manteo didn’t answer directly. “You are outnumbered.”

“We have guns!” one of the assistants reminded them. “We can hold them off.”

“Aye,” one of the men agreed. “And the fifteen men left behind with the fort had guns. Look what happened to that lot.”

A sober hush fell over the crowd.

“We should leave,” a woman called out from the back. “We should leave this place. It is death.”

“And where would you go?” a man asked. “We have no transportation to get anywhere.”

“You can go to my people,” Manteo said. “If you hike south, I can send for boats to meet at the crossover point.”

“It’s a trap!” someone shouted. “He just said his people wouldn’t help us!”

Manteo took a deep breath. “The Croatan will not defend you while you stay here, but they will allow you to live on their land.”

“This is our land,” another man argued. “We must stand our ground.”

“But if we are in danger of being slaughtered—” one of the women protested.

A large man stepped into the center of the circle. “Enough. I am in charge in Governor White’s absence and you will do as I say.” Roger Bailie was next in line after the governor, which would have made the colonists listen to him in his own right, but his height and the tone and timbre of his voice also demanded their attention. “We came to this land to make a home. If we back down every time the Indians bang their drums, they will never respect us. We need to show them we aren’t going anywhere.”

The villagers grumbled until someone shouted, “What do you think, Ananias?”

Ananias hesitated, turning toward Manteo.

“My father left us here for a reason,” Elinor said before he could speak. “He believed we could hold our own.”

“Your father left us here because the captain wouldn’t let us back on the boat! He left us to the same fate as my George!” Elizabeth shouted, still bitter over her husband’s death. “Your father was a coward who saved himself and left his daughter to die!”

Elinor’s mouth dropped, and the blood drained from her face.

Ananias couldn’t bear to see his wife hurt by her friend. He stepped forward. “The governor loves his daughter more than he loves himself. He would never leave Elinor here if he thought her life was in danger. He’s been to this land three times. Do you think he would have brought her to her death?” Ananias swallowed, wanting to believe his own words. “When the governor left, most of you wanted him to go, and now you’re cursing him for leaving. Which is it?”

They complained and grumbled for another hour, finally deciding that they would stay and defend themselves against the Roanoke.

When Ananias and Elinor returned to their hut, Elinor laid the sleeping babe in her cradle. Ananias pushed the door closed and turned to his wife, speaking in a hushed voice, “We must leave this place, Elinor.”

Her head jerked up. “What are you saying? That goes against everything you said in the meeting.”

“I only said that to save your pride. We need to leave.”

“And go where?” Elinor pulled her sleeping gown from the chest that held all their worldly belongings. “Where would we go?”

“South. To Manteo’s people.”

She tossed the cloth onto the bed, anger blazing in her eyes. “That Indian is not to be trusted. He’s leading our people to our deaths.”

“No, Ellie. He’s my friend and I trust him. It’s insanity to stay.”

“Then why would you tell the villagers otherwise?”

“You and I both know there is no arguing with Roger Bailie once he’s made up his mind. To argue in such a public arena could have caused mutiny.”

Elinor sat on the edge of the bed, wringing her hands in her lap. “What would you have us do, Ananias? Run off in the middle of the night? Are you really such a coward?”

“Coward?” Ananias shouted, clenching his fists. “I am no coward, Elinor. I would gladly die if it meant you and Virginia would live. But I could die a hundred deaths and the fact remains: The Indians will kill you. After they torture you and the babe.” Nausea filled Ananias’s mouth with a bitter taste. “I cannot stand the thought, Ellie.” He sat on the bed next to her, grabbing her hand tightly, his voice choking. “I cannot bear the thought of you or our daughter defiled.”

Elinor held his hand to her chest. “You must have faith, husband. You must trust our Heavenly Father to protect us.”

But Ananias didn’t trust God to protect him. He’d lost his faith the night Manteo had brought him to the gate of hell.

He stood, his back stiffening. “Go to bed. I wish to clear my head in the evening air.”

“Ananias, what are you going to do?”

Hearing the anxiety in her voice, he leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her mouth. “Ellie, I love you and the baby. I need to sort this out in my head.”

She grabbed the back of his neck, pulling his face back to hers. “Take your walk, Ananias, and when you return, you will know what is right.”

He left his family, searching out Manteo. He found him squatting outside his shelter, sharpening the blade of his knife. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Manteo knew him well to have anticipated his visit. It suddenly concerned Ananias that as well as he knew the savage, he couldn’t anticipate his actions. The man was wrapped in mystery.

Manteo stood, sliding his knife into the sheath on his belt. “Walk with me, my friend.”

My friend. Ananias nodded, chiding himself for his paranoia. Manteo was his only ally at this point and had given him no reason for his distrust. Ananias betrayed their friendship with his doubts.

They headed into the woods, both men moving in the same direction, as though by an unspoken agreement. When they stopped at the invisible gate to Popogusso, Ananias turned to his friend. “Are you sure they will attack?”

Manteo hesitated. “Yes, they will come in two days’ time.”

Ananias’s heart skipped a beat. “The day after tomorrow?” If that were true, he might only have two nights and one day left with his family. “You must help me save my wife and child, Manteo.”

Manteo remained expressionless. “Your family must go to my people. If they do, they will be protected. I swear to it.”

Ananias knew the situation was dire, but Manteo’s words confirmed it. “Will you go with us?”

Manteo tensed. “You misinterpret my meaning. I beg you to send your family away, but I need you to stay.” The native took a deep breath and released it. “My oath is to your people, and I cannot leave them. Neither can you.”

Shame burned in Ananias’s chest. Manteo was right. How could he live with himself if he survived but the rest of the colony perished? He could never survive the shame of such cowardice. “I cannot let my family be slain, but Ellie refuses to leave.” His throat tightened. “There must be something we can do to stop this madness, Manteo.”

Manteo was quiet for so long, Ananias was sure he would not answer. Finally, he said, “There might be something. But it is dangerous.”

“We’re already lost. How much more dangerous could it be?”

“This could potentially involve future generations.”

Ananias’s jaw clenched. “There will be no future generations for us if we don’t do something.”

Manteo’s eye glittered in the moonlight with something that looked like madness. “You know not what you speak of, Ananias.”

Ananias was tired of people telling him what he didn’t know. “Can you stop this from happening or not?”

“I do not know, my friend. I can only try.”

“What do you intend to do?”

“Now you ask.” Manteo’s mouth lifted into a quirk of a smile. “Where do our people get power?”

“How would I know?” Ananias rubbed his head. “That thing you said gave everything a soul. The Manitou.”

Manteo shook his head. “No, not the Manitou.” He paused, as if weighing his words. “In war, my people get their power from the gods.”

“How can that knowledge help us?”

“Can you not see past the nose on your face, Ananias?”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you are standing next to the answer.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Manteo had been missing from the village for the entire day. The colony had noticed his absence and decreed him a coward and a traitor. Ananias knew the truth—Manteo was preparing for the ceremony he planned to perform later that night. The ceremony to steal the Roanoke tribe’s power by binding their spirits behind the gates of hell. What the native planned to do was far more dangerous than running away or staring down death at the end of a spear point, but Manteo had sworn him to secrecy.

Elinor nursed the baby as Ananias sat on the bed next to her, his arm wrapped around her back. He’d spent the day begging her to take the baby and go to Manteo’s people, but she refused to consider it, and truth be told, Ananias couldn’t bear for her to leave. What if she and the baby were kidnapped or murdered on the way? Or worse.

He couldn’t entertain the thought of Ellie or the baby dying or being tortured. Each time his mind strayed there, his heart strangled and his lungs refused to fill. He forced his chest to expand, his fingers digging into the small of his wife’s back. He’d kill them himself before he allowed anything vile to happen to his small family.

She looked up at him with tired eyes. “We will be fine, Ananias. You shall see.”

He’d always loved her optimism, and he definitely needed it now. “Ellie, I swear upon my life that I will do everything in my power to save you and Virginia.”

Elinor lifted her hand to his cheek, her thumb stroking the coarse stubble. “I know you will. That’s who you are, my husband. That’s why I love you.” Her eyelids fluttered in her attempt to stay awake. She looked down at the child cooing at her breast, forcing her eyes to widen.

Ananias lifted the baby from her arms. “Let me take her. You need sleep.”

She kissed him, smiling against his lips. “You are much too good to me. If anything happens . . . ”

He kissed her back to stop her words. “I love you, Elinor. I’ve loved you since the moment I first saw you, remember? When your bonnet flew off your head, and I retrieved it from the street.”

“I seem to recall there was much more teasing involved than you remember. And you still had an eye for that witch Mary Ann.” Laughing softly, she pushed on his chest, letting her fingers linger there. His hand covered hers, pressing her palm over his heart. Virginia reached up and joined her hand with theirs.

A lump filled his throat and he coughed to clear it. “There is only you, Elinor. Forever and always, only you and Virginia.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes and her chin quivered. “We shall be with each other until the end of eternity, Ananias, no matter what happens.”

A tear slid down her cheek, and he kissed it, the saltiness lingering on his tongue. “Get some rest, my love. I will take care of the babe until she falls asleep.”

Elinor nodded and lay down, burrowing under the blankets.

Ananias sat on his stool, holding Virginia on his lap. She looked up at him with laughing eyes. He softly sang her a song that his mother had sung to him, a lively tune that did nothing to cure his melancholy. He chided himself to have more faith. If anyone could save them, it was Manteo. There was still hope.

Virginia finally fell asleep in his arms, and he gently laid her in the cradle. He spent the next several minutes watching the two most precious things in the world to him, telling himself that when he returned, they could all live without fear. He only needed to trust. God had not sent him a solution only to snatch everything away.

Manteo had told him to arrive around midnight, so Ananias knew he had to leave soon. The November evening was colder than usual. After bundling in an extra layer of clothes, Ananias reached for the door and realized he’d almost left without his cup. Manteo had stressed the importance of bringing a vessel large enough to drink from during the ceremony. He’d insisted they must each have a container that belonged exclusively to their people. Ananias grabbed a pewter cup off the table, stuffing it into his coat pocket. It left an uncomfortable lump, but it was better than walking through the village with the cup in his hand, particularly given how suspicious everyone was of late.

The cold air stung his nose and throat. This weather was more like what he was used to in England. Surely a land full of such violent extremes couldn’t be a place of God, only confirming that Manteo was right. The Indians’ ground was the gate to hell. When this ordeal was over, Ananias was taking his wife and child far from this place of evil.

“Good eve, Ananias,” one of the men called when Ananias walked through the village one last time, ensuring as best he could that it was safe to leave his family.

“Good eve, Michael.” Ananias had drawn the evening patrol, but he’d traded with Michael for a predawn turn, hoping his task with Manteo would be complete by then. He continued toward Manteo’s dwelling, then headed for the trees.

Slipping out of the camp had been entirely too easy. If Ananias could get out without any notice, how many savages could get in? If Manteo’s plan didn’t succeed, they would all be killed.

His plan would work. It had to.

He saw the glow of torches before he saw Manteo. The closer he came, the harder it was to breathe. Fear froze his feet, and he stayed at the edge of the twenty-foot circle of torches Manteo had spaced around the tree. The earth was scorched in intricate patterns. A small fire burned in the center, a clay pitcher and a wooden bowl next to it. Manteo squatted within the circle, on the opposite side of the fire.

“Did you bring your vessel?” he asked without looking up.

“Aye.” Ananias pulled it from his pocket and took a step forward.

“Do not enter!”

Ananias froze, partially relieved. The air around the circle felt thick and heavy, and each breath was a struggle.

Manteo chanted and stood, turning to face Ananias. He wore the clothing of his people, soft leather boots and a cloth around his waist. His chest was bare with a freshly inked mark on his skin over his heart, a tattoo comprised of squares, circles, and squiggly lines.

Manteo motioned for Ananias to enter the circle. The moment he was completely inside, the outside world hushed and the temperature warmed, as though the circle existed on a different level of reality. Sulfur burned his nose and coated his tongue. Terror filled him.

Manteo’s claims were true. The two men were standing at the edge of hell.

What madness had he agreed to?

Taking the cup, Manteo placed it next to the wooden bowl. He motioned for Ananias to take off his shirt. Ananias complied, slipping off his coat and two layers of upper garments. He waited for the shock of cold as he tossed his shirts to the ground, but it never came. Sweat beaded on his head. It really was warmer in the circle. Almost as hot as a summer day.

There was witchcraft here.

Ananias cleared his throat, trying to swallow his fear. “What are you doing, Manteo?”

“As I already explained, the Roanoke receive power from their gods. If we bind their gods behind this gate, we will cripple them.”

“Not that part.” Ananias’s eyes searched Manteo’s. “Why are you conducting the ceremony at all? Why would you do something so grave for my people?”

His face hardened. “The Roanoke are not friends to the Croatan. This will help my people too.”

Ananias nodded, his frayed nerves slightly soothed. Manteo’s motives were more understandable if his own people stood to gain.

“If I do this correctly, I will also seal the gate to Popogusso, and the vision I had will not come to pass, which is yet another reason to conduct the ceremony.”

Somehow, Ananias had forgotten about the graver threat in light of the more imminent one. What if Manteo’s ceremony was the catalyst that let all the demons loose instead?

Manteo clasped Ananias’s shoulder. “This will work. You must trust me.”

Ananias’s breath pushed past his partially open lips. His friend had just as much to lose as he did. “I trust you with my life.”

Manteo nodded, but he didn’t look happy. “From this moment forward, you must not speak. I will perform the ceremony in the ancient tongue.”

“Aye.”

Manteo chanted as he painted a mark similar to his own on Ananias’s chest. They were nearly identical, only Manteo had a primitive four-pointed-star-shaped mark in the center of his, and Ananias’s contained a lightning bolt.

As the ink coated his skin, power bloomed inside Ananias’s chest. Terrified, he prayed that the power came from God Almighty and not from the evil that lay behind the invisible gate.

Manteo chanted for hours. Ananias’s eyelids had drooped many times in the night until he noticed the sky begin to brighten in the east. If the ceremony continued to move so slowly, Ananias would miss his patrol shift. What would the other colonists think then?

The savage poured liquid from the clay pitcher into each of the vessels, picking up a rope and lifting it over his head with his left hand. Manteo clasped Ananias’s forearm, and he returned the gesture, in the form of a handshake. When Manteo bound their arms together with the rope, Ananias helped him secure the knot.

Manteo lifted a knife over his head, chanting. Then he flipped his palm open, and Ananias did the same, staying still as Manteo pricked the center of their palms with the point of the knife. Manteo collected blood from Ananias’s wound on the knife blade, and then smeared it into his own wound. His eyes rolled back into his head and he moaned, sending a shiver of fear down Ananias’s spine. The movement caught Manteo’s attention, and he scraped his own blood on the tip of the knife, mixing it with the wound on Ananias’s hand.

Ananias gasped as power rushed through his veins.

Manteo cut the rope, then set down the knife and picked up the pewter cup, motioning for Ananias to pick up the bowl. Together they drank the bitter tea. The moment the liquid touched his tongue, Ananias’s hair stood on end, his body stinging as though he’d been struck by lightning. A blinding light burst from the tree trunk, and he squinted as the overpowering stench of decay and metal coated his nose. A chorus of inhuman moans filled the night air.

Forcing his eyelids open he froze, horror washing through him.

Ananias was standing at the gates of hell.

CHAPTER FIVE

The tree was gone and in its place was a black metal gate. Creatures, more hideous than Ananias could ever have imagined, stood on the other side of the metal bars. Tentacles and tails. Claws and fangs. Slimy skin and scales. Some looked like animals and others resembled men and women. The demons reached through the slats toward the two men, moaning and cursing. “Son of the sea and son of the earth. Free us!”

Ananias’s eyes widened in terror.

His arm was still clasped with Manteo’s, and Manteo chanted more loudly and more insistently. Ananias realized that even though his friend chanted the ceremony in his native tongue, he could now understand all the words.

“Wind gods!” Manteo shouted. “Return to the pit from which you came!”

A howl filled the air and the wind gusted, making Ananias stumble, but Manteo’s grip tightened. Four creatures flew from the trees, landing within the circle. Men’s heads topped bird bodies, all four with differently colored hair.

“Manteo, son of the earth,” the birdman with red hair sneered. “You know not what you do.”

“We do not come from Popogusso, you vermin,” another shouted.

Manteo thrust back his shoulders. “You do not belong in this world.”

“Fool!” the redheaded bird screeched. “We belong to the world more than you do!”

A bird with long white hair moved closer to the men, his head bobbing. “We have existed long before Ahone’s pets spread across the earth. You dare to consider locking us behind these gates?”

Manteo ignored the god, digging his fingers into Ananias’s arm. “Demons and spirits that roam the earth, I summon you!”

A multitude of creatures emerged from the forest. Ananias felt their resistance through the power that rushed through his blood. But somehow the two men—together—had more power than the spirit world.

The thought filled him with fear. What had Manteo done to gain such power?

The demons flailed frantically, screaming into the night. But Manteo’s magic dragged them across the circle against their will, their claws digging huge ruts into the forest floor.

Manteo moved toward the gate, pulling Ananias with him. Sparks flew when Manteo’s hand touched the metal, and he swung it open by several feet. The creatures behind the gate rushed forward to escape.

Ananias’s heart leapt into his throat, but Manteo raised his hand, palm facing forward. “Stop!” His voice echoed in the trees behind them. “I am the son of the earth, born of space and heaven. I am black earth and sandy loams. The mountain ranges and the rolling hills. I am the foundation of life and the receiver of death and everything in between. I compel you to obey my words.”

To Ananias’s shock, the creatures did.

Manteo’s eyes glowed with power. “I am the master of the spirit world. All will obey me.”

The demons in hell screamed and cursed Manteo and Ananias, more desperate to escape than ever. The creatures in the human realm huddled together, as though they were fighting an invisible binding.

Manteo turned his attention to them, his eyes wide and crazed. “Enter Popogusso, creatures of the night!”

Ananias gasped in shock. Whatever the source of the native’s magic, Ananias could now feel Manteo’s emotions through their bond.

Manteo was drunk with power.

The demons and monsters crossed the threshold in a steady stream, deafening Ananias’s ears with their screams.

“You will regret this, son of the earth!” the redheaded wind god screeched.

“Perhaps someday,” Manteo countered with an evil smile, “but not today.” He laughed. “Wind gods! Enter the depths of hell!”

They shrieked, the shrill sounds echoing through the trees as they slid across the forest floor. The air gusted from the flapping of their massive wings as they tried in vain to find purchase before sliding past the gates.

Ananias knew this was wrong. How could two men make spirits and gods obey them? Some sane part of him knew he should stop this madness, but he couldn’t. Not if this would really save his family. Not that it mattered. Something told him that it was too late.

Manteo leaned back his head, calling into the night, “Okeus!”

The air cooled and chill bumps spread across Ananias’s bare skin.

“Son of the earth.” The words filled the air and his head, vibrating through every part of his body.

Suddenly a man stood between the trees. He was a savage, the most handsome man Ananias had ever seen, but an unearthly glow surrounded him. His black hair was long on one side and cut short on the other. He wore a loincloth and was bare-chested. The god took another step toward them and the air instantly grew colder. “Son of the earth, you have overstepped your bounds.”

A shiver ran through Manteo’s arm, but he did not release his grip on Ananias. “I am righting the balance of the world.”

“Balance? What balance?” The god’s eyes softened. “You do this for foolish human reasons, my son. I urge you to reconsider and this will be forgotten.”

Manteo shook his head, his power giving him confidence. “I could not even if I wanted to.”

“If you do not stop this, you will regret your decision for the rest of your life. It will haunt you from generation to generation, for hundreds of years. Your actions will curse your offspring.”

Manteo hesitated. “I must save my people.”

Was he talking about the colonists or the Croatan?

“There are other ways.” Okeus entered the circle, continuing his slow advance toward the men. “Where did you learn of this ceremony, son of the earth? In the history of man, nothing like this has ever been attempted. Mankind never knew it was possible. Until now.”

Manteo’s grip on Ananias tightened.

Okeus reached out a finger, his nail an animal claw that traced the symbol in the center of Manteo’s mark. “Perhaps the answer is on your chest.”

The god’s claw sank deep and tore into Manteo’s flesh, outlining the star in blood.

Ananias felt Manteo’s ripped flesh through their connection, and he nearly cried out in pain and fear.

The god turned his attention to Ananias and smiled. “Son of the sea. What part do you have in this?”

Ananias’s eyes widened, his tongue thick and unwieldy.

Okeus’s claw traced the zigzagged line in the center of Ananias’s tattoo, the nail digging into his flesh but not tearing. “You bear my mark. Do you know what it means?”

Ananias shook his head, dizzy with fear. “No.”

“It means you are under my protection.” Okeus leaned close so that his face was inches from Ananias’s, the smell of rotten flesh making Ananias gag. “You can put a stop to this, son of the sea. Your friend is not to be trusted.”

“Enough!” Manteo shouted. “Silence.”

Shooting a glance at Manteo, Ananias wondered if Okeus could be right. He could tell that Manteo was not behaving like the rational man he knew. Had the witchcraft made him evil? Did Manteo have a hidden purpose for this ceremony?

Manteo sensed his confusion, whether he saw it on Ananias’s face or felt it through their connection. “Ananias, Okeus is an evil god. He sacrifices children and dines on their flesh. You can smell it on his breath. Would you believe his words over my own?”

Manteo made a good point. The native had compared Okeus to Satan, and Satan was the lord of lies.

But why then would Manteo have painted the evil god’s symbol on Ananias’s chest?

“Good and evil,” Okeus whispered.

Ananias struggled to breathe. Could the god read his mind?

Okeus smiled, a secret smile full of knowing. “The curse needs opposites. The earth and the sea. Nuppin and tosh-shonte. Myself and my twin—the good and evil. But which of us is which?” A sly smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “And it also requires sacrifices.” The god’s eyebrows rose. “Did he mention that?”

“Enough!” Manteo shouted, but his body shook with fear. “Ahone! I beseech you!”

An older man appeared before them. His hair and beard were long and white, and he wore a long white robe made of bleached deerskin. “Okeus, my twin.” His voice shook the leaves in the trees.

Ananias could see the resemblance now. Ahone was an older version of Okeus.

“Ahone,” the other god spit his name as though it were a curse. “I knew this was your doing.”

The older god stood on the opposite side of the fire. “You have gone too far, my brother. Your creatures leave destruction in their wake.”

“And yours do not? On this very shore, death has been like a constant companion. The earth has become greedy for your children’s spilled blood.”

Ahone’s gaze turned to the two men. “They have not yet reached their full potential.”

“Full potential,” Okeus sneered. “How many thousands of years have they had to do just that? You call my children monsters, but look at what your own have done.”

“They have much promise. More promise than yours.”

“But promise isn’t enough, is it?” Okeus shook his head. “What is your real purpose, my brother? What do you hope to achieve by locking us all away?”

“I hope to give my children a chance to live and thrive without your influence.”

“My influence?” Okeus laughed. “You think my influence has done this? If you follow through with this little scheme, do you think your children will stop all their violence?”

“It is worth the attempt.” Ahone took a step closer to Okeus. “Do not forget that you exist because of my generosity.”

“Your generosity?” Okeus shrieked. “You created me in your pathetic attempt to save your favorite creation—humanity. Yet one more example of a deception that you have reasoned away with your good intentions.”

“When the wind gods decreed I kill mankind or hand over the majority of my power, they never designated to whom I had to give my power. Can you blame me for looking for another way? I chose to create you and give you the power instead of sacrificing the human race. You cannot fault me for that. And if I was capable of such cleverness once, why assume that I would not be capable of saving humanity again? I’ve had eons to learn patience.”

Okeus tilted his head, an evil grin stretching his mouth. “So you have been waiting for this opportunity.”

Ahone didn’t answer.

Okeus laughed. “Who would have thought that the good and loving Ahone would be capable of such an underhanded scheme? And here I thought you gave me all of your abhorrent traits.”

Ahone remained expressionless. “Perhaps not all of them.”

Okeus looked around the circle then toward the gate. “You know this seal won’t hold.”

Ahone’s shoulder lifted into a half shrug. “I’m willing to take the risk.”

Without warning, Okeus grabbed the pierced hands of each man, breaking their hold on each other. His fingertips seared the wound on Ananias’s palm, the smell of burning flesh filling the air.

The god’s voice echoed throughout the forest. “Ahone may have the power to lock us away, but I give you the power to set us free. You are the Curse Keepers, and your progeny are destined to remain here in this area as guardians of the gate. The firstborn of each generation will become the Keeper at adulthood, passing their information along to the next in line, but keeping it secret from the rest of the world. The gate will hold until the Keepers join the marks on their palms, breaking the seal. And then your children’s children will rue the day you created this curse.”

Okeus dropped their hands and Ananias looked at his palm, shocked to find a circle within a square burned into his skin. Manteo glanced at an identical mark on his own palm.

“Son of the earth, send him away now!” Ahone’s voice boomed.

Manteo locked arms with Ananias again, his eyes narrowing as he concentrated. “Okeus, brother of Ahone, creator of evil, go forth into the pits of hell.”

Ahone’s mouth moved in silent mumbles. Power and magic saturated the air around them and Ananias had to fight to inflate his lungs, adding to his panic. The salt of sea air burned his nose and the taste of freshly tilled earth coated his tongue.

“Do you offer your sacrifices to close the gate?” Ahone asked, his voice muffled by the curtain of magic.

Sacrifices? Ananias had never agreed to a sacrifice.

“Yes.” Manteo answered.

Ahone turned to Ananias.

What was he sacrificing? Did he even have a choice at this point? If he didn’t offer a sacrifice, the gate would burst open, and the angry demons and gods would be free to destroy his village. “Yes.”

Blinding light burst from the gates and a vortex of hurricane-force wind pulled Okeus toward its center. Manteo clasped Ananias’s arm and both men struggled to remain upright.

“Do not let your descendants forget this, for one day, you will pay!” Okeus shouted over the wind. “The curse will break and I will come back stronger than before. The Keepers that set me free will rue the day they were ever born and defile your names for creating the curse. Their only hope is to swear allegiance to me . . . then and only then will I show them my mercy. But if the Keepers dare to defy me, I will drag them to hell and torture them for a thousand years!”

The vortex collapsed in on itself, Okeus’s screams fading as the first ray of sun shot into the morning sky.

Ananias fell to his knees, weak with exhaustion and fear, and Manteo leaned over and vomited onto the ground.

Ahone moved toward the two men and Ananias flinched. How had this god escaped exile? What horror awaited him now?

The god spread his arms. “Okeus has created a weakness to the curse. The gate will open if you or your successors touch marks. But I give you this: When the curse eventually breaks, you will have until the beginning of the seventh day to repeat the ceremony and reseal the gate. If you do not succeed, the two Keepers together will still have the power to control them.”

Ananias’s head shot up. “What does that mean?”

“It means that one day the gate will open, but you both have power over the spirit world now, not just Manteo. Ananias, you must learn these words of protection and teach them to your descendants so that they will be ready when the demons are freed: I am the son of the sea, born of the essence present at the beginning of time and the end of the world. I am black water and crystal streams. The ocean waves and the raindrops in the sky. I am life and death and everything in between. I compel you to leave my sight.”

The words burned into Ananias’s head and he knew he would never forget them even if he tried.

“If the gods are freed—together and only together—you can send them back, whether it’s by resealing the gate or sending the gods and demons back one by one. You are the Curse Keepers, as your children will be after you.”

Ananias climbed to his feet and waved to the tree that now stood where the gate had been. “How is this possible?”

“I taught my child Manteo how to use magic more ancient than the power of the spirits and gods. Manteo used the essence of the earth and the sea, which existed before all things. We gods sprang from their union, but their power existed eons before we were born. This power is now infused in your blood.”

Manteo stared at the mark on his hand. “But if our marks touch, even accidentally, the gate will open?”

“Yes.”

“I must return to my people,” Manteo said, turning to Ananias. “My family and I will keep to the south, and you will stay on the island. We must make sure this evil is never loosed upon the earth.”

Ananias didn’t give a damn where Manteo went. At the first available opportunity, he planned to gather his family and return to England.

“If you have any questions, ask them now,” Ahone said. “Once I ascend back into the heavens, I will not return until the gate has opened again.”

Ananias had no idea what to ask, other than the burning question in his head, “Is my family safe now?”

Ahone lowered his gaze. “Sacrifices have been made.”

Panic turned Ananias’s blood to sludge. He turned to Manteo. “What was my sacrifice?”

Regret covered Manteo’s face. “The tosh-shonte are a blight upon our land. Once your people realize they have no foothold here, they will go and leave our people in peace. I have at last been released from my wretched vow.”

Ananias’s breath came in short bursts. “What did you sacrifice on my behalf?”

Manteo’s gaze narrowed. “You call yourself my friend, yet you know nothing about me or my people. You want us to adapt to your ways, and you care nothing for ours. I’ve spent enough time in your land, and it is a vile and ugly place.” He spat. “After I realized the significance of this sacred place, Ahone came to me. He offered me a way to save myself from my nuppin enemies as well as my vow to the English. When I saw the perfection of his plan, I returned to my people to seek my mother’s blessing.”

Why wasn’t Manteo answering him? “What did you sacrifice on my behalf?”

Manteo’s face darkened with anger. “Your people have a saying from your bible: an eye for an eye. It seemed fitting in this instance, given what your people did to the Roanoke a summer ago.” Compassion flickered in his eyes. “I tried to spare you, my friend.” Manteo’s voice broke. “I begged you to send your family away.”

Ananias shook with anger. “What did you sacrifice on my behalf?”

The savage hesitated. “Your village.”

The man’s words sunk into Ananias’s head, terror on its heels.

“Ellie!”

Ananias took off in a sprint through the forest, the rising sun lighting his path. Undergrowth scratched his arms, and the low-hanging tree branches tore at his bare arms and his chest. His heart pounded in his head, mixing with his panic.

When he reached the clearing where the village had once stood, he expected to find his friends and family massacred. He didn’t expect what he found.

Every part of the village was gone.

There were no houses. No fires. No people. Nothing. It was as though the entire village had been a figment of his imagination.

Ananias ran to the place where his thatch hut had stood, falling to his knees when he reached the barren land.

They were gone. Ellie and Virginia were gone.

He sobbed, pressing his face to the ground. What had he done?

“I am sorry,” Manteo called out, his voice full of regret.

The savage’s remorse mocked the Englishman. Ananias jerked his head up to see Manteo standing in the center of the village, and a fresh wave of grief made him cry out in agony. Manteo’s betrayal was nearly as painful as the loss of his wife and child.

“You.” Ananias climbed to his feet, rage filling every part of his being. “You did this.”

Manteo held his hands out from his sides, palms upward. “I swear, I had hoped to spare your family. That’s why I begged you to send them to my people. Any colonists who went there would have been saved.”

“Where did they go?”

Manteo’s chest heaved. “Popogusso.”

“Hell? You sent my family to hell?” Ananias rushed toward the native to kill him, but he tripped and fell on his face. Realizing the depth and cleverness of Manteo’s scheme, Ananias vomited until he dry heaved. He swallowed a sob, fighting the blackness on the periphery of his vision. He needed answers. He could give in to his emotions later. How far did Manteo’s treachery go? “Were the Roanoke even preparing to attack?”

Wrinkles puckered Manteo’s forehead. “No. I hoped the ruse would convince you to send your family away.”

Ananias hiccupped a sob, pounding his fist into the ground. “But you needed me to stay. I was your token Englishman. Your opposite.”

“It’s true that I couldn’t perform the ceremony without you, but I wanted to spare you as well.”

“Spare me?” Ananias crawled to his feet. “Spare me? You have condemned me!” He bent at the waist, choking on his tears for several seconds. Manteo would pay for this. Gathering his wits, he rose. “I wish to all that is holy and good that you had let me go with my family.” Tilting back his head, Ananias released a howl of agony that echoed through the trees and hatred rushed in to fill his soul. He leveled his gaze on Manteo. “I will kill you for this. I will kill you for taking what you had no right to give.”

Manteo spread his hands as if in surrender.

Ananias moved toward him, his chest squeezing like a vise with every step closer, sucking the air from his lungs. He pressed his marked palm over his heart, his eyes widening in confusion. “What is this madness?”

Instead of looking relieved, guilt filled Manteo’s eyes. “I feel it too. Perhaps Ahone has built in a protection to make sure the Keepers are kept apart. To protect the curse.”

“I want no part of this curse!” Ananias shouted, fighting for breath, his grief and disbelief becoming too heavy to bear. This had to be a dream. A nightmare. But when he pulled his hair and tore at his skin, he felt pain . . . and the village was still gone. This nightmare was real. His wife and child were now behind the gates of hell with the demons. A new fear and pain stabbed his chest. His family was sentenced to live in agony forever. His eyes widened with a plan. “We can break the curse now and release my family! We can free them from hell!”

Manteo shook his head, his chin quivering as he spoke. “No living creature can enter Popogusso and return. If they escape through the gate, it would be as demons.”

“Their souls are lost?”

Manteo remained silent.

“I want no part of this curse!” Ananias’s voice broke with his sobs and he fell to his knees. “I want no part! Make it go away. Make it all go away.”

“I am sorry.” Taking several steps backward, Manteo’s voice shook with despair. “As I said, I will head to the south, my friend.”

Ananias’s head shot up. “Don’t you dare to call me your friend. You have no right. You had no right to sacrifice what wasn’t yours to give.”

Manteo nodded solemnly.

Bitterness poisoned Ananias’s blood. “What did you sacrifice, Manteo? What did you offer to the gods? Was your sacrifice as great as mine?”

“My ten-year-old son.” His face hardened. “You are not alone in your grief, Ananias Dare. I sacrificed my only son, the future chief of my people.”

Ananias gasped in disbelief. Was there no depth to Manteo’s depravity? “What kind of person could sacrifice his child to hell?” Everything Ananias had done was to save his child. Ananias had never known this man at all.

Weariness covered Manteo’s face. “Sometimes you must make personal sacrifices for the greater good. I had to save my people. I had to break my vow.”

Ananias clenched his teeth, biting the inside of his cheeks and tasting blood. Hatred filled every pore, every part of his being. “I will make you rue this day, Manteo. You will regret ever daring to call me friend.”

Manteo nodded, tossing his knife to the ground close to Ananias. “I understand, but I bear no ill will toward you. I will forever regret the pain I have bestowed upon you, but if I had to do it over again, I would.” After a long look, Manteo turned, disappearing into the forest.

Scrambling to his feet, Ananias picked up the knife, gripping the handle tight in his fist. He considered chasing Manteo through the forest and plunging the blade deep into his heart, just like Manteo’s betrayal had ripped through Ananias’s heart. But the curse would never let him get close enough, nor did he have any hope of sneaking up on the skilled hunter. Instead, he walked over to a tree and carved the word Croatan into the trunk, as a warning to any who came here. He started to carve another tree, stopping after he’d dug Cro before breaking into sobs.

When he caught his breath, he looked around the clearing, wondering what he should do next. Manteo had probably expected Ananias’s line of the Curse Keepers to die out, preserving his precious curse, but Ananias would find a new wife, even if he never learned to love her. He would have children and pass the legend on to them. He would ensure that his line would survive and break the curse. Ananias’s line would tear down the gate and send the creatures out to devour Manteo’s people.

An ugly smile lifted Ananias’s mouth and filled his heart. Manteo had been right about one thing.

This place was death.

To my daughter Jenna, who loves to create stories almost as much as I do

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CHAPTER ONE

The rain came down in thick sheets, drenching through my cotton tank top and denim shorts. I welcomed it. I welcomed anything that made me feel something.

I stood inside of the Elizabethan Gardens, next to the goddamned tree that had ruined my life more than four hundred years before I was even born. The gate to Popogusso.

The gate to hell.

And my daddy was on the other side.

I leaned back my head and shouted into the night, taunting the god who had sent him there. “Ahone! Come out and face me, you fucking asshole!”

The only answer was the rain that pelted my face and filled my open mouth.

I spat on the ground and slapped my palm on the rough bark of the ancient oak tree. The mark that had appeared on my hand almost three weeks ago had power, after all, but that power was so much stronger when my mark was pressed to the identical one on the other Curse Keeper’s right palm.

His betrayal sliced through me again. It was still impossible to believe that Collin had purposefully opened the gate.

I’d forced him to close it again. But at what cost? The Native American gods and spirits had still escaped and now they were in hiding, killing hundreds of animals as they regained the strength they’d lost over their centuries of exile. And my father had died as a sacrifice. The gate might be closed again, but it would take two Keepers to send the gods and spirits back. Which meant the assholes weren’t going anywhere since Collin believed they should be free.

Even if they were after me.

“Okeus! Where are you? You said you wanted me, well here I am!” I stepped back from the tree, throwing my arms wide. “Come and get me!” Taunting him was pointless, but I felt the need to rage at someone. A temporarily incapacitated god probably wasn’t the best choice, but it was safe enough for the moment. He had to regain strength before he could face anyone . . . even me.

Lightning flashed in the sky and thunder boomed.

“Ellie.”

I spun around, my long wet hair whipping against my arm. Tom Helmsworth, an old high school classmate of mine, stood behind me, hands on his hips. I suspected he was here in his official capacity—as a police officer of Manteo. “How’d you know I was here?”

“Every time a thunderstorm appears out of nowhere directly over the botanical gardens, it’s a safe bet that you’ll be here too.”

Fucking wind gods. They loved to torment me every chance they got.

“You can’t bring him back, Ellie.”

I knew Tom meant that I couldn’t bring Daddy back from the dead, but Daddy hadn’t died under ordinary circumstances. For all I knew, I could bring him back.

Tom took a few cautious steps toward me, and I understood why. The first few times he’d found me here, I was crying and kneeling on the spot where Daddy died. Two nights ago, he had found me pounding on the tree. Tonight I was shouting at the gods. Sadness had slipped into anger.

How much had he actually heard?

He stopped in front of me. “You can’t keep doing this. I haven’t arrested you because I know how hard it was for you to lose your dad. Everyone knows how close you two were.” He put his hand on my arm and gripped lightly.

His touch sent a bolt of pain through the zigzag scar on my bicep, and I tried not to wince.

Tom bent his knees and lowered his face to mine, his expression gentle. “Ellie, this is illegal. You’re trespassing.”

I looked back at the oak tree. Someone needed to tell that to the gods.

“You need to go home.”

Tom slid his arm around my back and gently guided me toward the gate. “Let me drive you.”

I shook away from his touch. “I can drive myself.”

His eyebrows rose. “Can you?”

I stopped in my tracks. “You think I’ve been drinking.”

“Ellie.” His voice softened and he looked down at me, water dripping from his bangs. “You’re hurting. There’s no shame in drinking a little to numb your grief, but I can’t let you drive and hurt yourself or someone else.”

“I’m not drunk, Tom.”

“Nevertheless, I’m going to drive you home.” His mouth lifted into a smart-ass grin. “Unless you’d rather I drive you to the police station.”

Some choice. “Fine.”

As soon as we reached the parking lot, the torrential downpour immediately stopped. If Tom noticed, he didn’t comment. Instead, he guided me toward his police cruiser, which was parked next to my beat-up car. Tom opened the passenger door for me. I offered him a tight smile and climbed in. At least he was letting me ride up front.

He made his way around the back of the car and popped the trunk. After he climbed behind the wheel, he tossed me a beach towel. “Here.”

I grabbed it. “I didn’t know towels were standard issue in a police car.”

He chuckled, using another towel to dry his face. “They’re not. But I was a Boy Scout.”

He must have stopped to grab the towels before driving out here. “Why are you being so nice to me, Tom?”

He stopped rubbing his hair with the towel and slowly lowered his hand to his lap. “Maybe we weren’t in the same grade, but we were friends through Claire’s sister.” He paused and tilted his head. “And I know that you’re all alone now that your dad’s gone. You don’t have any grandparents around. No aunts and uncles. No siblings.”

“I have Myra. And Claire.”

“True,” he acknowledged. “But Claire is getting ready for her wedding. And your stepmother is in mourning herself, not to mention all the overtime she’s putting in at the Fort Raleigh visitor center and the bed and breakfast.”

My eyes widened. He must have really been paying attention to my life to know all of that. I wasn’t sure I liked it.

“You need someone to keep an eye on you.”

My back stiffened. A few weeks ago someone else had insisted on keeping an eye on me whether I liked it or not. Look how that had turned out. “I can take care of myself.”

“No one’s disputing that. I just feel better watching out for you.”

It was pointless to argue with him so I stared out the windshield as we drove down Highway 64 back to Manteo.

A voice over his police radio broke the silence. “Helmsworth, we got a call about another mutilated dog off of Highway 64.”

Tom’s shoulders stiffened and he cast a sideways glance at me before answering. “Roger. I picked up a stranded driver, and I’m dropping her off in town before I head out there.”

“Roger.” The dispatcher gave Tom the address.

“Mutilated dog?” I asked, my stomach churning with dread. Had the spirits’ campaign of terrorism escalated?

Tom groaned. “As if animals dropping dead all over the island wasn’t bad enough, now something is attacking dogs and ripping their guts out without eating them.”

“What do you think it is?”

Tom’s eyebrows lifted. “Why don’t you tell me.”

My stomach dropped to the floorboard. “How would I know?”

Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair. “Sorry, it’s been a rough few weeks.”

He didn’t know the half of it.

“So, Ellie.” Tom shifted in his seat. “What do you know about the Native American gods?”

What had he heard? I shrugged. “Not much. Why do you ask?”

“Well . . . ” His hand twisted on the steering wheel. “It just seems a little odd for a woman who can practically trace her ancestry back to the Mayflower to be shouting at Algonquian gods.”

I could go back further than that. I was a direct descendant of Ananias Dare of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. Especially when all the history books said there were no survivors. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I notice you’re still marking your door with those symbols.”

I twisted in my seat. “Are you investigating me?”

Tom parked at a stoplight and turned to look at me. “Ellie, two weeks ago there was a local death every day for four days and each person had ties to you. Of course I’m investigating you.”

My mouth dropped open, my anger rising to the surface again. “You really think I’d kill my own father?”

His face lost all expression. “I thought your father had a heart attack.”

Shit.

“Ellie, I’ve known you since you started kindergarten. There’s no way in hell you killed anyone, least of all your father.”

I turned away, trying to get it together. Tom was trained to get information from people. I needed to start thinking before I spoke, not a natural impulse for me.

The light turned green and Tom drove through the intersection. “So are you going to tell me the real reason why you have those marks on your front door?”

I didn’t answer.

“When I asked you after Marlena’s death, you said it was for protection. Protection from what?”

I closed my eyes and resisted the urge to shake my head. “I told you—it was insurance.”

“Where did you learn how to do that?”

I decided to turn the question around on him. “Where did you learn about Algonquian gods and markings?”

“My mother is part Lumbee. I asked my great uncle after I first saw them on your door.” He stopped at another stoplight.

This had to be the longest drive ever.

“And what’s with the marking on your back?”

Goddamn it. How on earth had he seen that?

As if reading my mind, he reached over and shifted the strap of my tank top to the side. “Your shirt isn’t exactly covering it. What’s it for?”

“It was a dare from Claire. She knows how much Myra hates tattoos. So before Daddy died, I got a henna tattoo and pretended it was real.” It was all true except for the dare part. “It’s fading.” Which also meant I was almost out of time. Okeus’s symbol on my back was a temporary protection from the gods and spirits. Once it was gone, my Manitou—or life force—would be fair game. And they’d all made it quite clear that they considered my Manitou a gourmet feast.

“More Native American symbols, Ellie.”

He was starting to piss me off. “When did it become a crime to be fascinated with another culture? People get Asian symbols tattooed on them all the time.”

The light turned green, and I held back a sigh of relief. We were only five blocks from my apartment.

“You have to admit that the timing is a bit coincidental.”

“How do you know I haven’t been interested in Native American things for a while?”

“Call it a hunch. You just admitted you got the henna tattoo right before your father died, and that’s around the time you started marking your door. Something fishy is going on here.”

I needed to learn to keep my mouth shut. I sucked at this covert crap.

We rode the rest of the way to my apartment in silence, although Tom kept sneaking glances at me. When he pulled into my parking lot, I reached for the door handle like it was my lifeline. He grabbed my arm. “Ellie, wait.”

I paused, refusing to look at him.

“Like I said, I know you’re not a murderer. I’m not accusing you of anything. In fact, I think you’re in trouble, only I’ve done a piss-poor job of telling you that.” He tugged on my arm. “Ellie, look at me.”

I slowly turned to face him.

“You’re scared of someone or something, and I want to help you. But I can’t do that unless you tell me what’s wrong.”

As I stared into Tom’s earnest face, I realized I felt like telling him everything. That I was one of two Curse Keepers, the descendant of the Ananias Dare line. As the eldest child of the previous Keeper, my father, my job had been to watch and wait for the breaking of the curse that made the Lost Colony of Roanoke disappear over four hundred years ago. The other Keeper was Collin Dailey, a commercial fisherman from Buxton, North Carolina, and part-time petty thief, who took his role more seriously than I did mine. He was the descendant of the line begun by the Croatan chief Manteo. Only Collin had purposely broken the curse . . . and instead of closing the gate to hell before the morning of the seventh day, he had tricked me into opening it wide.

Everyone was scrambling for a reasonable explanation for why the Lost Colony had suddenly reappeared a few weeks ago, preserved down to the food in the colonists’ bowls. I wanted to tell Tom the truth: Collin had shown up in the New Moon restaurant while I was working and pressed his right palm to mine, breaking the curse.

I would have loved to tell Tom about the horrifying things that had escaped and how they now lay in wait, regaining their strength before seeking their revenge against humanity for locking them away. That the mutilated dog he was about to investigate had undoubtedly been butchered by one of them.

But if I told him any of it, he would think I was crazy. If I told him all of it, he’d have me committed. The curse was my cross to bear.

I offered him a tired smile. “Thanks, Tom. If I find myself in a situation where I think you can help me, I’ll be sure to call you.”

Before he could ask more questions, I hopped out of the police car and headed up the two flights of outside stairs to my apartment. When I reached the landing, I realized that I’d left my keys and purse in my unlocked car, but I wasn’t about to let Tom know that. I bent over and pulled my spare key from underneath the mat and slipped it into the door. As I swung it open, I froze. There were fresh markings on the door.

Collin had been here.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and summoned my anger. Collin Fucking Dailey didn’t deserve my tears. I had given him my heart—not to mention the fact that my soul was now literally bound to his for all eternity—and he’d thrown it away. He’d thrown me away for whatever reward Okeus had promised him in exchange for opening the gate.

So why was he still helping me?

After the curse was broken three weeks ago and the first spirits were released, Collin had started to mark my door with symbols that represented the day and the night, forces of nature, and, in the center of each side, his symbol for the land, asking all the forces to lend me their protection.

Collin was the son of the earth, and I was the daughter of the sea. Our power was stronger combined than it was individually. So right before the end—before he betrayed me—we intersected our symbols for added protection.

Now, every few nights, he would sneak up and either scratch on fresh markings or place his symbol over mine.

He was protecting me even now.

I wanted to hate him—I did hate him—but this very act had softened my heart to him before. And look where that had gotten me . . . I needed to grow up. Collin wasn’t doing this out of love.

Collin Dailey loved one person—Collin Dailey.

He was helping me out of guilt. It would only be a matter of time before he decided he’d paid his dues. Either that, or he thought he still needed me for something. Perhaps it was a combination of the two.

Any way I sliced it, I was in deep shit. The henna tattoo had faded so much it was almost gone, and Collin would soon stop lending me his marks.

I needed to learn how to protect myself or I was as good as dead.

CHAPTER TWO

When the curse first broke, animals began parading through my dreams, calling out to me for help. And I also began to have nightmares about the past, dredging up memories that had been buried long ago. But after the gate opened all the way, and my henna tattoo began to fade, other creepy crawlies started to invade my dreams . . .

The creatures varied from night to night, but tonight the creature resembled a badger, although it was many times larger than it should have been. It crouched in front of me, its eyes glowing red. Its teeth were huge, sharp, and dripping with blood.

“Curse Keeper,” it said. “Daughter of the sea and witness to creation. Okeus is waiting for you to be ready, but I have other plans.”

Panic washed through me and I took a step backward, holding up the mark on my palm. I had the power to send him away—not permanently, but I could get him to leave me alone for now.

The animal laughed. “Your mark won’t always work.”

It wasn’t exactly news. His children had screamed and hissed about these great plans as they spilled out of the gates of hell. Their first order of business was to regain their strength. Torturing me for four centuries as punishment for my ancestor’s role in locking them away was a close second. Despite the way I’d taunted Okeus in the botanical gardens, I knew the last thing I wanted to do was confront him. “Tell Okeus I’ll take a rain check.”

“Tell him yourself,” the creature snarled. “He’ll visit you soon. Unless I get to you first.”

A dog appeared behind the badger, hunched down and whimpering, restrained by unseen forces. The badger turned around and attacked with a loud growl, throwing the dog to the ground and ripping open the flesh of its abdomen. Screaming and howling, the dog tried to get away, but the badger continued its attack, ripping intestines from the still-living creature and flinging them to the ground.

I fought to wake from the nightmare, but the badger looked over its shoulder, intestines hanging from its teeth, and mumbled, “This is only the beginning.”

I awoke screaming, my nose still filled with the scent of blood. I jumped out of bed and ran to the toilet, throwing up what was left of my dinner from hours earlier. I tried to purge the image from my head along with the contents of my stomach. The image wasn’t as easy to lose.

After I rinsed out my mouth, I made sure all the window ledges were protected with salt, which helped keep out the nasties. I went into my living room and grabbed my laptop, hoping to uncover some information about the creature from my dream. I wasn’t even sure what to look for. My biggest problem was that four hundred years ago the colonists had been more intent on converting the Native Americans to Christianity than they were on recording their belief system. Multiple tribes had been wiped from existence without making more than a blip on the historical record, which meant that finding specific information about the gods and spirits was next to impossible. I’d already checked the local library and bookstore and performed every conceivable Internet search. I needed to know what I was fighting—or at the very least defending myself against—but there was so little to find.

I curled up on the oversized sofa with an afghan and glanced at the clock, surprised I hadn’t yet had a visitor. Maybe they’d skip tonight since I’d been out by the tree.

But that was wishful thinking. The banging on my front door started at 4:00 a.m., close to dawn—when the spirits were usually at their strongest.

The mark on my palm itched and burned, making me cringe. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with a messenger, but it wasn’t like I had a choice. If I didn’t answer, the thing would keep pounding and moaning and might awaken my neighbors. And if anyone came to investigate, there was a good chance the spirit would take their Manitou, the essence of life in all living things. So I either answered the door or risked killing my neighbors and condemning them to hell. Too bad I liked my neighbors.

“Curse Keeper! I summon you.”

Setting my laptop on the sofa, I threw off the afghan and padded to the front door.

“Who’s there?”

“Who are you to speak to me this way!”

I groaned. It had to be Kanim, the messenger spirit of Okeus. As if the badger thing hadn’t been enough for one night. Taking a deep breath, I cracked open the door and spread my legs apart to brace myself against the wind with which the spirit would most likely blast me.

The cold gust hit me in the face, and instead of the usual dark blob hovering over the wooden floor of my deck, a large bird with a human head and flowing white hair was perched on the rail of my front porch.

It was Wapi, the northern wind god.

Oh, crap. He was just a shadowy spirit the first time I met him. I’d seen his true form when the gates of hell burst open, but most of the messengers who’d visited me after that night still showed up as shadows. Wapi had been free the longest of all the gods, so there’d been more time for him to regain his strength. What did it mean about the others if Wapi was already strong enough to come to me in his corporeal state?

Part of me was terrified. If he’d regained his true form, what was he capable of doing? The marks on my door would only keep him from coming in to get me. They wouldn’t protect me once I left the apartment.

I gripped the edge of the door. “What do you want, Wapi?” There was no love lost between us. He’d tried to suck out my Manitou a couple of days after the curse was first broken.

“Okeus has placed his mark on your arm.”

My hand self-consciously rubbed the zigzag scar made by Okeus’s claw. “Ahone has claimed me.”

“Ahone,” the bird spit. “Ahone is a weak coward. He hides in the heavens. Where is your Ahone now? Where will he be when Okeus comes to claim that which is his?”

I couldn’t help thinking that “that which is his” meant me.

I rested my temple on the edge of the door frame. “I’m tired, so cut to the chase. What do you want?”

“You are running out of time. You must choose a side. Okeus or Ahone.”

“And if I don’t?”

His leer sent chills down my spine before I slammed the door closed. I expected him to howl and scream in protest, but it remained blessedly silent outside. After a moment, I turned and rested the back of my head against the door.

The bottom line was that Wapi was right. I would have to choose . . . and it wasn’t much of a choice. Okeus promised me an eternal life in hell. Ahone promised little other than his protection, but at least my soul wouldn’t be damned. Not that I knew of, anyway.

Not like Collin’s.

Perhaps I could put Ahone’s mark on my back if I knew what it was. One thing was for sure: I really was running out of time.

I stumbled back to the sofa in exhaustion and dozed there for a few hours, my dreams remarkably quiet, until Claire let herself into the apartment.

“You look like shit,” she said as she kicked the door closed behind her and handed me a cup of coffee from the shop across the alley.

“Gee, I love you too.” I took a sip of the coffee, burning my tongue and nearly dropping the cup.

She plopped down in the overstuffed chair across from me, dug a muffin out of a paper bag, and handed it to me. “I heard you were in the botanical gardens last night.”

I peeled the lining paper off the muffin, giving it my full attention. “And where did you hear that?”

“Tom Helmsworth stopped by my house this morning to have a chat.”

My gaze jerked up to meet hers.

Claire watched me for several seconds and when I didn’t answer, she continued. “He said it wasn’t the first time.”

I took a bite. “He’s watching me.”

“Why?”

“He knows that all those deaths are connected to me.”

Her eyebrows rose. “He thinks you killed those people?”

“No, but he heard me shouting to Okeus and Ahone, and he’s studied the symbols on my door. I’m pretty sure he knows something’s up.”

“How does he know about the symbols?”

“He says he’s part Lumbee. He asked his great uncle.”

Claire shook her head. “It doesn’t mean he really knows anything. How could he?”

I ran my hand through my dirty hair and looked up at her. “My dreams are getting worse.”

“What did you see?”

“When Tom brought me home, I heard a call come over the radio. The dispatcher said a mutilated dog had been found. I don’t think it was the first one.” I groaned. “I mean, I know hundreds of animals have already died—in fact, it’s a wonder there are any left—but this time, they’ve been tortured.”

“What does it have to do with your dreams?”

“Last night, the creature in my dreams ripped a dog apart in front of me.”

The color drained from her face; then she sat back in the chair and tucked her feet underneath her. “Maybe it was the power of suggestion, Ellie. It could have just been a dream.”

I shook my head. “No, this was real. And the thing talked to me. It told me that I had to make a decision soon, that Okeus was coming for me.”

“You’re okay as long as you have the symbols on the door, right?”

“For now, sure. But the spirits are growing stronger. Soon they’ll be strong enough to show themselves in the daylight. I’m no closer to finding Ahone’s symbol for my back. What am I supposed to do?”

Her eyes widened in fear. “I don’t know.”

I crossed my legs and leaned forward. “I’m not going to sit here and wait for them to come and get me, Claire. I need to learn how to protect myself. And I have to figure out how to protect everyone else too. Sure, it’s dogs now, but it won’t be long before the spirits move on to people.”

“How are you going to do that? We’ve looked at every resource we can find, both at the library and online. Are you going to visit the Lumbees or something?”

Pressing my lips together, I considered my options. I needed an expert who knew more about Native American spirits than anyone else. Someone who’d studied these religions in depth. Then an idea struck—one so perfect I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before. I grabbed my laptop and searched for universities that offered Native American studies. “If you want an expert, who else knows more than a professor teaching the subject, right?”

Claire considered it. “You might be on to something there. What are you going to do?”

It looked like the closest university with a strong program was the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Digging into the faculty page, I pointed to the screen. “Here, Dr. David Preston. He’s the head of the American Studies Department and it says he’s an expert on North Carolinian Indians. That means he might have the information I need, right?”

She looked doubtful. “I guess . . . ”

I stood and stretched. “It’s worth a chance. I’ll leave as soon as I finish up at the bed and breakfast this morning.” I only hoped the anxiety I always felt when I left the island—a wretched side effect of the curse—wouldn’t be too debilitating. But I’d suffer through just about anything to improve my chances of long-term survival.

“You’re going to go today?”

“I need this information as soon as possible, Claire.”

“How do you know if he’ll even be there? It’s summer.”

“I’ll call and see if he’s available. Maybe he teaches summer classes.” I sat down and turned my back to her, pulling aside the top strap of my tank top. “The henna tattoo is almost gone. It’s my only protection. I have a few days left at most.”

“So just replace it with what Collin put on you.”

“But he used Okeus’s mark on my back. The spirits keep telling me I have to choose. If I put Okeus’s mark on my back permanently, it will mean I’ve chosen him. I have to wait until I find Ahone’s symbol.”

She sighed, nodding reluctantly. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

I got up and headed for the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower. I’ll call you later.”

“Ellie, wait.”

I paused next to my bathroom door.

“Let me go with you.”

“But you have to work.”

“I’ll work for a few hours and then tell them I’m sick.” She gave me a wry smile. “I’m worried about you. Chapel Hill is a good four hours away, and I don’t want you going by yourself. What if . . . ”

“What if what? I get attacked by the badger thing that showed up in my dream?”

She looked down into her coffee.

“All the more reason for you to stay home.”

Her face shot up, a determined look in her eyes.

I sagged against the door frame. I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to her. But I also couldn’t stand the thought of being alone all day. “Thanks, Claire. You’re right. I’m scared to death, and I need you.”

Claire got up and walked over, pulling me into a hug. “I’m here for you. As long as you don’t try to back out of wearing the maid of honor dress I picked out for you.” I tried to pull back and swat her arm, but she tightened her hold as she giggled into my ear. “I know you hate that dress, but you’re going to have to wear it. It was a concession to my sister for picking you as my maid of honor. So get over it.”

“I know, but orange taffeta ruffles? Really? I’m going to look like a pumpkin.”

“Nah, you’re not round enough. Maybe a squash.”

I laughed, breaking free. “Lucky for you, I’d wear a burlap bag if you asked.”

She patted my cheek with a sneaky grin. “I’m counting on it.” Her smile slid off her face and she stared into my eyes. “I’ll help you any way I can, Ellie.”

“I know, Claire. And I love you for it.” But when things started getting really bad, I’d turn away from her rather than put her in harm’s way. I wasn’t sure how I’d manage that, but I was determined.

“I know how hard all of this has been for you; losing your dad—”

I waited for the usual tears to fill my eyes, but they stayed dry. Maybe I was cried out. For now. “The best thing I can do for Daddy is carry on his legacy. And that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

“He’d be so proud of how brave you are.”

Daddy would have been prouder if I’d taken the curse more seriously from the beginning, but it had sounded like a fairy tale passed down from generation to generation for over four hundred years. I’d stopped believing in the curse when I was eight years old. Right after my mother was murdered. Every piece of information he’d told me completely disappeared, something I’d attributed to the trauma of witnessing her death. Daddy had done his best to reteach me, but I’d turned my back on it. My mother hadn’t believed, and I felt I owed it to her to give the curse up as well. For the last two weeks I’d beaten myself up about it, wondering if Collin would still have been able to trick me if I’d remembered all the details. I’d like to think he still would have snowed me, but there was no way of knowing.

Claire left for work with the plan that she’d develop a convenient case of food poisoning as soon as I called her with confirmation that the professor would be at the university. I grabbed a quick shower, trying to keep my left shoulder blade out of the water. Anything to make the henna tattoo on my back last longer. I would have skipped showering for another day or so if I weren’t going to see Dr. Preston.

I left for Myra’s bed and breakfast to help out with the morning chores. It was odd to think of it as Myra’s now and not Daddy and Myra’s. It may have been handed down several generations in my father’s family, but the truth was, it had been Myra’s place for some time. Daddy’s Alzheimer’s had stolen him from us years before his physical death.

Myra was sitting at her desk in the small office when I walked in through the back door, the heavenly smell of cinnamon rolls and bacon hitting me as soon as I entered.

“Good morning, Ellie.” Myra looked up and smiled, but dark circles underlined her almond-shaped eyes. My stepmother was second-generation Chinese, which drew quite a bit of curiosity when I introduced her as my mother. “How are you?”

I leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I’m fine,” I lied. “How are you? You look tired.” I’d lost my daddy, but Myra had lost her husband. Sometimes I forgot I wasn’t the only one affected by his death.

“I am.” She closed her eyes and rested her cheek in her hand. “I’m working overtime at the park site, and we’re sold out here at the B&B for several weeks, which is good since we’re in financial trouble. But with the funeral . . . and everything . . . I’m having trouble keeping up with it all.”

I squatted next to her. “I’m sorry I haven’t helped more with the inn—”

She looked down into my face and cupped my cheek. “Ellie, you just lost your daddy, and not under normal circumstances. I don’t expect you to help. I expect you to grieve. You don’t even need to be here now.”

“What am I going to do, Myra? Sit around and wait . . . ” I stopped myself from saying “for the end of the world.” I had told Myra about Daddy sacrificing himself to close the gate, but I hadn’t told her that the supernatural beings had escaped before that happened. She had enough to worry about without adding fear for my safety to the mix.

“Wait for what?”

“Nothing. I’m being a bitch and feeling sorry for myself.”

She frowned. “Don’t say that.”

I rested my head on her lap, and she stroked my hair like she used to do when I was having nightmares as a girl.

“I love you, Ellie. I may not have had children of my own, but you know I consider you my daughter. I wish you didn’t have to go through this.”

I looked up into her face. “Myra, I barely remember my mother. Just bits and pieces. I love her, especially what she did for me.” I paused as the usual pang of guilt struck me. “But you’ve been there for me for all the big stuff. Makeup. Boys. Daddy.” My voice broke. “I know I call you Myra, but I think of you as my mom too.”

“Oh, Ellie.”

I rose to my knees and threw my arms around her neck.

She squeezed me tight. “We Lancaster women need to stick together.”

“We always have.” I hugged her again and stood up. “I’ll be able to help out more at the inn until the restaurant reopens.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to. The inn’s part mine too.”

The reminder looked like it pained her. Not because she didn’t want to share the ownership, but because it made her think about all the money I’d scraped together over the last couple of years to keep the bed and breakfast afloat.

“How have you been doing without working these past couple of weeks?” She looked worried. “Any word on when the New Moon is going to reopen?”

I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. The restaurant I worked at had been closed for two weeks because the manager had been found dead. “No. But Tom Helmsworth thinks all these mysterious deaths have something to do with me.”

Her eyes widened in alarm. “Are you in trouble?”

I gave a quick shake of my head. “No. If anything, he’s worried about me.”

Fear flickered in her eyes. “Is everything okay?”

My mouth lifted into a tight smile. “Of course.”

Myra had never believed in the curse. It had been pretty much the one and only long-standing argument between her and Daddy, especially when he tried to goad me into relearning everything I’d forgotten after my mother’s death. But on the night of Daddy’s death, Myra had seen Okeus’s messenger spirit—the one who had come to try to take Daddy’s soul. She had seen enough to make her a believer.

“They’re going to have to replace Marlena with a new manager.” My voice broke and I forced the hurt back down. Marlena was dead because of me. Just like Dwight, a guy I’d dated a few times, and Lila, one of the waitresses who’d worked with me. When I let the truth of their deaths sink deep down, I nearly collapsed with the guilt. But I reminded myself that I was just as much a victim as they were. I had never asked for this. Collin had just thrust it upon me. Their deaths weren’t on my head. They were on his. “I don’t know when they’ll reopen. But I can pick up hours on the lunch shift at Darrell’s Restaurant if I need money. They get all that courthouse business, and they’re busier than ever with the reappearance of the Lost Colony. They told me I had a job there if I want it.”

“You can always move back home, Ellie.”

“I know.” But I’d probably live on the street before I did that.

“I should be home in time to relieve the caregiver . . . ” Her voice became tight and then trailed off.

I squeezed her shoulder. I knew what she’d been about to say: she should be home in time to relieve Daddy’s caregiver. It had been her routine for two years. It was hard to forget something so deeply ingrained.

Myra’s gaze turned to the picture window along the back wall of her office, following the neighbor’s dog, a big golden retriever that was chasing a squirrel in the yard. At least one dog was still running around on the island. “I tell myself that he’s happier now. He hated losing his mind piece by piece. He was one of the most intelligent men I’ve ever met.” She smiled as tears slid down her cheeks. “On my first day as a part-time park ranger, I was so nervous to meet him. He was the head ranger and renowned for his knowledge of the colony. I thought he’d be intimidating. But he was so nice, and there was something about him . . . ” She laughed softly. “You probably don’t want to hear this.”

“I do.” I forced down the lump in my throat. “I like to remember what he was like before his memories began to fade.”

“Your mother had been gone a couple of years, but I could still see the pain in his eyes. It was like he’d lost part of himself.” She paused for several seconds. “I never once thought I could replace your mother . . . I was just grateful to be part of his life.” She looked up at me with a shaky smile. “And yours. I don’t want to lose you too, Ellie.”

I hugged her again, my tears breaking through the dam. “I love you, Myra. Like I said, I’m not going anywhere.”

Myra’s friend Becky appeared in the doorway. “I’m sorry to bother you, Myra, but there’s a police officer here who wants to talk to you.”

Her eyes widened in concern as she pulled away from me. “Do you think this is about you?”

I squeezed her arms. “It’s probably Tom. I promise he doesn’t think I killed anyone. This is his way of looking out for me. We went to school together, remember? Claire’s sister dated him when Claire and I were freshman. I think it makes him feel kind of responsible for me since Daddy’s gone.”

She nodded, wiping her tears. “What should I tell him?”

“Tell him the truth, except for the part about the curse, of course. You didn’t believe the curse until a couple of weeks ago anyway. Just tell him what happened and how you saw things before you learned the truth.”

“What about Collin?”

My back stiffened. “Tell Tom the truth about that too.”

“But it might look bad for him.”

I shrugged, pretending not to care. “Then he brought it on himself.”

I walked into the small kitchen, passing Becky, and poured a cup of coffee and then took it out into the great room. As I’d suspected, Tom was sitting there waiting. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, he was perched on the arm of a leather sofa, staring at an old family portrait on the wall. It was of Daddy, Myra, and me and was taken when I was in the eighth grade.

“Long time no see, Tom.”

He turned toward me. “You look tired, Ellie.”

Lifting my shoulders in a half shrug, I gave him a wry smile. “Busy night.” I held the cup out to him. “When did you become a plainclothes policeman?”

Laughing, he stood and took the coffee. “I’m here unofficially. Your keys were in the ignition of your car, so I drove it to the parking lot of your apartment. When you didn’t answer the door, I decided to bring the keys here. I figured I might as well ask Myra a few questions while I was at it.”

“You might have mentioned that to Becky. You just about gave Myra a coronary.”

Cringing, he took a sip of the coffee. “Sorry about that.” Tom walked toward the photo. “I used to envy you, you know.”

“Me? Why?”

“Your dad was awesome. Mine was never around, but the summer when I dated Melanie, your dad always made a point of talking to me. Like he was really interested in me as a person.”

I reached out and stroked Daddy’s smiling face with the tip of my index finger. “I’m sure he was. That’s who he was . . . at least until he got sick.”

“I bet you didn’t know I got in trouble that summer. I was caught vandalizing the school.”

I whipped my head around in surprise. “You?”

He hung his head, a sheepish grin on his face. “Yeah. I went through a rebellious patch. Got in with those Morris boys; they were nothing but trouble. I was about to get kicked off the football team, but your dad was on the school board and he spoke up on my behalf. I got that football scholarship to UNC because of him. Without him I never would have gotten my criminal justice degree.”

I turned back to look at Daddy’s smiling face again. “I didn’t know.”

“He never made a big deal out of it. That’s just the kind of guy he was.” He shifted his weight. “So now I feel like I owe it to him to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine, Tom. You won’t find me in the gardens again.”

“It’s not just that, Ellie. I can tell that you’re in some kind of danger.”

“I’m not. I assure you.” I hated lying, but I saw no other way around it. “Questioning Myra is only going to upset her more.”

Tom didn’t look convinced.

“Fine,” I lowered my voice. “Talk to her, but promise that you’ll be gentle. She looks like she’s handling all of this well, but I suspect she’s hiding most of her pain from me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of hurting her.”

“I know.” I dropped my hold on him. “I’ve got work to do. Thanks for sharing that story about Daddy with me.”

“You’re welcome. I suspect there’s a lot more stories about your dad that you’ve never heard before.”

I suspected he was right. If only some of them could help me now.

CHAPTER THREE

After Myra left, I went outside and called the phone number listed on the university’s web page and confirmed with a departmental assistant that Dr. Preston would have office hours from one until three. Which meant that if Claire and I left between nine thirty and ten, we’d have at least an hour to spare. I called her and arranged to pick her up at ten.

After changing the linens and starting the laundry, I told Becky that I needed to leave for the day. She was used to my sporadic schedule and didn’t say a word, but I had to wonder if she was getting tired of all my slacking lately.

Claire and I were on the road by ten, crossing the Virginia Dare Bridge to the mainland.

“This marsh gives me the creeps,” Claire mumbled, hunched down in the passenger seat.

“What are you talking about? We have marshes all over Manteo.” I was just grateful I wasn’t feeling the usual anxiety that troubled me when I left the island.

“I know, but something about this stuff doesn’t feel right.”

The reeds growing along the side of the highway looked exactly like the marshland on our island, but I had to admit that Claire was right. Something about it set my nerves on edge. I couldn’t help wondering if some of the spirits had hidden here, lying in wait as they preyed on squirrels and salamanders, growing stronger.

I shuddered. This is what my life had become—a constant battle with enemies, real and imagined.

We stopped a couple hours later and grabbed some deli sandwiches to eat on the way. The closer we got to the university, the more nervous I became.

“Do you know what you’re going to say?” Claire asked.

“I don’t know. I can’t tell him the truth, obviously.”

“I agree. You can’t be in my wedding in a couple of weeks if you’re locked up in the psychiatric ward at the Outer Banks Hospital. Then I’d have to move Melanie up as maid of honor, and all that fighting will have been for nothing.”

“I still feel bad that you and Melanie fought over me being your maid of honor.”

“Hey, it’s my wedding. That’s something I get to choose. You and I are much closer than she and I will ever be.”

“Hmm . . . ” I twisted my lips together as I thought about it. “Do you remember when Melanie dated Tom Helmsworth?”

She rolled her eyes. “I think he’s spent the past nine years trying to forget it. She treated him like crap.”

“He came by the B&B to talk to Myra today.”

Claire sat up and grabbed the dashboard. “About you? He’s really making the rounds, huh?”

“Yeah. He drove my car back to my apartment from the Elizabethan Gardens, and he was bringing her the keys since I wasn’t home. He was actually off duty . . . He told me he felt a responsibility to watch over me.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You think Tom has a thing for you?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not like that. He said Daddy helped him when he was in high school. He got into trouble and was almost kicked off the football team, but Daddy spoke up for him. He said he wouldn’t have gone to college and gotten his criminal justice degree without his football scholarship. He feels like he owes it to Daddy to make sure I’m okay.”

“Wow. I had no idea.”

“Me neither.” I sighed. “But that means he feels a personal connection to this whole thing, so he might not back down. I’m going to have to convince him I’m okay . . . I don’t want him to get hurt.”

“You have to admit that you could use some help since Collin’s hiding from you.”

“Tom wouldn’t be of much help, Claire. It takes two Keepers to send a spirit or god to Popogusso.”

“But you said Collin thought you could probably send the minor ones back on your own.”

“But I don’t even know how to do that. I don’t know anything.”

“We can look through your dad’s things again. See if we can find the notes he says he wrote down. Maybe there’s something in there about what to do in the case of an absentee Keeper.”

“Yeah . . . ” Daddy had recognized Okeus’s mark. Maybe he had Ahone’s mark written down somewhere. Still, we’d been through his office and his old bedroom three times without turning up anything. If there were notes somewhere, they had been hidden well. My current hopes were pinned on the professor at UNC. He couldn’t know about the curse, but I hoped he’d know Ahone’s symbol. And maybe he had enough knowledge about the gods and spirits to at least help me understand the nightmare I was facing.

It was after two when we arrived at the UNC campus and found a place on the street to park.

“Are you sure he’s here?” Claire asked as we walked through the campus bookstore toward Greenlaw Hall. “This place looks like a ghost town.”

“I called this morning and his secretary told me he had office hours from one to three. He’s in office 232.”

“Did you get an appointment?”

“No, she said it was first come, first serve.” My stomach knotted.

“Do you have a plan?”

“I was just going to wing it.”

“Excuse me, Dr. Preston,” Claire mimicked. “My name is Ellie Lancaster and I need you to help me send Okeus back to hell before he tortures me for four hundred years.”

“Not helping.” But she was right. I should have come up with something better than that. “He’s the head of his department. He’s bound to be an old guy. I’m sure he’s dealt with all kinds of crazy questions.”

“Yeah, which is bound to make him cranky.”

Crap. I hadn’t considered that. We were already inside the small lobby of Greenlaw. I stopped and took a deep breath.

Claire stopped too and looked me up and down. “Well, you’ve got a damsel-in-distress look about you. When all else fails, go for the pretty, helpless girl act. How can he resist? You’ll have the old fart eating out of your hand.”

“Shut up, Claire.” I tugged up the neckline of my T-shirt to show less cleavage, then tugged down my above-the-knee cotton skirt. “I want this to be a professional conversation.”

“Then you should have tried to look frumpier, not that I’ve ever seen you look frumpy.”

“You think I look slutty?”

“God, no. I’ve never seen you look slutty either. You’re a pretty girl, Ellie. Guys notice, even if you ignore them most of the time.”

“I’m not here to get a date. I’m here to hopefully save my life . . . and the rest of humanity.” That made me think of Collin, and a wave of pain flowed through my body, anger fast on its heels. I had thought we were saving humanity then, when in fact we’d been condemning it. I didn’t have time to think about Collin right now. Fucking asshole.

We climbed the stairs to the second floor, still without seeing anyone. I wiped my sweaty palms on my skirt and sucked in a deep breath.

“Two thirty-two.” Claire pointed toward a door several feet away. It stood ajar and voices were coming from inside the office. “Do you want me to come inside with you?”

“No. I need to do this myself.” I tried to slow my racing heart. Why had I not come up with a better plan—or any plan at all?

“Okay, I’m going to look up ideas for the centerpieces for my reception on Pinterest while I’m waiting down there pretending I don’t know you.” She pointed toward the end of the hall, raising her phone. “Hallelujah for smartphones.”

“I’ll find you when I’m done.”

She walked past the door and peeked inside before glancing over her shoulder at me with an amused grin.

What did that mean?

Just as I was about to knock on the door, a girl shot out of the room, tears streaming down her face. My heart kick-started as I watched her rush toward the stairs.

“Are you going to just bloody stand there or are you coming in?” a gruff voice asked from inside the office. The door was now gaping open.

My head whipped around to face the speaker, and I tried to hide my surprise. Dr. David Preston didn’t even begin to resemble the fusty old professor I’d imagined. The man standing at his desk had to be in his thirties, with dark brown hair and a handsome face. He was tall and even though he had on a long-sleeve dress shirt, it was obvious he didn’t have a beer belly. And his accent suggested he was British.

“Well . . . ?” he asked, looking exasperated as he stuffed several overflowing folders into a messenger bag.

Why couldn’t he be a freaking old fart?

“I need to ask you a few questions.”

He kept his eyes on his bag as he closed the flap. “Sorry, but my Introduction to Native American Cultures classes for the fall are full, and I’m not approving any additional students. You’ll just have to get on the waiting list like all the others, although last I heard, the list is quite lengthy.”

The English accent was throwing me. Talk about a contradiction. An Englishman who specialized in Native American history.

He was staring at me, waiting for an answer. “That’s not why I’m here.” But I understood why there was a waiting list. Dr. David Preston was like a real-life Indiana Jones. Only hotter. And British.

His eyebrows rose. “You don’t look familiar. Are you a history major?”

“No, actually, I’m not a student here at all.”

His shoulders relaxed. “Oh, then my apologies. Over the last two weeks, I’ve been barraged with requests from female undergrads begging to get into my classes. I’ve heard every excuse under the sun, so forgive me for assuming you were in the same position.” He slung his bag over his shoulder and moved around the side of his desk.

“That’s okay. Are you leaving? Your secretary said you had office hours until three.”

“Usually I do, but I’m going on a research trip tomorrow, and I’m leaving early today to take care of some personal business.”

Panic ate at my resolve. “I just drove four hours to see you, Dr. Preston. I really need to ask you a few questions about the Croatan Indians.”

He looked surprised. “I’m honored that you drove all that way, but I don’t have much time to spare at the moment. Perhaps you could make an appointment for when I return to the school in August.” Walking to the door, he waited for me to follow him into the hall so that he could lock his office.

“That will be too late.”

He chuckled as he put his keys into his pants pocket. “The Croatan tribe has been thought to be extinct for over two hundred years. I assure you that five weeks won’t be too late.”

“Please, this is important.”

He looked skeptical, but he tilted his head toward the stairs. “You can accompany me to the exit and ask any questions you can fit into the thirty-second walk.”

Thirty seconds? I had no idea where to start. I hurried to keep up with him as he headed for the staircase, his long legs making the trek even shorter. “Do you know anything about the Croatan gods and spirits?”

“Yes.” I waited for him to expand upon that, but he just gave me a slightly irritated look. “While I admit that my knowledge of their spiritual beliefs is scanty, it would certainly take more than thirty seconds to discuss it.”

When we reached the staircase doorway, I cast a quick glance at Claire. She looked up from her phone with raised eyebrows. I just shrugged and hurried down the stairs after the professor.

I decided to ask him about my most pressing concern first. “Do you know about a spirit that looks like a huge badger and attacks animals, ripping out their internal organs but not eating their meat?”

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, narrowing his eyes. “Excuse me?”

“Do you know what it is?”

He abruptly started walking again, hurrying for the exit. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I’ve heard enough.”

I grabbed his arm. “Dr. Preston, please.”

He stopped and looked from my hand to my face, his expression all wariness.

“I promise you that this is important. Have you heard of a spirit that does that?”

“No. Look, Miss . . . ”

“Ellie. Ellie Lancaster.” He tried to pull out of my grasp, but my fingers dug in deeper. “I know this sounds crazy, but you have no idea how important it is for you to tell me what you know.”

“Ellie, I suggest that you do an Internet search and perhaps read the book Indians and English by Karen Ordahl Kupperman.”

“I already have.”

“Then I’m afraid I won’t be of much help to you.” He pried my fingers off his sleeve.

“Wait! Please!” I begged, digging my cell phone out of my purse. “Can you just look at this photo for me?”

Indecision flickered across his face before he closed his eyes with a sigh and then reopened them, shaking his head. “I’m going to warn you right now that if you’re showing me a naked photo of yourself, I will call security and have you arrested.”

I looked up from scanning my photos for the one Claire had taken of my back a week ago. “What? No! God, no.” I handed him the phone. “Here. I know the mark’s faded, but if you zoom in, you can see it better.”

He reluctantly took the phone, pulled a pair of glasses from his shirt pocket, and put them on his nose. “Is this a tattoo?”

“Yes, but it’s henna.”

He rolled his eyes and started to lower the glasses. “Miss Lancaster.”

“Dr. Preston, please.”

The desperation in my voice must have swayed him, but he didn’t look happy as he examined the picture. “The symbols look Native American . . . ”

“Can you make out what they mean?”

“Well, yes. They stand for forces of nature.” He pointed to the screen. “The sun, the moon. I believe these symbols in the corners stand for rain and storms.”

“What about the one in the center?”

He tilted his head to the side as he examined the image. “Some obscure texts show that symbol in relation to an Algonquian deity.”

“Okeus.”

His gaze lifted toward me, now tinged with curiosity. “Yes, but very few laypeople know that. Where did you learn of it?”

I ignored his question. “What about all the symbols put together? Are they like our alphabet? When you put a bunch of symbols all together, do they mean something different? Does this tattoo have a deeper meaning?”

He studied me with an expressionless gaze. “Yes.”

For the first time in weeks, I felt like I was getting somewhere. “Really? What?”

He slowly handed the phone back to me. “It means some drunk college kid went out and got a bad henna tattoo during spring break. Now if you’ll excuse me, you’ve wasted enough of my time.”

I followed him toward the exit, tears springing to my eyes as I kept pace with him. “Dr. Preston, this isn’t a joke. I need your help. Do you know the symbol for Ahone? My life depends on it. Please.”

He looked back at me with disgust and pity. “Miss Lancaster, if this isn’t a joke, the only help I can give you is to suggest you check yourself into a hospital for psychiatric screening.” He pushed the door open. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”

I watched him walk across the courtyard, my last bit of hope leaving with him.

“That was painful to watch.” Claire had followed us downstairs, and she stood next to me, looking out the glass doors.

“If he won’t help me, I’m as good as dead, Claire. He was my last chance at answers.”

“No, Ellie. You and I both know who you need to go see.”

I hated her for suggesting it, but I supposed there was no way around it.

It was beginning to look like I would have to pay a visit to Collin Dailey.

CHAPTER FOUR

I was already having a shitty day, and then my car broke down in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge when we were almost home. I sat on the side of the road and allowed myself ten minutes of tears while Claire called her fiancé, Drew, to come and get us.

“It could be worse,” she said as we sat on the trunk, watching the cars speed past us as we waited for our rescue. “We could be two hours from Manteo instead of forty minutes.”

“I know.” She was right, but I barely had enough money to pay my rent, let alone the bill for a tow and car repair.

Claire wrapped her arm around my back and pulled my head to her shoulder. “You deserve a good cry. You’ve had a hell of a few weeks.”

“I don’t know what to do,” I said, wiping my face. “Dr. Preston was my Hail Mary plan.”

She turned to face me. “Ellie, you know you need to ask for Collin’s help.”

I shook my head and leaned my arms on my thighs. “He was the one who wanted the gate open in the first place. What makes you think he’d help? He doesn’t give a shit.”

“Yeah, that man doesn’t give two fucks about you. Which is why he sneaks to your front door in the middle of the night to put his protective marks over yours.”

“But I told him I never wanted to see him again. It would be humiliating.”

“How could it be humiliating?” She leaned back and stared into my face with disbelief. “He’s the shithead who made you a buffet for a bunch of vengeful gods. He owes you more than a few marks on your door.”

“Yeah.” Claire was right, and my head knew it, but I wasn’t sure if my heart could handle seeing him. The wound was still too raw. As much as I hated him for what he’d done, I didn’t feel whole without him, which seemed ridiculous given that we’d only known each other for a few weeks, and we’d only been together for less than a week of that time. But I also knew my feeling had more to do with the fact that our souls were bound together than it did with our attachment to each other.

Claire shivered. “This marsh still gives me the creeps.”

“Me too.”

The sun was setting, and a shiver ran down my spine as I watched it bow beneath the clouds. Over the past several nights, I’d noticed a new heaviness in the air for about thirty minutes during the merging of day and night—all shadow, substance, and danger. As the mark on my back faded, I could feel myself becoming more and more vulnerable. The things in the night were getting stronger while I was becoming weaker. It was only a matter of time before they overpowered me.

I had hoped Dr. Preston would know the symbol for Ahone. I had already accepted that I had to permanently etch a protective mark onto my skin. I just needed that final piece of the puzzle. Sure, I could ask Collin, but I couldn’t trust his answer. After all, he was the one who had originally put Okeus’s mark in the center of my henna tattoo.

“Curse Keeper,” a voice hissed.

I jerked upright, a slight tingle in my palm. “Did you hear that?”

Claire looked around, her forehead wrinkling with worry. “Hear what?”

“Shh.”

We sat in silence for a moment, the only sound the cars whizzing past.

I turned my ear toward the marsh. “Shouldn’t there be some kind of sound? Birds? Bugs?”

Claire’s eyes widened. “Yeah.”

I slid to the ground, my heart racing. How could I be so stupid? This was a wildlife refuge, and the spirits had been targeting animals. “Get in the car.”

I walked to the edge of the marsh as she scrambled off the trunk and ran to the passenger door.

“Ellie, what are you doing?”

Ignoring her, I looked into the canal that ran alongside the road. “What’s out there?”

“Curse Keeper.” A low hiss filled the air. “You’ve come out to play.”

“Holy shit,” Claire murmured, swinging her door open. “Ellie, get in the car.”

I steeled my back and tried to stop my hands from shaking. “Spirit, show yourself.”

“Ellie!”

The water splashed and the marsh grass rustled. The movement headed my way.

“Ellie,” Claire begged. “You don’t have to do this. Just get in the car.”

I wanted to run to safety, but this was my chance to get some answers. I needed to know what I was fighting. “Who are you?” I asked, willing myself to be brave.

The rustling stopped in front of me, but the canal was covered in shadows, and I couldn’t make out what was hidden in the vegetation.

“I am your nightmares come to life.” A giant snake’s head rose from a patch of reeds six feet in front of me. Its scales were green, its eyes were red, and it had horns. Shiny green scales covered the snake’s lithesome body, and its head was probably over three feet long.

When it said it was from my nightmares, the creature was right. I’d dreamed of it several nights ago.

The snake’s head bobbed, and the image shimmered and became hazy. The spirit still hadn’t regained enough strength to have a solid form. That would hopefully work in my favor.

I flexed my hand, ready to lift the mark on my palm toward it and send the beast away. It would only be banished temporarily, but at least I’d be protected for the moment. I wasn’t about to let it know I was scared. “Who are you?”

“I am Mishiginebig.” Its forked tongue slipped out of its mouth and quivered. “Have you heard of me?”

I lifted my chin. “No.”

“Before long, you will know me well. I slither through the water, hunting my favorite prey. Humans.” His eyes lit up with excitement. “The nuppin feared me, and soon, so shall the tosh-shonte.”

What the heck were the nuppin and the tosh-shonte? I tried to hide the fear that turned my knees shaky. The snake would feed off of my weakness. “Why are you here?”

“To see the witness to creation for myself.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “Why?”

The snake slid from side to side, its red eyes tracking me. “You’re not so special.”

“That’s right. I’m not. Now go tell all your spirit friends.”

Mishiginebig lifted his head high and slid back several feet, looking haughty and regal. “Okeus has special plans for you.”

“Yeah, your badger buddy told me the same thing last night.”

“Okeus wants to have an audience with you.”

“Since when does he ask for permission?”

The giant snake’s red eyes blinked, then narrowed to slits as it leaned closer. “You’re alive because Okeus wishes it. Many of us would rather it was otherwise. Do not doubt that for a minute.”

I didn’t, but there were several ways they could do me in. One, I was pretty sure they could outright kill me, but Collin was certain they wouldn’t. Because my Manitou had never been recycled, my life essence had been pure since the creation of the universe. That had earned me the title of witness to creation, but it also meant my Manitou was much stronger than other creatures’. For beings that gained strength from consuming the life essence of other creatures—including most of the beings that had escaped from the gate to Popogusso—I would be the ultimate catch. Collin had assured me that the mark on my back would protect my Manitou. But I wasn’t sure if his information was trustworthy, and even if it were, the mark would soon be gone.

A car approached from the other direction, its headlights illuminating the snake in gruesome detail.

“Drew!” Claire shouted, waving her arms in desperation.

“You’re almost ready,” Mishiginebig hissed. “Okeus will visit you soon.”

“Almost ready for what?”

Drew made an illegal U-turn and pulled up behind my car. Mishiginebig faded into thin air.

Getting out of his car, Drew looked from one of us to the other, his expression alarmed. “What happened?”

Claire ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. “Let’s get the hell out of here!”

I was still standing at the side of the road, my eyes glued to the spot where the snake had appeared and then disappeared.

“Ellie, let’s go!”

I felt nauseated. Okeus was waiting for something before he was ready to come for me. He had to be waiting for the mark to disappear. How long could I make it last?

Claire grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the side of the road. “Ellie!”

I turned to her, surprisingly calm. “The snake won’t hurt me.” Not yet. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hurt Claire and Drew if he managed to regain his physical form. I grabbed my purse from my car, locked it up, and got into the back of Drew’s sedan.

As soon as he pulled away, Claire let loose. “What were you thinking?” she hissed, turning in her seat to glare at me.

“I told you he wouldn’t hurt me, Claire. He said Okeus has plans for me.”

“And you believe that . . . that thing?”

“Yes. Without a doubt. At least I got some information.”

“You have to go see Collin. Immediately.”

I leaned my head back on the seat and groaned. “No.”

“Ellie!”

She was right, but I still didn’t want to see him. I still had a few days. Maybe I could come up with something else. Anything else. My pride was on the line. “I don’t even know where he is.”

“I do.”

My mouth dropped. “You what?”

“I know where he is. His boat is in Wanchese. He seems to live on it. Sometimes his truck disappears for a few days, but his boat stays docked. You find one or the other, and he’ll return to it soon enough.”

“What the hell, Claire? You staked him out?”

“I knew you’d need him.”

I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. Claire always had my best interests in mind. “Well, it doesn’t change anything. I’m still not going.”

“You’d rather let those things kill you than go talk to him?”

“Yes!” I leaned forward. “Yes! I don’t trust him, Claire. He betrayed me.” My voice broke. “If he could put my life in danger after everything we shared, why would he help me now?”

She clenched her jaw. “I’ll go find him myself.”

“No you won’t!”

“Yes I will, and you damn well know it. I’m giving you twenty-four hours. Tomorrow night. And if you don’t go, I will.”

Drew had been silent for our entire conversation, but he cleared his throat and spoke. “Claire’s right. You need to see him, Ellie.”

“Et tu, Drew?” I asked, my tone a little more hateful than intended. “You only found out about all of this last week.” Up until a few weeks ago, I’d kept the curse secret, telling only Claire about it. But between my involvement with Collin and the marks on my body and door, Drew had grown suspicious. Now that hell had literally broken loose, I’d spilled all the details.

“You’re running out of time. If you don’t do it, I’ll help Claire find him and drag him to you.”

Gritting my teeth, I looked out the side window, intent on ignoring them for the rest of the car ride. I knew for a fact that they meant it . . . and I also knew I couldn’t let that happen. But what could I possibly find out in the next twenty-four hours?

I tossed and turned that night, worrying about how to pay for my car repair bills—but also worrying about my mark. Even if I found Ahone’s symbol, I was smart enough to know that getting the tattoo wouldn’t just mean putting a mark of protection on my skin. I would be committing my soul for eternity. I needed more reassurance. One way or the other.

When I went to bed, my dreams were filled with animals begging for my help, but the spirits left me alone. They didn’t even show up at my front door. Seeing Mishiginebig must have been message enough.

The next morning, Myra pushed open the back door of the bed and breakfast as I walked up. “Good morning, Ellie,” she said with a worried smile.

“Were you waiting for me?”

She shrugged. “I just wanted to say good morning.” Myra had always been a terrible liar.

“What’s wrong?”

“Is it a crime to want to see you?”

“Something’s up, Myra. What is it?”

“There’s been . . . an incident.”

My breath caught as I spanned the rest of the distance between us. “What kind of incident?”

She put a gentle hand on my arm. “Don’t worry. Everyone is fine, but Tom is here . . . ”

“Tom Helmsworth? Why?”

She looked worried again. “Tom thinks some kind of wild animal is on the loose.”

I looked around her to see if he was in the great room. “Tell me what happened, Myra.”

“Something attacked the neighbor’s dog.”

“Chip?” My chest tightened, and I knew what had happened before she said anything else. It stood to reason the spirits would taunt me this way. I pushed past her and through the dining room, ignoring the startled looks of the guests who were eating breakfast. “Where is he?”

Myra followed me. “Outside, on the west side of the house.” She grabbed my arm as I reached the front door. “You don’t want to go out there, Ellie.”

“Yes, I do.”

When I reached the side yard, Tom had his back to me. He was standing next to his partner, and their bodies were blocking my view of the dog. Hearing my approach, Tom swiveled around at the waist. “Ellie, this is a mess. Go back inside.”

Ignoring him, I made myself stand next to him. The gods and spirits wanted me to see this. That’s why the badger creature had chosen this dog and left him next to my house.

I took one glance and had my worst fear confirmed. His abdomen had been ripped open.

Spinning around to face the street, I sucked in huge gulps of air.

“Ellie, why don’t you go sit on the porch,” Tom said. “I’ll join you in a second.”

This time I didn’t argue. I sat in one of the rocking chairs, staring at the giant oak tree in the front yard. When I was younger, I had spent one whole summer climbing that tree whenever I could. My mother would yell at me to be careful, but Daddy would tell her to let me be a kid and have fun. But they hadn’t been fighting, not really. They never fought . . . not unless they were discussing the curse, anyway.

That goddamned curse had ruined everything in my life.

Several minutes later, Tom sat down in the rocking chair next to me. “Tell me what I’m not seeing, Ellie.”

I turned my gaze to his police car parked by the curb. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do.”

I stopped rocking. “What is it you want me to say, Tom?”

“Tell me what you know about the mutilated dogs.”

I glared at him. “Do you know how ridiculous and paranoid you sound right now?” I stood and moved toward the front door.

“Whatever’s attacking these dogs isn’t normal. The claw marks tell me it has to be some sort of animal, but whatever it is rips them apart and only eats one thing.”

My curiosity got the better of me. “What?”

Tom shot me a meaningful look. “Their hearts. What animal in nature does that?”

I rubbed my forehead. “I don’t know, Tom. Isn’t there some department you can call about that? Like Animal Control?”

“We’ve already called the Department of Fish and Wildlife.”

“Well, there you go. Why do you need my opinion? I’m just a waitress.”

“I’m not letting this go, Ellie.”

Of course he wasn’t. “Fine. You do whatever you want.” I opened the door to the house. “Now if you’ll excuse me, some of us have real work to do.”

To my surprise, he didn’t follow me. I looked for Myra and found her in her office.

She frowned when she looked up at me. “I hope you didn’t see him too closely. It was quite upsetting.”

“I’m sorry, Myra.”

She shook her head and turned to look out the back window. It was odd to think we’d never see Chip running around the yard again. He’d been part of my life for ten years.

I sighed. The world was in danger, but I had mundane things to worry about at the moment. “I hate to ask, but my car broke down as I was driving through the Alligator River Wildlife Refuge. Can I use your car today? I can take you to work and pick you up.”

“Do I want to know why you were driving through the wildlife refuge?”

“No.”

A ghost of a smile twitched at her lips. “Of course you can use my car. And I’m sure I can find a ride home. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Thanks, Myra. I’m going to do some work upstairs. Let me know when you’re ready to leave.”

After I put the linens in the industrial washing machine in the main house, I went into Daddy’s office and stood in the doorway. It looked exactly as it did two years ago, before his mind started getting worse.

I went inside and trailed my fingertips across the old wooden desk, my eyes scanning the floor-to-ceiling bookcases on both sides of the room. I thought about searching the room again for the notes Daddy had told me about—the ones about the curse—but I knew it was a lost cause. Especially when my time would be better spent figuring out which antique I could pawn next.

Myra knew I’d pawned a set of candlesticks from the dining room a few weeks ago, and she’d told me I didn’t need to hide it the next time I had to take something, but it still felt slimy and underhanded. Maybe I could find something in the attic that wouldn’t be missed. As I walked past the door to my old bedroom, the familiar ball of anxiety that had been born after we opened Popogusso tightened in my stomach.

The attic was musty and full of cobwebs and a multitude of discarded items. I scanned the room, my eyes stopping on an engraved wooden box on top of an antique chest of drawers. I clambered over the cardboard and plastic containers in front of the dresser and picked up the box. I held my breath as I opened it. There it was, just as I’d expected—my grandfather’s pocket watch collection. Three antique watches nestled in a rich velvet lining.

When I was a little girl, Daddy used to take turns wearing two of them. Each day I’d try to guess which one he had on his chain. A wave of melancholy washed over me as I picked up my favorite of the two, a dull gold, well-worn watch, and placed it in my palm. The face was hidden behind a hinged cover that was engraved with a large four-pointed star surrounded by smaller stars. The other watch he used to wear had a crystal face and a shiny silver back decorated with my great, great grandfather’s initials and elaborate scrollwork.

The third was particularly old and ornate. The oval timepiece had a silver cover with a bas-relief of a Greek bathing scene, and the inside face was etched with cherubs. I figured it had to be worth a lot of money, but I also knew it had been in the family for centuries. Hopefully, the newer silver watch—a relative term when I considered the fact that the piece was well over a hundred and fifty years old—would bring enough money to cover my car expenses.

I decided to bring all the watches to see what they were worth. I found an old duffel bag in the corner and wiped off as much dust as I could before stuffing the wooden box inside.

I decided to just set the bag in the backseat of the car without telling Myra what was in it.

As suspected, she didn’t say anything, at least not until we arrived at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site Visitor Center. “Ellie, I know money’s tight right now, and I don’t judge you for anything you do.”

I couldn’t answer.

“Just be careful what you choose. Some of those heirlooms have been part of the Dare line since the beginning. I know the money’s attractive, but certain things can’t be replaced.”

Her words were sobering. “Thanks.”

“Be careful with whatever you’re doing today.”

I paused. “I will.”

After Myra got out of the car, I headed straight to the pawnshop in Kill Devil Hills. Oscar, the owner, was helping another customer. The first time I’d come here over a year ago, his hard rock band T-shirt and his scruffy beard and hair had almost sent me running back out the door. Thankfully, I’d given him a chance.

He gave me a quick nod when he saw me wander into the store. When his customer left, I waited until he was entirely out the door before I started toward the counter.

“What’s going on, Ellie?” Oscar sounded irritated with me. The last time I saw him was when I tried to buy back the four-hundred-year-old pewter cup I’d pawned multiple times. Oscar had already sold it. After doing some snooping in the back, Collin figured out who the buyer was, and we managed to buy it back from her. Had she told Oscar about the whole thing?

“What did I do?”

“Why were there thugs coming in here looking for you?”

I froze. “What are you talking about?”

He leaned on the counter. “What kind of trouble have you gotten into?”

“I . . . I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He stood up. “Cut the bull crap, Ellie.”

If he wasn’t so upset with me, I would have teased him about saying “bull crap.” His language was usually more colorful.

“Let me guess: that guy who was here with you last time has gotten you into a mess.” Oscar shook his head in disgust. “I told you that he was trouble.”

I shifted my weight, slinging my bag onto my other shoulder.

His eyes narrowed. “He took you to Buxton, didn’t he?”

My gaze lowered to the counter.

“Please tell me you didn’t pawn something to that snake Marino.”

I looked up with a grimace. “Would you rather I lie?”

“Ellie.” He sounded more disappointed than angry, driving a knife of guilt into my gut.

“It wasn’t my fault, Oscar. I wanted to come to you, but Collin took me there before I realized what was happening.” Why were they looking for me at Oscar’s place? It didn’t make sense. Collin had told Marino’s guys I was from Greenville, which was over a hundred miles away. “Are you sure they were looking for me?”

“They said they were looking for, and I quote, ‘a redheaded spitfire who goes by the name Ellie.’ What do you think?”

Shit. “But why would they come here?”

“You told Marino you usually sell to Mikey in Kill Devil Hills. Is that true? Do you sell to that weasel?”

Shit. I scrunched up my nose and waved my hand. “No. That was a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding? With Marino?”

I rolled my eyes. “Look, Oscar, it all happened so fast. I wanted more money than he was offering so I told him my guy in Kill Devil Hills would give me more. He asked if it was Mikey and I didn’t correct him.”

“I still don’t get why he wants you.”

This part was embarrassing. “Collin was sort of . . . protective of me, and apparently that’s not normal behavior for him. Collin does regular work for Marino, so he thought if I was important to Collin, there was a financial reason. He thinks I know something about some job.”

“Do you realize what serious shit you’re in?”

“Yeah.”

He grabbed my arm, fear in his eyes. “No, Ellie, I’m not playing around. Do you realize what serious shit you’re in?”

I swallowed. Marino seemed so tame next to the monsters waiting for me in the darkness, but the fact was that he would kill me in an instant if he didn’t like what I had to say. And he wouldn’t. I didn’t know anything about any job or any other business that would interest him. At least Okeus wanted me alive . . . for now. “Collin said it would blow over in a few weeks.”

Oscar groaned. “No, Ellie. That’s not the way it works with guys like him. The longer it takes him to find you, the more pissed he becomes. This won’t end well.”

I looked up at him, defeated. There were too many odds against me in both the physical and spiritual worlds. I glanced at the symbol on my palm, the square and the circle intersecting. Daddy said it represented the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds. I guess it stood to reason that if they were intersected, both would go to shit at the same time. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Leave town?” He shook his head. “I don’t suppose that will work. You can’t leave your stepmother now, can you?”

My eyes widened.

“I heard about your dad, girl. I’m sorry.”

My eyes burned, and I blinked to keep from crying. “Oh.”

“Ellie, I’m here for you if there’s anything I can do to help. I’m serious.”

I flashed him a cocky grin. “All part of the full pawnbroker service.”

His mouth drooped into a frown. “You know you’re not just one of my regular clients.”

He was right. Given the number of times I’d pawned the pewter cup, he’d heard my entire tale of woe about my father’s illness. I was certain he gave me more and more money each time because he felt sorry for me. But then I reminded myself that he’d sold the cup—after holding onto it a month longer than he had to—for a whole lot more than he’d given me.

He lowered his voice. “Go to the police. They’re your best bet right now.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. I’m dead serious.”

“That’s going to get . . . messy.”

“Suck it up. It got messy the minute you walked through Marino’s door.”

He was probably right, but I didn’t have time to deal with the whole situation. I set the bag on the counter. “I have something to pawn.”

Oscar unzipped the bag and pulled out the wooden box, setting it on the glass counter. When he opened the lid, he released a soft whistle. “Where did you get . . . ?” His face softened. “Ellie, these belonged to your dad, didn’t they?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Well, Daddy doesn’t need them anymore, does he? And my stupid piece of shit car is dead on Highway 64 in the Alligator River Wildlife Refuge.” I shoved the box at him. “I don’t think I want to lose them all, but I wanted to see what they’re worth before deciding which ones to sell.”

He picked up the silver watch and turned it over to examine the back. “I wish you could catch a break, girl.”

“Yeah, so you say every freaking time I walk in that door, yet here I am again.” I squared my shoulders, refusing to let self-pity creep in. “What are they worth?”

Oscar studied each watch and after he did some research, he released another low whistle. “I’m not sure I’m the one you want to sell these to. I can give you eight hundred for the silver one and twelve hundred for the gold. But you’d be better off going to a bigger city to sell the other oval one. It’s centuries old. You’re looking at thousands for that piece.”

“Thousands?”

“As in it should have its own insurance policy.”

“Wow.”

“What do you want to do? Sell one or both?”

I picked up the gold starry-sky watch. If I was going to sell one of them, it was the logical choice. Chances were my car repair and tow bill would be more than eight hundred dollars. But I just couldn’t part with it. I might have to sell it at some point, but I wanted to hold onto it a little longer. “The silver.”

As I stuffed the money into my wallet a few minutes later, I glanced at the tattoo on his arm. “Do you have a tattoo artist you can recommend?”

“Where’d you get the one on your palm? That had to hurt like a son of a bitch.”

I stretched out my hand. Of course he’d seen it. I couldn’t go through life with my right hand in a fist.

The mark had appeared the day Collin showed up in the restaurant and touched me, setting this whole disaster in motion. “He’s no longer an option.”

“Considering the trouble you’re in with Marino, getting a tattoo seems like it should be low on your priority list.”

I put a hand on my hip. “So you’re not going to recommend one?”

He scowled. “Rusty, up toward Duck at Purgatory Ink.”

Purgatory Ink seemed like an appropriate place to commit my soul for all of eternity. “Thanks.” I put the box back in the bag and headed for the exit.

“Ellie.”

My palm rested on the door, ready to push it open as I spun at the waist to look at him.

“Be careful.”

“I’m always careful.” Or at least the old me had been. Three weeks ago I was a full-time waitress and part-time bed and breakfast employee who dated boring guys. My idea of excitement was driving up to Norfolk, Virginia, to shop at the mall.

How quickly my life had changed.

CHAPTER FIVE

I drove back to Manteo and stopped at the car repair shop Daddy had always used. Unfortunately, they were used to seeing me walk in their door.

When I parked and got out of Myra’s car, Bruce, the owner, caught sight of me from inside the garage. He picked up a rag and wiped his hands before approaching me. “Hey, Ellie. You here for your car or Myra’s?”

I leaned against the side of the sedan. “Mine. It’s waiting for you on Highway 64 in the Alligator River Wildlife Refuge.”

“So you need it towed?”

I nodded.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. I drove to Chapel Hill and back. It just lost power and died. I’ve got eight hundred dollars, so see what kind of magic you can work with that.”

He stuffed his hands in his back pockets. “You should just put your money into a new car. Nickel and diming repairs on that clunker is costing you more in the long run.”

I lifted my eyebrows with a smirk. “Somebody’s got to keep you in business. And I wouldn’t call five hundred dollars here and seven hundred dollars there ‘nickel and diming.’ You and I both know it would cost me thousands of dollars to get a decent car that’s not going to be in your shop every few weeks. And we also both know that I don’t have it.”

He looked back at the garage. “I’ll do the best I can to help.” He paused, wiping his stained hands again. “I was sorry to hear about your dad.”

I resisted the urge to sigh. “Thanks.”

“He was a great man and one of the pillars of this town before he got sick. He helped me with a zoning permit when I first opened this garage. Did you know that?”

“No.” It turned out there were all kinds of things about Daddy I’d never known about.

“I’ll call you when I find something.”

“Thanks.”

When I got back in the car, I glanced at the clock. It was almost noon, and I had about eight hours before Claire started to hunt down Collin. I’d rather find him myself than have her go after him.

Which was probably exactly what she’d planned.

Before I consciously realized what I was doing, I was crossing the bridge back into Nags Head. It wasn’t the first time I’d done this since we’d opened the gate to Popogusso. This call to the sea was a part of me now.

I pulled the car into the public beach parking lot and kicked off my sandals when I reached the sand. It was hot beneath my feet, but I barely noticed—some primal part of me was craving the sea too much to be derailed by anything.

The first wave of water that washed over my feet nearly brought me to my knees as power surged through my body. I walked deeper into the ocean until the waves hit my waist. I was sure I had to be drawing curious stares from tourists. While they wore swimming suits, I was dressed in capris and a T-shirt. But I was too overwhelmed by the energy of the sea filling every cell of my body to care.

I was one with the sea. I was one with the fish that swam around me. The clams that buried themselves in the sand, only to be washed up with the next wave. I was one with the seaweed and the algae. I was one with the amoeba and the plankton.

I felt the life force of millions of creatures in the sea and I stood with my hands spread from my sides in awe.

Experiencing the Manitou was the only good part of the curse. I’d discovered I could feel the Manitou of all the life forms in the ocean on my own, but when Collin and I touched palms I could feel everything—all life both in the sea and on the land. Other than when the animals came to me in my sleep, it was the only way I could feel the full impact of what I was being charged with protecting.

Other than the rare moments of total connection I’d experienced with Collin, standing in the ocean was when I felt the most complete.

When I turned around to walk out of the water, I realized I’d drawn a crowd. About twenty people stood on the rise of the sand, watching me and murmuring amongst themselves.

A woman with a baby on her hip approached me as I reached the edge of the water. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Why?”

“You’ve been standing out there for over a half an hour. Every time someone tried to get close to you, a wave pushed them away. It was unreal.”

That was new. It had felt like less than five minutes. “I like the ocean so much I guess I lost track of time.” It was a lame excuse, but it was the best I could come up with on the fly.

The crowd watched as I walked back to the parking lot. I struggled with the knowledge that they all thought I was some sort of freak. I knew I couldn’t let it bother me. I’d never see any of them again, but it was one more reminder that my life had turned to shit.

As I scooped my flip-flops off the sand by the parking lot, I realized I didn’t know where the keys to the car were. I found them in the ignition, my purse on the passenger seat. After parking, I’d given no thought to anything other than my need to get to the water. I was lucky no one had stolen my purse or Myra’s car. Or what if someone had taken the remaining watches? I might not be so lucky next time.

I was still soaking wet, but thankfully Myra had a blanket in the trunk for me to sit on. I rolled the windows down as I drove back to Manteo, and the wind was so loud I almost missed Myra’s call on my cell phone.

“I’m not sure Bruce will get my car done tonight,” I said when I answered.

“Don’t worry, Ellie. I have a ride home, and I suspect that in the morning I’ll be able to get a ride with one of the researchers who will be staying at the inn. In fact, that’s why I’m calling. Are you busy this afternoon? Can you help me out at the inn?”

“Sure. I’m free.” I’d been planning to go back to the inn anyway. I wanted to do a last sweep for any clues Daddy might have left for me. I knew I was putting off the inevitable, that I would have to go see Collin eventually, but so be it.

“A team of researchers came to Roanoke Island today to study the Lost Colony. There was a mistake with some of their reservations at one of the local motels. They can’t find anywhere else to stay, so I offered to open the main house for them to stay in. I figured we could use the extra money.”

“That’s a great idea, Myra.”

“But the rooms aren’t ready. No one’s stayed in them for years.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. What time are they arriving?”

“I think they’re planning on staying on site until sunset.”

“That gives me plenty of time.”

Once I got home, I hid the box with the pocket watches in the back of my closet. Myra would never miss them, and while I hated to think about selling the remaining two watches, I knew it might come to that.

I headed to the inn, happy to have a productive task to fill my afternoon. The Dare Inn consisted of two separate houses taking up half a block. The main building featured five bedrooms with their own private baths, a living room, a dining room, an office, and a small kitchen. The main residential house was where I grew up. Myra usually cooked the breakfast we served to the guests in the house’s big kitchen, and it also had a dining room, a large office, a half bath, and a large living room on the first floor. There were five bedrooms and two hall bathrooms on the second floor. After Daddy married Myra, he added a huge laundry room to the back of the residential house and a large guest room with two beds above it. The bedrooms in the main house wouldn’t be ideal since the guests would have to share a bathroom, but it was better than having to drive back and forth to the Outer Banks.

Myra and Daddy’s room was at the end of the hallway, so I started with the room next to it, making my way down the hall but skipping my old room. After I started the sheets in the washing machine, I headed back upstairs with cleaning supplies. Not only had no one stayed in these rooms for years, it had been months since anyone had cleaned them. I opened all the windows to air them out, dusted and swept the hardwood floors, and vacuumed the wool rugs.

My phone rang when I was on my way to the laundry room to switch the sheets to the dryer. When I saw that it was Bruce calling, I forced myself to stay calm. “How bad is the damage?”

“You lucked out this time. The good news is that it was just the alternator. I found you a used one, so with the tow, it should set you back by about five hundred.”

“Okay, that sounds good.” That meant I would have a few hundred left to put toward my rent.

“The bad news is that I can’t get the part today. Your car won’t be done until tomorrow afternoon.”

I shoved the wet sheets into the dryer, trying not to sound out of breath. “That’s fine. Myra said I can keep using her car for now.”

“Okay then. I’ll call you when it’s done.”

“Thanks.” I hung up and was about to set my phone on the table behind me when it started ringing again. This time it was Claire.

“So? Which one of us has a date with Collin tonight?” she asked.

“I’m going to see him after I finish helping Myra at the inn. She’s renting out the bedrooms in the main house.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

“But they haven’t been touched for years so I’m cleaning them out.”

“I’ll come help.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know. I want to.”

“Thanks. Just let yourself in the back door and come on up.”

I’d finished with two of the rooms and had started in on the third when Claire showed up. “What’s left?” she asked.

“This bedroom, both bathrooms. The end bathroom is the one Myra uses, but I’m sure she’ll share it.” I paused and looked down the hall. “And my room.”

Claire put her hand on my arm. “I’ll take care of yours.”

My anxiety settled. “Thanks.”

She held up a handful of flowers. “I stopped by the florist and got some fresh flowers to set in the rooms. I figured it might make up for them having to share the bathrooms. If they’re women, anyway.”

“Good idea.” I was so lucky to have her for a friend. “But I’m still not taking your cousin as my date to your wedding. I’m wearing the pumpkin dress. Don’t push it.”

She smacked my arm as she backed up. “Why not? He’s always had a thing for you. He doesn’t wear braces anymore and he outgrew his acne.”

I snorted. “I should hope so. We’re twenty-three, so he has to be at least twenty-six by now.”

She walked down the hall, heading backward, toward my room. “Don’t ever accuse me of not trying to help you find a boyfriend.”

“As if.” I forced a laugh. “You’re trying to set me up with a guy every other week.”

Stopping in my bedroom doorway, she held onto the doorjamb and turned serious. “I just want you to have what Drew and I have.”

“I know.” I wanted that too, or to be more exact, I wanted what Daddy and Momma had shared—fireworks and magic. I’d gotten that with Collin . . . for a while. Would it be possible for me to love someone else when my soul was tied to his? I faced the very real possibility of spending the rest of my life alone, never experiencing great love.

But then again, I might not live long enough for it to matter much.

When I finished with the bedroom I was working on, I stood in the doorway to my room, watching Claire put on fresh sheets. “I found these in the linen closet.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

She tucked the fitted sheet around the top corner of the mattress. “When did you stop coming in here? You grew up in this room. What happened?”

“I started dreaming about Momma’s death. Terrible things I didn’t remember before.” Without saying anything else, I turned and stepped into one of the bathrooms. It was in good shape and didn’t need much work beyond dusting and cleaning the toilet. When I finished, Claire was in Myra’s bathroom, so I slipped into my room and made myself look around.

I’d never harbored any fear of my old room until recently. As though my nightmares of animals begging for help and the spirits that tormented me while I was asleep weren’t enough, I’d had several dreams of Momma’s death over the last couple of weeks. In the most vivid one, I was hiding in my closet while her attacker stood in my room, my mother’s blood dripping onto the floor from his knife. I wasn’t sure if it was just a nightmare or a suppressed memory because I couldn’t remember anything about her murderer . . . I definitely didn’t remember being that close to him. He had broken in and stabbed my mother while I was upstairs.

I stared at the place the attacker had stood in my dream. The spot was now covered with a large wool rug. In fact, the rug was much larger than any of the ones in the other rooms. How had I never noticed? Taking a deep breath, I grabbed it by the corner and pulled it back.

A six-inch dark spot discolored the floor.

“What are you doing?” Claire asked from behind me. I jumped. “What are you looking at?”

“That.” I pointed at the spot.

“What is it?”

“A bloodstain.” I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was true.

“From what?”

“The night of my mother’s murder.”

Claire walked around the lifted rug and squatted next to it. “I thought he didn’t come up here. I thought he . . . attacked your mother and left.”

“I don’t know, but I’ve been having this dream where I’m hiding in the closet and he’s standing in front of me, blood dripping from his knife onto the floor in that exact spot.”

“Oh my God, Ellie. Did it really happen that way?”

“It has to be, I guess. What else would have caused that stain?” I felt like I was going to throw up, but I didn’t dare mess up the now pristine bathrooms.

“Maybe that’s not what it is. It could be anything.”

I dropped the rug and went out into the hallway, where I lifted the edge of the runner. A large stain took up several feet of floor space. “That’s where she died. Right there. Daddy paid people to sand the floor, but it never went away.” I pointed to the discolored wood. “You tell me that’s not a bloodstain in my room.”

Claire lifted her hand to her mouth, shaking her head. “It doesn’t make sense, Ellie. Your dad had to cover the stain with the rug, which meant he knew the guy was in your room. Why didn’t he say anything to the police?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you going to tell Tom?”

“What would I tell him? How would this help? And even if it did, her murder was fifteen years ago.”

She waved her hand in frustration. “Police solve old cases all the time.”

I dropped the rug. “For God’s sake, Claire, this is not a television show.” I started for the stairs and stopped, keeping my back to her. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”

“It’s okay . . . ”

I pivoted to face her. “No. It’s not. My life is a fucking mess right now. It feels like it would be pointless to dredge up the past and Momma’s murder.” I brushed stray hairs from my forehead. “We’re almost done. Why don’t you go home, and I’ll finish making the other beds.”

“Are you sure?” She cringed with guilt. “Drew and I are supposed to taste-test wedding cakes in an hour.”

My eyes bugged. “Well, why didn’t you say so? Get out of here. And pick a good one. I hate eating dried-out cake.”

“Drew wants a red velvet groom’s cake shaped like an armadillo.”

“What on earth for?”

She rolled her eyes in disgust. “Lord only knows. I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me.”

I pulled her into a hug. “I love you, Claire. Thank you for helping me keep my life seminormal right now.”

She pulled back, tears in her eyes. “I’m scared for you, Ellie.”

“I know.”

“Promise me that you’ll go see Collin tonight.”

I pressed my lips together in resignation. “I told you I will. I’m just trying to psyche myself up for it.”

“Be firm. Be strong. Don’t let him fuck you.”

“Claire!”

“You have a weakness for that man and you know it.”

“I hate him. I loathe him. I never want to see the shithead again. You’re the one who’s making me go.”

Her eyebrows rose as she studied my face. “They say love and hate ride a fine line. Now don’t you go riding that fine line with him.”

Ignoring her, I started back down the stairs to get the linens. “I want chocolate cake,” I yelled back over my shoulder.

“Hey! Whose wedding is this?”

“You’re making me go see Collin Fucking Dailey. You owe me.”

I could hear Claire grumbling to herself behind me as I headed into the laundry room. After I finished getting the beds made, I straightened the vases of flowers. I was stalling and I knew it. My one bright spot was that I might not even see him. This might be one of those times he disappeared for days.

I hopped in Myra’s car and hesitated before turning over the ignition. I knew I had to do this. My life depended on it.

CHAPTER SIX

Wanchese was quiet when I drove through town. While Manteo was the flashy, touristy end of the island, Wanchese was the practical, no-nonsense side. Many of the houses here were older and run-down. Recently imposed federal regulations had hit commercial fishermen hard over the last decade, and plenty of them had lost everything thanks to overexuberant fines. Many had given up, deciding the hassle wasn’t worth it. As a result, the town had suffered.

My heart raced as I reached the docks. I had no idea what Collin’s boat looked like, but I remembered it was named the Lucky Star, and I was well acquainted with his truck. A few memories in particular made me flush.

Claire was right. I couldn’t let him touch me . . . not even a handshake.

I found his old red pickup parked in a gravel parking lot across the street from several docked boats, and I felt like I was going to throw up from nerves. What would he say when he saw me? I definitely had the upper hand. The last time we saw each other, he’d begged for my understanding. I’d told him to go to hell.

They were wasted words. He was going there anyway.

I made myself take a deep breath and count to three. I could do this. I could be strong.

The area around the docks was deserted, without another person in sight. I parked Myra’s car several spots away from his truck and gathered my courage to check out the boats at the dock. If his truck was there, he was probably out on his boat. But when I scanned the names of the boats, none were the Lucky Star. I wasn’t sure whether to be upset or relieved.

The windows of his truck were wide open, not that I was surprised. He’d told me that he wasn’t worried about anyone stealing it or anything inside of it. His theory was that the truck was so old and run-down, no one would think it was worth their while.

His smug assurance made me feel a bit self-righteous when I opened the driver’s door and slid into the seat. I might as well snoop while I was here. I pulled down the visor and a bunch of receipts fell onto my lap. I thumbed through them—gas, food, a CVS pharmacy receipt for sunscreen. Part of me was relieved he hadn’t bought condoms. At least he wasn’t screwing anyone else. Unless he hadn’t run out of his current stash.

I made myself examine my reaction. “Elinor Dare Lancaster, you do not care who Collin Dailey screws.” But a strangling pain wrapped around my heart at the thought of him with anyone else.

I tucked the receipts back where I’d found them and tried to open the glove compartment, which—to my surprise—was locked. “So you’re not worried about someone stealing anything out of your truck, huh?” I jerked on the latch again. “You’re a big fat fucking liar!” I smacked my left palm onto the dashboard. “Fucking. Liar!” I shouted again, hitting the dash with each word, amazed at how empowering it felt.

Grabbing the steering wheel, I shook it as hard as I could. “I hate you, you asshole! You ruined everything! You ruined my life!”

I beat the car until my hand ached and shouted until my voice was hoarse, thankful no one was around to witness my meltdown. I laid my head back against the seat, surprised at how worn out I suddenly felt.

The trunk pointed west and the sun was dipping low in the horizon. Another hour and it would be dark. Another hour before the creatures began crawling from their holes.

I sat up.

The map was what I needed.

Collin possessed a map showing where the Croatan Indians had thought their gods lived. If it was accurate, and the gods and spirits really dwelled there, maybe I could perform some sort of preemptive strike. Collin might not want to give the map to me, but I needed it more than he did. In any case, the map had helped land me on Marino’s most wanted list. Might as well have Marino after me for a reason.

For the first time since the gate had been opened, I felt like I had some sort of plan. I hadn’t figured out how to defeat the spirits yet, but it was something. I closed my eyes and felt some of the tension slip away. I was so exhausted from lack of sleep that I decided to let myself rest for a moment.

When I awoke, something warm and comforting was pressed against my cheek. The overwhelming feeling that I was safe seeped through my skin, rolling through my entire body. I turned my head to the side, drawn to whatever was next to me, and then opened my eyes.

This had to be a dream.

Collin stood outside the open truck door, his face only a few feet from mine, awe and wonder in his eyes as they traveled across my face. His hand cradled my cheek, and I sensed the desperation and the need in his touch.

I felt the same way.

“Ellie.” His mouth lowered to mine as his hand slid behind my head, lifting me toward him.

It felt so right, like a missing piece of myself had been replaced . . . and yet it wasn’t enough.

His tongue parted my lips and explored my mouth, coaxing my tongue to join it.

My arms wrapped around his neck. My heart exploded with urgency, and hot desire rushed through my body. I needed more.

His other hand grazed up my leg and under my skirt, skimming my ass. He turned me sideways so that my legs hung over the side of the seat. He moved between them, pressing me against his crotch. I wrapped my legs around his waist as his mouth and tongue drove me crazy with want. Lifting the bottom of my T-shirt, he pulled it up and over my head, his mouth breaking contact for only a second before claiming mine again. The lack of contact was agony to every nerve ending in my body that was crying out for more.

My body craved his with an unnatural, unstoppable need.

One of his hands tangled in my hair as the other lifted my skirt to my waist, exposing my panties.

I wanted him like I’d never wanted anything in my life.

His hand cupped my breast before his fingers dipped inside my bra to caress my nipple. I moaned as a jolt shot straight to my core. I reached for the button of his jeans, frantic for more . . . frantic for him to fill the missing part of me and make me whole.

He pushed me back on the seat, pulling my panties off and throwing them to the floor of the truck. I watched him strip off his shirt and his jeans, the sight of his strong shoulders and rippling abs rushing heat through my veins, making my skin feverish. His underwear were next, and then he was standing there in the open door of his truck, stark naked and ready to claim me on the side of the deserted road. Both of us were so frenzied we didn’t care.

This is wrong.

But the insane part of me pushed the thought aside. I needed this man. I was empty without him.

He leaned over me, moving between my legs, lifting my thigh to his waist as he paused.

I stared into his agonized face. Nothing had ever felt so right, had made me feel so complete as when we were joined, body and soul.

His right hand reached for mine, ready to press our marks together as he prepared to enter me . . .

Something in the back of my head screamed: stop!

My body resisted the warning, desperate to see this through.

No!

My conscience clawed to the surface, pushing past the raw physical and supernatural urgency, begging for my attention.

This was the man who betrayed me.

My body stiffened. What the hell was I doing?

Claire’s words echoed in my head. Don’t let him fuck you. That’s exactly what I was about to do.

Confusion flickered in his eyes as he saw the change in me, but he still lowered himself over me, our palms inches from touching. I jerked my hand away, surprised that it was so hard. Our hands were being physically pulled toward each other by a force that wasn’t from either of us, like a strong magnet clinging to its polar opposite.

I pushed on his body, my tattooed right palm landing square on the tattoo on his chest. A raw energy filled my hand, shooting through his body. We both gasped.

I fought my overwhelming desire and pushed him hard. “Collin, stop.”

“Ellie.” His mouth found mine and I was lost in a sea of longing, but I regained my senses as he began to enter me.

“No!” I scooted back and took several quick breaths to regain control. My body and soul screamed in protest, desperate to have what I knew only he could give me.

Hurt replaced confusion on his face for a mere second before his trademark cocky look returned—the one I’d first seen when we met at the New Moon.

The day he’d come in to purposely break the curse.

I scooted back more. “You owe me answers, Collin.”

“Now?” He lifted up, panting.

I realized the absurdity of it. We were both naked in the front seat of his truck, millimeters away from giving in to what we not only wanted but apparently supernaturally needed. The implication of that thought scared me, but I couldn’t focus on it right now. “Yes, now. You owe me answers.”

Collin still hovered over me, his face close to my waist, and my treacherous body reminded me how close his mouth was to my crotch. My eyes rolled back in my head as I suppressed the desire to lift myself up to him. But I knew myself enough to realize that if I went through with this, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.

Collin lowered his body onto mine, driving me crazy with the skin-to-skin contact. “I tried to give you answers, Ellie.” His voice was husky as his mouth traveled up my neck to my ear, pulling my earlobe into his lips. “You didn’t want to hear them then.” His hand slid between my legs and my head shot back as I arched my spine, my body begging me to give in.

Still, that persistent part of me screamed for attention. Listen to what he’s saying, Ellie.

I focused on his words, a tiny flame of anger sparking to life.

He’s using you now, just like he used you to open the gate.

My anger exploded into fury, replacing my desire and bringing me to my senses. “Are you fucking serious?” I pushed on his chest to get him off of me, but he resisted, his lower half still pressing me down on the seat, the evidence of how much he wanted me hard against my thigh. “I had just watched my father die, after you betrayed me and released hundreds of creatures that vowed to torture me for hundreds of years. How could I listen to you then?”

He watched me for a second, and I could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out how to play me.

How had I never noticed that before?

Contrition filled his eyes, and one of his hands cupped my cheek. “You’re right.”

I waited for him to continue speaking, but he merely watched my face while his thumb stroked my cheek in slow circles.

“I’m not one of your whores, Collin. You can’t use me and then toss me away when you’re done.”

His eyes widened. “Is that what you think I did? You think I tossed you aside? You were never like any other woman in my life, Ellie.”

“I’m sure of that. No other woman could help you break a four-hundred-year-old curse.”

He sighed, his shoulders slumping.

“You walked into that restaurant and thought, ‘Stupid Ellie doesn’t remember anything about the curse. I can play her like a fiddle.’”

His head lifted. “It wasn’t like that.”

“It wasn’t like that?” I pushed hard, and he finally got off me. I scrambled back until my spine was pressed up against the passenger door as he took a seat behind the steering wheel.

“You knew damn good and well who I was the moment you walked through the door. How long had you known?”

He closed his door and leaned his forearms on the steering wheel, looking out the windshield. The moonlight swathed his naked body like a blanket, and I wanted to cry at the irony. The most gorgeous man I’d ever hoped to be with had probably only slept with me to get what he wanted. Just like the way he’d dealt with every other woman in his life.

“How long, Collin?”

“A couple of weeks.”

A couple of weeks. Why did it shock me? “And you came in planning to break the curse?”

His jaw worked and his shoulders stiffened. “Yes.”

He’d already told me that, of course, but I still didn’t get it. “Why? You were the one who took it seriously. You were so pissed that I didn’t remember anything. You said I didn’t deserve to be a Keeper. You were all about the commitment and responsibility . . . I mean, you have a goddamned mark tattooed on your chest. Why did you do it?”

His features hardened, but he still didn’t look at me. “The fucking curse destroyed my family. I just wanted it to end.”

“You really think it’s over? You’ve opened up one huge can of worms. And you destroyed my family in the process. Was that what you wanted? To get even?”

“No.” He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll admit that I didn’t give a lot of thought to how it would affect you before we met.”

“That’s obvious.”

He turned to me. “But when I took you to Marino and you started crying in the truck, I realized I actually cared about what happened to you. And that night . . . when I put the henna tattoo on you, I realized I was in trouble.”

“You were in trouble? Are you fucking kidding me?”

He grabbed my left hand. I tried to pull back, but he held firm. “We may have bound our souls together outside of Morehead City, but I lost my heart to you that night.”

I jerked my hand out of his. “You fucking liar.”

Hurt flashed through his eyes. “I’ve never been this honest with anyone, Ellie. Ever.”

I shook my head in disgust. “You wouldn’t know honesty if it bit you in the ass. You used me, tricked me, screwed me, and then screwed me over. Tell me what I’m missing here.”

His eyes narrowed. “You know we can’t hide our feelings from each other when our marks touch.” His left hand grabbed my right wrist. “We can touch them together now, and you’ll know I’m not lying.”

I tried to jerk my hand from his grasp, but his fingers tightened around mine. “No! You know what happens when we touch.” Which was exactly why I was sure he was pushing the matter. Pressing our marks together is what got me here in the first place.

“Ellie,” he whispered, his right hand reaching for mine now. “We’re meant to be together. You know it. Let me show you how much you mean to me.”

“No!” I jerked my wrist hard, panicked. “If you do this, I will hate you forever.”

He glanced into my face and his mouth dropped open in shock. “You really are afraid of me.”

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” I finally pulled my hand from his grasp. “You killed my father! People I cared about died because of you. No, you didn’t personally do it, but you purposely freed the things that did. And now they’re after me, Collin. They’re appearing in the flesh and coming to my door each night. The dead birds they left on my front porch before? That’s nothing compared to the mutilated animals they’re leaving for me now. They killed my neighbor’s dog.”

“Why would you think they killed your neighbor’s dog?”

“Because as Police Officer Tom Helmsworth pointed out, normal animals don’t rip open a dog’s guts and eat its heart.”

His confidence fell away. “If you just wait it out, the spiritual world will stabilize and we’ll all be able to live together as one. This is the way it’s meant to be.”

“You truly believe that?” I asked, incredulous.

His face hardened. “I have to.”

“Well, bull fucking shit. I don’t have to believe that. In fact, I don’t. Those motherfuckers won’t stop until they’ve tortured me for eons.”

He shook his head. “No.”

“They come to me in my dreams.”

That got his attention. “What are you talking about?”

“The animals come every night begging me to help them, and each night one of the escaped spirits visits me in my dreams and tells me that Okeus is waiting for me to be ready.”

“Be ready for what?”

“To kill me? To suck my Manitou? How the hell would I know!”

“Is your henna tattoo still on your back?”

“It’s fading.”

He looked panicked. “You need a new one.”

I didn’t answer. That much was obvious.

“I know you’re reluctant to get a permanent mark. Let me give you another henna one.”

I snorted. “Are you kidding me? I trusted you before, and you painted Okeus’s mark on my back.”

“Ellie,” he grabbed my hand again. “If you willingly choose Okeus, you’ll save yourself.”

“And I’ll condemn my soul to hell. No thank you.”

“He’ll provide you riches greater than you ever imagined.”

“So where the hell are your riches, Collin?”

He paused. “You heard Okeus. I lost my reward because I helped you.” He reached for my face. “Doesn’t that prove how much I care?”

“Are you serious? You found out after you helped me. You didn’t give that up for me.” I smacked his hand away and sagged against the passenger door. “Besides, I don’t think that would work anyway. The curse is based on duality. The sea and the land. Ahone and Okeus. Good and evil. You can’t have one without the other. You’ve chosen Okeus and Ahone has chosen me.”

“So why haven’t you put his mark on your skin?”

“Because I don’t know what it is. Do you?”

He closed his eyes for a long moment. When he opened them again, he looked me in the eyes. “I don’t know either.”

Anger surged through my veins. “You liar.”

He reached for me, but I backed away. “I swear to you, Ellie. I don’t know.”

“How could you possibly know Okeus’s but not Ahone’s?”

He scrubbed both hands over his short, dark hair. “I don’t know. It wasn’t passed down. We pledged ourselves to Okeus so that we’d be protected from his wrath when he was freed.” He grabbed my left hand before I could snatch it back. “I put Okeus’s mark on your back for the same reason.” He pulled me closer, but I resisted. “Please don’t be so stubborn. If you pledge yourself to him now, you’ll be safe.”

“You know I can’t, even if I wanted to.”

Agony covered his face. “Then you’re as good as dead.”

“And whose fault is that?”

He dropped his hold on me and looked out the windshield.

“I want the map.”

He shook his head as if trying to clear it. “What are you talking about?”

“The map we stole from Marino. You remember our field trip to Buxton? Marino’s men were at the Kill Devil Hills Pawnshop asking Oscar if he knows who I am and where they can find me.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“You have no idea how much I wish I was.”

He shook his head. “No. There’s no way. I told them you were from Greenville.”

“But I told him I had a guy in Kill Devil Hills when I was negotiating.”

He groaned.

“I’m surprised all the women you’ve screwed since you left me haven’t thrown him off.”

His face contorted with rage and he leaned toward me, his body shaking with anger. “Say what you like, Ellie, but the minute I joined my soul with yours, I became yours. Completely. You’re the one who ran away. You’re the one who doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Can you blame me? You’re just a man whore who uses people to get what you want. You told me so yourself.”

“Goddamn it, Ellie. I tried to resist you. I tried not to sleep with you. You’re the one who taunted and tempted me. I’ve never put so much effort into not sleeping with a woman in my life.”

“Finally!” I shouted. “Your first truthful answer since I showed up here tonight.” His desire for me had been so evident when we joined our marks, yet guilt had kept him from following through until I drove him crazy enough to cross the line. “But you’re right. I coerced you into sleeping with me. I just didn’t realize what the consequences would be.” I laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “Everyone who fucks up says that, huh?” I turned to him. “Isn’t that what you keep telling me? You didn’t mean to screw up my life?”

Hope filled his eyes. “Exactly!”

“And yet I’m stuck in this hell, and you get to live your life like nothing ever happened.”

His eyes glittered with rage. “That’s bullshit and you know it. You know what you mean to me. You’ve felt it, Ellie . . . and I’ve felt it with you. If you want to sit there and pretend it doesn’t exist, then go ahead and do it. But who’s the liar now?”

“What we have between us isn’t real, Collin!” I shouted, balling my fists. “What we have is hormones and magic. Nothing more and nothing less.”

“Not real? Are you kidding me?” I’d never seen him so angry. “This is the most real thing either us will ever experience, but if you want to throw it away out of pride and immaturity, go ahead. I’m done begging.” He opened his door and jumped out of the truck, grabbing his underwear off the ground and stepping into them. He glared at me as he pulled them over his hips. “You must love this. You think I’m a man whore, and I’m standing here groveling. I bet you’re eating this shit up.”

“Screw you, Collin!” I shouted. “Don’t you go and act like I’m the one who hurt you!”

“You think you’re the only one with feelings?”

“I don’t think you’ve ever felt a goddamned feeling in your life.” As soon as I said the words, I regretted them. They hung in the air, and I watched the last bits of hope and softness slide out of Collin’s body.

“Yeah, you’re right, Ellie.” He pulled up his jeans and fastened them, flashing me an ugly sneer. “You were just another fuck. I’ll admit that you were a good one, which is why I hated for things to end. I wasn’t bored with you yet, but if you want to move on first, I can live with it.”

I knew it wasn’t true, but his words ripped my heart to shreds.

He picked up my panties and lifted them to his face to smell them before tossing them at me with a leer. “I’m going to miss fucking you, but I might miss going down on you even more.”

My breath caught at his crassness. Never once in the time we’d been together had he ever talked to me this way. Not even in the beginning, when he’d been full of resentment. “Don’t be ugly, Collin.”

“Why not? Look at the way you’ve been acting.” He grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head. “Get out of my truck.”

Anger rushed through me. “Not until you give me the map.”

“I’m not giving you anything. Now get out of my truck.”

“No!”

He lunged across the seat and opened the passenger door, pushing me toward the opening.

I tried to grab hold of the dashboard, but my hands slipped. “You owe me that map, Collin. What the hell do you need it for? Why won’t you give it to me?”

An ugly look spread across his face. “I thought you would have figured me out by now, Ellie. I don’t need a reason to keep it. The fact that you want it is reason enough.” He gave me one last shove out the door.

The gravel poked my bare feet and I stumbled to remain upright as Collin slammed the door.

I gaped at him through the open window. “You’d let those monsters kill me?”

He tossed my T-shirt and panties out the window at me. “You know what you need to do to save yourself.” He started his truck and backed out, shooting gravel in every direction as I jumped out of the way.

I really was as good as dead.

CHAPTER SEVEN

I watched his truck lights disappear, still dazed. Although I wasn’t sure what I expected, this definitely wasn’t it. I stood there in shock, wondering what I should do next. I had two choices: I could go home and cry into my pillow, or I could fight.

It wasn’t a question, really. I was going to fight. Too bad I still didn’t know how to do that.

Headlights appeared, rounding the curve behind me, and I realized I was standing on the side of the road in my skirt and bra, my T-shirt and panties in my hands and no shoes on my feet. Somehow I’d lost my flip-flops in Collin’s truck. The sun had set and I needed to get home. Standing out here like this, I was vulnerable in both the spiritual and the earthly worlds.

I jerked my T-shirt over my head as I gingerly walked across the gravel to Myra’s car. I’d left my purse and keys inside again since I hadn’t planned on falling asleep in his truck. And I sure hadn’t planned on anything else that had happened.

My skin flamed at the thought and horror quickly followed. How could I so quickly and easily lose all control with that man?

The approaching car slowed down, and a man leaned out the open passenger window. “Hey, baby. It’s still early. Want to hang out? We’ll make it worth your while.” He waved several twenty dollar bills in his hand.

They had seen me standing half naked on the side of the road as Collin drove away. They thought I was a prostitute. Thank you, Collin Fucking Dailey. I squared my shoulders and shot the guy my meanest glare. “Fuck off.”

I continued heading toward my car, but the beat-up Cadillac shifted into reverse, keeping up with me.

“Oh, come on, baby. Don’t be like that.”

Fear squirmed in my gut. I might be in serious trouble here. Just one more reason to hate Collin.

I reached for the door to the car as the guy opened his door and hopped out. I had my door open when he reached me, pushing me into the inside of the door panel.

“My money’s just as good as that other guy’s.”

I balled my fists to hide my shaking. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. You can’t afford me, asshole.” I knew it was wrong to provoke him, but anger was still rushing through my veins. If I couldn’t take out my frustration on Collin, the stupid part of me wanted to take it out on this potential rapist.

Brilliant.

The guy leaned closer, an ugly leer spreading across his face.

“Bobby,” a guy called from the idling car. “Let it go, man.”

Bobby’s beer breath blew into my face and I nearly gagged, clenching my jaw to keep from adding a smart-ass comment. Bobby was drunk and teetering on the edge of violence. My next words might topple him over.

He blocked my escape with one arm. “I don’t think so.” Snagging the panties out of my hand, he threw them to the ground.

Oh, shit.

If I could get into the car and lock the door, I’d have a chance to escape. “Listen to your friend, Bobby,” I said with just a bit too much attitude.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him, and I tried to dig into the ground, stumbling when the gravel stabbed the bottom of my feet.

“Bobby, what the fuck are you doing?” his friend wailed.

“This bitch thinks she’s too good for me.”

“Not thinks,” I snarled, my feet in agony as I tried to get away. “I know I am.”

His free hand grabbed a handful of my skirt and started to lift it up.

Oh, God.

Slapping his hand away, I fought harder to shake his hold on my arm, which only made him laugh. “Too good for me now?”

“Bobby!” his friend shouted.

Bobby laughed and dropped my skirt, tugging me across the road toward the docks.

There was no way I was letting him get me onto one of the fishing boats. I kicked his shin, ignoring the pain that shot through my toes and up my leg. My blow barely fazed him.

The water began to ripple in the small cove beside us.

Bobby chose the second boat and stepped over the edge, pulling me with him. His hand slid up my leg and under my skirt, cupping my ass as he hoisted me over the edge.

“Get your hands off me.” I jerked backward, but he laughed and tightened his grip.

He pulled me toward the cabin door, and I frantically searched for something to use as a weapon. I spotted a wrench lying next to an open hatch in the center of the deck, but I was going to have to break free to reach it.

When we were next to the hatch, I forced myself to go limp. His hold slipped and I dropped to the deck. He was only momentarily surprised, but it was long enough for me to grab the tool with my left hand and smash it into the side of his head.

His eyes widened and he stumbled backward.

As I ran across the deck, trying not to get tangled in the loose fishing net, the wrench still clenched in my fist, I glanced over my shoulder and saw a shadow rising behind him accompanied by a loud hiss.

Oh, shit.

Bobby wobbled, then fell to his knees, blood streaming down the side of his face.

Frantic to escape two different threats, I climbed over the edge of the boat onto the dock. But the hissing grew louder, and I turned around to face the creature from my nightmares.

The shadow shimmered, then took the nearly opaque form of a giant snake.

Mishiginebig appeared, his red glowing eyes narrowing on Bobby. “Who dares to touch what belongs to Okeus?”

Bobby fell, landing on a pail. The blow to his head still had him befuddled. He looked up and his eyes widened. “Holy shit.”

“Let’s get out of here, dude!” Bobby’s friend shouted, climbing out of his car.

Bobby tried to stand but got caught in a pile of net and fell to his knees. He leaned over to untangle himself, his eyes on the snake.

“This witness to creation does not belong to you,” Mishiginebig said in a menacing tone as he rose even higher, towering at least fifteen feet over us.

After making another effort to stand, Bobby lost his balance again, his legs becoming even more twisted in the net. “I’m sorry!” He shook his head. “What the fuck! I’m talking to a giant snake!”

I backed up, terror rushing through my blood as I dropped the wrench and flexed my right hand.

Mishiginebig leaned over the boat until he was about six feet over Bobby, his forked tongue darting in and out of his partially open mouth. His fangs gleamed in the moonlight. “You must make atonement.”

Giving up on the net, Bobby tried to scoot away from the creature. “Whatever you say! I’m sorry!”

The snake grinned and rose higher, his mouth opening wide.

I backed into a pole, my heart beating hard against my rib cage.

Bobby began shouting and tugging at the net in frantic fits and starts.

So quickly I almost missed it, Mishiginebig dove, engulfing my attacker’s body up to the waist in his gullet. Bobby’s legs kicked frantically, and his muffled screams filled the silent night. The snake reared up and tossed back his head, swallowing the man to his knees.

Bobby’s friend, who had been standing next to his car in silent awe and terror, made some incoherent shout. I stayed plastered against the pole, watching in horror as the snake tilted back its head one final time and swallowed the rest of the man, tangled fishing net and all.

The car in the street sped off, tires squealing.

I had to be dreaming.

The lump in Mishiginebig’s throat moved lower as the snake’s muscles contracted. The serpent sank into the water until its head was level with mine. His red eyes watched me as his tongue darted out of his mouth.

My body screamed for flight, but my head told me to stand strong. There was no way I could outrun this thing. “Am I next?”

“As much as I covet your Manitou, I dare not defy Okeus.”

So why was it here? To save me? I knew I should take comfort in the fact that the creepy crawly things in the night planned to protect me instead of eat me, but I couldn’t help thinking something even nastier was waiting for me in the end.

“But Ahone has claimed me.”

The snake grinned. “That’s what makes it even better.” Then he lowered into the water, waves gently rippling across the cove.

I watched the spot where he’d disappeared, still frozen against the light pole.

Move, Ellie!

I barely felt the gravel beneath my feet as I ran to Myra’s car, locking myself inside. My fingers shook as I turned over the ignition. Barely looking behind me, I jerked the car in reverse, then slammed it into gear and sped through Wanchese on the way back to Manteo.

Several minutes after I took off, my phone started to ring.

“I’ve been calling you for an hour, Ellie!” Claire shouted. “Why haven’t you answered?”

“I . . . ” I didn’t even know where to begin.

“You chickened out, didn’t you?”

“What?” I looked down at the speedometer. I was driving twenty miles over the speed limit. “No. I saw him.”

It felt like it had happened days ago instead of less than ten minutes.

“And?”

“He’s a prick, that’s what happened. He claims he doesn’t know Ahone’s mark and says I need to use Okeus’s. And he refused to give me the map. When I asked him why he wouldn’t give it to me since he didn’t need it, he told me it was because I did.”

“Are you serious?” she asked in disbelief.

Sure, I had left a whole lot out of the conversation, but I wasn’t ready to get into the near sex miss. Not after what just happened.

“He would really leave you defenseless like that?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I’d cried enough tears over that man to earn my title of daughter of the sea. But I still couldn’t believe how cold he’d been in those last few minutes. “He told me that I know what I need to do to save myself.”

Claire was silent for several seconds. “What are you going to do?” She sounded like she was about to cry, something I’d only seen her do a handful of times.

I ran my fingers through my hair, my panic rising with her concern. “I don’t know. Someone has to know about these things. Dr. Preston isn’t the only professor specializing in North Carolina Native American tribes.”

“But he’s the best.”

“Not helping, Claire!” My terror mounted the closer I got to town. “He wouldn’t help me, so I’ll just have to find someone who will. I’ll do more research when I get home. Surely someone knows something.” My voice broke.

“Ellie, come over here tonight. I’m worried about you.”

“No.” I sucked in a breath and steeled my back. “No. It’s safer for you if I stay away.” I couldn’t help wondering if any and all contact with her was dangerous. The spirits had targeted people who were close to me before. What was to stop them from doing it again? If I were truly selfless, I would disown them all and hide somewhere until I sorted this out, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“Are the marks still on your door?” Claire asked. “Are they still dark enough?”

“Yes, they’re fine.”

I’d redone the marks at the inn and the house after I’d finished cleaning out the upstairs.

Claire’s voice lowered. “Do you want me to go with you?”

“Won’t you get in trouble if you take off work again?” I turned down my street, eager to get behind my closed and marked door.

“Well . . . ”

“I won’t be able to go anywhere until the day after tomorrow anyway,” I lied. “Bruce is still working on my car.”

“Okay.”

Red flashing lights appeared in my rearview mirror and I groaned, looking down at the speedometer. I was going ten miles over the limit. “I have to go, Claire. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I was close enough to home that I pulled into my parking lot and got out of my car, slinging my purse over my shoulder.

Tom pulled in beside me and got out of his cruiser, wearing his uniform. Did that man ever take a day off? “In a hurry to get home, Ellie?”

I shrugged. “It’s been a hell of a day.”

He walked around the hood of his car and stood four feet in front of me. “You look a little pale.”

I glanced up at the streetlight. “I’m not sure how you can tell under this light, but you’re right. The curse of the English.”

“Where’ve you been, Ellie?”

I narrowed my gaze. “Is there a town curfew I’m unaware of?”

Tom crossed his arms. “I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

“Were you in Wanchese?”

Oh, shit. I held my ground. “I’m sorry. Does Wanchese have a restraining order against me?”

“This is serious, Ellie.” He moved closer, hooking his thumb on his belt. “Were you in Wanchese?”

“I don’t think I have an answer to that question.”

His eyes narrowed. “Well, let me make it really clear for you. The Dare County Sheriff’s Office got a call from a freaked-out guy who said his buddy got swallowed by a giant snake at the docks at Wanchese. Know anything about that?”

“Sounds like your meth lab busts haven’t hit hard enough.”

“This man claimed his friend was with a redheaded woman wearing a white skirt and blue shirt.”

I resisted the urge to look down at my clothes. “So what’s this got to do with me?”

“Where are your shoes?”

“Is it a crime to go barefoot now, Officer?”

He bristled, and I felt like an ass. But the deeper Tom tried to dig into this mess, the more his life was at risk.

“I’ll have to ask you again. Know anything about a giant snake eating a man down by the docks?”

I tried to laugh. “Do you know how ridiculous you sound?” I lifted my hands in surrender. “You got me. My pet snake Big Nasty got loose and ate a guy. Oops.” But the memory of Mishiginebig chowing down on Bobby shot through me, making me nauseous.

“There’s a dead man floating in the cove with giant holes in his body, Ellie.”

Good, God. How fast was the response of the Dare County Sheriff’s Office in Wanchese? Perhaps I should consider relocating.

“Are you accusing me of a crime, Tom?” Weariness washed over me.

He noted the defeat in my voice and leaned in closer. “No, Ellie. Like I said, I think you’ve got yourself mixed up in something bad.”

“And what do you think this something is?”

He shook his head, looking frustrated. “I don’t know.”

It occurred to me if I told Tom everything about Marino, it might solve two of my problems. I had the potential to get both men off my back. But I was too tired to deal with it now. I’d save that idea for when I needed to use it.

I offered him a tired smile. “Tom, I appreciate all that you’re doing for me, but you’re wasting your time and Manteo’s taxpayer dollars. I promise if something comes up that requires police assistance, you’ll be the first man I call.”

He frowned. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“It’s the best I’ve got right now.”

Sighing, he pulled a card out of his pocket. “I had a feeling you’d say that.” He handed it to me with a stern expression. “My cell phone is written on the back. If it’s an emergency, call 911. But if it’s not, and you want to talk to me, call my cell. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

I took the card, hating myself for actually considering using it. “Okay.”

“I’m going to let the speeding issue go with a warning, and I’m going to watch you head inside your apartment to make sure you’re safe.”

Little did he know that I was safer than he was.

For now.

CHAPTER EIGHT

I spent over an hour searching the Internet for professors of North Carolina Native American studies. I found Dr. Debra Higgins at UNC in Pembroke, almost a five-hour drive away. I planned to call in the morning and see if I could make an appointment with her. Perhaps a woman would be better, since I seemed to have zero luck with men.

Next I searched for information on Mishiginebig, and after a little reshuffling of my search terms, I found a reference to him at the bottom of a Wikipedia page. Only he wasn’t just part of the Algonquian/Croatan belief system, he was part of the folklore of many native religions.

This changed everything.

Collin had led me to believe we were dealing with just Croatan gods. Maybe this meant I could expand my search.

Sleep was elusive again. I got my usual visit from the animals begging for my help, and the badger was back too. My neighbor’s dog, Chip, lay on a patch of grass, his guts exposed. The badger was rooting around in his open body cavity, but he lifted his bloody face when he saw me. “Do you know why I eat their hearts, witness to creation?”

“No,” I whispered.

“That’s where their Manitou is purest.”

The full implication of what he was saying sunk in and I fell to my knees.

I was awoken by a banging on my door and I sat upright, clutching my sheet to my chest, my palm itching.

Okeus had come to eat my heart.

No, Okeus had plans for me, although those plans might very well include my heart. But I didn’t think he’d just show up to bang on my front door. Okeus seemed like a god who went for pomp and circumstance and special effects. When he was ready to pull off whatever he had planned, it would be a production.

Convincing myself it wasn’t Okeus, I padded to the door, nearly hyperventilating with fear. “Who is it?”

Please let it be a human. Three weeks ago, it would never have occurred to me that there’d be an alternative.

“Curse Keeper,” the spirit hissed.

Closing my eyes, I rested my head against the door. Couldn’t I catch a break? Just one?

“What do you want?”

“Ahone wishes me to relay a message.”

Ahone?

From what little I’d learned, Ahone was a standoffish kind of god and my experience with him had borne that out. Sure, he’d sent his messenger to me after the curse was broken, warning me not to align myself with Okeus, and then right before the ceremony at the inn to tell me that Daddy was my sacrifice. And Ahone had possessed enough balls to show up and take Daddy’s Manitou, but I hadn’t heard from him since. He told me I could bear his mark, and then the bastard had taken off without bothering to tell me what that was. Okeus and his merry band of baddies were much more faithful.

I opened the door a crack. “What is it?” A white owl sat on my porch railing. It would have resembled a real bird if I couldn’t see through it.

“Your time is running out.”

“Tell me something I don’t know. Maybe if I knew Ahone’s mark, I could do something to protect myself. Collin says he doesn’t know it.”

“Your father knew.”

My chest tightened. “But my father’s dead.”

“He left his legacy to you.”

What was he talking about? Then I realized. “His notes? I can’t find them! If Ahone wants me so badly, why won’t he show me what it is?”

“All warriors must be tested. You are on a journey.”

“Is this what this is? A test? Shutting the damn gate and sacrificing my father wasn’t enough proof of my loyalty?”

The owl remained silent. I didn’t need an answer. I already knew.

“Let’s say I discover this magical mark and I get it tattooed on my back. What does it mean? I’m not stupid enough to believe there’s no price.”

“You forfeit your soul to Ahone.”

My chest heaved as I tried to control the tidal wave of emotion washing over me. Sell my soul to one god or let the other torture me. Not that it mattered.

“How long do I have?”

“Two days. Maybe three.” The owl faded.

I still had at least two days to find the mark. Maybe the professor at Pembroke could help. All the more reason to go see her after work.

I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I washed my body off with a washrag. I would have given anything to take a shower, but I was desperate to keep my mark for as long as possible. I did a little housekeeping before walking to the inn at around six fifteen.

Myra was surprised to see me when I walked into the kitchen, but she seemed happy to have me there. When she looked up from stirring her breakfast casserole and got a better look at me, though, the smile fell off her face. “You need more sleep, Ellie. You can’t keep going on this way.”

I suppressed a yawn. “I know.”

“I have some sleeping pills my doctor prescribed me after your father died. You can take one of those tonight.”

I was tempted. I hadn’t slept more than three consecutive hours in weeks. “Thanks, Myra. I’ll think about it.”

“What are you doing here this early?”

“I’ve been up awhile, and I figured you could use the help. Did the new guests get settled in all right?”

She poured the egg and sausage mixture into two baking dishes. “Yes, and thank you for cleaning up the rooms. The flowers were a lovely touch.”

“That was Claire’s idea.” But thinking about the rooms reminded me of the stain I’d found in my old room. “Myra, did Daddy ever talk about Momma’s murder?”

She froze for a second, her eyes wide, but then recovered enough to put the casseroles in the oven. “That caught me off guard.”

“I’m sorry.”

Shaking her head, she put the bowl in the sink and turned on the water. “No, there’s nothing to be sorry about. It’s just that no one has mentioned her death in ages.”

I sat on a bar stool at the counter. “So did he ever talk about it?”

Myra poured a cup of coffee and added creamer before handing it to me, then poured one for herself. “Not much. He didn’t like to think about it.” She sat on the stool next to mine and leaned her elbow on the counter with a sigh. “I think he felt responsible.”

“Why? The man was after me.”

“Maybe he thought he should have been here.” She took a sip of her coffee. “He said he wished he’d never left the house that night.”

“I don’t remember much about the attack and nothing at all about the investigation after. I only know what Daddy told me. He said they thought the man who did it was someone who didn’t like him.”

“Yes, he told me there had been some kind of zoning meeting and his was the deciding vote against the man who had made the zoning request. I don’t even remember what it was about.” She frowned and reached over to tuck a loose tendril of hair behind my ear. “It seems wrong of me not to know.”

“It’s okay, Myra.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not. It’s normal for you to ask questions. Especially after what happened to your dad. Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t asked sooner.”

I never thought to ask because I carried so much blame myself. But the new dreams and the stain on the floor made me wonder if what I remembered was true. Why it mattered now, of all times, was more of a mystery.

“The man made threatening calls to your father and mother. Then he started mentioning you, threatening to harm you. That’s when your dad called the police. The police questioned him, your dad filed a restraining order, and that seemed to be that. In fact, the man moved off the island, so everyone thought you were safe.”

“But I wasn’t.”

She frowned. “No, you weren’t.”

“If they knew who did it, why didn’t they arrest him?”

She sighed and crossed her legs. “Well, for one thing, they never had concrete proof it was him. They only suspected. And for another, they couldn’t find him. He left the island about a month before your mother’s death. And when the police tried to find him to question him, it was like he fell off the face of the earth. They had no idea where he was.”

I leaned my elbows on the counter. “So he got away with murder.”

“If he did it, yeah, I guess so.”

I expected to feel bitter at the realization. Instead, I only felt profound sadness. “I remember being upstairs getting ready for bed. A storm was blowing in, and I was scared, especially since a tree branch kept banging against my window. Momma told me to pick a book for her to read to me, but first she went downstairs to make sure the doors were locked. Then I heard breaking glass.”

Myra took my hand in hers.

“There was shouting, and I went to sit at the top of the stairs, too scared to go down even though I heard the man yelling for me.” I still lived with the guilt of my cowardice. I looked into Myra’s face. “I didn’t know that man had threatened me before that night until you just told me.”

“I’m not surprised. You were only eight. They probably didn’t want you to be scared.”

“I should have gone downstairs, Myra. If I’d gone downstairs, Momma might still be alive.”

Tears in her eyes, Myra squeezed my hand and shook her head. “No, Ellie. You would have been killed.”

“But I could have saved her.”

“Do you really think your mother could have lived with the knowledge that you were murdered in front her and she couldn’t stop it? I assure you that she very willingly sacrificed herself for you. And she’d make the exact same choice again. Just like I would.”

My voice broke. “It’s not fair. Daddy sacrificed himself for me too. I didn’t ask either of them to do that.”

She smiled through her tears. “Oh, Ellie. You carry so many burdens, sometimes I forget how young you really are.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Of course you didn’t have to ask them to do it. That’s what it means to be a parent.”

I threw my arms around her neck and clung to her, needing to feel close to her. I knew that soon I’d have to sacrifice my own needs to keep her safe, just as my parents had done for me. I was dangerous to Myra. I had to figure a way to send her away. Even if it meant losing her.

“You have no idea how much it hurts me to see you with all this responsibility heaped on your shoulders.”

I sat up. “You know I don’t mind helping with the inn.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

My mouth parted, but no words came.

She grabbed my right hand and spread my fingers open, exposing the mark on my palm. “I know what this is. Your father drew it from time to time when he wasn’t himself. Sometimes he’d try to draw it on his own palm.” She paused. “It’s the mark of the Keeper.”

“The gate’s closed, Myra. Thanks to Daddy.” I choked on my tears.

“It may be closed, but you and I both know that the spirits and gods were set loose all the same.”

My eyes widened and I took a deep breath. Myra had enough to worry about without adding me to the list. “My job was to close the gate.”

“So you say. But I noticed the fresh marks on the doors last night.”

“It’s insurance.”

Her chin quivered as her fingertip traced my palm. “We both know your job isn’t done,” she said with calm resignation.

I didn’t know how to respond.

“I’ve told you time and again that you’re my daughter. You may not have been born to me, but you’re firmly implanted in my heart. If I could sacrifice myself for you—”

I gasped and closed my hand around hers. “Myra! Don’t say that!”

“I would do it, Ellie. If it would give you peace, I would do it willingly.” She swallowed. “It kills me wondering what terror you’ve faced . . . what terror still awaits you. I know those things are trying to bait you. Chip . . . ” She looked at her coffee cup, then stared into my eyes again. “I don’t want you to be alone in your apartment. I want you to move back home so I’m not worried about you every minute of the day. At least when you’re here, I’ll know you’re safe.”

“Myra . . . ” I understood, but I didn’t know if I could do it. Although my financial circumstances might make the decision for me.

“Just promise me you’ll think about it, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Myra slid off her stool. “I have to leave an hour early today. The research team will be leaving at about seven forty-five.”

“I can take you, and my car should be done sometime this afternoon.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She waved her hand at me. “We’re just as behind out there as we are at the inn. I’ll have plenty to do.” She looked over her shoulder at the sink full of dishes. “I have some paperwork I need to take care of. Would you mind cleaning up this mess and serving breakfast?”

“Of course not.”

“Since the guests upstairs are all leaving together, I thought it might be easier to serve them in the dining room. There aren’t enough tables and chairs for everyone in the other house.”

“That makes sense.”

“I told them breakfast would be on the sideboard at seven.”

“Okay.”

I hopped off the stool and pulled her into another hug. Myra and Claire were the only two people I had left, and Myra could have easily walked away from all this craziness. Yet she was staying for me. The significance was not lost on me. “I love you.”

Her arms squeezed around me. “Child of my heart, I love you too.” Dropping her arms, she grinned at me, her eyes glassy. “We’re turning into a Hallmark movie.” She swatted my arm. “If I don’t see you before I leave this morning, be careful today.”

“You too.”

I filled up the dishwasher and washed the remaining dishes in the sink, staring out the window at the side yard. It seemed empty without Chip running around. Myra was right. The spirits had killed Chip to bait me, just like they’d killed people I knew to coerce me to open the gate the rest of the way. Was it time to walk away from the rest of the people I cared about?

Myra had already prepared a tray of biscuits, so I put them into the second oven and then moved into the dining room, carrying the coffeepot. I set up a coffee station and arranged the table with plates and silverware. I heard the timer go off for the biscuits, so I turned back toward the kitchen. As I was heading down the short hall to the kitchen through the butler’s pantry, I saw a man entering the dining room from the entrance on the other side.

“Coffee’s ready if you want some. I’ll have breakfast out in a minute.”

“Thanks,” he mumbled.

I glanced at the clock in the kitchen, making sure I was still on time. 6:50. He was early.

After I had everything out of the oven and the biscuits arranged in a cloth napkin–lined basket, I carried the casserole in and set it on the sideboard.

The man was standing at the window, looking out toward the downtown area. “Cute little town you have here.” He had an English accent, which caught my attention.

“Most people who live here like it,” I said, giving him a second look before heading back into the kitchen. It wasn’t uncommon to get foreigners on Roanoke Island, but something about him seemed familiar.

I grabbed the biscuits and the tray of butter, jellies, and jams and carried them into the dining room. The man was where I’d left him.

“You say most people. Are you not one of them?” he asked.

He was perceptive. Although these were researchers and not tourists, I still needed to be careful not to damage the image of our town. “No, of course not. I was born here and will die here.” Of that, I was certain. And it would probably happen sooner rather than later.

“Again, a strange way to put it.”

I cringed. Damn my need for honesty. Rearranging things on the sideboard, I kept my back to him. “I love Manteo, but things have been a bit crazy here lately.”

“Since the appearance of the colony?”

“Yes.”

“And what about the marks on the doors? The Native American symbols?”

I froze for a few seconds. Several guests had asked about them over the last couple of weeks, and I’d told them it was all part of the experience. This man’s question seemed more pointed.

I turned to look at him and was surprised to find myself face-to-face with Dr. Preston.

“You.” His eyes widened. “We met outside my office a couple of days ago.”

I froze, speechless and stunned.

“Why are those symbols on your doors?”

While hope surged inside me—He’s here! Maybe he can still help!—I had no idea how to go about getting the information I needed without scaring him away. “Are you part of the research team?”

He set his coffee cup on the table, his eyes narrowing in on me. “Not officially. I’m a guest of one of the researchers. He told me that Manteo’s hut was on site, and he asked me if I wanted to check it out.”

“Manteo had a hut in the village?” Myra had never told me. I knew the village had reappeared completely intact, as if it had been picked up in 1587 and dropped back into place over four hundred years later, with edible food and water still in washbowls. Everything had returned in usable condition. Except for the inhabitants, of course. They had returned as fully clothed skeletons. But those were the only details that had been released to the public. It had never occurred to me that Manteo would have lived with the colonists and kept a home there. Along with Ananias Dare, my multiple-great grandfather.

I needed to get into those huts.

His head tilted slightly as he observed me. “You didn’t know?”

“No.”

“What is your interest in Manteo and the Croatan?”

“How long are you here for?”

My question surprised him. “A couple of weeks. What does that have to do with anything?”

I could go about this one of two ways. While I’d love nothing more than to charge forward and tell him everything, I was sane enough to realize that it would scare him off. Slow and steady seemed the best way to go about this. I had two weeks to get information out of him. Even if I wasn’t sure the gods would wait that long.

He was watching me warily and I could tell he was becoming suspicious. The longer I took to answer, the stranger I looked. “I grew up on stories about the Lost Colony. We all know about Manteo, especially with the Lost Colony reenactment play. Shoot, I was the Dare baby.”

“What’s the Dare baby?”

“Every August they pick a baby to be baby Virginia Dare in the play. It’s quite an honor. You have no idea how badly people want their baby to be picked.”

He looked confused.

“I’m just saying that I’ve grown up living and breathing the legend of the colony. The Croatan are a part of it.”

“That still doesn’t explain why there are symbols on your door.”

I shifted my weight, trying to come up with a reasonable-sounding explanation. My standard answer wasn’t going to work on this guy.

He decided to take a different tactic. “Why did you come see me?”

“I already told you that.” I heard voices coming down the stairs. The other researchers were on their way to breakfast, and I really didn’t want to get into this with other people around.

Becky, the woman who helped with the inn, came in through the butler’s pantry, humming to herself. “Ellie, your mom wants to see you before she goes.”

“Okay.” But my eyes were still locked with Dr. Preston’s.

Becky put her hands on her hips. “Did you hear about that guy in Wanchese getting eaten by a giant snake?”

“A little.” I couldn’t hide my cringe. Why was I surprised word had spread already? And if word had spread, Becky was sure to play a part in its broadcast.

“The rumor around town is that the guy was about to rape some poor girl and this giant snake with horns on its head rose up out of the water and ate the guy. They found his body floating in the water with big ole holes in it from the fang marks.”

Dr. Preston’s gaze shifted to Becky.

I shook my head. “You don’t believe that, do you? If the snake ate him, why was he floating in the water? Wouldn’t he still be in the snake’s belly?”

Becky shrugged. “Beats me, but after that colony just appeared out of nowhere, a giant man-eating snake doesn’t sound too odd. Not to mention that wild animal on the loose that’s going around eating dogs’ hearts right out of their chests. I heard it got a cow last night.”

I turned to her, wide-eyed with exasperation. “Becky, you know better than to be talking like that in front of a guest. We don’t want to scare off the tourists.”

“But he’s not a tourist. He’s a researcher. I’d think he’d want to know about it.”

Dr. Preston opened his mouth to say something, but two men and a woman walked in before he could.

“Good morning, David,” an elderly man with gray hair said as he patted Dr. Preston on the shoulder. “I see you’re eager to get a start on the day.”

“I was having a chat with . . . ” He looked at me with new interest.

“Ellie.” I wiped my hands on the apron covering my shorts and extended my hand to the newcomer. “Ellie Lancaster. I’m Myra’s daughter.”

“Ellie Lancaster!” A warm smile spread across his face. “I met you when you were a little girl. I bet you don’t remember me.”

I shook my head as I tried to place him. “I’m sorry. I don’t.”

“Steven Godfrey. I knew your parents professionally.” He shook his head with a laugh. “I should have put it together when Myra said she owned the inn with her daughter, but her last name isn’t Lancaster and she’s . . . ”

“Chinese.” I smiled. “And I am the furthest you can get from that. I’m her stepdaughter. And she goes by her maiden name. Myra Long.”

“I knew about your mother. In fact, my wife and I came to her funeral. But I didn’t find out about your father’s death until right before we came to the island. Anyway, when Myra told us she owned the Dare Inn, I thought perhaps your father had sold it to her when he got sick. I should have known better. Your father took great pride in the inn.”

I nodded, unsure of what to say. His words only added to my huge pile of guilt. The inn was such a financial mess that we would likely have to sell it in spite of the new boom of guests who had been lured in by the once lost, now found colony.

“I heard about your father’s remarriage, but I didn’t know any of the details. We fell out of touch years ago.”

“Myra came to Roanoke Island a couple of years after Momma died to take a job as a park ranger. She wanted Jamestown, but there wasn’t an opening, so Fort Raleigh was supposed to be temporary. Her master’s degree is in early American history.”

The man chuckled. “We early American history buffs are a dying breed.”

“Daddy met Myra and fell in love, and the rest is history, as they say. She never made it to Jamestown.” I suddenly wondered if she regretted it. I’d never considered the possibility before.

“And she runs a bed and breakfast on the side, just like your parents did? I have to say she got us out of a real pickle by offering to let us stay here.”

“I’m happy we could help.”

Steven smiled. “I can’t help thinking how much your father would have loved to see the colony. Such a shame.”

“Yeah, Daddy would have loved it.” My voice broke, much to my embarrassment. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to check on something. I’ll be around in the mornings and some afternoons and evenings. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

I turned around and headed for the kitchen. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dr. Preston start to follow me, but Steven stopped him with a question. I realized that Steven had to be the researcher who had invited Dr. Preston to the site.

Dr. David Preston was interested, which meant I had a real shot at getting some answers. That was a good thing . . . so why did I have a feeling that I was dragging yet another person down a dangerous path?

CHAPTER NINE

My phone rang midmorning while I was making the beds. I answered, hoping for some news about my car.

“Hey, Ellie. It’s Carly from Darrell’s Restaurant. Remember when I mentioned that I could offer you some work while the New Moon’s closed?”

“Yeah.”

“One of my waitresses called in sick this morning and another one’s pregnant and has to cut her hours. Is there any way you could come in and work the lunch shift? You’d be doing me a huge favor.”

“Sure.” Since Dr. Preston was literally at my doorstep, I didn’t have to drive to Pembroke anymore. And I definitely needed the money. “That would be great, Carly. Thanks. What time should I come in?”

“It’s nine thirty now. How about ten thirty so Howie can go over the menu with you? And you can just wear khakis and a white shirt for your uniform.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you then.”

I finished giving a quick scrub to all the bathrooms before I told Becky I had to leave. “I can finish freshening up the rooms in the main house after my shift. Myra told me the team would be out until after dinner.”

“Are you sure?”

I knew what she was asking. I was about as reliable as a fox in a henhouse lately. “I’m positive. I’ll be working the lunch shift until three, and then I’ll hopefully pick up my car and be back by four at the latest.”

I had to scrounge through my clothes to find a khaki skirt and a clean white shirt, but I was on time—I even had one minute to spare. It didn’t take me long to get up to speed with the menu, and by the time I’d figured out my station and everything else, the lunch crowd was flowing in. I’d known that Darrell’s was a favorite for employees at the courthouse about a mile down the highway, but the number of law enforcement officers surprised me.

“Ellie.” I heard a voice call out from behind me as I was heading for the kitchen. Tom was sitting at a table with a sheriff deputy.

Shit.

“Hey, Tom.”

“Can I talk to you for a moment?”

I would have loved nothing more than to blow him off, but after last night I had a feeling he’d haul me to the police station if I wasn’t cooperative. “Sure, let me just take this order to the kitchen.” I pointed my thumb toward the back.

He nodded and I gave the order to the cooks before heading back to the officers’ table.

“You’re not in my station, Tom, so I’m afraid I can’t take your order.”

He rested his elbows on the table and looked up at me with a smile. “Then it’s a good thing I already gave my drink order to one of the other waitresses.”

I jutted my hip to the side. “Then what can I do for you? As you can see, we’re pretty busy.”

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” the sheriff deputy asked. He looked to be in his late thirties or early forties, but he didn’t appear to be hard and jaded like so many police officers his age. He seemed friendly, so I let down my guard a notch.

“I’m just filling in. I usually work at the New Moon, but we’re temporarily closed.”

“A couple of the waitresses who worked there were killed, right?” the deputy asked.

My smile froze on my face. He was fishing for information. “Seeing how that’s public knowledge, and you look to have half your wits about you, I’m surprised you don’t know that for certain. Have you been on vacation?”

The deputy’s face reddened, and Tom choked back a laugh.

Tom took a moment to gather himself. “Ellie, this is Deputy Moran, and he’s with the Dare County Sheriff’s Office.”

I raised my eyebrows as I stared at him.

“He’s investigating the death last night.”

I put a hand on my hip. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

Tom rolled his eyes. “Ellie, you know damn good and well what I’m talking about.”

I heaved out a loud exhale. “Tom, I’m really busy. This is my first day, and I’d really like to keep this job seeing as how I don’t have another one at the moment. Do you have a question or not?”

The deputy cleared his throat, no longer looking as friendly as he had a few moments ago. “Were you in Wanchese last night?”

“Is this an interrogation? Really?” I looked around the restaurant. “Now?”

“Ellie,” Tom growled. “Just answer the goddamned question.”

I could lie, but what if they had proof? “Yes.”

Relief flooded Tom’s face.

“What were you doing in Wanchese?” the deputy asked.

I glared at him. “What I do or don’t do is my business. If I wanted the world to know, I would have tweeted about it.”

The deputy leaned forward, his eyes hardening. “We can do this at the sheriff’s office if you’d prefer.”

Anger singed my chest. “Are you accusing me of a crime?” My voice rose louder than I’d intended and several people looked in my direction.

Tom’s eyes pleaded with me. “Ellie, we’re not accusing you of anything.”

The deputy’s face was expressionless. “I’m reserving judgment.”

I rolled my eyes and then put my hands on the table and leaned closer to them. “I like to go to Wanchese and skinny-dip. Okay? I’m not exactly proud of it, but there you go.” I stood up. “Anything else?”

The deputy didn’t look happy at all and neither did Tom.

“Did you see a giant snake by the docks last night?” Deputy Moran asked.

I gave him a saucy look. “I know that’s what lots of guys like to call it, but no. I didn’t see any giant snakes in Wanchese last night.” I used air quotes around giant snakes. “Not that I’m maligning Wanchese,” I added. “I’m sure there’s a few there. I just haven’t seen them.”

Tom tried to keep from laughing, earning a disapproving look from the deputy.

“Is there anything else? Because my customers at the table over there need a refill and every second I’m here with you is costing me in tips.”

The deputy shook his head. “No. But I’m going to want to talk to you later.”

I gave him a smile. “Tom knows where to find me.” I quickly left and got refills for the table that was waiting, offering the customers my apologies.

The fact that the deputy wanted to question me set me on edge. At least I knew where I stood with Tom. This other guy was a wild card. I knew he couldn’t accuse me of anything—after all, I clearly hadn’t put those holes in that guy—but I didn’t want to be tied to anything supernatural.

When I brought plates to one of my tables, I noticed that I had a new customer in the back, his head bent, his face looking down at the menu.

My heart stopped, leaving me light-headed.

Collin looked up, and the blood rushed from his face.

I was stuck. This was my first day, so there was no way I was going to ask the hostess to move him. I had to suck it up and be a big girl.

I walked toward him, my back stiffening. “Can I get you something to drink?”

Collin’s mouth moved like he was about to say something, but then a wry smile lifted his lips. “We have to stop meeting this way, Ellie.”

I tilted my head with a fake smile. “You already broke the curse, so what dastardly deed could you have in mind this time?”

He leaned back. “This time is a coincidence. In fact, I’ve been here almost every day for over a week. I could accuse you of staking me out.”

I curled my upper lip. “You wish.”

“You did it last night.” But the smile fled from his face.

I refused to acknowledge anything about last night, especially since Tom and the deputy were still on the other side of the room. “Can I get your drink order?”

“Water.”

I checked on my other tables before I got Collin’s water, but I noticed that my interaction with him had drawn Tom’s attention. Thankfully, the deputy hadn’t noticed.

When I returned to Collin’s table, he had a serious look on his face. “What happened after I left you?”

My eyes narrowed and I lowered my voice, leaning closer to him. “You lost all right to ask me what happened the moment you drove off.”

He had the nerve to look pissed. “Like it or not, we need to keep track of each other.”

My mouth dropped. “Are you shitting me?”

The couple at the next table turned their heads toward us.

Great. Between Collin, Tom, and Deputy Moran, I was going to lose this job on the first day. “I need your order, Collin.”

He shook his head in disgust and slid the menu toward me, looking out the window. “A hamburger, medium rare.”

I leaned over to pick up his menu with my right hand and his right hand snatched my wrist, pulling me close. Our faces were less than a foot apart. The call of his mark sent a shiver down my spine, and I struggled to catch my breath.

“Say what you like, Ellie,” he whispered, his eyes burning with desire. “But we still need each other.”

My temper flared, and I lowered my voice. “I need you to help me send those awful things back, but you refuse to do it. I need you to show me Ahone’s mark, but you say you don’t know it. I’m not sure what you could possibly need me for. Other than the obvious.”

“Did a giant horned snake really save you from some . . . ”

He couldn’t bring himself to say it, so I did. “Rapist?” I whispered. “Yeah. Big Nasty saved me, because apparently I’m some big prize for Okeus, and all the creatures of the night are making sure to save me for him.” My eyebrows lifted. “Forgive me if I don’t feel protected.”

“Ellie . . . ”

I glanced toward Tom, who had dropped any pretense of not watching me.

Leaning close to Collin’s ear, I whispered. “Those two officers behind me are already watching my every move, and now Tom is very interested in this interaction. I suspect this little show will cost me a trip down to the police station, all thanks to you again. So if you will kindly take your fucking hand off my wrist.”

His grip loosened, and I slowly stood.

“I’ll have your order out shortly.”

Tom watched me as I headed into the back, and I found a corner to hide in to regain my cool. On the plus side, I’d been in close proximity to Collin and other than the twitch in my palm when my mark was almost pressed against his, I hadn’t felt an overwhelming urge to jump him. But now Tom had even more material to fuel his quest to solve the mystery of Ellie Lancaster. What the hell was I going to do about that?

One problem at a time.

By the time I left the kitchen, Tom and Deputy Moran had already left. I ignored Collin while I waited on the other tables in my section. When I finally set his plate on the table, his face was expressionless.

“What do they know?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Ellie.”

“Why have you been here every day over the last week?”

A hesitant smile spread across his face, making my heart ache. It was another painful reminder of why I’d fallen for him.

He looked up at me. “The cops love to eat here, and they chat about what’s going on when they think no one’s listening.”

“Why . . . ?” Then it made sense. Collin hadn’t completely divorced himself from the situation. He was keeping tabs on what the police knew about the spirit world.

“I want to see you when you get off work.”

I shook my head. “No way.”

“Grow up, Ellie.”

I gasped, astounded at his nerve. Instead of responding, I turned around and printed out his ticket, then tossed it onto his table. “You can pay me when you’re ready.”

He pulled a twenty-dollar bill from his wallet and left it on the table. “You can keep the change,” he said as he stood to leave, his food barely eaten.

I considered throwing it back at him but decided he owed me the ten-dollar tip. That and so much more.

When my shift was over at three, Carly asked me if I could work the lunch shift the next day. After my confrontations with the police officers and Collin, I was baffled that she wasn’t going to fire me. But then again, she was desperate, just like I was.

“Sure.” I had a feeling both Tom and Collin would be back, but that was a cross I could bear for financial survival.

Bruce had had left a message saying my car was ready, so I called Claire to see if she could help me pick it up. “Yes, but you have to come inside when you come and get me. I have something to show you.”

“If it’s another weird sexual position, tell me right now. I’ll ask the homeless guy who hangs out at the Food Lion in Nags Head to help me instead.”

“One time! I showed you something one time, and you’re going to hold it over me forever.”

“I was scarred for life.”

“Well, it’s not. And Drew and I have amazing sex, so you should be so lucky.”

I groaned. “Spare me the details.”

“It’s about my wedding.”

“Oh. Why didn’t you say so? Did you bring me a piece of chocolate cake from your taste testing?”

“No. It’s better.”

“You brought me red velvet cake.”

“It’s not cake! It’s better than cake.”

“There’s nothing better than cake, so I’ll have to be the judge of that when I get there.”

When I got to Claire’s, I knocked on the door. “I’m in the bedroom!” she shouted, loud enough for me to hear her from outside.

When I reached her room, I pushed the partially open door wide and gasped. Claire was standing in the middle of her room wearing her wedding dress.

She lifted the sides of her skirt and dropped it with a fluff. “Well, what do you think?”

“That you’re the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.” And she was. Her satin dress was a halter style with a short train and scattered appliqués around the waist and bodice. It was simple but elegant. So her.

“Who would have thought I’d get married first? You were always the one who wanted a husband and kids.”

My mouth twisted into a sideways grimace. “I know. Go figure.” Then I realized how awful that sounded. “But I’m so happy for you. I hope you don’t think I’m not.”

Claire grabbed my hands in hers. “Don’t worry, Ellie. You’ll find the right guy. I know it. I have a feeling he’s right around the corner.”

I nodded, but given the ins and outs of my current situation, I knew it was unlikely. “Well, this will be your big day, and you’ll be so gorgeous that it won’t matter if I wear a gunnysack standing next to you. So I retract my protests about the dress.”

Her face broke into a wide grin. “That’s the surprise.” She grabbed a dress swathed in a plastic bag from the closet and handed it to me. “Surprise!”

I took the garment bag. “Is this my dress?”

“Open it.”

I laid the bag on the bed and unzipped it, gasping when I saw the green satin fabric. “It’s not orange.”

“Nope, it’s emerald green. You look so pretty in that color. And the halter top will make your tits look amazing.”

I ignored that comment. “But you ordered orange dresses. And your sister . . . ”

“It’s my wedding, and I can do what I want.” She smirked. “You’ve had a shitty few weeks, and if this dress makes you even the tiniest bit happy, then . . . ” Her voice trailed off as she shrugged.

“I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”

“Try it on.”

I went into the bathroom and put on the silky dress, which clung to my curves and flared at my calves. It was a similar style to Claire’s, only a different color and not appliquéd. And Claire was right about the V neckline showing off my cleavage. When I walked into the bedroom, she was sitting on her bed, still wearing her wedding dress.

“You’re beautiful.” She pulled back the hair from my face. “I think you should wear your hair down in the back but pulled up in the front. The auburn looks great against the green.”

“Thanks, Claire.” My eyes burned and I blinked. I knew the fit her sister would throw.

“I got a deal on it, so think nothing of it.” She hopped up off the bed. “You can take it to the bridal shop in Nags Head and see if you need alterations.” Turning around, she lifted her hair. “Unzip me. I need to take this off before Drew gets home. We need all the luck we can get with the craziness going on around here.”

I grabbed the zipper and pulled it down. “Are you still going to help me get my car?”

“What? Was the homeless guy busy?”

“Very funny.”

After we changed, we headed for the garage and I realized I hadn’t talked to Claire all day. “You won’t believe what happened this morning.”

“You got laid?”

“Claire.” But I knew she was just trying to make me feel better. I still hadn’t told her how close I’d come to following through with Collin the night before, and I didn’t plan to. “No. Get your mind out of the gutter. One of Myra’s researcher guests is Dr. Preston from UNC.”

She sat up and turned to me. “The one we went to see? You’ve got to be kidding!”

I shook my head. “He asked about the symbols on the doors.”

Claire’s face lit up with excitement. “This is good! Did you tell him?”

“No. He said he’ll be here for two weeks, and I don’t want to do anything to scare him off. But Becky came in talking about the giant horned snake and the animal that’s been eating dogs’ hearts, and it got his attention. I’m hoping he might be ready to talk to me tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“I told Myra I’d help in the main house in the afternoons and evenings. I did a shift at Darrell’s today so I didn’t get a chance to finish fixing up their rooms.”

“Is the big snake in Wanchese the one we saw in the wildlife refuge?”

I didn’t answer.

“Was that really you in the story I’ve been hearing?”

I grimaced and twisted my neck to look at her. “What did you hear?”

“That some guy was raping a woman he found by the docks, and the snake ate him.”

“It was me, but that’s not what happened. The rape part, anyway.”

She sank back into her seat. “I should hope not. You would tell me about something like that, right?”

What kind of world had I descended into that nearly getting raped had fallen to the bottom of my list of concerns? “If I got raped, you’d be the first person to know.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, but it wasn’t entirely the truth either. I had to accept that and push the guilt aside. Things were only going to get worse.

CHAPTER TEN

Claire drove my car to my apartment. I changed before I dumped my laundry in the backseat and drove her home before heading back to the inn. My apartment didn’t have a washer and dryer, so I used the commercial units at the inn. One benefit of working without pay.

We kept the small kitchen in the guest house stocked with drinks and a few snacks for the guests, so I set up some snacks and drinks at the main house too. I’d changed all the linens and freshened the bathrooms earlier, so after straightening a few things up, I had nothing left to do but wait.

I found myself standing in the doorway to Daddy’s office. I wondered for the umpteenth time where he could have hidden his notes about the curse. I didn’t even know what I was looking for. A notebook? A journal? Folded papers? Claire and I had looked through all the drawers and obvious places, but what about the less obvious ones? Daddy had never been an overly suspicious person before he started losing his memories. But as his sickness spread its roots, he had become paranoid. He could have hidden his notes during one of his delusional states.

The office still seemed the most obvious place to look. Maybe the actual hiding spot was really obscure. I lifted a large framed map of Roanoke Island off the wall and examined the back for any signs of tampering, then moved on to the next picture. I removed five pictures from the wall, stacking them in a pile, and then turned to the bookcases. What if he’d hidden something behind the books?

I removed a big stack from the middle shelf on the end case and set them on the desk. Once I had the shelf cleared off, I felt around the back of it for any indentations or bulges.

“Looking for something?”

Startled, I bumped my head on the shelf above as I whirled around.

Dr. David Preston stood in the doorway.

He was gorgeous, only he didn’t seem to flaunt it. I suddenly felt warm all over. He was over six feet tall, with dark wavy hair and broad shoulders. He came across as a man who was confident enough in his intelligence that his looks were a side bonus. Plus he had that sexy accent. It was an intoxicating blend. I could see why he had to fight off the undergrads at UNC.

I rubbed my forehead. “Oh, hi, Dr. Preston. I didn’t realize you were back.”

He smiled. “Call me David. Please. I insist on doctor or professor at the university to keep some of the students in line, but it feels so pretentious off campus. And I’m back because the section of the colony I’m most interested in was temporarily closed. The others are still working.” He paused. “I was hoping you’d be here.”

“Me?” Why did that make me nervous? That was a good thing.

He took several steps into the room, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was quite rude to you when you came to Chapel Hill. I’d like to apologize.”

“Oh.” I leaned my hip against the desk. “I’m sure I caught you off guard.”

“Yeah. You asked some unexpected questions.” He glanced over his shoulder, as if making sure we were alone. “You didn’t answer me this morning, you know. I recognize several of the symbols on the doors. Why are they there?”

I stared at him for several seconds before I sighed. He didn’t waste any time. But he recognized some of the symbols, giving me hope that he could actually help. “The less you know, the better. But I’d really like it if you could talk to me about the Croatan.”

He gave me a lopsided grin. “Do you really expect a researcher to be presented with something so intriguing without wanting to know everything?”

I couldn’t tell him everything. In spite of the mounting evidence that supernatural forces were rocking the island, I was sure he’d think I was crazy. Besides, the fewer people who knew, the better.

“Do you need help?” he asked, staring at the pile of books. “I take it you’re looking for something.”

I fumbled for an answer.

“Your stepmother told me that your father had an extensive library about all things Roanoke. I can look at the titles while I help you search for whatever it is you’re seeking. And I’ll answer your questions. At least all the ones I can answer.”

My eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“If I help you, maybe you’ll appease my curiosity.”

I ran my fingers though my hair in frustration as I surveyed the room. He already knew I was looking for answers. That’s why I had come to his office. “The day my father died, he told me that he wrote down some information that I need and hid it somewhere. Only he neglected to tell me where exactly he hid it. I’ve searched this room several times without finding anything, so I decided to try ripping it apart. I’m running out of time.”

“What happens when you run out of time?”

I turned my back to him and repressed a groan.

“Okay, so you don’t feel comfortable telling me what happens when you run out of time. How about this: Are you looking for information about the symbols?”

I hesitated. “I hope. Among other things.”

“Can I look at your photo again?”

“The one on my phone?” I asked. “Aren’t you worried about me flashing you a naked picture of myself?”

He laughed. “You’d be surprised by how many I’ve seen.”

“It must be a real burden,” I teased, grabbing my phone off the desk and pulling up my photo app.

“It’s a pain in the arse.”

He was serious. I couldn’t help thinking that Collin would eat it up if women showed him naked photos of themselves. At least until I showed up. Would he change his ways now that our souls were joined? Probably not. They had all been meaningless before me, so why would it be any different now? Collin was right about one thing: his feelings had been laid bare when our marks touched. I had meant something to him—I still did. It just wasn’t enough.

“Ellie?”

I looked up, mentally shaking myself. I still hadn’t handed him the phone. “Sorry. I’ve been a little scattered lately.”

“Since the colony reappeared?”

“You have no idea.” I regretted the words the moment they fell out of my mouth—they were bound to pique his interest even more.

“Can I ask when you first started putting marks on the doors?”

The more cooperative I was with him, the more cooperative he might be with me. I just had to be careful. I always let things slip when I was tired, and I was beyond my usual state of exhaustion.

“Around the time the colony appeared,” I replied. Collin had first marked my door the night he broke the curse, but I wasn’t about to say that to this guy.

“Why?”

I lifted my eyebrows and handed him my phone. “I answered your question, now you can answer mine. What does it mean?”

He moved beside me and rested his backside against the desk as he lifted the phone for a closer look. “You said this tattoo is henna?”

“Yes.”

He grimaced. “I wish I had my reading glasses. Thirty-one years old and I need reading glasses. I feel like an old man.”

David was about the furthest thing from an old man I’d ever seen, but it didn’t seem wise to mention that.

“I have some.” I moved around to the back of the desk and grabbed a pair from the top drawer. “Here. They were Daddy’s.”

He perched them on his nose and studied the photo, moving the image a little closer so he could see it better. “Like I told you, they’re symbols for forces of nature. I’ve never seen them put together in this type of an arrangement, but that doesn’t mean anything.” He looked up from the screen and over the frames. “You asked if the symbols were like our alphabet, and the answer that I so rudely withheld is no, they aren’t.”

“But Okeus’s mark in the middle. Would it mark the person bearing the symbol as belonging to Okeus?”

He pulled the glasses off, lowering his hand to his side while he still cradled my phone in the other. “Belonging? I’ve never heard of the Algonquians marking themselves to belong to Okeus, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. They often made sacrifices to him.”

“But not Ahone?”

“No. From what little we know, the Algonquians believed that Ahone didn’t interact much with the human world.”

“So if someone put Okeus’s symbol on their body, would it protect them from Okeus or claim them for Okeus?”

He was silent for several seconds, and I could tell he was searching for the answer. “I don’t know. I’m guessing claim them. But again, I’ve never heard of that being done.”

“What about Ahone? What is his symbol?” Butterflies threatened to explode from my stomach.

His eyes narrowed as he studied me. “I’m not sure.”

“Please, Dr. Preston. This is important.”

“Why?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

His voice softened. “You’re running out of time. Okay.” He studied the phone for several seconds. “The symbols on this tattoo are very similar to the ones on the doors. Can you tell me why they’re there?”

It seemed like a small favor to grant. “Protection.”

“Against what?”

I didn’t answer.

He sighed and handed me the phone, then placed Daddy’s glasses on the desk. “Off hand, I don’t know the mark for Ahone. Frankly, I’m surprised I remember Okeus’s. But he is much more prominent in the few stories we’ve gathered. The Native Americans said he was the god who walked among them.”

I snorted. “That doesn’t surprise me.” That had proven true from my experiences as well.

He grabbed my right hand, and I resisted the urge to pull back. He spread my fingers open, revealing the mark on my palm. “What’s this?”

“What’s it look like?”

His eyebrows rose as he stared up at me. “Are you always this defensive?”

I forced my shoulders to relax. “I didn’t used to be.”

“But things have been crazy over the last few weeks?”

I gave him a soft smile. He’d thrown my words back at me. “Yeah.”

“This town must have been chaos when the village first appeared. I bet it’s like when Kennedy was assassinated and 9/11. People here will always remember what they were doing when it happened.”

He still held my hand, examining my mark. I didn’t answer, wondering why his touch made me feel equally tense and relaxed.

“What were you doing when you heard, Ellie?”

“Um . . . ” Why did he want to know? Idle curiosity? I doubted it, but I also saw no harm in answering. “I’m a waitress at the New Moon restaurant a couple of blocks away. I was working the lunch shift when the manager of Kitty Hawk Kites came in and told us.”

“Roanoke is such an important part of your life here in Manteo that it had to be traffic-stopping news. What was the first thing that came to mind when you heard the Lost Colony was no longer lost?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged in frustration.

“Yes you do. What was it?”

“Why do you want to know?”

A devilish grin crossed his face. “Indulge me.”

“I thought we’d get more tourists and would have to increase our shifts.”

“What else?”

I shot him an irritated look. I couldn’t tell him that I’d almost passed out when I heard the news, that it had confirmed the curse.

“Do you know what I thought?”

“What?”

“That this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get a look at a remarkably well-preserved archaeological site.” He lifted my hand again. “These are the symbols for the spiritual and earthly planes. They intersect. Why?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t design it.”

“Who did?”

My eyebrows rose, and I gave him a stubborn look.

“When did you get it? This one isn’t henna, is it?”

“No.”

“It had to hurt like bollocks. I can honestly say I’ve never met someone with a tattoo on their palm.”

“I’m one of a kind.”

He studied me again, with a different kind of interest this time. “I suspect that you are, Ellie Lancaster.”

A warm tingle spread throughout my abdomen. Focus, Ellie.

His hand still cradled mine. “What caused the scar? It’s a perfect diagonal across the symbol, and it looks fresh.”

“I thought you had a PhD in history, not an MD.”

He laughed. “It doesn’t mean I don’t recognize a knife slash when I see one.” He looked up, his playfulness fading. “Was it a self-defense wound?”

I jerked my hand from his. He was too smart for his own good. “No. It wasn’t from self-defense.”

“But it was a knife, right?”

“Yes. I slipped with a knife while I was cutting onions.”

“When I was in the village today, one thought kept running through my head: This isn’t normal. Four-hundred-year-old villages do not just appear out of nowhere. The people’s skeletons are immaculate. There’s food in the pots. Fires that look like they’ve only just been extinguished. Have you been out there? Have you seen it?”

“No.” While it was on my radar, it hadn’t occurred to me that it could be a helpful source of information. Until his mention of Manteo’s hut earlier.

“Everyone is scratching their heads trying to find a logical explanation for why it just appeared this way, but there just isn’t one. This sort of thing just doesn’t happen. There has to be some other reason for it.”

“Supernatural?”

He lifted his eyebrows in question.

I had to turn this conversation around fast. “Dr. Preston, the supernatural isn’t real. I would think that you of all people would know that.”

He tilted his head with a smug look. “And yet you mark your doors with three-hundred-year-old symbols for protection.”

Four hundred, but pointing it out seemed unwise.

His eyes narrowed. “Do you know why the village appeared?”

“How would I know?”

He didn’t answer.

“Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?”

“Any more ridiculous than a woman who seems completely sane telling me her life depends on finding out Ahone’s symbol?”

I pushed away from the desk and moved to the bookcase. I had more shelves to clear off. “We all have our little eccentricities. Especially those of us who live in small towns.”

“I told you I don’t know the symbol, but what if I told you that I might have a text that does?”

I twisted at the waist a little too eagerly.

“Is your life really in danger, Ellie?”

“Over the mark of a Croatan god?” I asked incredulously, turning back to the bookcase. “You yourself told me that the Croatan have been extinct for centuries.”

“So you don’t need the symbol?”

My hand froze midreach. Damn him. “I do.”

He shifted his weight, still perched on the edge of the desk. “Can it wait two weeks?”

I closed my eyes, resting my arm on the shelf. “No.”

“Can it wait two days?”

Could it? Ahone’s messenger had told me I had two or three days. At the moment, this seemed like my best hope.

“I own several texts that could possibly help, but I’ve loaned them to a friend in New York. I can get him to overnight them to me, but I still won’t get them for two days. I can even ask him to see if he can find the symbol and scan it.”

I turned to look at him. “You would do that? Why?”

“You said it was important. What kind of knight would I be if I let something happen to a damsel in distress?”

I’d been bullshitted before and look where that got me. “You had no qualms about letting me flounder in Chapel Hill. What changed?”

He straightened his posture and moved toward me. David Preston was not only intelligent and good-looking, he was also built. He towered over me and I could see muscles straining against his shirt. “You want the truth?”

I looked up into his hazel eyes. “Always.”

“Then how about we make a deal to only tell each other the truth.”

I hesitated.

“And if either one of us doesn’t feel comfortable sharing the truth, we can plead the fifth.”

I shook my head. “Why are you doing this? What’s in it for you?”

His mouth turned down in a frown. “Some wanker’s done a number on you, huh?”

“Wanker?” He had no idea. “Let’s just say I’ve been burned one time too many.”

“So at the risk of scaring you off, here’s the truth: I’m intrigued. First this attractive young woman shows up in my office looking for help and I turn her away. Then I go to see the biggest archaeological find in recorded history and not only is she there, but she’s at the center of this fascinating riddle that begs to be solved, holding pieces of information no one else knows. Have you heard the story of the Great Horned Serpent?”

This man’s conversation shifted from topic to topic enough to give me whiplash. Had I heard of Mishiginebig? He wanted the truth. “Not until a few days ago.”

“It has many names and crosses multiple tribes—the Algonquian, the Cherokee, the Cree. I heard three different people mention it today. Only not by name. They said someone saw a giant horned snake.”

“So?”

“The last time I heard someone mention a giant snake was on the Discovery Channel.”

I was having trouble keeping my breathing even.

“What’s with all the animals dropping dead on the island and the surrounding area?” he went on. “It all started around the time when the colony reappeared.”

“Why ask me?”

“What about the wild animal that’s been attacking dogs and eating their hearts?”

I swallowed the bile in my throat.

“Back on campus, you asked me if I’d ever heard of such a creature. Why did you connect it with an Algonquian legend? No one else did. And you’re the only one who has called it a badger.”

I stared into his intense eyes, wondering what kind of Pandora’s box I had just opened. My heart was thudding so hard, he had to hear it. He believed me, or at least he didn’t think I was a stark-raving lunatic. “You think that I’m part of all this, that I’m some riddle to be solved?”

“More like an enigma.”

I looked down, unable to hold his gaze.

“I think you know something most people don’t, but you only know pieces and you need someone to fill in the blanks. Which is why you came to see me.”

I turned to the window.

“I bet you’re dying to know what’s in Manteo’s hut.”

He had no idea. “I suspect I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but you could. Did you see it?”

“Yes.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’d like to help you if you’ll let me. But I want to know the rest of what you know.”

Did he even know what he was asking? I stepped backward to lean against the desk, feeling light-headed. Was it too much to hope that I’d found someone who not only had answers but was eager and willing to help me?

“Does that upset you?”

“Not in the way you think.”

“Will you let me help you?”

“How do you know I’m not some crazy woman? Or this isn’t some big practical joke? How do you know you can trust me?”

“I just do.”

I sat down on the edge of the desk again. This was so completely different from my experience with Collin. Maybe I could trust him. “You might have answers to so many of my questions . . . But I have to warn you, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to get mixed up with me. It’s dangerous.”

He grinned. “You do know that the best way to get a guy to help you is by challenging him by saying, ‘You can’t handle it.’”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“You’re just making me more intrigued.”

How could I turn down his offer? I needed him. “Okay. But we’ll start out slow. I’m still not sure it’s a good idea to let you in on what’s happening.”

His eyes lit up like I’d given him a Christmas present. “I can live with that.” He held out his right hand to shake.

I extended my hand and his engulfed mine. I waited for the familiar call of the Manitou that I always felt with Collin, but I felt peace and acceptance instead. How could I feel so comfortable with someone I’d just met?

But as we shook, the significance of the event sobered me. By accepting his help, I was dragging him into danger. Could I let him help and live with the consequences? Could I afford not to?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Still holding my hand, David turned it over. “So what’s with the mark?”

I shook my head and blinked. “You really don’t waste any time.”

“From what you said, time isn’t on our side.”

Our side? My side. There was no our anymore. Not after Collin. David might be helping me, but I was still on my own when it came to fighting the gods and spirits. I walked across the room, running my hand through my hair. “I’m the one setting the rules for now, and I need a crash course on the Algonquian gods and spirits.”

He didn’t look too happy, but he didn’t argue either. “All of them?”

“As many as you know about.”

“I haven’t had dinner yet. Are you hungry?”

Again with the lightning-fast change in topic. “Uh . . . ” I’d worked through dinner, and the thought of food made my stomach growl. I looked around at the mess I’d made. I could stay here and keep looking for notes that might not even exist, or I could eat with a man who had answers. The decision was obvious. “I’d make something, but Myra only seems to be stocked with breakfast food and snacks. I help her out, but I don’t actually live here. How about we walk a couple of blocks down to Poor Richard’s Pub and get takeout? Then we can go back to my apartment. I’d rather talk about this in private, anyway.”

“What about the mess here?”

I considered leaving it and closing the door, but Myra would ask all kinds of questions I didn’t want to answer. “It’ll just take a couple of minutes for me to clean up. Do you need to go upstairs to get anything?”

“No, I’ll help you and we can get going.”

David reshelved the books while I hung the pictures on the wall.

“Do you need to leave a message for anyone?” I asked, heading for the door.

“No one will be interested in seeing my face until tomorrow morning. What about you? Is Myra expecting you to stay?”

“No, I’ll just send her a text.”

We walked out into the sultry July evening and started the short walk downtown.

“What made you want to study Native American history?” I asked.

“You mean because I’m British?” he asked. “I was born in England, but my mother is American. We used to come visit every few years. We stayed with some relatives in the southern part of North Carolina one summer after I graduated primary school. My uncle took me to a museum about the Cherokee because I had a strong interest in Native Americans, and I was equally enthralled and horrified. I spent the rest of my summer learning everything I could about them.” He glanced in my direction. “It’s a combination of my love for history and my taste for good mysteries. You can’t find much more of a mystery than the disappearance of the early tribes. It’s a challenge trying to piece things together.”

That explained his interest in helping me. Good to know.

“What about you?” he asked. “Why are you interested in the Algonquian gods and spirits?”

“Honestly?”

“That’s our agreement.”

“Three weeks ago, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about them. On the other hand, my father did, and my lack of interest was a great disappointment to him.” I snuck a glance at David. “And that’s all I’ll say about that for now.”

“Fair enough. I can wait.”

Was I really going to tell him everything? Why did part of me crave the opportunity? Maybe because I was terrified to do this alone, and he was the one person other than Collin who might actually be able to help me.

He cleared his throat. “At the risk of you changing your mind, I think it’s only fair that I tell you that my real focus has been on the Cherokee. I may be known as an expert on the Croatan, but considering the lack of available information, that’s not saying much.”

“But now you’ve seen Manteo’s hut, and you have firsthand knowledge.”

“I hardly know what’s inside it. I only saw it briefly yesterday and today. They’re concentrating on the outside and I’m just a guest.”

“How soon until you’ll see more?”

“A couple of days? The entire site is being cataloged. It’s slow work. What little I saw of the inside resembles a sixteenth-century English home more than an Algonquian dwelling, which isn’t that surprising given that Manteo had begun dressing and acting like the English.”

The main street of town was bustling with tourists. David pointed to the New Moon when we turned the corner. A giant “Closed” sign hung in the window, and the place was conspicuously devoid of activity. “Isn’t that where you work? Why is it closed?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Two of the employees died.”

“Died?” He sounded alarmed. “How?”

I sludged through my exhausted brain, trying to remember what the official police statement said.

“Don’t do that,” he said, his voice thick with disappointment.

“Do what?”

“Whittle down your answer to some bite-sized nugget you think will appease me. Either tell me the truth or don’t answer.”

I stopped and looked up at him in amazement. “Where the hell were you three weeks ago?” Perhaps if I’d had his intelligence at my disposal, I wouldn’t have gotten myself into this mess.

“I was biding my time in Chapel Hill, waiting to meet you, even if I didn’t know it yet.” The way he looked at me as if I were some kind of treasured prize made me wonder if he meant that I was more than just a giant puzzle for him.

We stood on the street corner, staring at each other longer than was appropriate while the tourists walked around us. I had an entirely new thought: Where was he four weeks ago when I was dating boring Dwight? Before Collin stole my soul?

Someone bumped into my back, and I stumbled into David’s chest. He grabbed my elbow with one hand and then wrapped his other arm around my back.

“Are you okay?” he asked, still holding me against him.

“Yes.” But I still didn’t break free, my heart aching. This man was just another reminder of everything I’d lost, everything I could never have.

“Why do you suddenly look so sad?”

I forced a smile. “Let’s file that under information you might learn down the road.”

His hands dropped slowly and he took a small step backward. “Okay. I can live with that. For now.”

It was easy to see that David Preston didn’t back down from a challenge, and it was also easy to see he was used to getting his way. It was no wonder. He was a force to be reckoned with. If he didn’t get his way the first time, he could probably wear the opposition down with his endless questions.

“How did the employees die?” he asked again.

I turned away from him and walked across the street, waiting until he was next to me. “They were frozen.”

He stopped in the middle of the street. “What do you mean frozen?”

I grabbed the crook of his arm and pulled him onto the curb and out of the way of an oncoming vehicle. “Frozen. Solid.”

“How could that happen?”

“The police are still trying to figure that out.”

“That’s bollocks, Ellie.” He sounded irritated.

I stopped and put a hand on my hip, giving him a glare. “I’m guessing ‘bollocks’ is similar to ‘bullshit,’ and I can promise you that it’s not, Dr. Preston. The police are still looking into it.” I glanced back at the entrance to the restaurant, where their bodies had been found. “I pay attention to what they know.”

“What do you know?” His voice softened. “And call me David, please.”

“Well, David, I know more than they do, but I don’t quite feel comfortable telling you yet, especially not out in the open like this.”

“Okay.”

I glanced up at him in surprise.

“I pick and choose my battles,” he said. “I’ll get this answer soon enough.”

I shook my head and walked toward the entrance of Poor Richard’s Pub.

“When did they die?”

I took a breath. “A little over two weeks ago.”

“After the colony reappeared.”

There was no use denying it. “Yes.”

“And your father died too.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yes.”

“Was he frozen?”

After Ahone accepted Daddy as my sacrifice, I had been terrified that he would be frozen like the others, but it didn’t happen.

“Ellie.” David sounded concerned. “I’m sorry. It was insensitive of me to ask.”

“I don’t have time to be sentimental.” I squared my shoulders. “The answer is no, he wasn’t.”

“Did anyone else die?”

I stopped in front of the menu board and pointed. “Their pulled pork sandwiches are really good here.”

His mouth pressed together in a thin line as he looked from me to the board. After we ordered—David insisted on paying—we sat at an empty table while we waited for our food. The dining area was nearly full of tourists, discouraging him from asking me more questions.

“When did you move to the States?” I asked.

“When I started graduate school.”

“I’m guessing you like it here since you specialized in Native American studies. There can’t be much demand for that specialty in the United Kingdom.”

“You’re correct on both counts. It’s a good thing I prefer the sunshine and the heat to the cold, rainy weather in England.”

“What part of England are you from?”

“London.”

“You must have had a fascinating childhood.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t any more fascinating than growing up in Manteo.”

The cashier called our number and David grabbed our bag. I led him out the back and we walked along the boardwalk back to my apartment.

“Did anyone else die?” he asked when we were out of earshot of the tourists.

I was hoping he’d leave that one alone. I should have known better. “Yes. One other person.”

He waited.

“A man. He was the first. He was found underneath the statue of Queen Elizabeth in the Elizabethan Botanical Gardens. He was frozen too.”

“And what was his connection to you?”

My head jerked up. “Why do you assume there’s a connection?”

“Because there was with the other three.”

Crap. Telling him might be enough to scare him away. But then again, if he was getting involved, he had a right to know. “I went out with him a few times.”

David stopped on the boardwalk, tilting his head to the side. “Why was he killed?”

“Why were any of them killed?”

“I’m asking you.”

“Why do you think I know?”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m not a fool, Ellie. Please don’t treat me like one.”

“You are the last person on earth I would ever suspect of being a fool.” I meant it.

“So why were they killed?”

“As punishment. For me.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wished I could retract them. I started walking again.

David sensed my reluctance and thankfully didn’t press the issue, not that I presumed he’d let it drop. He was just biding his time. I was learning that it was something he did a lot.

I led him between the New Moon and the retail shops that faced the sound. My apartment was in the back, the last unit on the third floor. We climbed the exterior wooden steps to my porch. When we reached the landing, I wasn’t sure whether to curse or be thankful.

Collin had redone the marks.

David stared at the door, his mouth open in wonder. “You have to tell me what this means.”

“I don’t have to tell you anything.” I said, snippier than I’d intended. I rubbed my forehead with the back of my hand. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. I’m tired. I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks.”

“Why not?”

“My sleep has been riddled with nightmares.”

I could see he wanted to ask me about my dreams, but instead he turned his attention back to the door. “You’ve already told me the symbols are there for protection, and I know you don’t want to tell me what you’re protecting yourself from. But if you were to indulge me with an explanation of their meaning, it might jar a memory about Ahone.”

I shook my head with a smirk. “Well played, David. Fine.” I pointed to the corners and started with the explanation Collin had given me. “The stars and the moon in the corners represent nighttime, which is when I need the most protection. The sun is on either side. This asks the sun to provide its far-reaching power to the night.” I pointed to the symbols on either side of the sun. “Next are lightning and rain, representing the air. They are placed on either side of the sun. This asks the sun and the night to provide me protection from the wind—” I stopped short of adding gods. I stared at the center of the design. Collin had added his sign of the land. The only symbol needed for the protection code to be complete was mine for the sea. I bent down and grabbed the piece of charcoal I kept hidden in a flowerpot. “The symbol in the center represents what’s being protected. What’s there now is the symbol for land, but it’s incomplete.” I added my wave symbol to all four sides. “I am the sea.”

When I stood back and looked at the door, the charcoal still in my hand, I waited for him to respond in some way.

He was silent for so long I wondered if he’d been enchanted. Finally, he licked his upper lip. “I have so many questions that I don’t know where to start. And I’m far from sure you’ll answer any of them.”

“Go ahead and try.”

“Where did you learn all of this?”

“The other Keeper.”

His head pivoted toward me. “The other what?”

“Keeper. His name is Collin Dailey, and he’s a descendant of Manteo. These symbols have been passed down from generation to generation. He’s the one who first put them on my door. His symbol is the land.”

“The land and the sea?”

“When his symbol joins with mine, it provides additional protection.” I paused. “But I’m not ready to tell you that part yet.” I was surprised I’d told him the Keeper part.

“How can you be sure he’s a real descendent of Manteo? There are no recorded relatives. He could be duping you.”

I put the charcoal back into the pot and pulled my keys out of my purse. “Wondering whether Collin is a real Manteo descendant is the least of my worries. But trust me that he is. I have all the proof I need.” I put the key in the lock and pushed open the door.

“And what’s that?”

I held my palm open. “Collin has an identical mark on his hand.”

“So what?” David scoffed, showing his first sign of cynicism. “He could have had it tattooed.”

“This isn’t a tattoo, David.”

“Then what is it?”

“When I met Collin at the New Moon, he didn’t have this mark on his palm. But when he left a few minutes later, we both had one.”

“Do you realize what you’re saying?” he asked.

I stepped inside my apartment and turned to face him. He was one step away from entering my world. “David, this is your chance to get the hell away from all of this. You suggested that the appearance of the colony was a supernatural occurrence, and I’m here to tell you that you’re right. The mark on my palm is too. It just showed up on my hand the day before the colony appeared.”

He remained expressionless.

“If you walk through this door, I will tell you everything.” I wasn’t sure when I’d decided that, but he needed to make an informed decision about whether to plunge into this madness or turn back. And if he decided to be a participant, the only way he could help me was if he knew everything.

He looked at the door, then back at me.

“I know it sounds crazy. I didn’t believe it either, and I wasted a full day pretending it wasn’t real. But the god’s honest truth is that I really need the information you have. I didn’t intend to tell you what was really happening, I only wanted to find out what you knew. But tonight I realized you’re too curious to let it go at that.”

He took a step forward, but I blocked his path.

“You asked about how I was connected to the deaths, and I told you that they were a punishment. I had to make a choice and each day I didn’t choose, someone I knew was killed. Right now, they’re leaving the people I care about alone, but I can’t be sure that will last. At some point, the people who are close to me may be in danger again, and if you become part of this, I suspect you will be included in that. Especially you. You have information that can help me understand them, and that might make them feel threatened.”

“I’m afraid to ask who is doing the threatening,” he finally said.

“Good.” I moved closer to him. “You should be afraid. If you do this, you might be afraid every day for the rest of your life. Because I’m fairly certain that once you become involved, you’re in it until the end, whatever that might be.”

He looked shell-shocked.

“Turn around while you can, David. Just answer my questions, study Manteo’s hut, and go back to Chapel Hill. Keep yourself safe.”

He took a step backward. Disappointment threatened to suffocate me, but I told myself it was for the best. I was asking him to commit to something serious without knowing all the facts. Any sane person would walk away after what I’d said.

I turned around and headed for the kitchen, in desperate need of a glass of wine. Opening the refrigerator, I pulled out my last bottle and closed the door. When I did, David was standing on the other side, a determined look on his face. “I told you I don’t back down from a challenge.”

And just like that, I was no longer alone.

CHAPTER TWELVE

I put the wine bottle on the counter and reached for a couple of wine glasses. “Would you like some? It’s a fine vintage stock. I’m pretty sure it was on the shelf of the Piggly Wiggly for at least two weeks.”

The corners of his mouth lifted, and he chuckled. “Yeah. I think I might need it.”

Smart man.

He set the bag of food on my counter and sat on one of the bar stools. Collin had been sitting in that exact chair when I told him that I’d pawned my relic, a pewter cup. He’d stormed out, which was understandable. If our roles had been reversed, I probably would have stormed out too. Would David leave after I told him my story?

I uncorked the bottle, poured two glasses of white wine, and sat next to him. “I’m not sure where to start. How much can you handle? Should I tell you everything at once or ease you into it?”

He pulled our food out of the take-out bag and placed my sandwich in front of me. “You said you were running out of time. Tell me all of it at once.”

“Do you mind if I eat first? Once I get into this conversation, I’m liable to lose my appetite, and I haven’t eaten since this morning.”

“Sure.”

We ate in awkward silence, which twisted my stomach into a knot. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all.

“Do you have any siblings?” David asked, trying to take away the strain of silence.

Some of the tension eased from my shoulders. “No. I’m an only child.”

“Stepsiblings?”

“What? Oh, no. Daddy was Myra’s first husband. And they were both in their forties, so they skipped the whole second family thing.” I lifted my wine glass to my lips. I needed liquid courage to go through with this. “Do you have siblings?”

“An older brother. He’s still in England with my parents.”

“Do you see them very often?”

“Usually once a year. Around Christmas.”

I pushed the rest of my food away and then wiped my hands on my napkin and stood.

His brow wrinkled. “Is what you have to tell me really as bad as you’re making it out to be?”

“Worse.” I took another gulp of wine and moved to the sofa. Here goes nothing. “Once I start this, I need you to listen, and then you can ask questions when I’m done. Okay? Because it’s going to sound insane.”

He got up and sat in the chair next to the sofa, his expression solemn. “Okay.”

I took a deep breath. “It all started over four hundred years ago, when the colony disappeared due to . . . supernatural reasons. The colonists faced hardships, partially because of the Indian tribes around them. The governor of Virginia left his daughter and son-in-law and their newborn daughter behind when he returned to England for supplies and help.”

“Anyone who studied the Croatan knows that, Ellie.” Irritation crept into his voice. “But what most people ignore is that they had good reason to be hostile, especially after Sir Ralph Lane’s heavy-handedness the year before.”

I couldn’t hide my tentative smile. For all his good looks and charm, he really was a history geek at heart. And the fact that he’d chosen his profession because of his outrage over the treatment of the Cherokee only warmed my heart to him more.

A sheepish grin spread across his face. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. The assertion that the English were helpless victims infuriates me.”

“That’s okay.” I shifted on the sofa, tucking my feet underneath me. “Deserved or not, Ananias was terrified for his family. Manteo came up with a plan that would not only help the colonists, but also his own people. As I’m sure you know, they believed they got their strength for battles from the gods. So Manteo and Ananias performed a ceremony to lock the gods and spirits in Popogusso.”

His eyes widened. “Hell?”

I nodded. “Yes, but it went horribly wrong. Manteo’s gods were bound instead.”

“They’re roughly the same deities, Ellie.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I know. I’m telling you what I’ve been told. And you’re interrupting.”

He sank back into his chair. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay.” I paused. “Their ceremony was successful, but the colony also disappeared because of the curse. Manteo knew the gods couldn’t be contained forever, and one day they would escape. Manteo and Ananias were each charged with the job of Curse Keeper. The curse could only be maintained if the two Keepers were kept away from each other. They were forced to stay close to the island but away from each other. Once the curse broke, the Curse Keepers had until the morning of the seventh day to reseal the gate to Popogusso. Their oldest child would take the position when he or she turned eighteen. Obviously, it’s been passed down for generations. Like I said, Collin is a descendant of Manteo, and I’m a descendant of Ananias Dare. We also have titles. Collin is son of the land and I am daughter of the sea.”

“Do you realize how impossible that is?”

“You mean the logistics of Ananias finding a new wife?”

He shook his head as he set his wine glass on the coffee table and began to pace. “You realize this is all completely preposterous?”

My heart sank. “Yes, why do you think I didn’t want to tell you?”

He stopped behind the sofa, looking down at me. “And you actually believe all of this?”

“Not at first. My father taught me about the curse before Momma’s death, but after she died, I forgot everything. Daddy tried to reteach me everything, but I wouldn’t listen.” A new thought occurred to me. This was supposed to be a secret. The Keepers were charged with keeping the information to themselves at the risk of great punishment. For years, I’d been convinced that I was responsible for my mother’s death because I had told Claire about the curse a few days earlier. Eventually, I’d come to regard it as a horrible coincidence, but now I had to wonder. What if I had been responsible for her death, as absurd as it seemed? I shoved down the avalanche of guilt that accompanied the thought and moved to another: Would there be repercussions for telling Drew and now David? Even though the curse had already been broken?

But I couldn’t ignore that this man had been placed in my path exactly when I needed him, and he had the resources to help me save humanity. Did I really have a choice?

David sat down in the chair again, leaning back and looking at the wall. “Sorry. Go on.”

“Collin showed up at the New Moon one day. I’d never seen him before, but I felt like I was suffocating when I was near him, which was also part of the curse. Probably designed to help keep us apart. He grabbed my hand before he left, and the marks showed up. Even before I finally acknowledged that the curse was broken, I knew it. I felt it happen. And when the colony reappeared the next day, I started to wish I’d paid more attention to Daddy’s stories. I thought Collin was some nutcase when he insisted I needed to help him close the gate.” I shook my head in disgust. “But he was using me all along. He wanted to permanently open the gate to Popogusso.”

His face paled. “He wanted to open the gate?” I nodded and finished my glass, watching him as I drank. But he just stared at me, not even blinking.

“I thought we were closing and sealing the gate. And we did . . . after the gate opened and all the spirits and gods that had been locked away escaped. The spirits have been responsible for all the dead birds and animals that have stumped scientists around here. They’re weak after being locked away for hundreds of years, and they’re feeding off the animals’ Manitou to regain their strength.” I paused. “Do you know what the Manitou is?” I presumed he did with his knowledge of the Algonquian.

He waved in dismissal. “Yes. Go on.”

“They especially want mine because I have a pure soul, which has earned me a title Collin doesn’t have: witness to creation. Manitou are recycled, but mine wasn’t, which means I was present at creation. I’m rare, and it makes my Manitou stronger. I had no way of knowing, and Collin claims he didn’t know either until Wapi, the wind god of the north, tried to steal mine. Once Collin realized I was at risk, he painted the henna tattoo on my back, using Okeus’s symbol. My tattoo matches the symbol the Manteo line gets inked on their chest on their eighteenth birthday.”

David shifted in his seat, and I could tell he was dying to ask me questions, but he pressed his lips together and waited.

“Collin painted an identical mark on my back. But Okeus wanted me to fully pledge myself to him. When I refused, he killed someone I knew as a sacrifice each day for three days.” I looked away, my voice breaking. “I never would have accepted Okeus, not that I even could . . . The curse is based on duality, and Ahone claimed me. After Daddy sacrificed himself to reseal the gate, Ahone said I had permission to put his mark on my body as protection, only he neglected to show me what it is. Which is why I’m so desperate to find it. Once my henna tattoo is gone, I’m completely vulnerable.” I gave him a hesitant smile. “Okay, you can ask questions now.”

“Collin gave you the henna tattoo, but the mark on your hand just appeared?”

“Yes, it was our sign that the curse was broken, and the marks are also the source of our power to close the gate. Or open it, as the case may be.”

“And how did you get the diagonal slash mark on your palm.”

“Collin.”

David tensed, and when he spoke again, it was in a lower voice. “He attacked you?”

I shook my head, sadness washing over me. “No. He needed our blood for the ceremony. I had no idea how the ceremony was performed, and he didn’t warn me. I suspect he was a little overzealous.” I paused. “We pressed our symbols together to open and close the gate. We have more power when we are joined than we do separately.” I tried not to think about the other ways we had joined together.

David was silent for a moment. “The wind gods have no recorded names.”

I released a soft laugh. He would pick up on that. “Then you’ll be the first to record them. The wind god of the north is Wapi.”

I took a gulp of my wine and then poured myself more. I sank back into the cushions of the sofa and closed my eyes. “Other than Collin, Myra, and my best friend Claire and her fiancé Drew, you’re probably the only other living person who knows about this. And Myra doesn’t know everything. I don’t like to worry her.”

He studied his hands for several seconds, then looked up at me. “That animal that eats dog hearts? What is it?”

“He’s a spirit of some kind. He hasn’t told me his name.”

“He talks to you?”

“He comes to me in my dreams. Just like Big Nasty.”

“Big Nasty?”

“The giant snake with horns. Mishiginebig. But that’s too big a mouthful.”

His eyes narrowed with distrust. “So there really is a giant horned snake loose on Roanoke Island?”

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I angrily swung my feet to the floor. “You were the one who was intrigued that there were three reports about a giant snake. You were the one who was convinced it was something.”

“I know.” His voice rose with frustration. “But suspecting something and hearing it confirmed are two entirely different things.” He tried to sound neutral, but a hint of cynicism laced his words. Not that I blamed him. He was an educated man. He had a doctorate degree in this subject. Of course he was skeptical.

But I was toast unless he agreed to tell me what he knew anyway. “Well, thank you for your truthfulness, I guess.”

“We promised to be truthful with one another.” His tone was accusatory.

“I’ve been more truthful with you than I have been with anyone about the curse.”

“You have to admit that this is a lot to take in.”

How could I make him believe me? “I can prove it to you.”

His eyebrows lowered over his eyes. “You can prove that the gods were locked up in Popogusso, and you’re a Curse Keeper?”

I lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “I don’t know about that, but I can introduce you to a god or spirit.”

“How?”

“Spend the night here and you’ll see a deity before morning.”

A strange expression spread across his face. “Is that some kind of euphemism? Has this all been a ploy to get me into bed?”

I stood up, shuddering. “What? Good God, no!”

His eyes widened. “Are you suggesting that the thought of sleeping with me is repugnant?”

Putting my hand on my hip, I shook my head in disbelief. “Which is it, David? Do you want me to want to sleep with you or not?”

“Neither!”

“That doesn’t make sense!”

“I know.” He slumped into the chair, covering his eyes with his hand. It seemed like all the fight had bled out of him.

I wasn’t being fair. My father had raised me with the story of the curse, and I still hadn’t believed it until the reappearance of the colony. Wouldn’t I think less of Dr. David Preston if he took my words at face value without a hint of cynicism?

I sat back down on the sofa, closer to him. “Look, I don’t blame you for being dubious. I didn’t believe it myself at first. But almost every night at around three or four in the morning, I get a visit from some type of spirit or god. Sleep on my sofa tonight and you can see it for yourself.”

His hand dropped, and he lowered his gaze to mine. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I wish I was.”

A war of emotions played across his face before resignation set in. “Okay.” He stood and stared down at me with equal parts fear and irritation. “But first, I’m going to the inn to get a few things for the night.” He headed to the door and stopped to examine the markings when he opened it.

I glanced past him and saw that the sun had set. The henna tattoo was still working, albeit barely. The spirits wouldn’t attack me while we were waiting for Okeus to spring his special surprise, but what if they saw David as a threat? What if they tried to kill him? “I think I’d better go with you.”

He grimaced. “Uh . . . that’s not necessary.”

He probably wanted to get as far away from me as possible. I was sure he wouldn’t be pleased by the explanation if I told him I was coming along to offer what little protection I could. “I have to go back anyway to get my laundry.”

“Okay . . . ”

Both of us remained silent as we walked to the bed and breakfast. When we met at the side entrance five minutes later, he seemed distant, slinging his bag over his shoulder and opening the door so I could get through with my laundry basket on my hip. He followed me to my car and opened the back door as I put the basket in the back. He stared out the window on the short drive to my parking lot, doing his best to ignore me.

But when we got to my front porch, I shrieked and dropped my basket, some of my clothes flying out of it and onto the landing.

A mauled cat lay at my front door, its guts spilling out of its body. Blood was smeared all over the floor and splattered on my door.

My heart racing, I stepped backward and bumped into David’s chest. His hands grabbed my arms to steady me, his fingers digging deeper than necessary as he too caught sight of the giant badger’s calling card.

Turning away, I swallowed my rising bile.

David kept his hands on my arms. “What did that?” he asked.

“You and I both know.” I forced myself to glance back at it. The animal didn’t look familiar, not that I was a cat person. I supposed the badger hadn’t had much time to find its next victim. But this also meant it knew something about my comings and goings.

It was watching me.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Bloody hell.” David still gripped my arms.

Trying to catch my breath and control my panic, I broke his hold and bent to pick up my fallen laundry. Some of it had landed in the blood, and I tossed it to the side.

“What did this, Ellie?” he repeated.

“You know.” Everything was suddenly too overwhelming. “I don’t know how to make it stop.” I shoved the basket to the side and sat down on the steps, turning my back to the mess in front of my door. I couldn’t face this.

He took another look at the cat and then sat down beside me. “Why do you think you’re responsible for the behavior of a wild animal?”

“Because I set it loose.” I leaned my head against the post. “Not on purpose, but I was part of it all the same. It’s like I told you, I thought we were closing the gate.”

“You see these monsters in your dreams?”

“Yeah,” I took a deep breath. “That badger. Mishiginebig. A couple of others. I used to just see blobs, which is how the messengers of Okeus and Ahone looked right after the curse was broken. But as they got stronger, they began to look like things. I’m guessing their previous images.”

“Why does it eat the hearts?”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “The badger told me that their Manitou is purest in their heart.”

David rested his forearms on his thighs. “Bloody hell.”

I sighed. “It’s taunting me. My neighbor’s dog . . . my daddy loved that dog. And now this cat.”

“Why would it taunt you?”

“I don’t know.” I sighed. “The animals come to my dreams every night too, begging me to save them from the spirits. And when I’m in the ocean, I can feel the creatures of the water crying out to me.”

“What do you mean you feel them?”

I rested my elbow on my leg and my cheek in my palm. “It’s hard to describe . . . I can sense them.”

“Who?”

“The living things. Fish. Insects.” I turned to look at him. “Plants, amoeba.” I paused. “I can feel their Manitou.”

“As a collective?”

I shook my head. “No. Individually.”

“Omniscience? How can that be?”

I hadn’t considered it that way. “I don’t know, but it’s the only good part of the curse. Collin told me that Manitou are recycled from being to being. But when the spirits and gods consume a creature’s Manitou, it’s not recycled and the being is doomed to Popogusso.” I leaned over my knees. “I told you that Okeus’s mark protects my Manitou from the supernatural beings that have been released, but they also tell me they’ve been forbidden to take it. Okeus says he’s waiting for me to be ‘ready.’ I suspect that means he’s waiting for me to be unmarked.” I decided to keep to myself for the moment the fact that Okeus had vowed to make me suffer for four centuries.

“And then what?”

“I think he plans to take me.”

He clasped his hands and whispered, “Then you really are running out of time.”

“But I’m not entirely defenseless.” I extended my hand, showing him the mark. “I can send the creatures away to protect myself, but I can’t lock them away. I need Collin’s help to do that.”

“So where is this mysterious Collin?”

I shook my head with a grimace. “Doing what Collin does best.” I stood and took a deep breath before I turned around to face the mess in front of my door.

David stood. “And that is?”

“Looking out for Collin.”

That cat was lying on the mat. I stood in front of it, my stomach reeling as I leaned over and unlocked the door.

“Should we call Animal Control to clean this up?”

“In a normal world, yes. But one in which the Manteo police officers are watching every move I make? If I call, this will only make them more suspicious of me.”

“Don’t tell me that you want to clean this up yourself . . . ”

I stepped over the cat and kicked off my shoes at the entrance so I wouldn’t track blood. “The Native Americans you’ve spent years studying dealt with worse than this.”

“Well . . . true . . . ” but he didn’t sound convinced.

I grabbed several plastic trash bags and a kitchen spatula, along with a pair of cleaning gloves Myra had left under my kitchen sink one time as a “subtle” hint. I handed the bags to David, who was still standing on the porch, staring at the cat with a gaping mouth.

“You’re really going to touch it?”

I offered him a sweet smile. “Only if you won’t.” His eyes widened. “Okay, then hold the bag open.”

He obeyed, watching me as I tossed the spatula to the floor and pulled on the kitchen gloves. I was suddenly thankful I hadn’t eaten much for dinner.

Gagging, I squatted and folded the mat, turning my head in revulsion. David was jolted out of his shock, and he lowered the bag close to the floor so I wouldn’t have to lift the mat very high to get it inside.

He quickly cinched the top closed and held it out from his body. “What in the bloody hell do we do with this now?”

“There’s a Dumpster downstairs. That’s where I tossed all the dead birds the spirits left on my porch.” I glanced up at his pale face. “Don’t ask.”

David tromped down the wooden staircase, and I would have worried that he wasn’t going to come back if he hadn’t dumped his messenger bag on the steps first.

I went back inside and grabbed a pitcher of water, using it to wash as much blood off the wood slats as possible.

When David came back, he stood at the top of the stairs, looking apologetic. “I’m sorry I didn’t help more.”

“It’s hard to take it in the first time you see it. I’ll cut you some slack.”

“How many times have you seen something like this?”

“Twice in person. Twice in my dreams.” I grabbed the charcoal out of the planter. I’d inadvertently washed some of the marks off the bottom of the door, so I needed to replace them before we went inside. I’d never replaced only one section before, and for all I knew, it couldn’t be done that way. I’d just have to do all of it over again to make sure.

I started on the bottom corners, placing the symbols for night, and then moved back up to the top, scratching over the still fresh symbols Collin had placed only hours earlier.

David stood behind me, watching in silence, and I was reminded of the night Collin and I had marked this door together. The night before his betrayal. Tears burned behind my eyes, but I blinked them away. It always swung back to Collin.

I moved on to the sun and the other signs, forcing myself to concentrate and mentally ask the forces to protect me. When I reached Collin’s symbol, I placed my own beside it, hoping it would be enough.

“They’re just markings,” David murmured behind me. “But there’s a certain amount of reverence in the way you place them.”

“I felt that way when I watched Collin place them for the first time,” I said. “But then again, he was placing them to protect me.” I groaned. How could I be so stupid? “What are your initials?”

“What?”

“You don’t have a symbol, so what are your initials?”

“Oh . . . DMP.”

I scratched his initials below mine, concentrating on including David in the protection spell.

“And this will work?”

I released a heavy breath. “It will protect us when we’re on the inside. Outside we’re fair game.”

“Maybe we should head inside then.”

I opened the door and David glanced down at the spatula lying by the front door.

For the first time since I’d started my tale, a smile cracked his lips. “Were you planning on flipping it over?”

I laughed. “Shut up. At least I cleaned it up. You just watched.”

He shook his head with a derisive grin. “Why do I have a feeling you’ll never let me live that down?”

“Probably because I won’t.” I picked up the spatula and tossed it into the sink after we walked back into the apartment. “I’m going to go clean up. I feel disgusting.”

He set his bag on the coffee table. “Don’t worry about me. I have some unfinished work to tend to from before I left Chapel Hill.”

I held onto the doorknob of my bedroom door. “You’re welcome to help yourself to anything in the kitchen, although I have to warn you that there isn’t much there.”

“Thanks.” He sat on the sofa and pulled out his laptop.

I struggled with the strong desire for a shower versus the need to make my tattoo last as long as possible. In the end, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer to shower because I needed to wash my hair. I put on a pair of shorts and a tank top and wandered out to the living room to find David focused on his laptop.

“You’re still here,” I said.

He looked up at me and lowered his reading glasses.

It struck me again: David Preston was a very good-looking man. I wondered how all those college girls ever took notes in his class during his lectures.

“You think I would miss the chance to meet an Algonquian god?” There was a teasing lilt to his voice, but his eyes were serious.

I picked up the wine glasses and took them into the kitchen. Thank God I’d cleaned the apartment up a few days ago during one of my bouts of insomnia.

“I e-mailed my friend, and he’s agreed to FedEx the books to your mother’s bed and breakfast.”

“Oh.” I stopped wiping the counter. “You remembered.”

“Honestly, I almost forgot with all the excitement. He’s also promised to thumb through some passages to see if he can find the symbol before he sends them off.”

“Thank you.”

He shrugged. “I figured you were pressed for time. One day could make all the difference.”

“So you believe me now?”

His eyes locked with mine. “I’m getting there.”

I offered him a tight smile.

“I’ve been searching for anything about a badger in the Algonquian legends.”

I shook my head. “I’ve searched every which way on the Internet, and there was nothing.”

He grinned. “I’m a professor. I have access to papers online that you wouldn’t have been able to find.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

He put his glasses back on his nose. “Do you have any coffee? I’d like to stay up awhile and spend more time on this.”

I finished cleaning the kitchen as the coffee brewed. I poured us both a mug and took them out to the living room, setting David’s on the coffee table.

“Is that it?” he asked, looking at my shoulder blade.

My hair had tumbled over my shoulder, exposing my back. “My henna tattoo? What’s left of it.”

“Can I get a closer look?”

“Sure.” I sat on the sofa next to him. I had stripped down to my bra when Collin applied the tattoo, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that with David. Instead, I turned away from him and pulled down my tank top strap, exposing my back.

“Have you checked this recently? Okeus’s mark is barely visible.”

My shoulders stiffened. “What about the rest?”

“It’s just as faded.” He studied my back in silence. “Do you know why it was designed the way it was?”

“No. It’s identical to Collin’s as best as I can tell, except mine is henna. Like I told you, Collin said all the Keepers in his line get this tattoo on their eighteenth birthday, so I think it’s been handed down for years. Maybe centuries.”

“Why is yours henna?”

“Collin knew I’d never agree to a permanent one. After Wapi attacked me, he was worried the other spirits would realize I was a pure soul, and I’d be on their most-wanted list. He marked me that night after I got off work.”

“So you need to duplicate this?”

“I think so . . . except for Okeus’s mark, of course.”

He pulled the strap back onto my shoulder. “Would you e-mail me the photo you showed me? I’d like to send it to one of my friends and see if he can give me an opinion.”

“Sure.” I sank back into the cushions next to him. “Do you want to take a shower or change clothes? You’re welcome to use my bathroom.”

He picked up his coffee mug and took a sip. “You don’t mind?”

“Of course not. I hope the shampoo isn’t too girly for you.”

He laughed. “I have some in my bag. I’ll just finish this up first.”

I propped my feet on the coffee table and listened to the clicking of laptop keys—an oddly relaxing sound. My eyelids grew heavy, and before I knew it, I fell asleep.

The animals were back, like always, calling out to me for help, but tonight was different. The air was full of static, making the hair on my arms stand up. In the distance I heard the faint sound of my name, “daughter of the sea, witness to creation,” but instead of the usual pleading, it was slurred and threatening.

My heart sped up as I walked through a marshy field. The faint odor of salt stung my nose and the water came up to my thighs, making the folds of the dress I was wearing cling to my legs.

“Daughter of the sea and witness to creation,” a different voice called out. “You have abandoned us.”

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 that, 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.”

David didn’t answer, his eyes locked on the wall.

Wine didn’t seem strong enough so I searched for a bottle of whiskey an old boyfriend had left when we broke up. I grabbed it out of the cabinet and carried it to the living room with two juice glasses, pouring a generous amount into each glass.

“I’m not whiskey drinker,” David said.

I pressed a glass into his hand. “Neither am I, but tonight both of us are.”

I took a sip, surprised the liquid didn’t burn as much as I’d expected. I rarely drank the stuff and never straight. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

David took a big gulp. “I’ve studied these things, but they’re Native American gods. They’re like the Easter Bunny or Father Christmas. They certainly aren’t supposed to be real.”

“I know.” I sat back and took another sip, letting him get it out of his system.

“But here they are—in the flesh. This is my opportunity to learn so much about the Algonquians, but no matter how much information I glean, no one will ever believe me.”

“I know.”

“The tosh-shonte and the nuppin. I’ve heard of those words. Do you know what they mean?”

“No, but Big Nasty used those words with me before.”

“Big Nasty, the snake who talks to you?”

“Yep.”

He took another big gulp.

“Big Nasty told me that the nuppin feared him and soon the tosh-shonte would too.”

David closed his eyes. “I’m sure the nuppin were the Indians. Like I said, the story of the Great Serpent crossed multiple tribes. He lived in lakes and ponds and killed unsuspecting people. They were terrified of him.”

“So if nuppin are the Indians—”

“The tosh-shonte must be the English, or in this case, all non-Native Americans.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

He lifted up his glass in salute. “No, it bloody well doesn’t.” He took another drink.

“But right now our biggest threat is Ukinim. I have to figure out how to kill it.”

“It’s a spirit, Ellie. Or, based on what I read and what Wapi said, a demon. Technically, I don’t think you can kill a spirit or demon.”

I shuddered. Though we were still talking about the same thing, the word “demon” brought an added level of terror. “I only know how to get rid of these things with Collin, which isn’t an option. We have to figure out another way.”

He turned to look at me. “That tosser opened the gate and left you to deal with the consequences?”

“I guess he figured I was protected by my henna tattoo and the marks on my door. And to be fair—although I have no idea why I feel the need to be fair—he keeps trying to convince me to pledge myself to Okeus.”

David shook his head. “Okeus is supposed to be evil. That would be a very bad idea.” His words were beginning to slur.

“I know, but if I don’t find Ahone’s mark, I’m doomed. And the more my mark fades, the worse my dreams get.”

He poured himself more whiskey and then topped up my glass. “I know what you need.”

“What?”

“A dream catcher. It’s supposed to protect you from evil. More specifically, it catches the bad dreams and lets in the good.”

I tried not to get excited. “Do you really think that will work?”

“It sure couldn’t hurt to try it, right?”

“I thought dream catchers were from Southwestern Indians.”

He shook his head and took another drink. “Nope. They’re traced to the Ojibwa.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“They belong to the Algonquian.” He waved his glass. “Although this tribe lived up north. And in Canada.”

I tried not to laugh. “Canada is up north.” David was getting thoroughly sauced.

“We’ll get you a dream catcher tomorrow and see if it works.” His eyes pierced mine. “I’ll help you fight these creatures, Ellie.”

“This isn’t your fight, David. You didn’t ask to be part of it. All I need from you is information, and then you can walk away.”

“Did you ask to be a part of this?”

“No.”

“Then how is it your fight? Sure you were born to it, but you could walk away from it just like Collin has.”

“I guess. But I won’t.”

“Do you believe in fate, Ellie? Destiny?”

I took another sip to stall. “I don’t know. Maybe. I dismissed it, but then I think about the fact that I’m a pure soul and Collin says those occur once every several hundred years. It can’t be a coincidence that I’m a pure soul and the Curse Keeper to witness the breaking of the curse.”

“Is there any way Collin knew you were a pure soul when he broke the curse?”

“No, he said he discovered it by accident when we joined hands.”

“You actually believe him?”

“Well, the first time we touched marks—accidently—he said he could sense that I was a pure spirit, but he didn’t tell me until . . . later.” I paused, the familiar sense of loss filling every part of me. “After I’d seen creation and Wapi had terrorized me in the ocean, Collin must have realized the full significance of what he’d done. He begged me to make the mark permanent. He claims he never would have put me at risk by opening the gate if he’d known, and oddly enough, I believe him. He cares about me in his own way.”

David turned sideways, watching me with a strange look in his eyes. “You slept with him.”

My face burned. “That’s a personal question.”

“I can see it in your face when you talk about him.”

“That I slept with him?”

“That you care about him.”

I shook my head, gritting my teeth. “He had his chance. I can never forgive him for what he did.”

“That prat really left you in a lurch, didn’t he?”

I had to laugh at his word choice. “Yeah.”

“What a wanker.”

“Among other things.”

David set his glass on the table and turned back to me. “I asked you if you believe in destiny.” He swallowed and looked down at my open palm, then into my face. “Well, I do. I almost didn’t get my doctorate in Native American studies. My father kept trying to convince me to be a barrister. He said I’d never make much money living in the States and teaching history. Even my American mother didn’t want to lose me to the States, as she put it. But something told me it was the right decision. And then this archaeological site.” He waved toward the front door. “I wasn’t supposed to be here, Ellie. I couldn’t get my schedule cleared to make it happen and then suddenly it worked out.” A burning intensity filled his eyes.

“You think this is destiny? They could all be coincidences that brought you to a very bad place.” I sighed. “Look, David. You’re drunk, and you can’t make this decision lightly. I have a guilty enough conscience as it is.”

“Fair enough,” he drained the last of his glass and then set it on the table. “You’re right. I need to give this serious thought.” He startled me by grabbing my chin and swinging my face around to his. “But I promise you this: if I decide to help you, I’m totally in. I won’t leave you to face this alone.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to find the words to respond. I didn’t trust his promise. I’d lost too many significant people in my life to believe such promises could be made.

Finally I smiled and said the only thing I could bring myself to say.

“We’ll see about that.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

David had a headache when he woke up. After he took a shower and dressed, I asked him how he felt and he said, “I’m surprised I’m not still wankered.”

If “wankered” meant drunk, I was impressed. He’d sucked down the equivalent of four shots of whiskey in about ten minutes, less than four hours ago.

I dug through my salvageable laundry for something to wear for my lunch shift at Darrell’s and then bagged up the clothes that had landed in the blood for relaundering.

David was drinking a cup of coffee when I entered the living room.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

We had barely seen each other while we were getting ready, but on the walk to the inn, everything we weren’t saying hung like a heavy cloud over both of us.

“Ellie—”

“Look, David—”

We spoke at the same time and I smiled. “Let me say this first.” I turned to look up at him. “I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, but I really want you to give this serious thought today, okay? This isn’t a game and it’s not a challenge. If you decide you want to walk away, I’ll understand. Honestly, I think you’re crazy if you decide not to.”

He stopped in front of a Mexican restaurant and turned to face me. “What happened last night seems like a bad dream, and getting pissed on whiskey didn’t help matters much, but I know that all of this is real. And I promise to give it serious thought and consideration. I’ll give you an answer tonight after I get back from the colony site.”

“You can take longer than that.”

He shook his head. “That’s all I’ll need.”

We didn’t speak the rest of the way until we went through the side door. He leaned close, lowering his voice. “I’ll keep my eye out for anything I think will help you, whether I decide I’m in this or not.”

“Thank you.” I watched him walk away, feeling guilty about what I hoped he chose.

David headed for the living room with his laptop, and I snuck into the laundry room to pretreat my bloody clothes on the table by the washing machine.

“Oh, dear God,” Myra gasped from behind me. “What happened?”

I dropped the heavily bloodstained shirt and spun around. “It’s not how it looks.”

Tears filled her eyes. “It looks like the night you came home after your father died.”

That night, I’d been covered in my blood and Collin’s from the slashes on our palms. Unsure of where to go, I’d come straight to Myra’s house. I’d scared her half to death, still in too much shock to give her a rational account of what had happened. When I kept crying for Daddy, she rushed upstairs to check on him and was terrified to discover he was missing from his bed. Looking me in the eye, she asked if I knew what happened to him. When I nodded yes, she asked if he was alive and I refused to answer. It was no wonder the blood upset her.

“No, Myra.” I shook my head, picking the shirt back up. “It’s not my blood. I promise.”

“Whose . . . ?” I know she hated to ask, but she needed to know.

“A cat. That monster left it on my front porch. It scared me when I saw the mess, and I dropped the laundry basket. The clothes fell in the splattered blood.”

Some of the color returned to her face. “I think we should move.”

“What?”

“It’s too dangerous for you here, Ellie. We should go somewhere else.”

I turned back to my laundry. “You know that won’t help, Myra. These things will find me wherever I am.”

Her arms wrapped around me and she trembled.

“I need to stay here, but you should leave.”

Her eyes bulged. “Leave you?”

“You think it’s bad now? This is only the beginning. And they’re going to target you and Claire to get to me.”

Myra’s face paled.

Why had I been so blunt? I needed to protect her from this, not scare her to death. “It’s going to be okay. David thinks he has some information that can help me.”

“He’s offered to help you?”

“I’m making him think about it before he commits.”

“It makes me feel better that you won’t be alone.”

The thought made me feel better too, selfish though it was. “Do you need help with breakfast?”

“No, I’ve got it covered for now, but you can take the cinnamon rolls out when they’re done.” She started to leave the room but stopped in the doorway. “Ellie, one more thing. If you come across an old ring, hold onto it. Your father showed it to me a few days before he died and told me that you needed it.” She looked down at her feet. “I didn’t think much of it at the time. Even though he seemed fairly lucid, he was acting paranoid. He was quite upset that you didn’t have it.”

My heart lurched. “Where is the ring now?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I tried to take it for safekeeping, but he refused to let go of it. He insisted he’d give it to you himself. He’d been scribbling drawings of those symbols and scratching down notes, so I just chalked it up to his dementia. Now I’m worried you might actually need it.”

“He was scribbling notes?”

“Yeah, on little scraps of paper.”

What if those notes had the information I needed? “What did the ring look like? Do you know where he usually kept it?”

“No, I’m sorry. I’d never seen it before, but it looked very old and worn. He had it on a chain around his neck. There was another object you needed too, he said, but he couldn’t remember what it was. He started muttering something about you needing time.” Her mouth twisted into a grimace. “Maybe he was worried you were running out of time?”

“And you have no idea where the ring might be?”

“No. I’m sorry. He was on the front porch when I saw it.”

I tried to hide my disappointment and focus on the positive. There was a ring that could help me somehow, along with the notes my father had written down. The ring and the notes had to be here somewhere. I just had to find them, and hopefully, the notes would tell me about the other object he’d mentioned.

When I finished in the laundry room, I headed to the kitchen and took the cinnamon rolls and fruit over to the sideboard. Several of the researchers had already gathered in the dining room. David walked in just as I was finishing up, and his friend called out to him, “David! We missed you last night.”

“I decided to call it an early night.”

“I knocked on your door when we got back around dark and you didn’t answer.”

“I walked downtown to get dinner. Poor Richard’s has great sandwiches.”

“Are you feeling all right? You look tired.”

David gave a halfhearted laugh. “You know how it is when you sleep in a bed that’s not your own.”

Or in this case sitting up on a sofa. We’d slept there together. After drinking copiously.

Feeling reassured that they had everything they needed, I went into the kitchen to clean up. I was halfway done with the dishes when David appeared in the doorway of the butler’s pantry. “Can I come in?”

“Of course.”

He moved toward me, concern in his eyes. “This morning has been . . . awkward, and I feel rude for ignoring you in there.”

I put the pot I was scrubbing under the water to rinse. “It’s probably better that you do. You’ll make them all suspicious if they know you spent the night with me.”

“In more ways than one,” he conceded. “Steven would consider it greatly out of character.”

My eyes widened as I realized what he was hinting. “Oh, you’re gay.” I shook my head, feeling like fool. “With all those girls after you at your college, I just thought—”

“What? No!” Horror filled his eyes. “No, I’m not gay.” He frowned. “Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay, but I can assure you that I’m not.”

My faced flushed. “Oh.”

“Me sleeping with a woman I just met would be completely out of character. I know we didn’t sleep together.” His face turned bright red. “But they don’t know that. It’s probably best to keep it quiet.”

“Okay.”

He rubbed his temple, closing his eyes. “Bollocks. Now it sounds like I’d be ashamed if they thought I’d slept with you.” His eyes flew open. “Which I wouldn’t be. You are a very attractive woman, Ellie, and I would love nothing more than to . . . ” His voice trailed off and he took a step backward, pointing over his shoulder toward the door. “I think I should stop talking now. Perhaps I should just go.”

I grinned, my hands deep in the soapy water. David blushed furiously, which made him look more attractive than ever. I found it hard to believe someone as good-looking as he was could feel anything less than confident.

He put a folded piece of paper on the counter. “This is my cell phone number, in case you need me for anything today.”

“Thanks.”

“Can I have yours? In case I need you?”

I laughed. “Is this a bad pickup line? It’s pretty obvious you don’t need them, so I can see that you’ve gotten a bit rusty.”

“No. God, no.” The red on his cheeks deepened. “I just figured if I found anything at the site . . . ”

I grabbed a towel and dried off my hands. “I’m teasing. You just look so cute blushing like that, it was hard to resist.”

He grimaced. “So does that mean you’re giving me your number?”

I rattled off the number, and he plugged it into his phone.

When he had it entered, he slipped the phone into his pocket. “I mean it. Call me if you need me, Ellie.”

“You haven’t made a decision yet.”

“Call me anyway.”

I stared in awe at the man who was standing six feet away from me. He was so utterly different from Collin. Even though we hadn’t known each other long, I could tell he was a man of character—a man who stood by his word. “I’m more worried about you, but you should be okay during the day. For now. Eventually they’ll be strong enough to go out in the daylight, but today you should be safe.”

“I’ll promise to call you if you’ll promise to call me.”

“Deal.”

He turned to leave, but then stopped as if he’d forgotten something and spun around. “Will you have dinner with me tonight?”

It was my turn to be shocked. “Um . . . ”

“So we can discuss my decision. I think it warrants more than a phone call.”

“Oh . . . yeah.”

He playfully cocked an eyebrow. “See you tonight. Seven?”

“Okay.”

“I’ll pick you up at your flat if that’s okay. Think of someplace that serves good seafood.”

He smiled and his face lit up, making him look even more gorgeous than usual. If I were the swooning type of girl, I would have been in a heap on the floor. As it was, my stomach fluttered with anticipation.

“Have a good day, Ellie.”

“You too.” I watched him leave, wondering how he’d gotten the upper hand.

After working on the main rooms at the inn, I left for my shift at Darrell’s.

When I got there, I reviewed the daily specials and headed to the dining room to check on the flatware, hoping for an uneventful second day.

Carly was standing behind the cash register counting money in the drawer, but she glanced up when I walked by. “Oh, Ellie. I forgot. I came in to work part of the dinner shift last night and a couple of guys were in here asking about you.”

I froze in my tracks and tried to act nonchalant. “Really? What did they say?”

She thumbed through a stack of bills, then put it in the drawer. “They asked if I knew a redheaded woman named Ellie.”

“And what did you tell them?”

“I asked if they knew you from the New Moon. I figured they were regulars of yours there.”

“And . . . ?”

Carly scrunched her nose and shrugged. “I told them you were working the lunch shift today.”

Carly was right. They could have been regulars from the New Moon. I was probably overreacting. “What did they look like?”

“A couple of beefy guys.”

So much for my cockeyed optimism.

Carly unlocked the doors and the sight of a police car pulling into the parking lot actually gave me comfort. Talk about a 180-degree change.

A few customers trickled in and I kept a close watch on the door. Tom and his deputy friend weren’t there, and though Collin showed up, he was seated in a different section. I caught him watching me, but I did my best to ignore him. I considered telling him about Wapi’s visit and his information about Ukinim but decided to keep that to myself for now. Collin knew that animals were being killed. Did it really matter to him whether or not these particular deaths were sanctioned by Okeus?

The usual swarm of worries and fears was still swirling through my head, with the added worry that Marino’s men had found me, so I was thankful I could concentrate on the lunch crowd and forget them for a while. I was starting to feel okay again when Tom came into the dining room wearing his police uniform. He looked like he was a man looking for something other than the seafood platter. Sure enough, his eyes searched the room and landed on me.

Oh, shit.

Collin, who had kept tabs on me throughout his lunch, watched as Tom strode toward me.

“Ellie, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

I glanced down at the table I was serving. “Can this wait, Tom? I’m in the middle of something right now. My job.”

“No.” His voice was firm. “We can either go outside to talk or we can go down to the station. Which would you prefer?”

My face flushed with anger, but I stuffed it down. “I’m sorry,” I said to the customers at my table, who seemed touchingly concerned about me. What with their Outer Banks and “The Lost Colony Lives!” T-shirts, they were almost certainly tourists.

Collin sat several tables away, in full eye- and earshot of our conversation. His complete attention was focused on me.

“This is my ex-boyfriend Tom, and he seems to have lost his mind.” I tilted my head to the side and cast a glance at him. “We had a wild and crazy two weeks, but now he thinks he can dictate everything I do.” I turned to Tom, whose mouth had dropped open in shock. “I don’t care that you had my name tattooed on your ass, you don’t own me, Tom Helmsworth. Using your uniform to make me do whatever you want is abusing your power.” I winked at Collin. “Even if we had a wild night with those handcuffs.”

Tom’s face turned crimson.

Collin smirked, enjoying the show. Bastard.

I leaned closer to the table. “If y’all will wait just a few minutes longer, I’ll get rid of him, and your drinks or dessert will be on me.”

That seemed to appease them, even though I knew the comp was coming out of my tips. I shoved Tom’s arm. “We need to get this settled once and for all.”

Tom looked like I’d whacked him upside the head as he stumbled toward the back door. Carly stood staring at me bug-eyed from behind the cash register as I followed Tom outside.

“I’ll be right back.” I offered her a sweet smile, but I had serious doubts I’d be invited back to Darrell’s Restaurant, either as a waitress or a customer, if the police kept questioning me while I was working.

The hot, humid air seemed to finally restore Tom to his senses after I shoved him through the back door. As he regained his footing, Collin’s parked truck caught my eye.

“You can’t do that, Ellie!”

I put my hands on my hips. “Seems like I just did.”

“You know what I mean! You made me look like a fool!”

“And how do you think you made me look? All those people think I’m a criminal! My tips will suck.”

“There are bigger things at stake here than your tips.” Tom gave his head a hard shake and leaned against the Dumpster.

“What’s so important it can’t wait the two hours until my shift ends?”

“We found a dead body!”

Why would Tom specifically search me out and tell me about finding a dead body? Then it hit me. “Myra.” I stumbled backward and clutched my chest. My head felt light and my knees began to buckle.

Tom’s eyes flew open and his anger faded. “No. God, Ellie I’m sorry. It wasn’t Myra.” He saw my face and added. “Or Claire.”

“I need to sit down.”

To my surprise, Tom grabbed my upper arm and led me to the curb. I crouched down and put my head between my upright knees, taking several deep breaths until my head cleared.

“You’re right. I should have handled this better, but I know you’re hiding things, and I’m frustrated that you won’t tell me what you know. If I knew what in the hell was going on, I might have a chance to stop it.”

More like what had been loosed from hell. “You can’t stop it,” I mumbled and then closed my eyes. Now what on earth had possessed me to say that?

“Why not, Ellie?”

I sat up. “What made the colony reappear?”

He shuddered in surprise as he searched for a ready answer. “It was uncovered by a storm.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. That storm was nothing compared to the storms we usually have. Hell, Hurricane Irene caused more damage than that pathetic storm.”

His shoulders tensed. “That’s the official answer.”

“And what’s the unofficial answer?” I was genuinely curious.

He looked out into the parking lot. “We don’t know.” Tom’s face tensed, and he turned to me with a determined look in his eyes. “But I think you do.”

I rolled my eyes with a groan. “I’m not rehashing this conversation. Ask me what you came to ask.”

He turned serious. “Someone found the body of a young woman this morning, close to the marshes by the condos a little south of here.”

A metallic taste coated my tongue and the screams from my nightmare echoed in my head. I fought a wave of nausea as I waited for what he was going to say, preparing myself not to react. “And?”

“Her abdomen was ripped open and her heart was removed, just like with those dogs.”

“Wow. Have you called Animal Control yet?”

“Goddamn it, Ellie!”

I stood and looked up at him, balling my fists. “What do you want me to say? How did I become the resident expert in all things peculiar?”

“You are putting people’s lives at risk by not telling me what you know!”

A dark sedan pulled into a parking space at the back corner of the restaurant. Two guys got out and I immediately recognized one of them. They were Marino’s men. He and his now-dead partner had tried to abduct me before. They were pretty gutsy to pursue me in a restaurant with several police cars parked out front. Or desperate, which was always a bad sign.

It was time to play my temporary solution to two problems card.

I stood and turned to Tom. “You’re right. I got mixed up in some kind of trouble. I’m scared and don’t know what to do.”

His eyes widened in surprise at my sudden change in attitude. “Okay . . . ” He gave his head a slight shake. “I can protect you, Ellie. Tell me what’s going on.”

“I’d love to give you a full statement, but while we were standing here talking, your two suspects just parked over there.” I pointed to their car.

Tom’s jaw tightened. “If this is some kind of joke—”

“It’s not! I swear!” I grabbed his arm. “The inn was hit pretty hard by the hurricane a few months ago and we lost business. I was desperate for money, so I took a pair of silver candlesticks to Buxton. I hocked them there.”

“What does that have to do with—”

“Listen to me! The guy I hocked them to mistook me for someone else and he thinks I’m involved with some crime deal. Those guys in that car”—I jabbed my finger in its direction—“They’re after me. They tried to kidnap me down in Morehead City and I barely got away. Somehow they tracked me here. I think they’re inside looking for me right now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“I was embarrassed. I thought I could handle it on my own.”

“Could they somehow be responsible for the dog mutilations and the murder this morning?”

I hated to lie, so I came up with a half-truth. “I think they like to intimidate, and you have to admit it’s intimidating. They’ve been searching for me for weeks. I bet they were trying to flush me out.”

Tom pressed the radio attached to his shoulder and called for backup. Given that there were other officers in the restaurant, it seemed unnecessary. All he needed to do to get help was holler through the back door. He turned his attention on me. “What do they look like?”

I saw movement at the side of the building. The guys were opening their car doors. I nodded in their direction. “You can see for yourself.”

Tom’s head jerked up. After taking a moment to study them, he pushed me toward the door. “Go inside, Ellie.”

“Tom, be careful.” I said, hoping he took me seriously. “These guys don’t mess around.”

“Go inside,” he barked, moving toward the car.

I opened the back door like I was about to go inside, then dashed behind the Dumpster while Tom had his back to me.

The guys were climbing into the car, their gazes fixed on Tom. His hand rested on his gun. “I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

The passenger’s gaze shifted to me and his eyes lit up with recognition. I could tell he wanted to come after me, and I was terrified he’d gun Tom down to do it. But after giving Tom another quick glance, he got inside the vehicle, slamming his door shut as the car jerked backward.

Tom pulled his gun from its holster and pointed it at the moving car. “Stop!”

The sedan tore out of the parking lot, tires squealing.

Tom ran around the corner as several sirens filled the air, coming from the front parking lot.

“You sure know how to stir up trouble,” Collin said from behind me.

Startled, I spun around to face him. “What are you doing back here?”

“Checking on you. I wasn’t sure if Officer Fife was going to arrest you or not.” He gazed across the parking lot. “I’m not sure whether telling him about your suitors was a good idea. There’s a good chance you’ve just exponentially increased the danger you’re in.”

“Not if Tom and the other officers catch them.”

“There’s always more on their heels, Ellie.” He sounded tired, like he knew from experience.

I closed my eyes. I suspected he was right.

Collin grabbed my arm. “Come on.”

I jerked out of his hold. “Why would I go anywhere with you?”

“Ellie, you’re in real danger. Don’t you get that?”

“The police can protect me.”

He snorted. “And can they protect you from the thing that killed that woman last night?”

He had a point.

Collin’s hand slipped into mine so easily and naturally that I actually let him pull me halfway across the parking lot to his truck. “Wait. Where are we going?”

“I’m going to hide you. We’re going to my boat.” He opened the passenger door.

I dug my feet into the ground. “For how long?”

“Indefinitely.”

“What? No!”

Collin pushed me against the side of the truck, pressing his body into mine. My legs barely held me up. “Ellie, how many times do I have to apologize? I’m sorry, okay? Do you know how many times I’ve apologized in my life? I could count them on one hand, and most of them have been to you.” His hand slid up my neck, digging into my hair, and my traitorous body leaned into him. His mouth hovered over mine, and I could tell he was trying to resist me as much as I was trying to resist him. We were supposed to be fleeing, not making out.

“I can’t.”

“Why? I can’t stand here and watch you get hurt. Or worse.”

“I have a date.” I didn’t mean to say it like that, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

Collin’s hand stiffened in my hair. “You what?”

His reaction was enough for me to push on with my deception. He deserved it and more. “A professor of Native American studies is here working at the colony site. He’s offered to help me.”

His expressionless face barely registered my words, but a slight tic in the corner of his eye gave him away. “Help you how?”

“Help me send this thing away.”

“What thing?”

“Ukinim.”

He leaned back, moving his hands onto the truck, one on either side of my body. “What the hell is a Ukinim?”

“Are you serious? You really don’t know?”

His blank face answered my question.

“It’s the badger spirit that’s mutilating animals and eating their hearts. And apparently, now humans.”

“Is this something he’s told you?”

“No, it’s something Wapi told me.”

His head jerked up and his eyes narrowed. “Why would Wapi tell you any of this? Why would he care?”

“Because Ukinim doesn’t think Okeus’s rules apply to him, which makes me fair game. Okeus isn’t happy that I might not be around for his big surprise. Wapi was delivering a message warning me to be careful.”

The color drained from his face. “Why didn’t you come to me?” He had the nerve to sound accusatory.

“Because it happened last night. What would you have done, anyway?”

“Protect you!”

My anger flared white hot. “You gave up that duty when you betrayed me.”

“Bullshit, Ellie. I told you the night before the ceremony that you would be my responsibility no matter what happened.” Collin grabbed my wrist and shoved me toward the open door. “You’re coming with me.”

I jerked out of his grasp. “The hell I am!”

“For Christ’s sake! Grow up, Ellie! How much of your tattoo is left?”

I didn’t answer him.

“Have you found Ahone’s mark yet?”

“No.” And it burned a hole in my gut to admit that I hadn’t.

“Your professor boyfriend doesn’t know it? Then what good is he?”

“He’s trying to find it for me. Which is more than you’re doing.”

His eyes narrowed. “Trying to find it. And what if he doesn’t?”

“You know what.”

Rage filled his eyes. “If you think I’m going to stand back and watch you get killed, then you’re delusional. You need a new mark, and I’ll tie you down if I have to and put a new one on your back myself.”

“Like hell you will!”

His mouth found mine and I lost myself in him, which is undoubtedly what he had planned. He pushed me through the open door, lifting me up onto the seat, my legs straddling his waist.

“God, Ellie,” he groaned. “How can you fight this?”

His mouth claimed mine before I could answer, and I found myself wondering the same thing.

His hand skimmed up my back, underneath my shirt. “We have to go,” he said, but he didn’t pull away.

“Collin.” No one had ever felt as right as he did.

He was right. Our connection was more remarkable than anything I’d ever experienced. I was sure I would never find it with anyone else.

But I couldn’t trust him.

I started to cry, my heart breaking all over again.

Collin pulled back, worry in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

I pushed him away from me. “I have to go.”

He slid his hands down my back and up my arms, gripping my biceps gently. “Don’t go, Ellie. I need you.” There was a wistfulness in his voice I’d never heard before.

“I need you too.” I looked into his eyes, my tears making his face blurry. “But it’s not enough.”

I expected him to get angry, but he leaned his forehead against mine. “I know,” he whispered. He wiped a tear that had fallen down my cheek and pulled me to his chest, burying his face into my neck. “I just don’t know how to live without you.”

My throat clogged with tears. I couldn’t stay here with him another moment. I pushed his shoulders again, and he released me this time, helping me down from the seat.

He grabbed my left hand, putting it on his chest, and I looked up into his face, searching for proof that I should stay. That this time I could trust him. But all I saw was hopelessness.

I gently pulled my hand from his and walked toward the back door of the restaurant.

Collin’s truck started and pulled out of the parking lot.

My heart left with him.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Tom showed up a couple of hours later as I was finishing my shift. The look of defeat on his face told me everything I needed to know.

“You didn’t get them.”

He shook his head. “No. They got away. I’m sorry.”

I took a deep breath. Collin was right. I was in deep trouble.

Tom’s back stiffened. He was in full Manteo Police Officer mode. “I need to get a statement of everything that has happened to you up until now. And you might need to go to Buxton and Morehead City to give statements there too.”

My eyes flew open. “Why?”

“You said they tried to abduct you in Morehead City. We don’t have jurisdiction there.”

I shook my head vigorously. “No. I’m not going to press charges.” I didn’t have time to travel hours away, and undoubtedly it would get messy with everything else I was dealing with.

“Ellie,” Tom groaned in exasperation.

“I’ll tell you what happened, but no one else. And I don’t want to go down to the station. I want to give you my statement at the inn.”

“That’s a lot of conditions, Ellie.”

“Do you want me to cooperate or not?”

His eyes narrowed. “If you don’t cooperate, I can have you detained overnight for obstruction of justice. Or filing a false police report.”

“I didn’t even file a police report!”

“You made an accusation that involved a high-speed car chase. Don’t think I won’t lock you up to prove my point.”

If Tom locked me up, I’d be safe from Marino’s men, but I’d be totally at the mercy of the spirits without the protections on my door and the salt around my windows. I sighed. “Will you meet me at the inn or not?”

“Yes. Fine.” He released a heavy breath and glanced out at the parking lot. “I’ll meet you there in an hour.”

On the short drive to the bed and breakfast, I sorted through the story I planned to tell Tom. I’d been mulling it over for the last hour of my shift, but I still hadn’t worked out all the details. I couldn’t tell him everything, of course, and I needed to decide whether to include Collin. Instinct told me to keep him out of it, if nothing else than because of his criminal record. But I wasn’t sure how my story would make sense without him.

When he arrived, we sat down in the living room of the residential house. I hoped the researchers didn’t come back early. The last thing I needed was for them to see me delivering a statement to a uniformed policeman. And I sure didn’t want to worry Myra. “Tom, whatever I tell you, you can’t tell Myra. She’s upset enough over Daddy. There’s no need to involve her.”

“I can’t guarantee anything,” he said with a nod. “But I’ll do my best.”

It was all I could ask. “I’m not sure where to start.”

“Why don’t you start by telling me how you ended up in Buxton.”

“I’d heard about a loan shark there. We were behind on the mortgage, so I sold him a pair of silver candlesticks.”

“How did you hear about the loan shark? Why not somewhere closer? There’s a couple of pawnshops in Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk.”

I shrugged. “A customer at the New Moon told me about him.”

“And who was this customer?”

“I don’t know,” I said in exasperation. “Just some guy. I heard him tell his friend about hocking something to a guy in Buxton. He said he bought stuff for top dollar. So I got the guy’s information and took the candlesticks to him.”

“Can Myra corroborate this?”

My eyebrows rose. “Am I under suspicion for anything?”

His face hardened. “I just want to make sure I have all the facts.”

My gaze shifted to the doorway. I resisted the urge to cringe when I noticed that David was standing in the foyer. Our eyes locked and his eyebrows rose slightly. I gave him a slight nod. I wanted him to hear this. “She knows I sold the candlesticks to get money, but she has no idea who I sold them to and I don’t want her to know.”

Tom shifted in his seat. “Who did you take them to?”

“A guy named Marino. He works in the back of a nasty thrift store.”

“Why are his men after you?”

“I told you, Marino thought I was part of something he called the Ricardo deal.”

Tom’s eyes lit up. “Are you?”

I shuddered in surprise. Tom obviously had some idea what it was. Now I was even more curious. “No. The first time I heard of the Ricardo deal was when I showed up at his warehouse. I got away, but his men have been asking around about me ever since. He knew I’d pawned stuff in Kill Devil Hills, which is how he tracked me here.”

“What were you doing in Morehead City?”

Damn it. Why had I told him that part? I paused, trying to come up with a story, knowing I was starting to look more suspicious with each second. “I was there with a guy.”

“Why the hesitation?”

“Because I’m worried this is all going to get back to Myra. I had just broken up with Dwight and . . . ” I sighed and clasped my hands together. “Myra already thinks I date too many guys, but I don’t usually run off and shack up with one the day after I met him.”

He tilted his head. “Is that what you did? Shack up with a guy the day after you met?”

My eyes were drawn to David’s expressionless face. He was standing several feet outside the doorway and to the side.

Too late now.

I lifted my chin. Guys slept around all the time. Why should I be ashamed? “Yeah, I did. I met him in Buxton at a bar and he took me to a motel in Morehead City for a few days. Marino’s guys showed up and tried to kidnap me. I got away and came home.”

Tom shook his head in disbelief. “You just got away?”

“Don’t make it sound so inconceivable. I can take care of myself.”

His eyes found mine. “Before I came here, I did some digging about odd occurrences in Morehead City.”

“Did you now?” I asked, crossing my legs and casting a glance toward David. Lord knew what he thought of me now. “You move quickly.”

“People are dying. I’m trying to prevent more deaths.” He cleared his throat. “Guess what I found?”

I rubbed my forehead, “I’m too tired for guessing games.”

“Then I’ll cut to the chase.” He leaned forward. “A man was found dead in the parking lot of the North Carolina Outer Banks Museum the night before your father died.”

“People die all the time. Just because I was in Morehead City doesn’t mean I brought the Grim Reaper with me.”

“This guy was frozen solid, Ellie. And his fingers on one hand were broken off.”

My stomach rolled and I swallowed, looking away.

“I can see you know something about it.”

I jerked my gaze back to him. “Why? Because I had the decency to look upset that some guy’s fingers were broken off?”

“He was known to associate with a man named Joseph Marino.”

My mouth gaped. “You already knew about Marino?” My anger flared. “And you let me think you didn’t?”

“I never insinuated that I did or didn’t know about him. I wanted to find out what you knew. Or at least what you’d share with me. Do you know how Mr. Denton died?”

“You just told me. He was frozen.”

“No, Ellie.” His voice hardened. “You told me Marino’s men tried to abduct you. One of Marino’s men was found dead and frozen. Notice a pattern?”

My stomach clenched. Telling Tom about Marino’s men was supposed to get him off my back about the supernatural occurrences. Instead, it had only made things worse.

“I think you saw Mr. Denton die in that parking lot. The look on your face tells me that maybe you even saw his fingers snapped off.”

I tried to stop my cringe. I failed.

“The coroner said it looked like his fingers were wrapped around something. Maybe your wrist?”

“You think I froze that man? How would I do that?”

For the first time since his interrogation began, Tom’s face softened. “No, Ellie. I don’t think you froze him. But you’re obviously caught up in something bigger than what you’re telling me. Marino and the Ricardo Estate are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.”

“I didn’t kill that man and I don’t know how he died. One of the guys I saw at the back of Darrell’s and his associate tried to take me from the parking lot of the hotel where I was staying. The guy I was with freaked out and took off. I got away from Marino’s men and came home.”

“What’s the name of the guy you picked up in Buxton?”

He made it sound so crass, but then again, that’s how I’d painted it. “Roy.”

“Roy what?”

I shrugged and glanced over to where David was standing in the shadows near the doorway. What would he think of me? It didn’t matter; I had to play this out. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

Tom sat back in his chair. “You’re telling me you picked up a guy in Buxton, whose last name you didn’t know, drove with him to Morehead City, and hooked up with him for a couple of days in a hotel until Marino’s men showed up.”

“That sounds about right.”

“No wonder you don’t want Myra to know.”

I squirmed in my seat. “Do you have any more questions? Because I need to start my second job here at the inn.”

“That’s all for now. But I’m sure I’ll have more later.”

“You know where to find me,” I sighed as I stood, not surprised by his words. I headed for the doorway, hoping I could repair any character damage I’d incurred through this interview, but I stopped short and swung around to face Tom. “What the hell is the Ricardo deal, anyway? If I’m in trouble because Marino thinks I’m a part of it, at least tell me what it is.” Collin had refused to enlighten me, telling me the less I knew the better, but that wasn’t good enough.

Tom stood and took a few steps toward me. “The Ricardo Estate is an antique collection that was set to be shipped to Sotheby’s in New York for auction. Only it turned up missing.”

I shook my head. “You mean someone stole it?”

“Presumably. It was locked up in Charlotte in a secured, guarded warehouse, but when the time came for it to be transported, the room was completely empty.”

Had Collin been mixed up in the theft? “What were the antiques?”

“Late sixteenth-century English pieces.”

My breath caught. Could this be a coincidence? “Furniture?”

“No. Some knives and swords, clocks, jewelry, candlesticks. Mostly pieces forged in metal. A few Indian artifacts.”

“Indian artifacts? Like what?”

Tom tilted his head. “Why the interest?”

I scrambled for an answer. “I’m trying to piece together why Marino thinks I’m a part of it. And we’ve already established that I’m fascinated with Algonquian culture.”

“You said you just sold him candlesticks.”

“I did. But I also mentioned to Marino that I had other old antiques,” I lied. “Maybe he thought it was too much of a coincidence.”

Tom glanced around the room. “Well, most of your things are off by a couple of centuries to fit the Ricardo auction profile, so I’m not sure that’s it. In the meantime, I can have a police cruiser swing by the inn and your apartment to keep an eye on things.”

I wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but while I could defend myself against the supernatural, I was pretty sure I wasn’t immune to bullets. “Thanks.”

I walked Tom to the side door and he paused as he opened it. “I know you’re not telling me everything, but I’m going to let it drop for now. I hope you’ll see that I have your best interest and your safety in mind and you’ll come to me with the rest on your own.”

I nodded, releasing a sigh. “I know you do, Tom. Thanks.”

As soon as I shut the door, David’s voice broke the silence behind me. “How much of that was fabricated?”

I spun around to face him. “I’m not sure about London, but here in the States eavesdropping is considered rude.”

His eyebrows rose. “What really happened in Morehead City?”

I shook my head with a grudging smile. “That’s an interesting tale that needs tea to accompany it.”

“Fair enough.”

He followed me into the kitchen and scoffed when I pulled out tea bags. “It never ceases to amaze me that you uncivilized Americans call that tea.”

I put my hand on my hip as I held the dangling tea bags in my other hand. “It is tea.”

He shook his head as he sat on a bar stool. “Someday I’ll show you what real tea is. In the meantime, this will suffice.”

I boiled some water in the microwave, and I could see it was killing David that I wasn’t making tea the “right” way, whatever that was. But I also caught his use of “someday.” I was dying to ask him if he’d reached a decision, but I imagined he might have reservations after listening in on my little chat with Tom.

I put the tea bags into a couple of mugs and set them on the counter. “The ceremony to close the gate required the use of the original relics that had been used to seal it the first time. Mine was a pewter cup belonging to Ananias, but Collin’s was a wooden bowl that was in the North Carolina Outer Banks Museum in Morehead City. We went there to get the bowl.”

He shook his head in confusion. “It was on display? But I didn’t hear about any break-ins involving the theft of ancient Native American artifacts. I’m certain I would have heard.”

“Let’s just say we got it safe and sound and leave it at that.”

David started to speak but stopped himself.

“We were leaving the museum and Marino’s men were looking for me. Okeus’s messenger killed the guy who was trying to shove me into their car. His hand was curled around my wrist and Collin had to break his fingers off since he was frozen solid.”

His face paled. “So Marino’s men really are after you?”

“Yeah, unfortunately. Like I was telling Tom, Marino’s got in his head that I know something about the Ricardo Estate.”

“So not only do you have ancient spirits and gods out to get you, but you also have the goons of a crime boss on your tail. You’re a popular girl.”

I pulled the measuring cup with water out of the microwave and poured it into the mugs. “Apparently, I’m a freaking lightning rod for trouble.” I stopped pouring and looked into his face. “I’m glad you were listening to the statement I gave Tom. You need to know everything you’re getting into.”

“You didn’t pick up some guy in Buxton and shack up for several days. That was a story you cooked up to cover Collin’s sorry arse, wasn’t it?”

I grimaced. “Guilty as charged. If he’s locked up, he can’t change his mind and help me.”

“You think he will?”

I shrugged. “Collin tried to kidnap me today and hide me so Marino’s men couldn’t find me. He also threatened to tie me down and rehenna my back to protect my Manitou. At least he’s still trying to protect me.”

“Perhaps he still cares about you.”

“In his own Collin Dailey way, he does. But he always puts his own best interests before anyone else’s.” I pulled my tea bag out of my mug and added some sugar. “The fact that I have a backbone must be a novelty to him, but he would have lost interest in me sooner rather than later. He just can’t stand the fact I rejected him first. Don’t you men all love the thrill of the chase?” I looked up at him and winked.

A devilish grin lit up his face. “I can’t speak for all men.”

“I don’t want to talk about Collin anymore.” I dragged a bar stool from the kitchen side of the counter to face him and sat down. “What are you doing back so early? I didn’t expect to see you for another couple of hours.”

“I was eager to get back and speak to you.”

“Oh.” I looked down at my mug, flustered. Was that a good sign? “Tell me about your day. Did you get inside Manteo’s hut?”

“I did, but we’re still cataloging, so I couldn’t really touch anything. I did take a more careful look than I had the day before, though.”

“Did you see anything interesting?”

He grinned. “Yeah, I did. I thought maybe I’d bring you tomorrow so you can see for yourself.”

I set my mug on the counter, not believing what I’d heard. “Are you serious?”

His smile widened. “Yeah.”

I jumped off my stool and ran around the counter and hugged his neck. “Thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me.”

One of his arms pressed against my back in an awkward hold. “I had to pull some strings to make it happen, and I owe Steven a round of golf, but I got you a pass to the archaeological site.”

He smelled good, a mix of his herbal shampoo and laundry detergent. I dropped my arms and stood up straight, suddenly embarrassed. We needed to maintain our boundaries. I wasn’t going to screw this up by having anything other than a working relationship with him. “That wasn’t very professional. I’m sorry.”

His eyebrows arched. “Is that what this is? A professional partnership?”

My chest constricted, and I took a step back and sat down on my stool, wrapping my shaking fingers around the mug to hide my nervousness. “Do you want to have this discussion now?”

“I have a few questions.”

I nodded, forcing myself to breathe. “That’s good. You need to make an informed decision.”

“You said many spirits were released from Popogusso. Do you have to send all of them back?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. This didn’t exactly come with an instruction manual.”

He was silent for several moments. “Will you need me here in Manteo very often after my two weeks here are up?”

I leaned back on the stool. “I don’t know. If you’re asking if I think this will all be resolved in two weeks, then the answer is no. I don’t see how it could be. I guess we can correspond remotely once you’re back in Chapel Hill.”

“And what if I wanted to be more hands on?”

My heart beat faster. “What do you mean?”

He kept his voice neutral. “What if I accept and I want to spend more time in Manteo? How would you feel about that?”

“Oh.” I set my tea on the counter, worried I’d drop it. How did I feel about it? If he were here, he’d be more readily available when I needed him. And it would be easier to make sure he was okay. But that would mean he’d have to upheave his entire life. I was already asking so much from him. It didn’t seem fair to ask this too. “I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

His eyes lit up. “I assure you that this is something that interests me. I could see more of these things for myself.”

I tried to hide my own excitement. If David was here more often, that meant I wouldn’t be doing this completely alone. “But what about your job?”

“I spoke with someone at the foundation this afternoon about setting up a sabbatical at the archaeological site for the fall semester.”

The blood drained from my face and I felt light-headed.

Worry flooded his face. “Does that upset you?”

I shook my head.

“Talk to me, Ellie. Did I overstep my bounds?”

“No. The opposite. I can’t believe you might actually be here to help me.”

“It’s not official. I still have to get permission from the foundation and the university, but I suspect it will all go through.”

“I don’t know what to say.” I looked up at him. “Does this mean you’ve made a decision?”

“I promise, I’ve given the proposition extensive consideration, but I knew this morning that I would accept.”

“I don’t want you to do this because you think I don’t have anyone else to help me.”

“I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t part of the reason, but the biggest reason is that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’ve read and studied the texts, but this is my chance to see everything firsthand. It’s a historian’s dream.”

“But it’s dangerous. I might not always be able to protect you.”

“Did it ever occur to you that I’m worried I might fail you? My first task—a huge one—has been unsuccessful so far. I haven’t found Ahone’s symbol yet. My friend didn’t find anything before he overnighted the books to me. At this moment, you’re no safer than you were before you met me.”

“You might find it yourself when the books arrive tomorrow.”

“I hope so. And like I said, I’ve sent out word to a few colleagues. But we should also step up the search for your father’s notes.”

I leaned on the counter. “Myra remembered something this morning. She said that Daddy had started scribbling notes the week after the curse broke. And at one point he showed her this old ring he said I needed. She thought he was being delusional at the time, but she realized that it might be important. She said he told her I needed time.”

“Time for what?”

“I don’t know and neither did she.” I closed my eyes. “I wish I’d been around more that week to ask him questions instead of putting all my trust in Collin.”

“Ellie, you had no idea he’d betray you, and your father had full-blown Alzheimer’s. Of course you were counting on Collin to help you.”

“Well, look where it got me.”

He reached over and covered my hand with his. “You did what you thought was right. You can’t go back and change anything, so stop beating yourself up about it. All you can do is move forward, and I’ll help you anyway that I can.”

I looked up into his warm hazel eyes. “Thank you.” I’d always wondered if I could trust Collin, right up until the end. But David didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives. Still, I didn’t trust my own judgment. I pulled my hand from his. “I need to start cleaning the rooms upstairs. I’m behind after talking to Tom.”

“But we have dinner plans.”

“Oh,” I said, flustered again. “I thought that was to talk about you helping me.”

“We still have to eat. And after hearing you tell what I suspect were a bunch of half-truths and lies, I’d like to get to know the Ellie Lancaster who existed before hell broke loose.”

“Well . . . ” I wasn’t sure getting close to David was a good idea.

He sensed my hesitation. “And I’ll tell you all about growing up as the son of a famous barrister.”

My eyebrows lifted. “Your father’s famous?”

“I guess you’ll find out tonight.” He winked. “Why don’t you get your work done while I see what I can dig up about the Ricardo Estate.”

I locked eyes with him. “You caught the coincidence there too?”

“I did. It could turn out to be nothing, but a collection of sixteenth-century English and Native American objects disappearing around the time the curse broke is highly suspicious.”

“Especially since Collin is somehow tied to it.”

He turned serious. “Agreed.”

I went upstairs to start working, feeling guilty about not telling David the entire truth about my connection to Collin. Since he was putting his safety on the line to help me, he had a right to know that I had bound my soul to Collin’s. Still, I wasn’t ready to tell him. I could barely admit the truth to myself.

I cleaned all the rooms, leaving my old room for last. I told myself that I’d grown up in there, so there was absolutely no reason to be afraid of it now. But the moment I stepped over the threshold, the hair on my arms stood on end. I made the bed and dusted off the dresser, shifting a stack of books to the side. The title of one of them caught my eye: The Head in Edward Nugent’s Hand.

It was David’s. David was staying in my old room.

I froze with my hand on the book, telling myself it didn’t mean anything. There were four available rooms up here, so it wasn’t that odd that David was staying in this one.

When I finished an hour later, I found David at the dining room table in front of a legal pad and his laptop, lost in concentration, a pair of reading glasses perched on his nose. He looked up when I paused in the doorway.

“All finished?”

“Yeah. Did you find anything?”

“Not much more than we already know, but I’ll keep digging. The collection was set to go to auction three weeks ago. The police appear to be baffled by how it was stolen. There was video surveillance, but it doesn’t show anything untoward. It’s rather odd that I hadn’t heard of it, given that the collection contained Native American antiquities. I’ll ask some colleagues to see if they’ve heard mention of it.”

“Okay.” I hesitated. “I wonder if we should skip dinner and just look for Daddy’s notes and the ring.”

He pulled off his glasses and set them on the table. “I’d agree with you if I didn’t know that they were closing the site early tonight, and Myra offered to cook the team dinner.”

My mouth dropped open. “Myra’s cooking?” Before Daddy got sick, they used to host dinner parties all the time. Myra was a fantastic cook; she just hadn’t done any entertaining in years.

“Forgive me if I’m overstepping my bounds, but I think there might be a connection between her and Steven.”

“What?”

He held up a hand. “It’s nothing really. Not yet. But I can see that there’s something there.”

“But isn’t Steven married?”

He shook his head. “No, widowed.”

I sagged into the door frame. “Oh.” I could understand his appeal for Myra. He was an attractive man, and for several years Daddy hadn’t been the man she’d married. I was the last person to judge her. It just felt strange to think of her with someone else.

“I think Myra’s invited a few other people too, so it will be a full house. We’d have no hope of finding anything with so many people around.”

I bit my lower lip, jumpy with anxiety. Now that I had confirmation that Daddy really had hidden information around the house, I was eager to find it. But David was right. It would be better to wait. “Okay. But I want to start tomorrow. After we visit the colony site.” I swept a few stray strands of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail from my face.

“Why don’t you go get ready, and I’ll take you to dinner. When do you want to go?”

I didn’t want to take a shower, and it was too humid to do anything with my hair. Besides, it wasn’t like we were going on a real date. “Forty-five minutes?”

“Okay.” He grinned. “I’ll pick you up then.”

I drove my car home, mulling over everything I’d learned in the past twenty-four hours. I was sure I was missing something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I washed my body off with a washrag, checking out the mark on my back in the mirror. It had faded quite a bit in the last day. I figured I had a couple of days at most. The thought filled me with terror, but I had to believe that David would find something.

No. It was time for me to depend on myself. I would find a solution and David would hopefully contribute. I’d start searching the house for the notes tomorrow. Daddy would have wanted me protected, so Ahone’s mark had to be in his notes somewhere. I tried to ignore the fact that he hadn’t recognized the mark that had been passed down in Manteo’s line from Keeper to Keeper.

David showed up exactly on time, wearing khakis and a short-sleeve button-down shirt, open at the collar. He looked more handsome than ever. My stomach did a little flip, and the look of appreciation in his eyes made me suck in my breath. I suddenly worried that he might be interested in me for something other than our professional relationship.

I had to put a stop to that.

His eyes scanned the pale green sundress I’d pulled on and then landed on my face. “You look lovely, Ellie.”

“Thank you,” I murmured as I let him in. “I just need to grab a pair of shoes.”

David followed me inside while I went into my room. When I emerged, bending over to slip my feet into my sandals, he smiled. “Have you figured out where we should go?”

“Yeah.” I gave him directions to a restaurant on the highway to Nags Head. When we arrived, we were told there was a ten-minute wait, so we sat at the outdoor bar in the back of the restaurant, overlooking the sound. We ordered drinks and watched the water in silence as I tried to figure out how to handle David’s possible interest in me. I couldn’t afford to offend him.

Other than Drew—Claire’s fiancé and my own friend since we were all kids together—Collin was the first man I’d spent time with without pursuing a romantic relationship. That intention had lasted all of a few days. Now here I was committing to a long-term working relationship with a very attractive man, and I wanted to keep it platonic. I snuck a glance at him. Could this really work, or was I just fooling myself?

David kept his gaze fixed on the sound. “How did things suddenly get so awkward?” he said after a while. “I can tell you’re anxious. You described what’s between us as a professional relationship, so why don’t you just think of this as a business dinner.”

He’d caught me watching him. “Sorry. This is all new for me.”

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just thought it might make working together easier if we were better acquainted personally.”

I released a long breath. “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry I’m so edgy.”

“You’re dealing with a lot right now. No one can blame you for feeling anxious.” He studied me for a moment. “If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”

“Twenty-three.”

He stiffened slightly. “You’re not much older than my students.”

My brow wrinkled in confusion. “You make yourself sound ancient. You said you were in your early thirties, right?”

“Thirty-one.”

I snorted. “I have a dress older than that.”

He laughed. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”

I glanced over at him and grinned. “You have dresses tucked into your closet?”

His face flushed.

“I never took you for the blushing type, Dr. Preston,” I teased.

“I never used to be until I met you.”

Our banter eased the underlying tension, and after we were seated at our table, we spent dinner finding out about each other’s lives, avoiding anything to do with the curse by unspoken agreement. We couldn’t discuss it much in public anyway, and although I instinctively knew I could trust David, hearing more about him made me feel better about our alliance. Our lives up until now had been nothing alike. While my father was regionally known for his Lost Colony expertise, David’s attorney father had gained national attention before David’s birth, representing a victim of the South London race riots. Consequently, his upbringing was more Downton Abbey, while mine resembled Hart of Dixie. Still, I felt a connection with him that I couldn’t explain. Maybe David was right about fate. Maybe we were supposed to work together. And dinner made me feel better about his possible attraction to me. He’d been a perfect gentleman all night, completely professional. I assured myself I’d imagined his interest.

By the time we left the restaurant several hours later, I was sure that contacting him had been the right decision. But I also realized the risk we’d taken. The sun had set while we were at the restaurant.

As we drove home, I told David to park at the inn and I’d walk home.

“I’m not sure that’s such good idea.”

I scowled. “It’s far more dangerous for you to be outside after dark than it is for me.”

His face tightened and he gripped the steering wheel. “I want to suggest something, but I’m worried you’ll take it the wrong way.”

“Okay . . . ”

“Until you get your new tattoo, I don’t think you should be alone after the sun sets.”

“Myra wants me to move back in with her, but I just can’t make myself do it.”

“I understand. I can’t begin to fathom moving back in with my parents.” He laughed, but it was hesitant.

“Besides, my room is currently taken.” I wasn’t about to tell him that I’d discovered that he was staying in it.

“That’s not what I’m suggesting.” He glanced at me. “I’d really like to stay at your apartment with you.”

I froze. “Oh.”

“I’d sleep on the sofa. You would be in your bed.”

It was tempting. But it would be so easy for me to begin to rely on him. I needed to learn to rely on myself. “David, that’s really sweet, but I don’t think so.”

“Ellie, I assure you I have honorable intentions.”

“If anyone else said that to me, I’d laugh. But I know you mean it.” I put my hand on his. “I think we need to take this slow. Even if it is a professional relationship.” As I said “professional,” I realized that touching him was contradictory. I removed my hand and put it in my lap.

“You’ve called it that twice now. Is that how you see it?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure how to classify it. How would you?”

“A professional relationship sounds so cold and calculated. I have a feeling we’re going to get to know each other fairly well. We’re going to need to trust each other. I’d like to call it a partnership.”

It all sounded like semantics to me, but he was right. We needed to define exactly what we had here. “Okay, you’re right. I like partnership. But we need to make rules too.”

“Okay.” He seemed hesitant.

“I’m in charge since I’m the Curse Keeper and have the power to actually do something to these things. You’ll have to trust my judgment.”

“Is that an absolute rule, or can we have a healthy debate if I disagree?”

I bristled. “Is that how I’m coming across? Dictatorial?”

“No, Ellie. You’re right. We need to lay the ground rules. But I need to know if I can present a contradictory opinion if I disagree.”

“Of course. I value your opinion, David. If I didn’t, you wouldn’t be here.”

He nodded.

“But if we’re in a dangerous situation, I need to know that you’ll listen to me first and argue later. If we come face-to-face with Ukinim—and I’m sure we will—I can’t worry about you going rogue and putting yourself in danger.”

David didn’t answer for several seconds, staring out the windshield. “Okay.”

I released the breath I’d been holding.

His eyebrows rose. “You were worried I wouldn’t agree?”

“Let’s just say I know someone else who wouldn’t.”

“Okay,” he said softly. “What else?”

I leaned my elbow on the window. “That’s the only one I have.”

He kept his eyes on the road, but I saw the cords in his neck tighten. “I have a few.”

Surprised, I dropped my arm and sat up straighter. “Okay.”

“This will only work if we’re completely honest with each other.” He turned to me for a second, his eyes burning bright. “In all things.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you can’t hide anything from me to protect me, even if it’s just my feelings.”

“You think I’m going to hurt you?”

“Not intentionally, Ellie, but we’re both coming into this with past experiences, and it’s easy to see that you’re still hurting over that wanker.”

Collin.

His hand tightened on the steering wheel. “He’s the other Curse Keeper. We’re bound to cross paths. If he wants to let the release of the spirits run its course as you say, he’s not going to appreciate my involvement.”

I turned my face to the window. “Well, the two of us are history.”

“It may be over between you two, but he’s still going to be around. He’s still marking your door and threatened to kidnap you to protect you, for Christ’s sake. It’s safe to assume that his involvement is far from history.”

My anger ignited. “Do you want him to stop?”

“God, no! Not with your mark almost faded. You need the protections on your door to be as strong as possible.”

I rubbed my forehead, suddenly exhausted. I didn’t want to talk about Collin, let alone think about him. “I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

“I’m telling you that if a situation arises where you’re faced with telling me the truth or sparing my feelings, I need you to tell me the truth.”

What did David foresee that I didn’t? We weren’t emotionally involved. I couldn’t imagine a situation where my actions would hurt him unless he really did have an interest in me other than our agreement. But I was lying to Myra and Claire to protect them, so perhaps he had a point. “Okay. I promise.”

His shoulders relaxed.

“What else?”

“You need to agree to listen to me if I make a suggestion or request about something other than the curse.”

“Why?” I asked. “What are you planning on telling me?”

“Nothing. Yet. I just want to know that you’ll consider my advice if I feel the need to give it.”

I couldn’t see any harm in that. I wasn’t promising to obey him, just to listen. “Okay. Anything else?”

“No.” He pulled up next to the inn and parked at the curb. The car idled as he took my hand in his. “But I want to thank you.”

My stomach fluttered. “You’re thanking me? Why?”

A sad smile covered his face and he looked out the windshield toward the side door, its protective markings visible from where we sat. “I’ve been at a crossroads this past year. I haven’t been happy with how things were going in my life . . . It felt like my life was on hold, and I was waiting for something to occur.” He looked at me, his smile fading. “Now you think I’m barmy.”

“No. I felt exactly the same way. I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do with myself, but it seemed like everything I tried didn’t fit.” I squeezed his hand. “Until the curse broke. Then I realized this was it.”

“Yes,” he said softly. “When you came to Chapel Hill, I knew you had to be a loon, and yet . . . ” His voice trailed off. “And then I came down here and saw those markings on the doors and heard about the snake. You were here. After I saw Wapi, I just knew this was it. My whole life has been one long journey to this.”

His thoughts were so similar to my own that he was scaring me. “Ahone’s messenger told me he couldn’t give me Ahone’s symbol because searching for it is part of my journey.” My heart exploded in my chest, and I looked up wide-eyed. “Meeting you, having you help me, is part of my journey.”

David looked just as startled.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Once again, the fucking deities were messing with me.

“Why? This is exactly where I want to be.”

I couldn’t imagine why. I was certain this situation wouldn’t end well. “I have to go.” I let go of David’s hand and reached for the door.

“Ellie, wait. Why are you upset?”

“Because I’m not sure I’m strong enough to protect you, and it scares me.”

“We can do this together. And thank you for being honest.”

“That’s part of the deal, right?” I sighed. “But I really do need to get home. When should I come to the site tomorrow?”

“Are you coming over to the inn tomorrow morning?”

“Yeah, and thankfully, I already have a day off from Darrell’s. If I still even have a job after my first two days.”

“What happened during your first two days?”

I shook my head with a half laugh. “We’ll leave that sordid tale for tomorrow.”

“I can only imagine what’s in store for me. Do you want to just come with me to the site for the whole day?”

“Sure.”

He opened his car door and came around to open mine. I was already climbing out.

“You don’t have to open car doors for me, David.”

“Some habits die hard. I don’t think I’ll ever break myself of that one.” He glanced down the street, in the direction of my apartment. “I’m worried about you getting home okay. This doesn’t feel right.”

“Shelve your chivalry. In this particular instance, I can take care of myself much better than you ever could.”

He placed his hand over his heart. “You really know how to wound a bloke.”

His face broke out into a mischievous grin that made my insides flutter, but I ignored it and gave his arm a playful shove. “Get inside already.”

His grin faded. “Text me when you’re inside your flat so I know you’re safe.”

“Now you sound like Myra.”

He winked, and I couldn’t help but notice his gorgeous, long eyelashes. “I just got an awesome new job. I need to make sure my boss is still around so I can keep it.”

I shook my head with a laugh. “I’ll text you. Now go.”

I watched the door close before I started down the street, trying to stay alert to any possible danger around me. My hand flexed instinctively at my side. I hadn’t used the symbol on my palm since the night the curse broke, but the few times I had needed to use it, instinct had taken over for me. I had to trust that it would again.

My ears strained for any hint of danger, but the bugs were singing their nightly chorus. They’d be gone if any of the nasties were around.

When I got to the top of the stairs, the marks on my door were fresh, but there was a new symbol in the middle. A diamond shape with an X. What did that mean?

I grabbed the charcoal out of the flowerpot and added my own mark, worried about the new symbol. Could Collin be setting me up? But even as the thought occurred to me, I knew there was no way he would intentionally hurt me. If I was sure of anything where he was concerned, it was that he wanted to keep me safe.

Damn him.

I shut the door and placed my back to it. My cell phone started to ring and I dug it out of my purse, not surprised to see David’s number on the screen.

“I just got in. I was about to text you.”

“I forgot to tell you that I left something for you on your kitchen counter.”

“What is it?”

“Go find out.”

I found a small brown bag on the counter against the wall. How had I missed it earlier? I picked it up and shook it, surprised it didn’t weigh very much. Reaching inside, I felt a wooden hoop and strings. My heart constricted as I pulled it out. “It’s a dream catcher.”

“Hang it over your head. On your bed frame if you can manage it. The legend about them might just be a story, but lots of things we thought were stories are turning out to be real. I figured it was worth a try.”

“I don’t know what to say, David,” I said in amazement. How had I been lucky enough to find him? “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Ellie. Sweet dreams.”

I’d be happier if I had no dreams at all.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

My sleep was blissfully dreamless and more restful than anything I’d experienced in weeks.

Until a woman’s screams made my eyes fly open.

My heart raced as I bolted upright in bed, my heavy breathing the only sound as I tried to orient myself. For a moment I thought I’d imagined everything, but then the screams came again, just as anguished. Someone was in trouble.

I scrambled out of bed and looked for my cell phone, intent on calling the police, when my palm began to itch. I nearly dropped to my knees in fright.

The threat was supernatural.

I lifted my phone from the kitchen counter with a shaking hand, wanting desperately to call someone, but who? Collin? I had no idea where he even was, let alone whether he could make it here in time. David? He was two blocks away, but I didn’t want to put him in danger. Tom and the police were out.

It was up to me.

Oh, God.

I dropped onto a bar stool, trying to control the panic bursting in my chest. I had no idea what to do.

The woman screamed again.

I sucked in several deep breaths and set the phone down, forcing myself off the stool. If I didn’t go out there, someone would be killed. Could I live with that?

I hesitated when I reached the threshold. I’d saved myself before, but could I save someone else?

Throwing open my front door, I stood in the doorway, my ears straining to try and place the sounds. Halfway down the stairs, I heard the scream again. It was coming from behind my building. From the sound.

I ran around the side of the building toward the water, cursing that I’d forgotten to put on shoes. I ignored the fact that I was wearing short pajama pants and a tank top with no bra. My hair was down and loose.

When I reached the street, the night was eerily silent. Not a single person was investigating the cries. While I was thankful there weren’t any potential witnesses or additional victims, I was also highly suspicious.

The woman screamed loud and long. A cry of pain.

My stomach roiled. What if I was too late?

The cries echoed off the water, coming from the direction of the marsh lighthouse.

Had Big Nasty cornered someone out there? I found myself hoping so . . . Anything would be better than Ukinim.

A low layer of clouds was rolling in toward land. It was particularly dense around the short, one-story replica of an original marsh lighthouse, built on a deck at the end of a narrow pier. The structure’s lights were noticeably dark.

My feet were bare, but my footsteps thudded on the wooden planks, the only sound in the still night. Even the insects were silent. It was yet another sign that something supernatural was out there waiting.

I had no hope of sneaking up on whatever awaited me, so I decided to go in big and bold. I had two choices once I reached the deck of the lighthouse. I could stay on the lower, wider walkway, or I could head up to the raised walkway that hugged the perimeter of the building. I chose the lower deck and circled the back, the blood rushing in my head. When I rounded the corner to the back section, I found nothing but swirling, transparent clouds.

My breath coming fast and shallow, I took tentative steps across the surface. I had made it halfway across the deck when I heard a sound behind me. Terrified, I slowly turned around, my heart squeezing with fear.

A large, grey, furry animal with glowing yellow eyes and sharp, pointy claws stood ten feet away. I would have laughed if I wasn’t so terrified. It looked fluffier than I’d expected, kind of like a giant demented teddy bear.

Ukinim.

I forced myself to stay silent as I started to slowly back away from him.

His squatty legs looked ridiculously inadequate to support his three-foot-tall and four-foot-long body. I moved to the side of the building, and his glowing eyes tracked my every movement.

I took several steps backward.

“I knew you would come,” he said with an evil smile, his voice a garbled growl.

I glanced around the area, still trying to keep an eye on Ukinim. “Where’s the woman who was screaming?”

The creature laughed, and when he opened his mouth again, a woman’s cries came out.

I had walked into a trap.

“You stupid human. I knew you couldn’t stay away,” Ukinim said, pacing back and forth across the deck, blocking any possibility of an escape except through the water. “I don’t see what’s so special about you.”

Fighting hysteria, I flexed my hand by my side as I continued to walk backward toward the opposite end of the lighthouse. But the badger switched directions, pushing me toward the upper deck surrounding the building. “You should compare notes with Mishiginebig. He said the same thing.”

The badger growled at the mention of the snake.

I knew that I should use my mark to send the stupid thing away, but I hoped this excursion wouldn’t be for nothing. Maybe I could at least get some information out of it. If it didn’t manage to kill me first. “Why do you want me?” I asked. “Other than the obvious.”

His eyes narrowed and he snarled, “Because Okeus does.”

“Why? What did Okeus do to you?”

He stopped and lifted his chin. “I was a great warrior, but Okeus was jealous of my glory.”

“You were a person?” Could Okeus turn people into demonic animals?

The badger snapped and I jumped backward, jamming my shoulder into the railing behind me.

His head lowered. “I was until Okeus tricked me with the promise of untold riches and power. He betrayed me and forced me to live underground. I was only allowed to come out once a year to see the sun. But the tables have turned. In Popogusso, we were all on equal ground, and I vowed to seek my revenge. Okeus no longer has control over me. I want to take the thing he wants above all else. You.”

“Why does Okeus want me so much?”

“I don’t care. It only matters that it will cause him great pain to lose you.” He was three feet away, and the stench of blood, dirt, and decay clogged my nose.

Great pain? How could that be?

My palm burned. Ukinim was close enough that he could easily slash my belly with his claws. “I want to get even with Okeus too. Maybe we could work together.”

The creature laughed. “I’d rather eat your heart.”

“But I still have Okeus’s mark. My Manitou is safe.”

“That’s what you think.”

Oh, shit. I lifted my palm. My mark glowed white, the light filling the dark night, and I began to recite the words of protection.

“I am the daughter of the sea . . .”

The wind picked up, blowing my hair into my face. A low growl rumbled in the badger’s throat as a faint white vortex appeared behind him.

“Born of the essence present at the beginning of time and the end of the world . . .”

The badger snarled and lunged for me. I jumped sideways as he swung out a paw, his claws slamming through the wood with a loud crash, creating a two-foot hole.

Oh. Shit.

My hand still raised, I continued my chant in a shaky voice as I walked backward along the back of the building. “I am black water and crystal streams . . .”

The vortex wind grew stronger, and I struggled to stay upright. The badger fought against the gusts as he tried to follow me.

“The ocean waves and the raindrops in the sky.” I had almost reached the opposite end and was preparing to turn and run when I heard another low growl. I looked over my shoulder and shrieked.

A second badger was inching toward me, its nose low to the wood deck.

There were two of them.

My hand dropped in my shock and the vortex disappeared.

I was screwed.

The second badger swung his paw, his claws gleaming in the moonlight that shone through the misty fog. I jumped close to the railing abutting the water as he crashed through the decking, creating another hole. They had me cornered.

The water bubbled violently in the sound, and Mishiginebig burst to the surface, his mouth open and hissing.

“Who dares defy Okeus?” his voice boomed through the darkness.

The badgers hesitated, and I took advantage of the moment to run toward the raised walkway, leaping onto the edge of the two-foot-high deck and then scrambling over the railing. I pressed my back against the siding of the lighthouse as both badgers charged. They crashed through the wood railing on either side of me, leaving gaping holes in the deck. I was trapped on a three-foot-wide section of sidewalk with three-foot holes to my left and right.

One of the badgers tumbled into the water, squealing as it tried—and failed—to gain purchase. The other ignored his friend and charged the section of the deck where I was standing.

Mishiginebig lunged toward the badger, grabbing its neck and dragging it away from me. The badger wounded the snake with a vicious slash, and its thick black blood leaked into a puddle on the deck.

I took advantage of the distraction and climbed onto the railing. Balancing on the balls of my feet, I stood and jumped, grabbing an extended support beam from the low-slung roof. I pulled my body up so that my chest was leaning over the beam, then swung my legs up, my knee hitting the edge of the metal roof. I ignored the pain that shot through my leg and dug my knee onto the slick roof, releasing the beam with one hand and gripping the raised metal seam to pull myself the rest of the way up.

The building shook violently and I began to slide back down, my lower legs hanging over the edge.

The second badger had climbed out of the water and slammed back into the building. Extending his claws, he dug into my left calf.

I cried out in pain and tried to climb higher, tamping down my bubbling terror. I had to get to the widow’s walk at the top of the lighthouse.

Blood dripped down my leg, the slash throbbing with every heartbeat, but I climbed higher on the roof, grabbing hold of the lower edge of the widow’s walk and pulling myself up. I climbed over the short railing and stood, grunting when I put a small amount of weight on the foot of my injured leg.

The other badger had broken free of Mishiginebig’s grasp and was now climbing onto the deck’s railing with its identical friend.

I lifted my palm, my chest heaving from exertion and fright as I began to chant again.

“I am the daughter of the sea, born of the essence present at the beginning of time and the end of the world. I am black water and crystal streams.”

The wind gusted as the vortex reappeared.

My hair blew in all directions, partially obstructing my vision, and all three spirits fought against the suction.

Mishiginebig took advantage of the badgers’ distraction and grabbed one of them, dragging it toward the water. It clung to the railing, its back half hanging over the sound. The other one ran across the deck and leaped for the roof, its claws sinking into the metal of the lower section.

“The ocean waves and the raindrops in the sky. I am life and death and everything in between.”

The badger slunk up the gently sloped roof until he was almost level with me. A smile lifted his mouth, his sharp teeth glistening in the moonlight, just before he swung his claws toward my stomach. I cringed, waiting for the pain as I forced myself to finish the last line.

“I compel you to leave my sight.”

The badger was lifted into the air, his claws just inches from my face, and sucked into the vortex. Mishiginebig and the other badger shrieked as they suffered the same fate. Mishiginebig’s head was sucked inside and his long, serpentine body continued to lift from the water into the twister for what felt like forever. The swirling circle grew tighter and tighter until the tip of his tail disappeared, then the vortex with it.

I collapsed against the railing, fighting sobs of fright and relief. Sirens filled the air and I whipped around to see red flashing lights bouncing off the fog clouds that shrouded the streets. Several police cars screeched to a halt.

I was on top of the one-story lighthouse with no easy way down, destruction all around me.

Now I was really screwed.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I sat against the railing for a moment, waiting for Tom to appear. A crowd had gathered at the end of the pier. The cloud layer and lack of lighting still hid me from the people on the street. I could either wait to get caught and be forced to come up with a logical explanation. Or I could try to get away.

Climbing over the railing, I glanced back toward the street again. Several police officers were heading down the pier.

I hunched down, trying to stay hidden in the darkness as I lowered myself to the metal roof. I slid on my backside to the bracket I’d used to climb up. Leaning over, I grabbed hold of it and lowered myself to what was left of the upper deck. A bolt of pain shot through my leg when I landed.

The clump of footsteps on the pier sped up my heart. There was only one way to escape.

I stepped through one of the holes the badgers had created and plunged into the water.

Vegetation brushed my legs while my head was still submerged, causing me to panic. I pushed up to the surface, telling myself I was in salt water, my new natural habitat. But the usual energy surge I felt in the ocean was missing, replaced by a dull thrum.

I swam backward, under the lighthouse, as approaching footsteps clattered on the deck over my head.

“What in God’s name destroyed the deck like this?” Tom’s voice was unmistakable.

“I thought I saw something on the roof,” someone else said.

I needed to find a way out of here quickly. It would be a matter of minutes before they started searching the water for a suspect.

Moving slowly so I didn’t splash, I started swimming around the lighthouse support beams, heading toward the pier. I had to duck under the horizontal supports of the pier, but thankfully a crowd of curious onlookers appeared to have gathered near the lighthouse, and their loud voices covered the small splashes I made. If I could continue under the boardwalk and around the edge of downtown to the swimming ladder behind the Tranquil Inn, I’d be able to climb out with my injured leg, and I’d hopefully be far enough away that no one would notice me.

My plan worked perfectly, but it took me several minutes of slow swimming to reach the ladder, and I needed to dodge a few docked sailboats to get there. By the time I pulled myself up the metal ladder, my leg was throbbing.

I skirted the side of the hotel, looking at the crowd that had gathered down at the end of the street. I had no idea how I’d get to my apartment in my sopping wet clothes without attracting attention.

I hobbled a couple of blocks west, then south. Thankfully, most of the people who were still out were gathered by the pier.

The insides of the Dare Inn and the residential house were both lit up. I ducked in the side door of the house and headed to the laundry room to grab a towel from the dryer. Wrapping it around my shoulders, I slipped into the butler’s pantry to get the first-aid kit that Myra kept hidden there. I had just pulled it out when David appeared in the doorway, his face drawn.

“Ellie. Where in bloody hell were you? Myra is frantic. We rang your mobile and went to your apartment. She’s waiting over by the lighthouse; she was sure you had something to do with the disturbance there.” His gaze dropped to my leg. “I’m guessing she was right.”

“Call her and tell her that I’m fine. I don’t want her to worry.”

He pulled his phone from his pocket and called Myra, speaking in hushed tones. After he hung up, he frowned.

I flinched as I dabbed the five-inch-long claw marks on my leg with an alcohol swab.

“I hate that I just lied to your mother. You’re obviously not fine.”

“I will be.”

“What happened?”

“Ukinim.”

He paused. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to go home, but I can’t go looking like a drowned rat. If Tom sees me, he’ll know straight off I was on that pier.”

“I’ll run upstairs and get you some of my clothes, but you really need to take care of that gash. Is it from Ukinim?”

“That or his buddy.”

“There are two of them?”

I sighed. “I’m full of all kinds of good news tonight.”

David went upstairs while I taped large gauze squares over the wound.

He returned with a T-shirt and I pulled it over my head, my damp tank top still underneath.

“Can you walk home?”

“It’s not like I have a choice.”

We hobbled down the street, my leg throbbing with every step. David helped me up the stairs, following in silence. There were still a number of people milling about behind the apartment building, and a cacophony of sounds bounced around in the night. I was so eager for the safety of my apartment that I didn’t notice the person sitting in one of the plastic chairs on my porch until I almost stumbled upon him.

Collin leaned back in the chair, narrowing his eyes. “Well, aren’t you the cute couple?”

David’s arm stiffened around my waist.

I groaned. “Not now, Collin. I’m too tired for more drama.”

“What happened out there, Ellie?”

“Ukinim showed up, that’s what.” I pushed David’s hand away and started to look for my key when I realized I hadn’t locked the door. In fact, I hadn’t even closed it. Collin must have.

“Why in God’s name would you go out there alone?” Collin asked. He shot David a condescending look. “Or did you take your new friend with you?”

“I went alone.” I lifted my eyebrows. “Satisfied?” I leaned into the railing, white-hot pain shooting up my calf. “I woke up when I heard a woman screaming. Since my palm was itching, I knew it was supernatural. Which meant calling the police was not an option. I considered calling you, but I wasn’t sure you could—or would—help. So I went alone.”

“Why would you even go at all?”

“Because we let those things loose, Collin.” I stepped forward and jabbed his chest with my finger. “You and me. If you think I’m going to let some woman get her insides shredded while I lay in bed listening, you don’t know me at all.”

“You could have been killed, Ellie! It was stupid and reckless.”

“Maybe so.” I lifted my chin in defiance. “But I’d do it again.”

Collin’s face contorted in rage, and he turned his attention to David. “So you’re the college professor who’s supposed to be helping her? Where the hell were you?”

Fury blazing inside me, I shoved Collin’s chest, and he stumbled backward.

“Excuse me? Do you think he owns me, Collin Dailey? Do you think I’m some witless girl who needs a man to boss her around? No one tells me what to do. I thought you would have figured that out by now.”

His face darkened. “He’s going to get you killed, Ellie. He doesn’t know a goddamned thing.”

“Well, at least he’s trying, which is a hell of a lot more than you’re doing.”

Collin’s gaze dropped. “What happened to your leg?”

“A gift from Ukinim or his friend.”

He stiffened. “You’re bleeding.”

Blood was seeping through the gauze. “Gashes from claws will do that,” I said with a snotty tone.

Before I knew what he was doing, he grasped my right hand with his, pressing our marks together.

The sensation of every living creature in the vicinity filled me. I felt the heartbeats of the seventy-two humans by the sound. The flutter of mosquito wings in the parking lot below. Grass in the park, stretching upward.

Collin stared into my eyes and I felt the yearning in his heart. The ache that soaked every cell of his body.

A burning sensation engulfed my calf, and the gashes on my leg closed, the cells repairing and knitting together.

Collin pulled his hand from mine and dizziness swamped my head.

“What did you just do?” I gasped.

He looked down at my leg. “Testing a theory. It looks like it worked.” His jaw clenched. “But I might not be around to help you next time.” He pointed to David, getting angrier by the second. “And that fool sure as hell can’t do anything.”

Collin stormed down the stairs, and my mouth gaped open as I watched him go.

“What just happened?” David asked.

“He healed my leg.”

I opened the apartment door and went inside, David following behind me. I bent down and ripped the gauze off my leg, still amazed. There was no sign of the injury. Not even a scar.

“He’s right, you know.”

My anger rekindled and I spun around. “About what?”

“I might get you killed.”

I shook my head and sat down. “I don’t expect you to know everything, David. Any information is better than none.”

“I have something new on Ukinim.”

I froze. “You do?”

David sat on the sofa beside me. “I found a text that lists him by name. It says he was a warrior turned into a badger.”

“Yes! That’s what he told me.” I stood up and went into the kitchen.

He turned to watch me. “You had a conversation with a demon?”

“Once I realized it was a trap, I figured I might as well get something out of it.” I grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge, handing one to David as I sunk back into the sofa cushions.

He twisted the cap off his bottle. “What else did you find out?”

I looked up. “Well, there are two of them. That caught me by surprise.”

“The text said the second one’s his wife. They were cursed together.”

“His wife? How did that happen?”

“I copied the text into an e-mail. Hold on a second.” David grabbed his phone out of his pocket, pulled up the e-mail, and scowled, enlarging the text. “The story says that Ukinim was the greatest warrior in all the tribes. He was boastful and claimed he could beat Okeus in a wrestling match. One evening at twilight, Okeus walked into the camp and accepted Ukinim’s challenge, but Okeus insisted on setting the rules. If Ukinim won, he could have everything he wanted—power and wealth. But if Okeus won, Ukinim would be banished; he would spend the rest of his life ostracized from his people. Ukinim accepted. If neither of them won, they would walk away with nothing. Their match would be the next night.

“Word spread far and wide, and many people arrived to see the great Okeus take on the warrior Ukinim. They brought offerings to the god of war, piling them so high they rose into the heavens, attracting the attention of Ahone himself.

“At twilight, Okeus walked into camp. Ukinim’s wife, Ilena, heard the cheers of the nuppin and became furious that her people wanted the god to beat her husband. The contest lasted for hours. The people grew weary, but Ukinim’s strength never wavered and neither did Okeus’s. The sun had begun to rise, and yet the warrior and the god still fought.

“Ilena believed her husband deserved to win. What other nuppin had dared to challenge Okeus? What other nuppin could stand against him for so long? So she approached the edge of the circle where the warrior and the god were fighting and tossed a handful of dirt into the face of the god, temporarily blinding him. Ukinim took his chance and pinned the god, winning the challenge. Ukinim strutted around the circle, boasting that he was better than the gods.

“Okeus was furious that Ukinim had dared to claim he was his better and that the man had won by cheating. The ground shook and the nuppin screamed in terror. Ukinim swore he didn’t know his wife had cheated, but Okeus didn’t care. He banned them both from the nuppin and changed them into badgers, forced to live underground except for one day out of the year.”

I rested my head against the cushions of the couch, completely exhausted. “Does it say how we can defeat them?”

“From what I’ve read, a god can kill them.”

“Oh, good. I’ll just ask my good friend Okeus to get rid of them for me. When he springs his surprise.”

He grimaced. “Don’t be so cheeky.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Yes.” He hesitated. “But it’s vague.”

“What is it?”

“It says that a conjurer with strong power can defeat them and send them to Popogusso.”

I sat up. “A conjurer?”

“Conjurers were real members of the Algonquian tribes and were said to have magical powers. They had a connection to the spiritual world that the nuppin and the priests, the other spiritual leaders, lacked.”

My chest tingled with excitement. “So where do we find a conjurer?”

A hint of a smile appeared as he leaned closer, his face inches from mine. “Ellie, you’re the conjurer,” he whispered.

“What?” I leaned back. “Does it say how I can defeat them?”

“No.”

“So we’re no closer than we were.”

“Not true. Collin told you it took both of you to banish them. This is singular. I think you can do it on your own.”

A huge weight fell off my shoulders. “David . . . this changes everything. How?”

“I don’t know. But if it’s out there, we’ll find it. I promise you that.”

I reached around his neck and pulled him in for a hug. “Thank you.”

David pulled back and stared into my eyes, his smile fading. “But next time, don’t run out there on your own. If something happens to you, we’ll all be lost. We’re partners now, remember?”

That was still going to take some getting used to.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

When David and I showed up at the inn the next morning, Myra gave me a long hug and told me not to scare her like that again. While I hoped I wouldn’t, I also didn’t offer any promises.

After I helped with breakfast, I told Becky I wouldn’t be able to work with her today.

“Don’t worry about it.” A wicked smile lit up her face as she leaned to the side to watch David talk to his colleagues. “Myra already made arrangements for someone else to help me today.”

“She did?”

The side door opened and Becky laughed. “Talk about perfect timing.”

I turned to see who was walking through the door. “Claire?”

She laughed. “Don’t sound so happy to see me.”

“Why aren’t you working at the Tranquil Inn today?”

“It’s my day off. Isn’t that weird? I never get Thursdays off, but my boss called me last night and told me I could take the day off to get ready for my wedding. With pay, even. How weird that Myra asked for my help on the same day.”

Another eerie coincidence. “If you got the day off to work on your wedding, what are you doing here?”

She shrugged, looking over my shoulder. “That’s really him.”

“Him, who?”

Her eyes widened in exasperation. “Hot British Professor him. Who else?”

“I already told you he was here.”

“I wanted to meet him up close and personal for myself.” She pushed past me and walked up to David, extending her hand. “Hello, I’m Claire, Ellie’s best friend. I saw you in Chapel Hill, but we weren’t introduced, Dr. Preston.”

He looked down at her, amusement dancing in his eyes, and shook her hand. “David, please. And we weren’t introduced because I was about to call campus security on Ellie.”

Steven was sitting at the dining room table eating his breakfast, but he glanced up at us. “Ellie came to see you in Chapel Hill?”

“Yes,” David said. “It’s a long story that I’ll share with you later.”

Claire couldn’t stop grinning. “So you’re taking her to see the Lost Colony.”

He winked. “It’s not lost anymore.”

Claire turned toward me. “I like him. You can keep him.”

I groaned and grabbed her arm, dragging her toward the kitchen. “Thank you. I feel so much better to have your blessing.”

“It was nice to officially meet you, Claire, Ellie’s best friend,” David called after us.

“I’m serious,” Claire said when we reached the butler’s pantry. “I like this guy.”

“You like his accent and his build.”

“Well . . . that too.”

I laughed and put a dirty plate into the dishwasher. “This is a working relationship. No flirting. No fooling around.”

“But fooling around is the best part of a relationship.”

My eyes widened in frustration. “There is no relationship. There is no us. This is a professional partnership.”

“Uh-huh.”

I shook my head and stared out the window over the sink. “I don’t want to royally screw this up. If we keep it professional, it will be easier for us to work together.”

“Uh-huh.” She sounded far from convinced.

“Stop trying to force something that isn’t there.”

“Hello, Ellie! He’s hot! And that accent!”

“Collin was hot too.”

“Collin doesn’t count.”

“He most certainly does. I don’t trust my judgment when it comes to men.”

“Then trust mine. Do not let Dr. David Preston get away. This man is perfect for you.”

I scowled. “You don’t even know him.”

“I see the way he lights up when he talks about you. And the way you get flustered when I bring up the idea of him getting in your panties.”

“Umm . . . ” David was standing in the doorway, his face flushing. “Ellie, I’m ready to go when you are.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “‘I’ll be ready in a minute.” I waited a moment. “Is he gone?” I asked in a whisper.

Claire laughed. “Yep.”

I opened my eyes and smacked her arm. “Thanks a lot! You knew he was there, didn’t you.”

A wicked smile lit up her eyes. “It should be an interesting day now.”

I dried off my hands. “Just for that, you can clean up the kitchen on your own.”

David was waiting in the dining room, and he didn’t say a word as we got into his car. The silence was awkward, so I tried to break the tension. “I meant to tell you that the dream catcher worked.”

His eyes widened. “Really?”

“Not a single dream. I didn’t even see the animals this time. I woke up when I heard the woman’s screams.”

“That’s fantastic news. You’ll have to sleep with it every night. And tonight, I insist on sleeping on your sofa.”

“David—”

He parked his car in the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site lot and held up his hand. “Nope. You agreed to listen to my suggestions and concerns. I’m not trying to hover over you, although I have to admit that I’m protective of the people I care about. But if we’re going to be partners, we need to watch out for each other. I want to keep an eye on you . . . and at the risk of emasculating myself, I’d feel better if you were there to protect me if I need it too.”

There was no way I could refuse him if he truly felt safer with me. And besides, his argument made sense. If Collin had a problem with us working together, it stood to reason that the spirits and gods wouldn’t like it either. I couldn’t count on the marks protecting David at the inn. I suspected he was a lot like me. If he heard someone screaming for help in the middle of the night, he would be the first person out the door. “Okay.”

“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” he teased, opening his car door. “Now let’s go check out Manteo’s hut.”

Manteo’s hut. My stomach churned with anxiety.

David got me checked in at the foundation office, and they gave me a guest pass marking me as a visitor. When we left the building and started down the sidewalk, David snuck a glance at me. “You look nervous.”

“I am. There’s a lot riding on this.”

“We know it’s not our only potential source of information. But I do think the hut is going to give us some guidance.”

The village came into view as we rounded a bend and I froze, my feet sticking to the sidewalk.

“Have you seen it since it reappeared?” he asked quietly.

“Only what they showed on TV the day they found it.” I took a deep breath. “Both my parents worked in this park, and I’ve been here more times than I can count. But this . . . ” I hesitated. “I wish Daddy could have seen it.”

David rested his hand on my arm. “If you don’t feel up to this . . . ”

“No.” I turned to him, pleading. “I do. It’s just that Daddy lived his entire life to see this. There were over four hundred years of Keepers in our family, and it all boils down to me. I don’t feel worthy.”

“Ellie, I’m sure your father would be proud of you. And for what it’s worth, from what I know of you, you are worthy.”

I nodded. I wasn’t sure I believed him, but I was the one who was here. It was up to me. “Let’s go.”

After we passed the visitors’ center and walked through a patch of trees, the entire village was spread out before us. My mouth hung open.

“It’s overwhelming when you first see it. Give it a minute.”

I could see why. A six-foot-tall chain-link fence surrounded the buildings. The village had disappeared hundreds of years ago and reappeared exactly where it had once stood. Daddy had told me that the landscape of the island had changed over time. The shore itself had crept inland and the ground was higher. Most of the trees in the clearing next to the original fort mounds were less than a hundred years old. But the village didn’t seem to care about the landscape when it reappeared. It had blended in with what was already there.

Close to thirty buildings covered the ground; trees shot through some, and others were partially underground. Strings that had been set up by the researchers had created a checkerboard pattern. I was no stranger to archaeological sites, but they were usually all dirt and holes. This was truly something different.

“Ready?” David asked after several seconds.

“Yeah.”

We went through the gate and checked in with the guard, showing him our credentials. David pointed out several structures as we walked the perimeter—a blacksmith shop, lodging quarters for the single men in the colony, family homes. He pointed to a slightly larger house close to the edge. “I know you want to see Manteo’s hut, but I thought you might also be interested in this one.” He grinned. “We think it belonged to Ananias Dare.”

My stomach fluttered. Instinctively, I had known it would be there, but I had been so focused on what information might be found in Manteo’s hut that I hadn’t stopped to think about it.

I shook my head in awe. “They were just stories. I never believed them. Not really. Especially after Momma died. But now it’s all here.” I waved my hand toward Ananias’s house. “And I’m standing here thinking about what Ananias went through . . . what drove him and Manteo to even consider doing such a thing.”

David was silent for several moments. “Ananias had a wife and newborn child to protect. Manteo was trying to save his people. They were desperate, Ellie. They would have done anything to save the people they loved and cared about.” He paused, lowering his voice. “We’re not totally unlike them. You’re trying to protect the people you love. We’re trying to save our people. Humanity.”

“What if we screw up like they did?”

He looked down at me with a tender smile. “We’ll just have to make sure that we don’t.”

“You sound so certain.”

His smile faded. “We don’t have a choice. It’s our only option.”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I was surprised by how much I already needed him. Not only for information, but for support. He believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.

“Do you want to look inside?”

“Ananias’s house?”

He grinned. “Yeah.”

“Okay.”

We carefully stepped over strings as we headed toward the structure. Several people were writing things down while a couple of others were taking photos. Steven stood to the side, holding a clipboard and talking to a woman.

As we walked over, he glanced up and smiled. “Good morning, Ellie. Welcome to 1587.”

“Thank you.” My voice croaked and I tried again. “Thank you for giving me the chance to be here.”

“Of course. I know how much your father and your mother would have loved to see this.”

A man walked over and turned to David. “Excuse me, Dr. Preston. We found something that might be of interest to you.”

My attention perked up.

“Of course,” David said. He turned to me, searching my face. “Are you okay with staying here for a little bit?”

“Don’t worry about her.” Steven waved David away. “If she shares the interest her parents and stepmother have in early American history, she’ll want to stay all day.”

David hesitated, waiting for permission from me. My original goal had been to examine Manteo’s hut, not Ananias’s. But if David was leaving me here, I knew there had to be a reason. Collin had spent our entire time together hiding information from me. The frustrating part was that I’d known it without being able to do a thing about it. David, on the other hand, had never given me any reason not to trust him. He shared everything he knew and freely admitted when he didn’t know something. I knew without a doubt that David would tell me about any discoveries he made without me. I smiled. “I’m going to hang out here with Steven for a while.”

David gave me a relieved smile and then took off across the eerie village. Steven watched him go and chuckled, shaking his head. “He’s got it bad.”

“What?”

He just laughed and ignored my question. “Ellie, I’m not sure if you realize this, but your father was very highly regarded. His expertise on the Lost Colony was world renowned.”

I knew he’d been important as the head park ranger here, but I hadn’t realized that he’d had a reputation off the site. “Really?”

He nodded and wrote on some paperwork, silent for several seconds. “Not just your father. Your mother too, before her death.” Steven handed a young woman his clipboard and took several steps toward a small timber-post house. “Your father was brilliant. We were sorry to see him go.”

I stepped over an exposed tree root as I followed. “It was hard on Daddy when he began losing his memories. For a man who valued intelligence and education so highly, it was difficult for him to accept.”

Steven stopped and swung his gaze to my face. “We’d lost him several years before that, Ellie. We lost him when your mother died.”

I blinked, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Your father traveled and delivered lectures about the first English colonies, particularly the ones in North Carolina. He was greatly sought after.”

I vaguely remembered him traveling, but I’d never thought about the fact that he’d stopped doing so after Momma’s death. “He must not have wanted to leave me.”

“I thought so too at first, but about a year after she died, I invited him to a conference that was being held in Chapel Hill. I understood his fear of leaving you, but the conference was close enough that he could attend for just the day and even bring you along. My wife was going to be there, and she offered to watch you. John knew Margaret well, but he still stubbornly refused.” Steven paused and looked out into the trees. “I drove up to Manteo and took your father out to dinner. We all knew how much he loved your mother, so I suspected that he was still grieving. I thought perhaps I could convince him that he still had a purpose in life. That your mother would want him to continue doing what he loved and that we still needed his expertise.

“He drank too much that night, and I encouraged it in the hopes that it might help me change his mind, but it only made him melancholy. He told me that your mother’s death was his fault. That the colony had killed her, and he would never lecture about it again. His answer made no sense to me, but when I asked him what he meant the next day, he refused to elaborate.”

“But Myra told me the police suspected that Momma was killed by a man who was mad at Daddy over some zoning issue that was brought to the council.”

“I’m sorry to dredge up bad memories, Ellie. I only know what your father told me.”

“Thank you. Daddy kept so much hidden from me and now that he’s gone, I’m trying to piece together anything and everything I can. Especially about the Lost Colony.”

He took a step toward Ananias’s hut, then stopped and turned to face me. “There is something else, but it never came to anything.”

My eyes widened in anticipation.

His mouth pursed, and I could tell he was struggling with whether to continue.

“Please, Steven. If you know anything, I’m eager to hear it. No matter how inconsequential it may seem.”

“That’s what worries me about telling you. You just lost your father, and I don’t want to reopen old wounds from your mother’s death.”

I grabbed his arm before I realized what I was doing. “Anything you can tell me would be helpful. Please. I’ve been having dreams about her death, and the events play out differently than I remember them. I need to know what happened.”

He sighed and put his hand over mine. “Of course, Ellie. If it involves your parents, you have a right to know.” He stared into my eyes. “Your mother called me a week before her death, which was unusual. She was an archaeologist, although the only digs she had worked on in quite some time were the rare excavations on the Raleigh grounds. She spent most of her time at the foundation doing paperwork and publicity on site, which aggravated her to no end at times. I usually only talked to her when she was with your father.”

“Why did she call you?”

He took a deep breath. “She told me that she’d stumbled upon something, a private collection that she suspected had been stolen. She’d been invited to view it but had to sign a nondisclosure agreement before she was given access. She wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, of course, but she wanted to discuss the situation with someone who was knowledgeable in the field without worrying your father. She said the collection contained English and Native American antiquities. When I pressed her, she admitted that she suspected there were objects from both Roanoke colonies.”

“Both colonies?”

“Yes, Sir Ralph Lane’s fort from 1586 as well as the infamous Lost Colony.”

I leaned against a tree. “Wow.”

“We ended the call with her planning to come to Chapel Hill and Duke the next week to search the libraries at both campuses. But days before I was supposed to meet her at Duke, I heard about her death. I immediately contacted the Manteo police.”

My breath caught. “You think the collection had something to do with her death?”

“I thought it was suspicious, but when the police investigated, they couldn’t find any information about any such meeting or collection, and no one at the foundation knew anything about it.”

I bristled. “Do you think she made it up?”

His brow furrowed at my accusation. “No. If your mother was correct, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, I suspect the collection was so secret there wasn’t a paper trail for the police to follow.”

I took several breaths, letting his information sink in. “Did Daddy know about this?”

“Yes, but he insisted the culprit was the man the police suspected.”

“And what do you think?”

His face softened and he gave me a sad smile. “Honestly, Ellie, I don’t know. Your father said that whoever broke in wanted you. If your mother was killed because of the collection, why would they be looking for you? Your father’s explanation seemed more plausible.”

I nodded, my throat tightening. I wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. Was her death related to the curse as I’d always thought, just in a way I hadn’t suspected? Could the collection she’d examined have been the Ricardo Estate?

“This was a lot to throw at you and not the best place to do it. I apologize. But with the appearance of the Lost Colony and hearing about your father’s death, it’s been heavy on my mind. I felt compelled to tell you.”

I shook my head. “No. I appreciate you sharing this information with me. Thank you.”

“Just don’t let the past consume you, Ellie. It’s the curse of the historian, I’m afraid. It makes losing people that much more difficult.” His voice sounded scratchy, and he cleared his throat, patting my arm. “Why don’t you take a moment, and then I’ll show you the inside of Ananias and Elinor Dare’s home.”

I nodded again, my shoulder pressed into a tree as I took several deep breaths. Steven had given me more information about my parents than I’d ever hoped to get. But it was overwhelming after finding nothing at all for weeks. Or years. How much had my father kept from me?

He’d done what he’d thought necessary to protect me, and I would never fault him for that. Perhaps if I hadn’t shut him down so effectively about the curse, he would have shared this information with me. The blame belonged squarely at my own feet.

But wallowing in guilt wouldn’t help me find out who’d killed my mother, nor would it help me lock away the evil that roamed the earth. There was a reason I was at this site—to find any helpful information that Manteo or Ananias might have left behind. Standing here feeling sorry for myself was a waste of time and resources. I squared my shoulders and joined Steven at the opening of the hut.

“Ready to step back in time?” he asked with a smile. When I nodded, he ducked through the doorway. “All I ask is that you don’t touch anything.”

“Of course.”

“This home is actually larger than most of the others because of the Dares’ status, but it’s still quite small by today’s standards.”

I stood in the center of the dirt-floored structure as my eyes adjusted to the dim light, amazed that a family of three had lived comfortably in here. A bed, slightly larger than full-size, sat in one corner, a skeleton tucked beneath the quilt.

I gasped as I realized I was staring at my namesake, Elinor Dare.

Steven turned back to me. “I’m sorry. I should have warned you that the bodies haven’t been removed yet. Do you need to get some air?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m fine. It just caught me by surprise.”

“As a father, the cradle is much more difficult for me,” he murmured.

The cradle. My eyes sought it out, next to the head of the bed and in Steven’s shadow. I took a step closer. A tiny skull was visible at the top of the infant’s bed, a cap covering its head.

“We’re fairly certain this is Elinor and Virginia Dare, but there’s no sign of Ananias.”

“You’re sure this is their house?”

“Not one hundred percent, of course, but as certain as possible. We’ve found a Bible with Ananias’s name inscribed inside, as well as other papers leading us to believe he lived here.” He pointed to the table on the opposite wall from the bed. A stack of papers sat in one corner, a candle in the middle.

I took a deep breath, the full impact of the situation hitting me. Ananias had sat at the table. He had slept in that bed next to his wife. Held the tiny baby that now lay in the cradle. How had he gone on after realizing he’d lost everything and everyone? “What was in the papers you found?”

“We’ve only begun to scratch the surface, so I can’t really answer that question yet. The two weeks we’ve been granted isn’t nearly enough time for us to examine everything. After David requested an extension, I’ve decided to file one as well. I’d like to be the lead researcher.” His mouth twisted, and he shrugged. “We’ll see if that happens or not. Only the fates decide.”

“Do you believe in fate, Steven?”

“I never used to, but I’m becoming more and more of a believer.”

I was too.

David returned about thirty minutes later. We were standing outside when Steven saw him coming. He leaned close to me and lowered his voice. “I’m not a meddler, Ellie, but David is like a son to me.” He rubbed his chin. “He doesn’t get close to people very easily. I can see there’s something going on between you two.”

“Oh.” We’d tried to be discreet with our partnership, and I felt bad that Steven had misunderstood, thinking our mutual interest was romantic.

“What you two do is your own business, but it’s obvious he’s taken with you. I wanted you to know how rare that is for him.”

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.

I shoved my phone into my pocket and whirled around to face him. “Are you my boss now? Was I supposed to get permission first?”

“Ellie.” He sounded exhausted.

I couldn’t begrudge him for pestering me after hearing how strongly all the recent strange incidents were connected to me. Why hide it? “I was texting David.”

“You’re spending a lot of time with him.” Tom leaned his shoulder into the wall. “He came to town about the time the bodies started piling up, didn’t he?”

“Are you seriously accusing David of murder? I suspect he doesn’t even kill spiders.”

“The timing is pretty coincidental, Ellie.”

I narrowed my eyes, tilting my head. “Check that time line again, Tom. David came to town after the dog was killed in my yard.”

Tom scowled.

“You must be desperate if you’re randomly accusing a renowned professor of grisly murders.”

His voice lowered. “You know I’m desperate. And you also know there have been more murders.”

My anger faded. “Two more?”

“Three.”

My eyes widened as my stomach churned. “But I heard you say—”

“That was just last night, Ellie. The third one was two nights ago.”

I leaned my back against the wall. “I heard you say the last two were a quarter mile north and west of my apartment. Where was the other body found?”

“At the lighthouse. We’ve done our damnedest to keep these under wraps.”

I closed my eyes. “Their hearts were eaten?”

Tom leaned closer. “Yeah. Whoever is doing this is baiting you, Ellie. And I don’t think it’s Marino’s men. Have you seen them since that day of the high-speed chase?”

I shook my head, feeling sick to my stomach. “No. I was hoping that you permanently scared them off.”

“There’s not much likelihood of that. Maybe they figure they don’t need you anymore.”

My back straightened. “Why do you say that?”

He ignored my question. “Tell me about the guy who showed up behind the restaurant the day of the chase. The guy with the red pickup.”

“How do you know about him?” I shook my head and frowned. “It wasn’t him. He would never do this.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I know him. He just wouldn’t.”

Tom grinned like he’d woken up on Christmas morning to a room full of presents. “What’s his name, Ellie?”

I took a deep breath. Damn it. He’d set me up.

Tom leaned his face close to mine, raising his eyebrows. “What’s his name?”

I gritted my teeth. Damn my mouth. “Collin.”

“Collin what?”

“Collin Dailey.”

“And how do you know Collin Dailey?”

What could I tell him? “I met him at the New Moon. We hung out a lot the week the colony reappeared.”

“What a coincidence.”

“Are you basing your entire case on coincidences?”

“It’s all I fucking have at the moment, Ellie.”

I leaned the back of my head against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. What a mess.

“Where does Collin Dailey live?”

“Buxton.” That seemed far enough away to draw them away from Collin, and it helped that it was true.

“Buxton.” He looked over his shoulder and then back at me. “I’ve seen him here every day until our encounter a few days ago. That’s quite a drive to Manteo each day.”

I scowled.

“What were you doing in Wanchese last week?”

I fidgeted.

“Collin Dailey is in Wanchese, isn’t he? And if I find out you lied to me, I’ll throw your ass in jail for twenty-four hours just to prove I’m done playing around.”

I didn’t answer.

“Does Collin Dailey live in Wanchese?”

Oh, God. Collin had admitted that he had some kind of criminal record. And although he hadn’t told me what it involved, the fact that he carried tools around in his truck to break into places was a good clue. “I don’t know.”

“Ellie.”

I glanced at Tom. “His boat is in Wanchese, but I don’t know where he’s living right now.”

“He has a boat?”

I nodded. The less I admitted the better.

“Were you visiting his boat the night they found the guy floating in the cove?”

“No.”

“Ellie.”

“I went to see Collin. I never saw his boat.”

“Why?”

My heart raced and I felt light-headed. “Do I need an attorney?”

Tom pressed his back into the wall next to me and leaned close to my ear. “I don’t know, Ellie. Do you?”

My head flooded with panic. I knew Tom didn’t have any evidence to press charges against either of us, but I knew I couldn’t afford to spend even one night unprotected, especially with my mark gone. But could Collin? His mark seemed to protect him more than mine did. Could I risk it?

I squeezed my eyes shut. “We had a . . . thing.”

“A relationship?”

“Well as close as Collin will probably ever have to a relationship.”

“You sure do plow through men, don’t you, Ellie?”

I cringed.

“So you went to see him because you were . . . seeing him?”

The closer I stuck to the truth, the better. “No. We were done. But he had something of mine I wanted.”

“And did you see him?”

“Yes, but we got into an argument and he drove off.”

“Where did you see him if you never saw his boat?”

“His truck was there. I figured he had to be out in his boat, so I waited until he came back. We had an argument, and he left.” I flushed, remembering the part I was leaving out.

“He left. You didn’t?”

Tom was perceptive. “I left afterward.”

“How did that guy end up dead in the cove?”

I was already spilling my guts, so I might as well share what I could of this to make it look like I was being cooperative. “After Collin took off, two guys showed up.” I grimaced. “There was a misunderstanding about who I was.”

“What does that mean?”

I looked up at him. “Don’t play stupid with me, Tom Helmsworth. You already think the guy who was killed tried to rape me.”

Tom’s body stiffened and his voice deepened. “Did he?”

I studied the crack in the floor. “It didn’t get that far.”

“What happened?”

“When he dragged me over to the boats, I hit him in the head with a wrench I found on the boat and it dazed him. I was getting away when a giant snake appeared out of the water. Then it ate him. His friend took off and so did I.”

Tom’s shoulders sagged. “Why in God’s name didn’t you tell me all of this in the beginning?”

“It was a giant snake, Tom. Seriously, who was going to believe that?”

“Ellie, I already told you that the other guy said it was a snake.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It just seemed better to try and forget it.”

“And the destruction at the lighthouse?”

“Why do you think I know about the lighthouse?” Tom had never questioned me about the incident that night, and I’d incorrectly assumed he hadn’t made the connection.

Tom studied the opposite wall. “Don’t you play stupid with me, Ellie. I know you’re wrapped up in it somehow.”

I pressed my lips together.

“I don’t think a snake is killing these dogs and people. Their abdomens were all ripped open with large claws.”

“And you think I know what it is? You think I know who it’s going after next?”

A cocky smirk lifted his cheeks. “I’m more worried about you. If I weren’t so sure this was an animal, I’d say it’s after you. Have you pissed off anyone other than Marino lately? Is Collin upset that you broke up with him?”

I cracked a grin. “And how do you know I broke up with him?”

He laughed. “Because any guy who broke up with you would be an idiot. And that guy doesn’t look like an idiot.”

Carly rounded the corner and frowned when she saw me talking to Tom. “Ellie, you have orders ready and customers waiting for their checks.”

I cringed. Damn it. “Coming.”

I stepped away from the wall. “I did break up with Collin, and although he wasn’t happy about it, he wouldn’t resort to terrorizing me. We’ve reached an amicable truce.”

“But he still cares about you? Enough to stalk you and try to intimidate you?”

My eyes flew open and my heart slammed against my chest. “No! Collin would never do anything like that.”

“Is he capable of violence?”

I shook my head, getting frustrated. “Listen to me, Tom. I know you really want to find out who is doing this, but it’s not Collin. You’re looking in the wrong place.”

“Then where should I be looking?”

I sighed. “I wish I knew. And that’s the truth.”

I took the orders and checks out to the tables and kept an eye on Tom, desperate for the chance to call Collin. About fifteen minutes later there was a slight lull, so I headed into the women’s restroom and hid in a stall.

Collin answered on the second ring and sounded worried. “Ellie? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, but you need to hide.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That police officer who was questioning me last week behind Darrell’s? He tricked me into admitting I know you. He told me if I didn’t answer his questions he would lock me up for twenty-four hours just to prove his point.” My voice broke. “I’m sorry, Collin.”

“What did you tell him?”

I filled Collin in on everything I remembered.

“He’s grasping at straws if he’s making those leaps,” Collin finally said.

“He’s desperate.”

“Obviously.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, Ellie. You did the right thing. We can’t risk you getting locked up.” He paused. “How much of your mark is left?”

“None.”

I expected him to blow up, but instead he asked, “You haven’t found Ahone’s symbol yet?”

“No.”

“I’m giving you three days, Ellie.” He sounded like the Collin I’d first met. Dictatorial and condescending.

“We have bigger issues, Collin. Tom thinks Ukinim is baiting me.”

“Then that’s exactly why the disappearance of your mark is our biggest issue.”

“They’ll still kill me, Collin. Ukinim doesn’t care about my Manitou. He just wants to get me before Okeus does.”

“Fuck, Ellie. Stop being so stubborn. You have to let me protect you.”

“Let you protect me?” I spit into the phone. “You’re the reason I’m in this situation. The marks on my door are still working.”

“Ellie, be reasonable.”

“Tell me what you know about the Ricardo deal.”

“No.”

“You owe me something for dragging me into that mess, along with everything else.”

“Forget Marino and focus on the bigger issue. This thing is getting stronger, Ellie. The daylight is protecting you for now, but I suspect it will soon be able to make short excursions into the sunlight.”

The blood rushed from my head. While I knew that day was coming, I’d hoped it would be further off. I’d become a prisoner in my apartment. “Then help me get rid of it.”

He hesitated. “I can’t.”

“Why not? You’d seriously let this thing kill me rather than help?” Hurt and resentment filled my chest. “If you really wanted to protect me, you’d help me send this thing and his mate back to Popogusso. To hell with your principles.”

“His mate? What are you talking about?”

“You really don’t know anything about Ukinim or his wife?”

He paused. “No.” A low grumble filled my ear.

“And you were so certain that David would be pointless and get me killed. Well, he’s the one who’s actually giving me information instead of trying to keep me in the dark. Unlike you.”

“Ellie,” he pleaded.

The bathroom door opened, and I flushed the toilet. “I have to go. But watch out for Tom.” I hung up before he could respond and washed my hands, ignoring the strange look from a young mother trying to corral her two small children into the other stall.

As soon as I got off work, I started ripping the house apart. Whatever I needed to protect myself had to be in Daddy’s notes.

Because I couldn’t consider the alternative.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

David found me in the living room, on my hands and knees under a small writing desk in the corner.

“If you’d told me we were playing hide-and-seek, I would have counted first.” He looked around the trashed room and whistled. “I see you started without me.”

I looked up. “I have to find those notes.”

“I know, love.” He reached his hand out to me. “But come up here and let’s figure out a plan, because you’ve searched this house countless times and come up with nothing.”

I took his hand, my heart stuttering at his term of endearment. Had he meant anything by it, or was it just one of those things people said? I stood and he pushed me back toward the chair, guiding me into a sitting position on the arm. Then he took a step back and surveyed the room.

“I’ve spent the better part of the day trying to get into your father’s head.” He shot me a frustrated look. “Not an easy task since I didn’t know him.” He ran his fingertips across a pile of guidebooks on the desk. “But Myra told you that he was anxious and paranoid when he started compiling his notes, right? And he would have hidden them somewhere he thought you’d be able to find them.”

“Yes, but I’ve already looked in those places.”

“So let’s consider this logically.” David sat on the arm of the chair next to me, our legs pressed together. I was hyperaware of his presence. “Have the Keepers before you ever written the information down?”

“I’m not sure, but I suspect not. It’s an oral tradition, and it was a secret. To tell someone who wasn’t family about the curse would bring dire consequences.”

His brow furrowed. “Do you believe that? Is there evidence this actually happened?”

“I remember my father impressing the importance of keeping it a secret with horrible tales of death and injury, but I never really believed it.” I looked up at him, guilt eating my insides. “Until I told Claire.”

His eyes widened. “You told Claire?”

“When I was eight. She knew I had a secret, and she couldn’t stand it. So I told her about the curse. Just the part about Manteo and Ananias and the gate.” I sucked in my bottom lip and wrapped my fingers around the edge of the chair’s arm.

His body stilled. “What happened?”

“My mother was murdered a few days later.”

“Oh, Ellie. I’m sorry.” His hand covered mine.

“I forgot every single thing I learned about the curse that night. When Daddy tried to reteach me, I refused to listen. I didn’t want any part of it.”

“I’m sure it was a coincidence . . . ” His voice trailed off at the end, and the tone of his voice told me he wasn’t sure he believed it.

I offered David a tired smile. “I used to tell myself that too. But now I’m not so sure. I’m not so sure about anything.” I sighed and looked up at a tiny stain on the ceiling. “You knew that Steven knew my parents.”

“Yes. He told me that he highly respected your father’s work.” David shifted on the seat, but he kept his hand on mine.

Tingles shot from my hand through my body. “He said Daddy was known worldwide for his expertise about the Lost Colony. But he stopped giving lectures after Momma’s death. Daddy told Steven she died because of the colony, and he’d never lecture about it again. He blamed himself for her murder.”

David slid his hand up my arm, resting it on the back of my neck, leaving goose bumps in its wake. His hand slipped under my hair and rubbed my tense muscles. “It sounds to me as if there was a lot of unnecessary guilt associated with her death. The person who killed her is the only one to blame.” He gave me a gentle smile.

“You’re right,” I said, acutely aware of his hand on my neck. “But there’s more I haven’t told you.”

“What?”

“Steven said Momma had been invited to see a private collection of sixteenth-century English and Native American pieces the week before her death. She called him about it because she was concerned they were stolen.”

David stood and turned to face me. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It was stupid not to. It’s just that it was the first big piece of information I’d heard about my mother’s murder in years, and I needed a few days to absorb it. Besides, my mother died years ago. We had bigger and more pressing issues.”

“Ellie. Any information about your mother’s death is important, even if it doesn’t help us with the curse. It’s important to you.”

“Finding Ahone’s mark is our biggest concern,” I sighed. The information seemed like a coincidence, but David was right. There were no coincidences. “Steven said he notified the police, but they couldn’t find any evidence such a collection existed. No one Momma worked with knew anything about it either.”

“So he thinks she made it up?”

“I asked him that and he said no.” I looked up at him. “This morning, I asked Myra if she’d ever heard Daddy mention anything about the Ricardo Estate and she says she did once, years ago.”

“You think the collection your mother surveyed was the Ricardo Estate? If so, it might be related to her death.”

“I don’t know. Steven didn’t call it the Ricardo Estate, but Daddy did—if Myra remembers correctly, that is. She said Daddy was talking on the phone and was secretive.”

“It does seem like there’s a connection. We just need to find a reliable source.”

“After my conversation with Myra this morning, I asked Collin about it on the phone this afternoon, but he refused to tell me anything.”

He scowled. “Like I said, we’ll find a reliable source.”

“One more thing.” I shifted my weight. “When the curse broke, the dreams about the animals and the spirits weren’t the only ones I started to have.” I told him about the dreams I’d had about my mother’s death and the bloodstains on the floor of my bedroom.

“So I was really staying in your old room?”

I stood. The familiar anxious feeling I always experienced when I thought about her murder made me jittery. “Yeah.”

“I’m so sorry.” He stepped in front of me and his arm encircled my waist, pulling my head to his chest.

Holding my breath, I rested against him for several seconds, taking comfort in his embrace. Something in me yearned for more. I looked up into his face.

His gaze was on my mouth.

David wanted this too.

It would have been so easy to lean closer and press my lips to his. To see if I could actually feel something with another man after Collin.

But would that be fair to David? He had given up everything to help me, so how could I risk breaking his heart?

I took a step backward, my hands trailing down his shirt, knowing I needed to break contact, yet so desperate to stay in this moment.

If I was destined to live a life without love, what was I even fighting for?

His face searched mine, confusion and desire jostling for control of his features.

I reached my hand to his cheek, rubbing his stubble with my fingertips. I was fighting for David. So that he and the other seven billion people on this planet could live their lives without facing the terror lurking outside my door each night. The countless monsters hell-bent on destroying us all.

This was no time for me to explore my romantic life. My hand dropped and I turned away. “We need to keep looking.”

David didn’t answer for several seconds.

I spun around to face him, the desire on his face nearly my undoing.

“Ellie.”

I shook my head. “David. I can’t.”

He ran his hand over his head, looking at the staircase. “That wanker did a number on you, Ellie, but I’m not him.” He walked out of the room, leaving my heart and emotions in a tangled mess.

I grabbed my purse and keys and ran for my car, feeling a sudden, unstoppable need for the ocean. I hadn’t been in days, not since my encounter with Ukinim and Ilena. When I reached the beach, I parked my car in the lot and, leaving my shoes in the car, ran for the water, needing that burst of power to recharge my body and weary spirit.

By the time I got back to my car, I realized over an hour had passed and the sun was nearing the horizon. I hadn’t thought to bring a towel, although by now I should have been smart enough to pile a bunch in my trunk.

The evening was unusually cool, and I shivered when I parked the car at the curb of the inn.

David was in the doorway when I walked up to the building. “You scared the hell out of me, Ellie. I tried calling you and you didn’t answer.”

“I forgot my phone. And I would have told you, but you were angry—”

“I wasn’t angry.” Resignation covered his face. “Hurt is a better word.” He shifted his weight. “I shouldn’t have stormed out like that. And I shouldn’t push you into something you’re not ready for. I’m sorry.” He grabbed my arms and held me back. “Why are you all wet? You smell like seawater.”

“That’s because I was in the ocean.”

His eyes flew open in alarm. “What happened?”

I shook my head. “Nothing bad. It’s a perk of the curse. Daughter of the sea and all that. I get these overwhelming urges to go to the ocean. Sometimes I’m in the water before I even realize I’ve left the house. The ocean recharges me.” I rested my hand on his arm, immediately glad for the physical contact. “I like it because I’m one with the Manitou. Tonight reminded me what I’m doing all of this for.”

His eyes softened. “And what’s that?”

I simply smiled and broke loose of his hold, heading for the staircase. “I’m going to take a shower, and then I’ll cook us dinner. It’s dark enough that we shouldn’t go outside.”

He didn’t say anything.

“Oh, I brought your bag from my apartment and left it upstairs in the hall. I cleaned all the rooms so you get your pick, except for Myra’s, of course.”

I bolted up the steps, not waiting for an answer, stalling in the shower for as long as possible. At least my faded mark had one benefit: I could take showers whenever I wanted now. When I went downstairs in a tank top and shorts, my hair in a wet braid, I found David in the kitchen cooking.

“I would have made something.”

He looked up from his pot with a mischievous grin. “Since I’m staying at your flat and I don’t seem to be paying for my lodging anymore, cooking dinner seems like a fair trade.”

“What are you cooking?”

“Well that, Ms. Lancaster, is where the bloom falls off the rose. I’m making macaroni and cheese. And let’s hope it turns out well.”

I laughed, thankful that he was making an effort to ease the tension between us.

I dragged a bar stool over to the other side of the counter and perched on it. “Beggars can’t be choosers, can they?”

“Just remember that when you eat this mess.” He stirred a pot of boiling water. “How was your shower?”

“Good. I feel much better.” And I did, especially since he seemed to have let our earlier awkwardness go.

“So, do you want to go on a scavenger hunt after we eat?”

“Sounds like fun.” I hopped down from the stool and disappeared into the butler’s pantry.

“It’s not fair if you get a head start,” he called from the kitchen.

I found a bottle of wine in the wine cooler Daddy had installed when he remodeled the back end of the house. I carried the bottle, a corkscrew, and two wine glasses into the kitchen and set them down on the counter. “I’ve heard that a rich Bordeaux pairs nicely with mac and cheese.”

He laughed. “And where did you hear that?”

I waved my hand, the corkscrew in my grip. “Eleventh-grade home economics.” I lowered my voice. “Mrs. March was a lush. But shh.” I held my finger to my lips. “We were sworn to secrecy.”

“Your secret is safe with me.”

“Along with all the others.” I opened the wine and poured us both a glass, handing one to David, careful to not touch him.

He took a sip and set it down so he could drain the noodles.

I looked around the kitchen. “I really want to help with something. What can I do?”

“You can get the salad out of the refrigerator.”

“You do realize that a salad blows the whole bachelor mac and cheese image to bits.”

The grin he graced me with was infectious. After he scooped mac and cheese onto plates, we sat on bar stools at the counter.

I took a bite and released a contented sigh. “I haven’t had macaroni and cheese in ages. It was my favorite when I was a kid. My mother used to make it for me, so it’s full of happy memories.” It was nice to have a happy memory associated with my mother after thinking about her death so much. I took another bite. “What was your favorite?”

He laughed, his eyebrows arching. “There’s not a bloody chance in hell that I’ll tell you.”

His protest made me even more intrigued. “Why the big secret?” I shoved his arm. “I told you, now you tell me.”

He cringed, but he was grinning. “I thought that game was usually played with the removal of clothing.”

“Ha! Come on, just tell me. How weird can it be? What, did you eat liver with catsup? Are you ashamed?”

He lifted his chin, trying to look serious. “It was spotted dick.”

I started laughing, noodles shooting out of my mouth. “It was what?” I choked out.

“See? I knew this would be your reaction. You Americans wouldn’t know good food if it bit you on the arse.”

“Do I even want to know what spotted dick”—I broke into more giggles—“is?”

“It’s a bread pudding with currants.” He smirked. “Do you think I was raised by paedos?”

“Sorry, I’ll try to be more civilized.”

He poured more wine into our glasses and we shared stories of our childhoods. As I watched him tell me about all his antics with his older brother, I smiled, but my heart ached. Why couldn’t I have met this man before all this curse nonsense began? He was so much better for me than Collin ever could be.

But there was no point in dwelling on what-ifs. There was only the here and now.

We cleaned up the kitchen together, and when we finished, David hung a dish towel on the stove handle.

“Okay, Ellie. Let’s figure this out. What was your father’s routine?”

“He spent a lot of time in the living room watching TV with his caregiver. And he loved the front porch. He liked to watch the neighbor’s dog, Chip.” The thought of Chip still gave me a pang.

“That’s a bloody good place to start. We’ll check out the lounge and see—”

“The lounge?” I could figure out most of his British lingo, but this one was unclear.

He made a face. “What you would refer to as the living room. Americans need to learn to be more civilized.”

I stood on tiptoe so that we were face-to-face. “And look where you moved to.”

“The land of the uncivilized. Who knew it was still the wild frontier?”

“Very funny. Besides, you’re half American and you’re fascinated with the Native Americans. I’d think you’d like it that way.”

He grinned mischievously. “I like some things wilder than others.”

I ignored the obvious subtext as he followed me into the living room. I pointed out the chair and ottoman where my father had liked to sit.

David sat down and looked around, lifting a lamp and looking underneath it. He stood and turned around, removing the cushions from the chair.

I got on my knees and looked under the coffee table, shocked to find a folded paper stuffed into the cracks of two seams on the underside. “I think I actually found something.”

David knelt next to me as I pulled out the paper and opened it. Daddy’s handwriting filled the page.

“What does it say?”

I quickly scanned the sheet. “He tells how the curse was created and the rules for the Curse Keepers. Nothing new to me.” When I finished, I handed the page to David. “But this means he really did write things down and that there are probably more hidden around here somewhere.”

We spent the next half an hour looking in every nook and cranny in the living room and dining room without finding anything else. We searched the rest of the first floor until about midnight, when I started yawning.

David leaned his shoulder into the door frame to the dining room. “We should call it a night and go to bed.”

His words sent a flutter through my chest. Not together, Ellie, I reminded myself. “Yeah, it’s been a hard day.” I couldn’t help wondering if Collin had managed to evade Tom.

“Are you ready to go upstairs?”

I nodded, suddenly feeling self-conscience. Why was I so nervous?

David followed close behind as we climbed the stairs, and my anxiety increased with each and every step. His bag was still at the top of the stairs, and he picked it up, noticing my own bag outside the bathroom door. “Why didn’t you put your bag in your room?”

“I was waiting to see which one you picked.” Why did I say it like that? Did he think I was waiting for an invitation to his room?

“Why didn’t you just put it in your old room?”

“Because you slept in my old room before you moved into my apartment. I thought you might want it again.”

A soft smile warmed his face, and he walked down the hall to my room, standing just inside the doorway. “I wish I’d known this was your room when I was staying in here.”

“Would it have made a difference?”

He shot me a wicked grin.

My insides turned to liquid fire and I forced a laugh. “I’ll take that as a no.” I brushed past him as I entered the room, every nerve in my body alive and begging for more contact. I turned on the lamp on the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed. “I haven’t slept here in years.”

David dropped his bag inside the doorway and watched me with a grin. “I’m trying to picture you as a little girl in here. Or you as a little girl, period.”

“That seems so long ago.” I looked around the room. All hints that it had belonged to me had been removed, and it looked like a generic guestroom. But the dresser, the bed, and the full-length mirror in the corner were all mine. My fingers brushed the comforter. “I couldn’t wait to leave home.”

“That surprises me given how close you were with your father and the good relationship you have with Myra.”

“It wasn’t them.” I scooted farther back onto the bed and crossed my legs. “I don’t think I ever felt comfortable here after Momma’s murder. And after we broke the curse and I started having those dreams . . . well, I couldn’t even come in here.”

“You’re in here now.”

My lips parted, and I stared up at him in surprise. “You’re right.”

He moved to the bed and sat on the edge.

“Maybe it’s because you’re here to protect me,” I teased.

His smile faded. “I only wish I could.”

I leaned forward and grabbed his hand. “David, you are protecting me. Or trying to. If you weren’t here, I’d be completely alone.”

Sadness flickered in his eyes. “But you wish you were with Collin.”

Did I? I had to admit that his comment wasn’t without a grain of truth. But David had been the one to stand by my side and help me find answers. Even though Collin probably had some of the answers, he refused to give them.

I stared into the hazel eyes of this man who was offering me hope and support, and more importantly, absolute trust. In that moment, I knew that David would be there for me until the end, whatever that turned out to be.

“No, David.” I reached for his cheek, my fingers trembling as I touched his skin. “I want you. There’s no one else I’d rather be here with now.” The truth of it hit me like a lightning bolt.

His hand covered mine as he searched my eyes, hope flickering in his gaze.

“But you and I could never work. He ruined me.”

“Because you still love him?”

I shook my head. “What Collin and I had wasn’t love. And it wasn’t real, even if he thinks differently. What we had was based on lies and schemes, hormones and magic. He used me.” I lowered my hand while still holding his and stared at our joined hands. “Even when we started a relationship, he never once confessed that he had broken the curse on purpose.” I paused. “Still, I know his feelings for me were real, or as real as Collin is capable of having.”

“How can you be so certain?”

I looked into David’s eyes. “Because when we touch our marks together, we not only feel the Manitou, we feel each other.” I sighed. “We feel every emotion.”

“You can read each other’s minds?”

“No, we can just tell how the other person feels without knowing why. I knew he wanted me before we slept together, but he also felt tremendous guilt.” I took a quick breath. “I thought it was because he felt bad about dragging me into this curse mess accidentally. But it turned out not to be accidental at all, of course.” My stomach tightened and I felt nauseated. “I . . . I was the one who pushed him to sleep with me.” I felt so ashamed to admit to it.

“Hey,” his free hand cupped my cheek, his thumb stroking my cheekbone. “Don’t be embarrassed. I’ve slept with other women, some I regret. We’re adults. We have a past.”

“I wish that’s all this was.” My eyes filled with tears.

A soft smile lifted his lips. “It can’t be that bad.”

“It is.” A tear fell down my cheek. “It’s worse.”

“What is it?” He didn’t look worried, only patient.

“Once . . . ” This was so embarrassing, but I had to be honest. After all the deceptions and lies with Collin, I needed David to know everything. “Our marks . . . the more we use them, the more they seem to attract each other.” I took a deep breath. “One time when we were having sex, we touched marks.”

“And what was the significance of that?”

My chin trembled. “Our souls were bound.”

He was perfectly still for several seconds. “And what does that mean exactly?”

I blinked and more tears fell down my cheeks. “I’m not sure. I didn’t know it would happen, but it was my fault. I . . . I’m sorry.”

He tilted my face upward. “Why are you sorry?”

“I can’t be . . . that person for you.”

“What person? I’m still not sure what’s happening here, Ellie. Unless I’m greatly mistaken, you’re attracted to me and want something more. So do I. What’s the problem?”

“I don’t know if I can love you. I don’t know if I can love anyone. The night before the ceremony, Collin told me that one day I’d hate him. Stupid me, I thought he meant because of his past and the mess with Marino. I told him he was wrong, of course. We touched marks again, and he told me that he had ruined me for any other man. That no other relationship would ever compare to what he and I had.”

Anger darkened David’s face. He climbed off the bed and grabbed the bedpost with one hand as he looked out the window. “What a goddamned egotistical motherfucking wanker.”

My chest tightened at his outburst. I’d never seen him so angry.

He turned to face me. “Don’t tell me you believe that bollocks.”

“I . . . ”

“We both know he still wants you back. That was his way of ensuring he could always get you back. And look, Ellie.” He shook his head as his voice softened. “It’s working.”

I didn’t know what to say.

He sat on the bed next to me, his anger fading. “If you were ruined for all other men, would you still feel something for me?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered.

His hand slowly slipped behind the nape of my neck, pulling my face closer to his. My insides tingled with anticipation. “You’re breathing more rapidly, Ellie. Does that mean you feel something?”

I closed my eyes.

His free arm encircled my waist, his hand slowly sliding up my back. His breath was hot on my face, his lips hovering over mine. “Do you feel this?” His mouth pressed softly to mine, and he ran his tongue along my bottom lip.

My chest burned with desire that shot straight to my core.

He placed gentle kisses along my cheek and down my neck, finding the spot that made me squirm. “How about this?”

My hands gripped his back, holding him in place.

He returned to my lips, his tongue exploring my mouth. My tongue joined his and an explosion of need erupted inside me. My grip on him tightened.

David lifted my tank top over my head and pushed me backward on the bed, leaning over me on his elbow. His free hand cupped my breast, his thumb softly brushing my nipple through my bra. His mouth hovered over mine, making me desperate for him to kiss me again, while his eyes watched my face. “You feel this, Ellie. I can see it in your eyes and the way your body is reacting to me. You want this and so much more, but I’m not Collin. I won’t coerce or cajole you into anything you don’t want. I want this to be just as much your choice as it is mine.”

He placed a soft kiss on my lips and then got off the bed.

I rose up on my elbows, confusion replacing lust. “Where are you going?”

He picked up his bag and smiled softly. “To bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”

I stared at him in disbelief as he left my room, my body crying out for more. Was David right? Was there a chance I could feel something with someone else? To my surprise, I realized how badly I wanted it to be with him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, glancing at the closed door on the other side of the hall. David’s demonstration had left me wanting more. I considered going into his room to finish what he’d started, but I’d been the pursuer in my last several relationships, and I liked that I was the one being seduced this time. David was taking things slow, so I’d wait for him.

When I headed back to my room to get my bag, I looked down the long hallway, my gaze inexorably drawn to the place where my mother had died. I squeezed my eyes shut as the memories of her ragged dying breaths filled my head. I stepped back into the bathroom and flipped on the light, leaving the door cracked open. I knew it was babyish to need a night-light, but there were too many memories in this house.

I stood in the doorway to my old room, wrestling with whether I should get my bag and move into another room. But maybe it was time for me to face the demons of my past as well as the demons of my present. After I changed into a pair of pajamas, I left the door to my room open so I could see the bathroom light. I pulled the dream catcher from my bag and hung it on the bed over my pillow. I lay there for several minutes, listening to the wind blow tree limbs against my window as I began to get drowsy.

I thought about David in the other room, probably happy to be sleeping in a real bed for the first time in several nights. I wondered what it would be like to be curled up next to him, his mouth on mine, his hands roaming my body.

Fatigue had taken over and my mind hovered in the purgatory between wakefulness and sleep. A bird squawked repeatedly outside my window. My foggy mind struggled to identify the creature. I blinked and tried to focus, then gasped.

Wapi was sitting on a tree branch watching me through the window, a ghoulish smile on his face.

Had I put fresh markings on the doors? Was there still salt on the window ledges?

I tried to sit up, but the tentacles of sleep refused to let go, pulling me deeper. Panic exploded as I was pulled under. This was no normal sleepiness. Somehow, supernatural forces were controlling me. “David,” I called out, but the sound was drowned out by Wapi’s cries.

“Witness to creation, Okeus is ready for you,” Wapi said, and then everything turned to darkness.

I came to in a dark earthen tunnel, the smell of dirt and mildew flooding my head. I lay on my side, and tiny rocks poked my legs and arms. I sat up, feeling groggy and unsure of where I was or what I was doing. A dim light shone at the end of the tunnel.

This was a dream.

I climbed to my feet and held onto the wall to right myself.

A scream echoed through the tunnel, and I pressed my back against the earth wall, my heart racing. This felt more real than any of my other dreams, even those with the spirits and the ones about my mother.

The scream echoed again and I had two choices: find a way to escape, or help whomever was screaming. I really wanted to leave, but I couldn’t live with myself if I made the decision to walk away. Still, I wasn’t sure I could purposely make myself go toward the screams either. Especially after the way Ukinim had tricked me at the lighthouse.

But I took one step forward and then another. The light grew closer and closer as I moved toward it. The end of the tunnel opened into a big room, and when I was only a few feet away, I stumbled on a pile of bones. I covered my mouth to hold back a cry of fright, while another scream came from ahead. The smell of decay and blood hung heavy in the air.

I was in the badgers’ lair.

Trying to stay in the shadows, I pressed my back against the wall and edged closer to the entrance. A woman stood in a corner, her feet spread in a defensive stance, her face a mask of terror. The badgers paced in front of her. Each time she tried to slip by, one of them would slash at her with their claws.

I couldn’t stand here and watch this. I held up my palm and began to recite the words of protection, keeping my voice low.

“I am the daughter of the sea, born of the essence present at the—”

Nothing happened.

The badgers heard me and slowly turned around, their eyes glittering in the moonlight that streamed through a hole overhead.

“Witness to creation,” Ukinim growled, his eyes enlarging.

The woman saw me and became frantic. “Help!”

The badgers slowly advanced on me, and I caught sight of another opening on the other side of the room. I took several steps backward, and the woman began to sob.

“Don’t leave me. Please!”

Squatting, I reached into the pile of bones and grabbed a long one with a jagged point, trying to ignore the muscles and slimy bits that were still attached. “Go!”

She headed for the opening, but the smaller badger blocked her path. Her sobs echoed off the walls.

“Let her go,” I said, rising again, my voice shaking with fear. “I’m the one you want.”

“Wrong,” Ukinim said with a growl. “We want you both.”

Ilena trapped the woman in the corner as Ukinim advanced on me.

I raised the bone in my hand, ready to strike.

Ukinim lunged and I jumped to the side, barely escaping his claws as I jabbed the bone into his eye with as much strength as I could muster. The badger shrieked and rushed toward me but veered sideways and bumped into the earthen wall, jamming the bone deeper and eliciting more shrieks. I scrambled backward and grabbed two more bones while keeping my eyes on my enemies, staying on Ukinim’s blind side.

Hearing her mate’s distress, Ilena turned and growled, hunkering low to the ground.

“You must die, witness to creation.”

“Not if I can help it,” I mumbled as I approached her and her intended victim.

Ukinim squealed behind me, violently shaking his head.

Ilena crouched lower and then pounced. I jumped out of the way, but her claws sank deeply into my upraised forearm.

I cried out in pain.

The woman continued to sob in the corner, even though the exit was clear. Why was she still here?

“Go!” I shouted.

Ilena lunged at me again, swinging high. I scrambled backward, trying to determine how to use the bone in my right hand as a weapon. It was shorter than the one still protruding from Ukinim’s eye, and I would be risking significant injury if I got close enough to strike.

Ukinim’s cries had quieted and I noticed movement at my side. He was advancing toward me. “I will make you pay, witness to creation. I will take your own eye.”

Blood ran down my arm, and my wound throbbed.

Now I was trapped between the two of them, and the woman was still in the corner.

“Run!” I shouted.

She finally ran for the exit, but Ilena spun around to chase her. Anxious to save the woman, I jammed one of the bones in the badger’s ear. She squealed, but the bone fell to the floor. The wound wouldn’t incapacitate her, but I had bought the woman enough time to escape.

The sound of Ilena’s cries of pain caught Ukinim’s attention, and a low, menacing growl filled the cavern.

Now I was alone with two very angry badgers. Fantastic.

But during the struggle, I noticed something: when Ilena cried out, Ukinim’s good eye rested on his mate for a good second before returning to me, and Ilena had stopped tormenting the woman when I injured Ukinim.

I’d just discovered their weakness.

They paced and stalked until they had me in the corner where they’d set upon the woman. I had one bone left to defend myself.

Ukinim bared his teeth as he snarled and leapt. I cringed at the sight of his paw swinging toward me. I lifted the bone high, hoping it would offer some defense, but just as his claw was about to reach my face, I suddenly flashed to an entirely different location.

I stood next to a tall tree in a field of grass and white flowers. The full moon hung in the sky above me. I spun around, trying to figure out where I was, when an owl hooted above my head. I jumped backward, grabbing my bleeding forearm.

The owl flew down to a lower branch.

“You’re Ahone’s messenger.” I tried to keep the bitterness from my voice.

“Your journey is almost complete.”

“Does that mean you’re going to kill me?”

The owl hooted, then said, “Neither I nor Ahone will kill you tonight.”

“There are so many things wrong with that sentence,” I mumbled, raising the bone I still held in my right hand. “Are you here to give me Ahone’s symbol?”

“You have one more task on your journey.”

“And then what?”

“And then you will be rewarded.” The owl’s eyes penetrated mine. “Some things are merely illusions. The beautiful becomes ugly when the scales of sleep fall from your eyes. The ugly becomes beautiful when you look for the truth.”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

“The dream world is shifting again. Ahone saved you from Ukinim, but he can’t save you from where you are going now. That is up to you and how you use the resources you’ve been given.”

I blinked and suddenly I was on an island. The moonlight glittered off the rippling waves. I was on the sound and not the ocean, I realized. My pajamas had been replaced with a flowing white skirt that blew around my legs and a gauzy white shirt that hung open, exposing a white bikini top. The wound on my arm was gone.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment with great anticipation.”

I spun around to face Okeus. He stood on an embankment, watching me with a patient expression.

It was my day of reckoning.

I froze, my heart slamming into my rib cage.

He smiled, and his face lit up with a beauty I hadn’t expected. The last time I saw him—the night of the ceremony—he was wearing a loincloth, but tonight he was dressed in jeans and a fitted T-shirt that covered a well-developed chest and muscular arms. His jet-black hair had been long on one side and short on the other, but tonight it was all trimmed closer to his head, the breeze tousling his dark waves. Okeus was the manifestation of masculine perfection.

He held his hands out and chuckled. “Not what you were expecting?”

“No.” I had to force the word out, my fear stealing my breath away.

“There’s no need to be afraid, Ellie.”

He used my name. Every other spirit and god used one of my titles. Never my name.

“Why not?” I asked, walking backward, drawn instinctively to the water. “The last time I saw you, you threatened to torture me for hundreds of years.”

He walked over and offered his hand as I entered the sound. “I spoke in haste, Ellie. Before I had a chance to think. You’re perfectly safe.” But the sentence sounded unfinished—the “for now” was unspoken but understood.

I refused his hand, crossing my arms under my breasts. I stayed in the water, taking another step into it. Now it reached my calves, and the edge of my skirt was brushing the top of the waves.

“I wish to start over.”

“Why?”

“Because I think we each have something the other wants.”

Was this how his messenger had approached Collin?

He tilted his head as he studied me, a pensive look on his face. “Come, dine with me. I have a meal prepared for you. As well as a surprise.”

I took a step backward, moving still deeper into the water. “What is it?”

He winked. “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Come sit with me anyway.” He reached for me again, but I stepped to the side. I couldn’t get away from him by walking into the sound. I only had one option: to hear him out and look for a way to escape. I began to step out of the water, swinging wide of him.

He laughed and climbed the embankment, turning to wait for me.

I glanced down at my palm with dismay. The words of protection hadn’t helped me with the badgers. I was trapped, especially since Ahone wouldn’t intervene this time. Without the mark on my palm, what resources did I have to save me from Okeus?

So far, Okeus was nothing like the monster I’d seen the night of his escape. The god who’d carved his mark into my arm with a razor-sharp claw. The question was, why? What did I have that he wanted, other than the obvious? But if he wanted my Manitou, wouldn’t he just take it? And if he planned to take me to Popogusso to torture me as he’d threatened in the past, why waste time trying to butter me up?

I followed him to a table covered in a white cloth that was fluttering in the breeze. Multiple candles crowded the table, their flames flickering. Several platters of fruit and cheese covered the rest of the space. There were two chairs at either end, and Okeus pulled one out for me.

I reluctantly sat, grabbing the sides of my seat with my hands.

He took the chair opposite me, an amused smile on his face. “You look nervous, Ellie. I only wish to talk.”

“Why are you calling me Ellie?”

One of his dark eyebrows arched higher than the other. “Ellie is the name you prefer, correct? As opposed to Elinor?”

“Yes. But the others call me by my titles.”

“They use them as a sign of respect.”

I wanted to point out that I was sure it wasn’t, but I was more interested in getting some other answers from him. “Why are you dressed like that?” I asked, waving my hand toward him. “The last time I saw you, you were dressed more . . . ”

“Native?”

I nodded.

“I thought you’d be more comfortable if I looked more like you.”

I hated to admit it, but he had a point. In fact, his clothes, the table, his manners were all setting me at ease in spite of myself. “Why do you care if I’m comfortable?”

He laughed and passed a plate of sliced peaches toward me. I loved peaches, and the smell wafting toward me made my stomach grumble.

“Have a slice, Ellie.”

I knew enough about folk- and fairy tales to not to accept any food from him. Too many stories ended with people getting stuck places as a result of eating something they shouldn’t. “No, thank you.”

“Suit yourself.” He set the plate down in front of me, sighing in disappointment. “I suppose you want to know why you’re here.”

“Yes.”

He leaned back in his chair. “I’ve already told you that I realized I spoke in haste over a fortnight ago. And I would like to offer a proposition to you.”

“What kind of proposition?”

“Ahone took something from you, something you love. I would like to give it back.”

My breath stuck in my chest. “Daddy?”

His smile widened.

I was smart enough to know it wouldn’t come without a price. “What do you want in return?”

“Are you always this cynical, Ellie?”

I forced a grin. “You said we both had something the other wanted. What is it that you want?”

Something was off. I knew this was a dream, but everything felt a bit too perfect. The food was too beautiful. The temperature too comfortable.

The owl had warned me. Some things are merely illusions. The beautiful becomes ugly when the scales of sleep fall from your eyes. The ugly becomes beautiful when you look for the truth.

I stood up. “I think I’m ready to go.”

Okeus stayed seated, and I saw irritation flicker across his face before it was replaced by his jovial demeanor. “But Ellie, you just got here. Sit. Please. We’ll discuss a business proposition.”

Business. “I can hear it just fine standing.”

His eyes narrowed. “I must insist, Ellie. I still haven’t shown you your surprise.”

I slowly sat down, keeping my eyes on him. I was ready to flee if necessary, even though there was nowhere for me to go.

“Would you like to have your father returned to you?”

“That’s impossible.” But was it? Hadn’t I spent the first days after his death stalking the hidden gate to Popogusso, hoping I could somehow get him back?

“See for yourself.”

A light glowed in the trees and a shadowy figure appeared in their midst.

My breath caught and my head was swamped with a cloud of confusion and disbelief. I stood and took a step toward the trees.

“Ahone was wrong to take him from you.”

I spun to face Okeus, finally finding my anger. I latched onto it like a life preserver. “You wanted to take him from me first.”

He stood and moved toward me, stopping several feet away.

I stiffened with fear, trying to catch my breath.

He lowered his voice until it sounded like a caress. “I was wrong, Ellie. I was wrong about so many things, and I’d like to make it up to you. Giving you back your father is the first step.”

“Your spirits kept telling me you were waiting for me.”

“I was, but not to do you harm. I had to wait until you were ready.”

“Ready for what? What determined that?”

“The mark Collin drew on your back had to be completely gone for you to make your choice. Ahone or me. You must choose.”

“Ahone has claimed me.”

He waved his hand as though swatting a gnat. “That means nothing.” He held his hand toward me with a soft smile. “I claim you. Now you have a choice.”

“Why would I choose you?”

His eyes lit up in amusement. “Why would you not? I’ve protected you, Ellie. Where was Ahone when Ukinim and Ilena attacked you? Where was Ahone when you were attacked by that man at the dock?”

“Mishiginebig saved me. Not you.”

“My children wish to please me. You know full well that he protected you on my behalf. Where was Ahone?”

I had to concede that Okeus had a point. Ahone had remained aloof, at least until a short bit ago. “Ahone saved me from the badgers tonight.”

Okeus’s smile quivered. “And that carries more weight than all the other times when he neglected to help you?”

I refused to admit the bitterness I felt about Ahone’s lack of assistance. “You say you want to protect me, but who will protect humanity from your children? At least Ahone leaves them to live in peace.”

“If you prefer Ahone, then why are you unprotected? Why don’t you have Ahone’s symbol?”

I didn’t answer, my eyes drawn to the figure in the trees.

“You don’t know what his mark is, do you? Ahone gave you permission to use it, but he neglected to give it to you. Ellie.” His voiced softened. “Does that sound like a god who wants to protect you?”

My pulse pounded in my head. He was right. Where had Ahone been? His messenger had told me I needed to complete my journey to receive it. But based on the way Ahone had been acting, he’d probably just disappear again and leave me to my fate after I got his mark tattooed on my body.

“Ellie, I’ve acquired a reputation of malevolence, but I assure you that it was acquired because I protect what is mine.”

I turned to look at him, suddenly unsure about everything.

His face softened and his voice was hushed. “I would like to make you mine.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’m offering you my protection. You’ve seen firsthand that not all of my creations follow my wishes. Some like Ukinim choose to go their own way. You’re here with me now because I’ve chosen to help you. Otherwise you’d already be dead.”

He made it all sound so reasonable. “What about Collin?”

“What about him?”

“He sold his soul to you. Isn’t that what you’re asking me to do? You want me to give you my soul for Daddy’s life?”

“You make it sound so dramatic. ‘Sell your soul.’ What does that even mean, Ellie? It simply means you would be committing yourself to me.”

It had to be more than that.

“You’re partially mine anyway, you know,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper.

My eyes widened.

“Your soul is bound to Collin’s.” He shifted closer to me. “You’ve wondered what it means . . . ” He paused. “It means you’re bound to Collin in all things.”

My heart sank. “So I have to spend eternity in Popogusso too.”

“It’s not so bad.”

I shot him a glare. “Then why were you in such a hurry to get out?”

Okeus laughed. “Why are you resisting, Ellie?”

Why was I resisting? Okeus had protected me while Ahone had abandoned me. If I was going to Popogusso anyway, why not get his protection? “What do you get out of it?”

“Why can’t I simply offer you my protection?”

“Collin said you offered him something and then you reneged. Who’s to say you won’t do the same with me? But more importantly, Collin agreed to open the gate to Popogusso and free you. You gave him quite the responsibility, and I suspect his reward was much less significant than what you’re offering me. What could I possibly have that you want enough to bring someone back from the dead?”

His eyes glittered with excitement. “You’re a smart girl. It only makes you more perfect.” He reached a hand toward me. “Come sit with me, Ellie.” He walked backward, his hand extended, beckoning me to follow.

I ignored his hand but moved toward him.

There was a light behind him, and I could see a canopy daybed with gauzy curtains blowing in the wind. Candle-filled lanterns hanging from poles as well as candles on the ground surrounded the bed, their flames flickering brightly.

“What is that?” My heartbeat sped up and fear crawled up my spine.

He ignored my question and sat down in the middle of the bed. “Do you realize how extraordinarily unique you are, Ellie?” He shrugged. “I’m not surprised if you don’t. I didn’t realize it until after I was released from Popogusso.” He crossed his legs and gave me a half shrug. “But you are correct. I was planning to destroy you until I considered your potential and realized you were too important to waste. Too perfect. Not only are you a pure soul, but you also have the power of a Curse Keeper.”

My stomach rolled into a tight ball as I stopped several feet from the bed. What could he possibly hope to gain from that? “I’m not sure how that helps you.”

He leaned back on his elbows. “Mishiginebig and the others—do you know how they came into existence?”

I had seen it in my vision in the ocean with Collin when I’d reexperienced creation. “You created them.”

“Yes. Some. There are spirits who were created by Ahone that are still loyal to him, but they are weak.”

That was news to me. I hadn’t realized there were benevolent spirits.

“But there are others, Ellie. Half man, half immortal.”

“Like Ukinim and Ilena?”

“No, they were humans who were turned into animals.” He leaned forward. “There are others who resemble humans—some more, some less. But none are perfect. Yet.”

I shook my head, my nerves on edge. I was afraid to hear the rest.

“I made my creations to rival Ahone’s precious human race, but when he split himself apart, he kept the essential piece that made men and women. I couldn’t make them on my own, so I sought help.”

“Where? Who?”

“How were you created, Ellie? How did you come into the world?”

The blood squeezed from my head, fear of what he might be suggesting making me light-headed. “My parents.”

“Exactly. You had parents.” He stood and moved next to me. I backed up until my shoulder bumped into a lantern post. “My later creations also had parents—a human mother and myself. But their mothers weren’t strong enough and their humanity was overpowered by my own traits. I need someone stronger.”

I shook my head, hysteria bubbling in my throat. “No.”

“You are perfect. Your soul is pure and you have the power of the sea. Together we can make children to rival Ahone’s.”

“No!”

“I can offer you anything you desire if you cooperate, Ellie. Anything.” His smile was warm and adoring.

“Why? Why would you do this? You have enough monstrosities running loose. Why would you want more?”

“Because you’re exactly right. They are monstrosities. I tried over and over again to perfect them. Is it so wrong to want a perfect child? You can help me.”

“No.” I shook my head repeatedly. “I won’t do it.”

He stared into my eyes lovingly, his smile so genuine and understanding. So deceiving. “Ellie, you don’t have a choice.”

“The hell I don’t.” I shoved his shoulder hard and burst free, intending to run to the beach.

Daddy stood at the edge of the trees.

I froze, my feet digging into the sand. I almost fell forward. “Daddy?”

“Ellie.” He held his hands out to me. “You can bring me back.”

I wanted Daddy, but at what cost? I looked over my shoulder at the god behind me.

“Ellie, I was wrong about Okeus. He’s really on our side.”

I never remembered Daddy talking about Okeus other than being concerned about me having the god’s symbol on my back. “What are you talking about?”

“Ellie, you need to listen to Okeus. He can bring me back.”

Collin told me that no human could go to Popogusso and come back alive. So how was my father here? “Daddy, he wants me to do something terrible.”

He stepped toward me and placed his right hand on my arm. His fingers were cool and clammy, not the warm hands I remembered. His face was my father’s . . . but not my father’s. It looked wrong, almost plastic. And Daddy always smelled like cinnamon with a soft hint of leather, even after he’d taken ill. Now he smelled like nothing. But that was to be expected, right? Okeus had brought Daddy back from the dead, so it made sense that he wouldn’t be quite himself.

But I knew in my heart that this wasn’t him, and having his likeness in front of me made the pain of losing him fresh all over again.

“It’s okay, Ellie. Okeus is going to help us. We should help him too.”

I shook my head and took a step back, tears burning my eyes. “No. You’re not Daddy.”

His face twisted in dismay. “Ellie, how can you say that?” He held his hands out from his sides. “It’s me.”

“No. My daddy would never let anything terrible happen to me.”

Okeus approached from behind. “Can you be so sure about that? How well did you really know your father? You didn’t even know that your father was world renowned in his field. Or the role he really played in your mother’s death. Your father was supposed to be home the night she was killed, but he was somewhere else.”

Fear tickled the back of my head, stealing my breath. “He went to a board meeting.”

Okeus’s eyebrows lifted in mock surprise. “Did he? You think you are beginning to know what happened the night your mother was killed, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg.”

“You’re a liar.” I pointed to the man who looked like Daddy. “That is not my father.”

Okeus’s eyes narrowed. “What do you want most, Ellie? What is your heart’s desire? Is it your father? Maybe not . . . maybe it’s the truth about your mother’s death.” He gave me a smug smile. “I know the truth and can share it with you.”

“Liar,” I spit.

“Or is it Collin? I know you think he betrayed you, but he only did what he thought was best for all concerned. I assured him you would eventually understand.”

“I understand all right. I understand that you lie and manipulate and bend the truth to get what you want.”

“Ellie.” I heard impatience in his voice.

“I have proof that you’re a liar. You promised Collin payment and you didn’t follow through.”

Okeus’s eyes narrowed, his temper creeping in. “He disobeyed me.”

“For protecting me? Isn’t that what you said? But now you want to protect me too, so maybe you should pay him now.”

Okeus’s eyes flashed red before returning to their normal dark brown. “I do not tolerate disobedience.”

“Then this thing between us”—I waved my hand from him to me—“It’s not going to work out, because I have a real problem with obedience. Just ask Collin.” I looked up at the thing pretending to be my daddy. “And too bad that’s not my daddy—he would have told you the same thing.”

I stomped toward the water, but Okeus grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “We aren’t done here.”

“Well I am.” I jerked my arm out of his grasp, and blood soaked through my white shirt as my arm began to throb where the badger had clawed me. I stopped to stare at it in confusion, but Okeus took advantage of my distraction.

Wrapping an arm around my waist, he pulled my back to his chest and picked me up as if I weighed nothing. He stomped toward the canopied daybed.

I kicked his shins and clawed his arms, screaming, but he never so much as flinched.

He’s a fucking god, Ellie. Could I physically hurt a god?

I swallowed a sob of panic.

“Ellie, you’re a disappointment. I thought you were smarter than this.” He threw me down on the bed and the skirt and shirt instantly disappeared, leaving me naked.

I scrambled backward on the bed, but Okeus grabbed my ankles and dragged me toward him.

This is just a dream.

That’s right. It was just a dream. All I had to do was wake up.

“You bear my mark on your arm, but you refuse to take my mark of protection on your own.” A claw extended from his finger as his other hand pressed down on my shoulder. “So now you shall bear another.” He lowered the nail to my exposed abdomen, the tip sinking into the skin above my belly button, slicing his zigzag pattern there.

I screamed until I was hoarse, thrashing to get away, but it only made the pain worse.

I had to wake up. Why couldn’t I wake up?

Okeus looked down at his completed mark with a smile. “I claim you as my own, Elinor Lancaster.”

“Fuck you,” I shouted through my tears. I had to wake up. Ahone’s messenger had told me to use my resources, but what other resources did I have other than the mark on my palm?

David.

“David!” I screamed, hoping this would work. It was the only plan I had. “David!”

Okeus began to unbuckle his jeans.

“Ellie!” I could hear David’s voice in my head.

“David. Help me!” I sobbed. I felt my physical body being shaken, and I scooted backward.

Anger spread across Okeus’s face. “No!” He grabbed my legs and pulled me toward him.

I closed my eyes to concentrate. “David!”

A hard jerk shook me, and I opened my eyes to David’s terrified face.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I was back in my dark room—the only illumination a glimmer of light from the open bathroom door. David sat on the bed next to me. His hands were on my shoulders, shaking me. I sat up, wincing as pain shot through my abdomen, and threw my arms around his neck, sobbing into his shoulder.

He held me tight against his chest with one arm, his other hand cradling the back of my head. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

I continued to cry, beginning to hyperventilate.

He gently pulled away enough to look in my eyes. “Ellie, you’re safe. It was just a dream.”

I shook my head, my shoulders shaking with my tears. I struggled to catch my breath. “It wasn’t just a dream.” I looked down at my arm.

“You’re bleeding.” His voice rose in alarm as he dropped his hold on me and grabbed my arm. “These are claw marks.”

“Ukinim.”

His eyes widened. “When did you leave the house?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t.”

“This happened in your dreams?”

The sheet covering my body had fallen to my lap, and his gaze lowered to the blood trickling from the carving on my stomach.

Oh, God. I was naked.

I grabbed the sheet and pulled it up to cover my chest.

“And your stomach? What did that?”

“Okeus.” My voice hitched.

His body tensed, and he looked out the window before turning back to me. “I’m going to get something to clean you up.” He got off the bed, and my chest exploded with panic at the thought of being alone.

“Don’t leave me! Please.” I started crying again and grabbed his arm. “Please don’t leave me.” I knew I was irrational, but nothing about what had just happened was rational.

He pulled me into his arms. “I won’t, Ellie. I promise I won’t leave you.”

I clung to his neck, terrified. I knew I was safe at the moment, but my hysteria still refused to believe it.

He tugged the top sheet off the bed and wrapped it around my back. “Let’s go into the bathroom.”

I hiccuped a breath, gaining control of my tears. “Okay.” I slid off the bed with his help. My legs shook and began to buckle, but he slid an arm around my back, supporting my weight.

David guided me through the bathroom door, moving sideways, and helped me sit on the closed toilet lid. The brightness of the room helped soothe my frazzled nerves, and I looked up into his worried face. Blood covered his T-shirt where I’d grabbed him. He lifted my arm, his brow wrinkling with concern. “How the bloody hell did this happen?”

“I don’t know. Wapi was outside my window when I fell asleep.”

“What about your dream catcher?”

I took a deep breath. “I had it.”

He dug a first-aid kit out from under the sink and opened up several alcohol pads. “Why didn’t it work?” He sounded angry, but his touch was gentle as he dabbed at the wounds. “And even if you had dreams, they shouldn’t have manifested themselves this way.”

I flinched as the alcohol burned my gashes. “I don’t know what happened.” My voice broke.

He dropped to his knees in front of me. “Ellie, I’m sorry. I’m not mad at you. I’m just frustrated. I thought I had figured out a way to protect you while you were asleep and it failed.” His mouth turned down. “I failed you.”

“No. You saved me. If you hadn’t called my name, I don’t think I would have woken up and Okeus . . . ” I started crying again, helplessness washing over me. I’d given myself the illusion of being in control, but I wasn’t in control of anything.

David grabbed my shoulders. “You’re here now.”

I nodded, forcing myself to calm down. I took a deep breath and held it for several seconds.

“These wounds are deep. I think you should go to the hospital to get stitches.”

“No. They’ll ask questions and Tom will find out that I saw Ukinim. He already thinks they’re stalking me. I can’t deal with the questions.”

He took my hand and squeezed it. “Okay. We’ll get you some butterfly bandages in the morning.”

“Thank you.”

He kissed my forehead and then continued to clean the wounds. He found bandages in the first-aid kit and wrapped my arm with gauze. His gaze fell to the bloody sheet that I was clutching to my breasts. “I need to look at your stomach.”

“Oh.”

He pointed his thumb toward the door. “I’ll step out and let you get things . . . situated, and then I’ll be back.”

“Where are my pajamas?”

“I don’t know. You were naked when I found you. I figured that’s why you locked your door, which seemed odd. You never even close the door all the way in your apartment.”

“I went to bed in pajamas and I left the door open so I could see the bathroom light.”

His face paled. “Ellie, your door wasn’t just closed; it was locked.”

“Oh, God.” Those things had access inside the house somehow.

David’s eyes widened with fear. “I’ll go look for your pajamas.”

“No.” I shook my head, frantic. “Don’t leave me.”

“Okay. I’ll just turn around.” He stood in the doorway, facing the hallway.

I dropped the sheet to my waist and pulled a towel off the rack to cover my breasts. “Okay.”

He turned around and took a step toward me, freezing when his gaze landed on my stomach. “God, Ellie. What did he do? That’s his mark.” His voice cracked, and his eyes glassed over.

My chin quivered. “He claimed me as his own.”

David swallowed. “Does that mean—?”

“No. I still have to choose, but both sides have claimed me now, whatever that means.”

He put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me backward so that my shoulder blades were pressed against the back of the toilet. His voice softened. “What happened?”

“My dream was real. First I saw the badgers, where I got this.” I lifted my arm. “Then I saw Ahone’s messenger, who promised to show me Ahone’s mark after the next part of my dream, which was when Okeus cornered me.”

“Did you see the mark?”

“No.” I didn’t hide my bitterness.

He dabbed my stomach with a wet washrag and I flinched.

“I’m sorry.”

I gritted my teeth as he continued to clean it.

“This thing is a good twelve centimeters long. I think it’s going to scar.” He sounded devastated.

I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat. “I think that was his intent. He wanted it to match the one he gave me on my arm.”

“I’m sorry.”

I opened my eyes and offered him a small smile. “Quit saying you’re sorry.”

“I can’t help it. This happened to you while I was across the bloody hall.”

“Well, I don’t want to think about what would have happened to me if you hadn’t been here.”

“What happened with Okeus, Ellie? I know he did this, but why?”

Total disclosure. “Okeus promised to give me back Daddy.”

His mouth dropped open. “Can he do that?”

“No, I don’t think so. Daddy was there, but it wasn’t him. His look-alike tried to get me to accept Okeus’s agreement.”

“To get his mark?”

“That too.”

“What else?”

I looked away. “He wants to use me as a breeding mare.”

He sat back on his heels. “What the bloody hell does that mean?”

“The demons are Okeus’s creations. But his ultimate goal is to create children who look like him. Like us. So he moved on to making babies the old-fashioned way. Only his babies were still monsters. He thinks my pure soul plus my Curse Keeper blood will make the babies he’s always dreamed of.”

“He wants to impregnate you?”

“So it would seem.”

David sat on the side of the tub and took my hand. “You were naked.”

“If you’re asking me if he was successful in his attempt, the answer is no. But if I hadn’t woken up when I did, I’m sure it would be a different story.”

“Ellie, I’m sorry.”

I put my finger on his lips. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You saved me. Thank you.”

His fingers wrapped around mine, and he placed a kiss against my fingertips.

“Are you done with my stomach?”

“I’ve cleaned it up. I’m not sure what else to do other than give you something for the pain.” He stood and found a bottle of ibuprofen in the medicine cabinet. He handed me two with a cup of water.

I swallowed the pills and then pulled the sheet up to cover my breasts. “Okay,” I said as I clutched the covering and stood. “I’m going to get dressed.”

He reached for my arm, but I shrugged him off. I needed to feel like I was in control of something, like I wasn’t completely helpless. “I’m better. I can walk now.”

He followed me into my room. Standing at the foot of my bed, he combed the room with his eyes, coming to a stop at the window. He stepped forward for a closer look.

“It looks like the salt is missing.”

“So that’s how they got in my dreams?”

“I don’t know.” He moved to my bed, slightly lifting the dream catcher that hung from the headboard. “I wish to God I did.”

“Well, one thing’s for certain. I’m not going back to sleep until the sun comes up.”

“I’ll stay up with you.” He bent over and picked up my pajama bottoms and camisole top off the floor, handing them to me. “If you want to get dressed, I’ll turn around.”

“Thanks.” It seemed stupid. He had seen me naked earlier, after all. My eyes drifted to the busted door frame.

“I had to break the door in.”

“Thanks.”

He nodded and turned around as I slipped on my clothes. My arm and my stomach throbbed, but I managed to do it without causing myself too much pain.

“I’m done.”

He spun around and watched as I moved toward him. The pain and guilt in his eyes was nearly my undoing.

I stopped in front of him. “David, don’t do that. Don’t feel sorry for me. I can’t take it.”

His eyes widened, incredulous. “Is that what you think this is? You think I pity you?” He lifted his hands and rested them on my upper arms. “You’re the strongest person I know. I don’t pity you. God, far from it.” His hand rose, his grip tightening as he cupped the side of my face. “Ellie,” his voice broke. “I can’t stand the thought that I wasn’t able to protect you from this . . . ” His other hand rose to touch the other side of my face. “I’m supposed to be helping you, but I keep failing at every turn. You’re better off without me.”

My back stiffened. “Don’t you dare say that, David Preston. You just saved me from . . . that monster. And you have found more information for me than I ever would have found on my own. But you’ve given me so much more than that.” I grabbed his cheeks and pulled his face closer. “I don’t care if you ever find another piece of information. I still want you here. I can’t do this alone. I need you.”

His mouth lowered to mine, his kiss tender and hesitant.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, opening my mouth to his probing tongue.

He groaned and placed a hand on my lower back, pressing me to him as his mouth and tongue grew bolder.

I slid my hands from his neck, needing to feel more of him. I lifted his shirt up and he lifted his head to let me pull it the rest of the way off.

My hands landed on his chest and my fingertips glided across his skin.

David searched my eyes. “Are you sure you want to do this, Ellie?”

My only answer was to pull off the shirt I’d just put on.

His gaze landed on my breasts and then moved up to my face. “I don’t want to do this in here.”

I nodded and he took my hand and led me to his room, tugging me to the bed. He kissed me, one arm around my waist as his other hand explored my breast. I buried my hands into his hair, and he pressed his stomach to mine as our kisses deepened. I winced, releasing a cry of pain from the cut on my abdomen.

David released me and tried to step back, his eyes filled with worry. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

I wrapped my arms around his upper back, pulling him back to me. “I’ll be fine. We can make this work.”

He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled me between his legs, wrapping one arm around my waist. His mouth found my breast and I moaned, burying my hand in his hair to hold him in place. Still, I needed more.

As if reading my mind, his head lifted and he stared into my eyes as his thumb hooked the top of my pajama bottoms, pushing them over my hips and down to the floor.

Standing, he gently pushed me down to the bed. He began to tug his own pajama bottoms down, but then stopped.

I looked into his questioning eyes. “David, I want you.”

His gaze lowered to my stomach. “I’m scared that I’ll hurt you.”

I smiled. “We’ll figure it out.”

He went to his bag and returned with a condom. Dropping his pants, he stood between my legs, which hung off the sides of the bed, and rolled on his condom. He leaned down, resting his elbow next to my head, his body hovering over mine as his tongue licked my bottom lip and then sucked it into his mouth, biting lightly.

White-hot lust spread through my veins and I instinctively lifted my hips up to his.

He groaned and lowered his mouth to my breast, while his other hand slipped between my legs. I pressed into his hand, needing more, needing this man.

“David, I want you,” I repeated. “Now.”

A growl rumbled from his chest as he rose, standing in front of me, the desire and devotion in his eyes making me even hungrier for him.

He grabbed my hips and leaned between my legs, filling me in a slow plunge.

I cried out and lifted my hips higher so he could get deeper. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he sank into me again. His head leaned back and a guttural sound erupted from him. His pace quickened as we climbed and I clung to him, desperate for more.

The pressure built, but I held back, my whimpers encouraging him to quicken his pace, moving deeper and faster. When I couldn’t hold back any longer, I arched my back and pushed against him. Wave after wave washed over me as David gave one last grunt, staying deep inside as my orgasm finished.

He rested his knees on the bed, still inside me, and then leaned over, raining kisses on my face and neck. “You’re so beautiful.”

I lifted my mouth to his, reaching around his neck and holding him close as my tongue sought his.

He pulled back, giving me a reluctant smile. “I need to go clean up. Will you be okay if I leave you alone for just a moment?”

I stared into his eyes and nodded.

He left the room and I forced myself to get up and pull down the covers, crawling on my hands and knees. My butt was in the air, facing the door, when he returned. “Now there’s a welcoming sight.”

He helped me pull the sheet down and then slid in next to me, still naked. Wrapping an arm around my back, he pulled me to his side. I rested my cheek on his chest. He lifted my chin and stared down into my eyes, worry wrinkling his brow. “Are you okay?”

I smiled. “Yeah.”

“No, I mean really okay?”

My smile faded. “As okay as can be expected.” I kissed his chest. “If you’re asking if I’m okay with what we just did, though, I’m more than okay. But the rest . . . I’ll need a bit of time.”

He bent down and gently kissed me. “Understandable.” Worry and fear tightened his face. “But despite what just happened between us, I still wonder if you should be with me.”

I rose on my elbow and started to protest, but he put his finger to my lips.

“Hear me out, love. I need to say this.”

“Okay,” I said softly, terrified of what he was going to tell me.

“I want you, Ellie. Not just for your body, but your mind, your wit, your stubbornness, and your courage. I look at you now—like this—and I can’t believe you’ve let me into your life.” He swallowed. “But I can also see that you’re loyal, and I don’t want that to be your downfall.”

My lips parted to respond, but the pressure of his finger increased.

“The day may come when I’m no longer a help but a hindrance. If it does, I need you to promise me that you’ll let me go.”

Anger surged through my body. “No!” I sat up, wincing at the pain. “You don’t get to tell me what to do!”

Sitting up, he rubbed the back of my neck, bringing my face closer to his. There was no anger in his face, only patience and devotion. “I know that, Ellie. I would never dream of telling you what to do, but back when we made the agreement for our partnership, you agreed to give all of my suggestions and concerns consideration.”

“What are you doing, David? Is this your way of trying to leave me? Just like every—” I stopped.

Sadness filled his eyes. “Like everyone else? Your father and your mother? Hell, even Collin left you—he just forced you to be the one to walk away with his lies and deceptions.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “God, how could I be so stupid?”

Tears filled my eyes. “Do you want me or not, David?”

“Christ, Ellie,” he pleaded. “It’s not about wanting you. I just want what’s best for you.”

My chest tightened, my words thick with emotion. “You don’t get to decide. I do. It’s my decision.”

“Okay, okay.” His hand caressed my cheeks, wiping away my tears. His eyes burned with intensity. “Elinor Lancaster, I pledge to never leave your side of my own free will. I will stand with you and always be at your service. The only way I will leave is if you send me away.”

My mouth dropped open and I shook my head in disbelief. “You can’t promise me that.”

A teasing smile lifted his lips. “I just did.”

“But—”

“Ellie, you need to know you can count on someone to be there for you, no matter what. No matter how hard it is or how dangerous. I am promising to be that someone.”

“But why?”

His lips pressed against mine, his hand gliding across my bare back. His fingertips dug into my skin as he sucked my upper lip into his mouth.

I panted with need, clinging to him.

His head lifted and he looked into my eyes, all the teasing gone. “Do you remember when I asked if you believed in destiny? You are my destiny, Ellie Lancaster. You.”

We made love again, slow and gentle, but with reverence as we explored each other’s bodies.

Afterward, sunlight crept through the drapes, and I rested my cheek on his chest.

His arm tightened around me. “Do you still think you’re broken?” he asked, sounding sleepy.

What David and I had shared was special, but if I were honest with myself, it wasn’t close to what I’d experienced with Collin. He and I had shared body and soul with each other—a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But we’d also shared deception and betrayal. Collin and I were fire and ice, love and hate. When you climb to soaring heights, the fall is much more deadly.

What I had with David was deeper and more meaningful, and yet . . . it was not quite enough. Collin was right. I’d never experience anything like the pure completeness I had felt when we were connected, but those moments had been fleeting, and our passion had come at a steep price that wasn’t worth it. The sad truth was that Collin couldn’t give me what I needed, because he couldn’t give himself what he needed.

I needed to make a choice and I needed to stand by it. David deserved the same commitment that he’d offered me. I knew that once I picked, I couldn’t go back.

I stared into the face of the man sleeping beside me and brushed the hair off his forehead. I knew in my heart he was perfect for me.

I leaned down and brushed a kiss on his lips, whispering. “I choose you.”

Then I laid my head on his chest and slept a dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

We only slept a few hours before I got up to make breakfast for the guests in the inn. With Myra gone, I couldn’t forget the real reason I was staying in the house.

I hung around the office and small kitchen of the inn, greeting guests and giving them directions and suggestions for sightseeing. David got up with me and hovered nearby for most of the morning. Normally, it would have felt claustrophobic, but after my real-life nightmares of the previous night, I was freaked out enough to not want to be alone. And I knew David wasn’t the hovering type. He was staying close to me because he knew I needed him.

I pushed him into the office and reached up to kiss him. “Thank you.”

A wicked gleam filled his eyes. “And what exactly are you thanking me for?”

I kissed him again and stepped back. “Everything.”

When the guests left for their day of sightseeing, David followed me upstairs to help me make the beds and clean the bathrooms.

“You don’t have to do this,” I said, tucking in a sheet. “You can go do something fun.”

“No. I’ve always been fascinated about the role of an innkeeper.”

I laughed. “An innkeeper, huh? You make me feel like I’m sixty.” I leaned over in the bathroom connected to the room and grabbed some damp towels off the floor, wincing as I stood.

“Ellie, you shouldn’t be bending over like that.”

“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt or anything. It just stings.”

He took the towels from me. “Where do I put these?”

“The basket in the hall,” I said, turning on the water I’d need for cleaning.

He dumped them where I’d told him. “Want me to get started in the next room?”

“David, you don’t—”

“Ellie, let me help. The sooner we get done here, the faster we can get back to searching for your father’s notes.”

I nodded and then rushed out into the hall to give him a quick kiss. “Okay, as long as you don’t mind.”

He grinned against my lips. “Don’t you have a bathroom to clean?”

I lifted my eyebrows in mock surprise. “Oh, yeah.”

He disappeared into the other guest room and I returned to the bathroom I was cleaning, surprised to see that the mirror had already steamed up. I leaned over to crack open the window and gasped.

“David.”

He was through the doorway in seconds, worry on his face. “Are you okay?”

I pointed to the window. In the steam was the outline of a symbol. It was a four-pointed star. It looked weirdly familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

“How did that get there?” David asked, moving closer.

“I don’t know. When I came back, the window was steamed up and it was there.”

“Ellie, this symbol is on the plank.”

“Do you think it’s Ahone’s?”

He shook his head in amazement. “I don’t know. It could be.”

“Could be isn’t good enough. I need to know. I can’t just tattoo some random symbol on my back.” I ran my uninjured hand through my hair and turned toward him. “I’m sorry. I’m not upset with you. I’m pissed at Ahone. Why does he have to be so damned illusive? Why can’t he just say, ‘Here’s my symbol’?”

“I don’t know. I keep wondering why Okeus’s symbol is still known but not Ahone’s. It could be because the people offered regular sacrifices to Okeus and pretty much ignored Ahone. They rarely gave him thought, so why record his name? Or perhaps Ahone’s name is like the ancient Hebrew name for God, and only the priests knew how to pronounce it. God’s name was considered too reverent to be spoken by just anyone.”

“Hopefully Daddy will have recorded it somewhere. If we can find any of his other notes.”

“We will.”

He sounded more certain than I was.

“Tonight I think we should sleep in your apartment,” he said. “Last night was the first time you dreamed since you started sleeping with the dream catcher. But I’m going to sleep with you so I can check on you and make sure you’re okay.”

I bumped his shoulder. “You just want a reason not to sleep on the sofa.”

He laughed. “That’s right. You caught me. I seduced you only so that I could have a mattress.” He pushed me against the wall and leaned over to kiss me.

I wrapped my arm around his neck, closing my eyes as I let myself be sucked into the moment. It struck me—this was what I’d been looking for before Collin showed up and shattered my life. I wasn’t in love David, but I was falling in love with him. Even this early, it was easy to see he was the one—the guy I’d been waiting to show up and fill my life, the guy who could give me the love and happiness my parents had shared. Sighing with momentary contentment, I pushed him away. “As romantic as making out in a guest’s dirty bathroom is, I’m afraid I need to get back to work.”

“You are a very cruel woman, Ellie Lancaster.”

“And you are easily distracted, Dr. Preston. Now go make a bed.” I gave his arm a playful push.

After he stole another kiss and headed into the other room, I found myself staring at the fading symbol again.

With the two of us working, we finished within an hour. David insisted on carrying the dirty linen to the laundry room and starting the wash. When I protested, he mock scowled. “I’m a bachelor, Ellie. I’ve lived alone since I was eighteen. I know how to do laundry.”

“Okay . . . ” Was I really going to fight him over him doing the laundry?

“Now that we have this symbol, I’m going to e-mail a few colleagues to find out if they’ve ever seen it. I doubt we’ll get confirmation, but we might be able to eliminate it if they recognize it as something else.”

“Okay, how about I order a pizza? The best place in town doesn’t offer delivery, but I’ll go pick it up while you’re sending your e-mails.”

Worry filled his eyes. “Do you want me to go with you?”

“No, I’ll be fine. It’s daylight.” Although I wasn’t sure how much longer that would give me security.

“Okay. Be careful.”

He headed for the front porch with his laptop, and I called in the order, realizing as I did that my car was back at my apartment. I grabbed my purse and walked the two blocks home. My arm throbbed after using it all morning, reminding me that it still needed butterfly bandages. I had a box in my bathroom, so I figured I could run upstairs and grab them.

When I reached my front porch, I knew something was off. The symbols on my door were smudged, and that never happened. Fear squeezed my lungs. Had Tom arrested Collin?

But when I unlocked the door and pushed it open, I realized what was really going on. One of Marino’s men—the one who’d tried to kidnap me in Morehead City—sat in my overstuffed chair with a handgun on his lap. The box that held Daddy’s remaining watches was out on the coffee table.

“Ellie Lancaster, you’re a hard woman to find.”

Oh, shit. I froze in the doorway, my hand still on the doorknob.

“Come on in, Ellie. We need to have a little chat.”

I hesitated. “I’m not feeling very chatty today.” I started to take a step back.

He lifted the gun and pointed it at me. “Don’t underestimate my willingness to shoot. You’ve been a pain in my ass for weeks, and I’d as soon shoot you and be done with it. Just give me a reason.” The look on his face told me he meant it.

Forcing myself to take slow, steady breaths, I walked inside.

“Shut the door.”

I cast a quick glance over my shoulder. The one time I wished Tom was hanging around and nagging me to talk, he was nowhere to be found. Figured.

“Have a seat.”

I took my time sitting on the sofa, staying as far away from him as possible. Why did he have Daddy’s watches? He must have been snooping in my closet.

“Tell me what you know about the Ricardo deal.”

“I don’t know anything.”

He leaned forward, his face reddening. “I’m not a patient man. So let’s try this again.” His eyes narrowed. “What do you know about the Ricardo deal?”

Why was he questioning me here instead of taking me to Marino? I wasn’t sure what that meant. “I don’t know anything. The first time I ever heard of it was when I met Marino, and Collin refused to give me any details. Officer Helmsworth told me it was a collection of antiques that had been stolen. That’s all I know. I swear.”

“Then what are you doing with these watches?”

“They were my father’s.”

He shook his head with a disgusted look and banged his hand on the table next to the box. “Try again, Ellie.”

I jumped, fighting the sob that was building in my chest. Where was Mishiginebig when I needed him?

He opened the lid and pointed to the older watch. “Where did you get this?”

“I told you, it was my father’s.” I forced myself to take a normal breath. I had to control my fear.

Reaching down to a bag next to his chair, he pulled out a folder and set it on the table before sliding it over to me. “Take a look at that.”

I opened the folder with shaky fingers, trying to make sense of the photos inside. Then I realized I was staring at the contents of the Ricardo Estate. Maybe I would learn something I could use if I survived this encounter.

I flipped through the photos slowly, hoping I wasn’t being too obvious with my cataloging. Swords and daggers made of gold and silver were displayed on tables. Some were intricately carved, others plain. The next photo held candlesticks and silverware, but the third photo was what had made him suspicious. Pocket watches were mixed in with buttons, brooches, hairpins, necklaces, and rings.

“Take a closer look at that one. Upper left corner.”

I picked up the photo and tried to figure out what he wanted me to see. When I saw it, I gasped. The watch was identical to the one sitting on my coffee table, the one Oscar had told me would need its own insurance policy. But how could that be? These watches had been in Daddy’s family for years, centuries even.

“Now you know that I have evidence of your involvement, so let’s stop fooling around. Where did you get the watches?”

I obviously didn’t have the answer he wanted, and he obviously had information I could use. I had two choices. I could keep insisting on the truth, or I could take a lesson from Collin’s playbook. “Collin gave it to me,” I said after a moment.

He eased back in his chair and gave me a condescending grin. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Why did Collin give it to you? As payment?”

“Payment for what?”

“Come on, Ellie. Once I figured out who you were, it didn’t take much digging to put two and two together. Your mother was known for her expertise on Elizabethan and Jacobean antiques. And your father”—he leaned forward—“he was an expert in all things about the colonies. Of course Dailey would find you. Most people see his looks and charm and dismiss his cunningness, and he definitely uses that to his advantage. The question is how long did he string you along before you realized what he really wanted?”

Was there any truth to his question? Had Collin given any thought to who I was besides the fact that I was the other Keeper? I was desperate to know more about the Ricardo deal, particularly now, which meant I had to give this guy something to keep him talking. I gave him a bitter smile. “It was a carrot. He gave it to me to get me intrigued.”

A real smile lit up his face. “And did it?”

I lifted my eyebrows. “What do you think? You said it yourself—he has the looks and the charm.” I lowered my chin. “Let’s just say he used every trick he had to get me involved.”

“Did he tell you where it was?”

I held my breath. Did Collin actually have it? “No. He just gave me the watches to appraise. He never mentioned where anything else was.” Was I doing the right thing? I had no idea how Collin was really involved in the Ricardo deal. For all I knew, I was screwing him over. But I had to survive this encounter, and throwing Collin under the bus was the only way I saw that happening. I’d deal with the fallout later.

“Did he plan to take you to the collection?”

I hesitated, not sure of what the right answer would be. “We never got that far.”

His eyes narrowed. “Marino was never certain whether Dailey had it or not. He claimed he didn’t, but we all know that every other word out of his mouth is a lie, so we’ve been watching him and biding our time. Marino had begun to believe Dailey really didn’t have any part in the theft.” He grinned. “Until you showed up with those candlesticks. So many alarms went off in that one visit.”

My heart sped up. “So you think Collin does have it?”

“That or he knows where it is. Doesn’t this watch he gave you prove it?” He sat back a bit and I let out my breath. “Marino thinks that map he loves so much might have a clue about where the collection is hidden. Did you ever see anything on the map that might support that?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I barely saw it. I’ve been trying to get the map myself.”

He perked up. “You’ve been trying to get the map? Do you still have access to Collin?”

Oh, crap. “I see him around.”

His jaw tightened as he gripped the arm of the chair with his left hand, his right still holding the gun steady. “Are you or are you not still working with Collin Dailey?” His eyebrows lifted ominously. “Think carefully about your answer.”

Shit. What should I say? Both yes and no seemed fraught with danger. If I said no, then he’d probably take me to Marino, and I really didn’t want to go there. If I said yes, he might kill me because of my association alone. Neither sounded like a good option. God, I hoped I was making the right choice. “Neither.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“I’m a middle-of-the-road kind of girl and I’m not big on commitment. Collin comes to me every now and then to ask me a question about antiquities. Sometimes I answer, sometimes I don’t.” I gave him a wicked smile, trying to keep my chin from quivering with fear.

He stood. “I think we need to make a trip to Buxton.”

Wrong answer. I stood and scooted around the arm of the sofa. “I’m sorry. I already have plans today.”

He pointed the gun in my direction as he leaned over and closed the lid to the box. “Change them.”

He was going to take Daddy’s watches and I really needed them now. How could I get out of this situation alive and with the watches? “Wait. There’s one more.” My words came out shaky. I had to get myself together to make this work.

His head lifted. “One more what? Watch?”

“Yes.”

“How do I know you’re not lying?”

I pointed to the box. “If you look closely, there’s an impression of the third watch in the case.”

He lifted the lid and leaned closer. “I’ll be damned.” He looked up, his eyes hard. “Where is it?”

I forced myself to take slow, steady breaths. “I hid it. In case Collin ever tried to take them back. Insurance.”

“Smart girl.”

“If you give me some time, I can try to get Collin to tell me where the rest of the collection is.”

He looked dubious. “You think you can really get him to cooperate?”

I put my hand on my hip. “I’m not like all of Collin’s other sluts. Don’t underestimate me. Give me until next week and I’ll have more information for you.”

“You have until tomorrow night. I’ll be here at eight.”

“My neighbors are extra nosy. Make it eleven.”

“Deal.”

I released my breath, trying not to make it obvious.

He picked up the box and tucked it under his arm.

“Wait! I still need those.”

He paused, his eyebrows raised in anticipation.

Oh, crap. What rational explanation could I come up with? “Collin is expecting them back. He won’t take me to see the entire collection if I don’t have them.”

“This better not be a trick.”

“It’s not. I swear.” I was surely going to hell for all the lies pouring out of my mouth lately, but then again, Okeus had pretty much confirmed I was going there anyway.

He moved toward the front door. “See you tomorrow night, Ellie Lancaster.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled as he walked out the door. “I can’t wait.”

After giving myself a few moments to recover, I grabbed the watches and bandages from the bathroom and headed for my car. When I got back to the inn, David was on the front porch, his full attention focused on his laptop. I parked my car on the street and walked across the yard, the box tucked under my arm.

When I opened the screen door, he looked up in surprise. “You’re back already? Where’s the pizza?”

“Something happened.”

His eyes widened in alarm. He closed his computer and set it to the side. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Just shaken up.” I paused. “Marino’s guy was in my apartment.”

He jumped out of his seat and grabbed my hand. “What?”

“He found Daddy’s pocket watches, and he thinks it’s proof that I’m involved with the Ricardo Estate.”

He shook his head, confused. “What watches?”

“Let’s go inside and I’ll show you.”

David picked up his laptop and opened the front door, locking it behind us once we were inside.

“They won’t be back until tomorrow night,” I said when I caught him scanning the street.

“Tell me everything.”

We went into the kitchen and I showed him the watches. I confessed to pawning the third one and told him everything that transpired in my apartment a few minutes earlier.

“Do you think Collin made the same deductions about your parents’ background that Marino did?”

I shook my head with a sigh. “No. He refused to tell me anything about the deal, saying the less I knew the better. He never once tried to get information from me about any of it.”

“Okay. So what do you want to do about tomorrow night?”

I opened the lid to the box. “I don’t know yet. Maybe tell Tom. I want to think about it. But we’re safe for the moment.”

He nodded.

I looked inside and gasped, picking up my favorite watch. “It’s the symbol.” The four-pointed star had always blended into the background of smaller stars, but after seeing it in the window this morning, it was like a neon sign.

I’d had it all along.

David reached for the watch, and I reluctantly handed it to him.

“Daddy used to carry one of two pocket watches every day. When I was little, before Momma died, we’d play a game. Every morning at breakfast, I’d try to guess which one he had in his pocket.”

“Surely he didn’t wear the other watch in this box. It looks like it should be in a museum.”

“No, it was this one and the one I sold. But this one was always my favorite. The other one was prettier, but for some reason I was always drawn to this one.”

A soft smile lifted his mouth. “I guess we know why.”

“I take it you haven’t heard anything yet?”

“No. But I just sent the e-mails out. Let’s give it a little time.”

I nodded. We didn’t have time, but pointing that out wouldn’t help anything.

Then it hit me: Myra said Daddy said I’d needed time. The watches. He’d given me a clue but I was too stupid to put it together. What else had I missed?

I shook my head. “I forgot to pick up the pizza.”

He leaned over and kissed me. “We’ll figure something else out.” He grabbed my hand and placed the watch in my palm. “But do me a favor: don’t ever consider selling these two pieces unless you are so desperate you have no other option.”

I glanced down at the timepiece, then put it back into the box. “I won’t.”

We made sandwiches for lunch before we searched my old room. After an hour of looking in every nook and cranny, we came up with nothing.

David pulled me into a hug. “Let’s take a break. I’ll check my e-mail, and then we can figure out which room to start on next.”

I put in some more laundry, fighting my rising frustration. I was beginning to accept the fact that I might never find the rest of Daddy’s notes or that mysterious ring Myra had mentioned. The most pressing issue was figuring out Ahone’s mark. The four-pointed star had turned up twice in the course of a few hours. Could I trust that we’d found it? Enough to permanently put it on my back? When I finished, I found David in the kitchen, sitting at the counter with his computer.

I opened the lid to the box and picked up the starry-sky watch and opened the cover, examining the face. It hadn’t been wound in ages, and the hands were frozen. Clutching it in my hand, I closed my eyes as warm memories of my childhood washed over me. I was a little girl again, sitting at the kitchen table with Daddy as Momma served us breakfast.

“Okay, Elliphant,” Daddy said, running his hand over the pocket of his uniform pants. “Which one today?”

“Um . . . ” I tapped my chin like Daddy sometimes did. “You wore the silver one yesterday. Maybe you wore it again to trick me.”

“You’ll never know until you guess.”

“You picked my favorite. You wore the starry sky.”

Grinning, he pulled it from his pocket, unhooked it from its chain, and put it in my hand.

“I was right!” I bounced in my seat.

“This is your watch,” Daddy said. “I’m just holding onto it until you need it.”

Momma scooped scrambled eggs onto my plate, then kissed the top of my head.

Daddy beamed at me, picking up his fork. “As soon as you finish breakfast, you can look for the quarter I hid.”

My eyes flew open. “I know where to look.”

David glanced up from his computer. “You do?”

“Daddy and I used to play a game when I was really little—preschool age. He would hide a quarter and I had to find it. We didn’t do it for very long. Momma said I was too good at finding them and I was getting too much money. I had completely forgotten until a moment ago.”

“So where do we look?”

“Outside.” I jumped off the stool and ran out onto the front porch, David on my heels. “I was little, but Daddy used to say he couldn’t make it too easy. He told me a good archaeologist had to know where to look. That was half the battle.” I knelt in front of the two-foot brick wall that ran along the front of the house. Running my hand over the bricks, I stopped when I found a loose one and gave it a tug. “And the adventure.”

The brick came free in my hand, and I stuck my hand inside. Something was there. My fingers snagged the folded paper and I slid it out, carefully unfolding it in my lap.

The sheet was written in neat handwriting that turned to barely legible chicken scratch at the end. I began to read:

“When Ananias discovered his village and family were gone, he headed south toward Florida to St. Augustine, where he took a French wife.”

I looked up at David in surprise. “There were French in Florida in the late 1500s?”

He nodded. “Virginia Dare may have been the first English child born in the Americas, but a Spanish child was born in this country at least twenty years earlier. If Ananias needed a wife to continue the Dare line, Florida would have been the logical place to look.”

“But this says he took a French wife.”

“There was a colony of French as well. Your Anglican history books tend to neglect such facts.”

“And how do you know this?”

“They had interactions with the Native Americans.”

“Oh.”

He leaned over the paper and continued where I left off:

“Ananias had three children with his second wife, Marie, and three generations of Dares lived in Florida, passing the legend and the curse down to the next Keeper. The history, the symbols and words of protection, how to close the gate, how to send back the gods and spirits if the gate remained open, the feud between the brother gods, and many other things.

“In 1620, Ananias LeBlanc, fourth-generation ancestor of Ananias Dare, felt a pull north. It was an inexplicable feeling, but it caused him great discomfort to ignore it. He took his wife and two children to Jamestown, Virginia. The Curse Keepers resided in Virginia until 1650, when John Williams took his pregnant wife with a group of Virginians to colonize Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. The Curse Keepers and their descendants have resided in North Carolina since, never being able to travel more than fifty to two hundred miles from Roanoke Island.”

“Yes!” I squealed. “I always thought it was agoraphobia. Only mine was worse, depending on the day. I could usually go fifty miles before feeling anxious, but I always felt uneasy about leaving the island.”

David looked up. “Do you still have it? You came to Chapel Hill.”

“No, I didn’t have it at all that day.” I shifted my weight. “And I didn’t have it when Collin and I went to Morehead City. He was the one who told me that the feeling was insurance for the curse, to make sure we never got too far away from this place.”

“Maybe the feeling is like a barometer. You were meant to meet me. You and Collin were meant to get the bowl.”

“But who gets to decide?”

“Who or whatever is controlling your fate. Ahone?”

I scowled. I didn’t like the idea of any deity controlling my fate.

“You and Collin got his bowl for the ceremony. Where are the relics now?”

I paused. “Collin must have taken them. I wasn’t thinking straight at the time.” Could they have been in the locked glove compartment of his truck? Along with the map?

I kept reading:

“The Keeper’s duty passes to the oldest child, who assumes the responsibilities of Curse Keeper upon their eighteenth birthday. In the event that the oldest child cannot assume the duties, the role passes to the next child in line.

“The stories must be told and preserved. In the event that the line dies off, the gate will open and the spirits will escape.”

My chest tightened. “No.”

David looked up, his eyes wide.

“I can’t do that, David. I can’t have a child and force this upon them. What kind of parent would do that?”

“Your father had you and he wasn’t horrible. He was a loving father whom you adored.”

“He also didn’t have me after the gate had been opened. He didn’t have me knowing I’d have to face all these monsters.”

“Let’s think positive.” He leaned forward. “We’ll send all the demons back and figure out a way to make sure they stay locked up.”

I nodded, but I didn’t believe it. Ahone’s messenger had told me that the curse was flawed from the beginning. If the spirits weren’t mutilating animals and people, I might have been inclined to side with Collin about letting things even out. But I knew they’d only just begun their reign of terror. They wouldn’t settle down until a lot more innocent animals and people were killed. “I found out there are good spirits too. But I didn’t see them escape when the gate opened.”

“There were far more kind and gentle spirits in the Native American belief system than evil ones. So it makes sense that both types still exist. The question is: Where are the good ones?”

“We get more and more questions, but we’re not getting any closer to answers.”

“Ellie, you have to be patient. The curse was over four hundred years old. It stands to reason that you can’t learn everything about it in a few weeks.”

“I learned all about creation in a matter of minutes. I didn’t have to wait days and weeks for that.”

And then it hit me. Why hadn’t I thought of it before?

I got to my feet. “I have to go.”

David grabbed my hand and pulled me back. “Wait. Where are you going?”

“I know how to find our answers, and I’m an idiot for not thinking of it sooner.” I paused, worried about how David would react. “I have to go find Collin.”

“Okay, why?”

“When I saw creation, so many of my questions were answered. But I was touching marks with Collin. He’d purposefully taken me out into the ocean to see what would happen. I need to do it again.”

Fear flickered across David’s face. I could tell he was trying to come up with a response. “That sounds like a good idea,” he finally said. “I’ll come with you.”

I shook my head, feeling terrible for doing this to him. “I have to do this alone.”

He studied my face, searching for reassurance.

“David. Trust me.”

Finally, he swallowed and nodded. “Okay.”

I grabbed his shirt in my fist and pulled him to my chest. I kissed him deeply, showing him how much I wanted him, not Collin.

His hand buried in my hair and he deepened the kiss, tilting my head back. His free hand rested on my neck and I clung to him, wanting as much of him as I could get before I went to see Collin. I needed a memory I could draw upon since I knew I’d be walking into certain temptation. I wasn’t stupid enough to think my attraction to Collin would be gone when I saw him. But these memories of David would make me strong enough to resist it.

“Ellie,” he said, lifting his head. “I don’t want to lose you.”

My heart skipped a beat. “I’m coming back to you. I promise.”

His mouth lifted into a smile “I want to come to make sure you’re safe, but I have no doubt he’ll protect you.” I could tell that it killed him to admit it.

“Maybe I’ll protect him.”

Amusement filled his eyes. “That wouldn’t surprise me.”

“I’ll see him and come straight back.”

His arms tightened around me. “I want you to call me when you find him. And then I want you to call me as soon as you get back to your car.” He lifted my chin, his eyes boring into mine. “Promise me.”

“I promise.” Then I added, “If I’m not back in time, make sure to leave for the apartment before it gets dark.”

“I will. Just go.”

I stood on tiptoes and kissed him. “Thank you.”

“Do you know where to find him?”

Unfortunately, I was pretty sure I did.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The closer I got to Wanchese, the more my stomach clinched. The thought of going back to the first place Mishiginebig had protected me was bad enough. But the thought of facing Collin made me nauseous. I called David as soon as I got there.

Collin’s truck was parked in the spot where it had been last time. He could be out on his boat, or he could be hiding from Tom. Either way, I probably should have called him to make sure he was around, but I thought the element of surprise could work to my advantage.

I parked next to Collin’s truck and walked to the dock, the memories of my last visit clinging to my skin, making me feel dirty. I stiffened my back. I hadn’t done anything wrong. That bastard who’d attacked me had gotten exactly what he deserved.

Maybe if I kept telling myself that, I’d stop feeling guilty.

The slap of my flip-flops was the only sound as I walked down the concrete sidewalk next to the boats. I figured that since Collin’s truck was here, his boat would be out, but it couldn’t hurt to check. So when I saw Lucky Star on the back of the second boat—the one the guy had tried to drag me onto—I stopped and reconsidered my plan.

Why did my life suddenly feel like a tapestry woven by fate? Should I just give in to whatever destiny had in store?

Collin popped up, a fishing net in his hand.

I sucked in a deep breath and walked to the edge of his boat. “So you really are a fisherman.”

He stood, the net still hanging from his hand as he stared at me in shock.

I nodded toward the net. “There was lots of fishing talk when we were together, but I never saw any fishing action.”

The hint of a smile lifted his lips. “Maybe you kept me so busy with other action that I didn’t have any time to fish.”

My face burned. I’d set myself up for that one.

His gaze landed on my bandaged arm before he returned to his task. “What are you doing here, Ellie?”

“Did Tom find you?”

“If you’re asking if Officer Helmsworth came to see me, then the answer is yes.”

“You talked to him?”

He looked up with his cocky grin in full force. “Sure. Why not? He would have been more anxious to find me if I’d tried to evade him. I didn’t have anything to hide.”

“He didn’t think it was a coincidence that the guy was on your boat?”

Collin’s smile fell. “What guy was on my boat?”

My stupid mouth. I didn’t answer.

“The guy who was killed?” He waited a second.

“What does it matter, Collin. It’s done.” I paused. “Marino’s guy came to see me today.”

The color left his face. “Where?”

“I came home and found him waiting in my living room. He found a pair of antique watches that belonged to my father and presumed it was part of the Ricardo Estate.”

His eyes sunk closed. “Fuck.”

“He was going to either shoot me or take me to Marino. I had to lie. I told him you gave me the watches to appraise. I’m sorry.” My voice cracked with my guilt.

“You did the right thing. That was quick thinking.” Pride filled his eyes. “But then again, you’re a natural.”

“Do you know where the Ricardo Estate is?”

His face hardened. “Ellie.”

My temper flared. He still wasn’t going to tell me. “They know who I am, Collin! They think they have proof I’m involved. I have a right to know!”

“I don’t have to tell you shit, just like you don’t have to listen to my warning that your professor is going to get you killed.” He grunted and threw the net into a pile. “You could have told me this in a phone call. Why are you really here?”

“I need you to take me out onto the ocean.”

He put his hands on his hips. “Why don’t you have your boyfriend take you?”

“Because I need you.”

He stared at me for several seconds. “No.”

“No? What do you mean no?”

“I mean no. I’m not your errand boy, Ellie. The last time I offered to help you, you blew me off.”

“You wanted to hide me on your boat!”

“I wanted to protect you.” His voice broke, and he turned to look out at the sound.

I took a deep breath. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.”

He started working on his net again. “There are lots of charter boat businesses around here. Go hire one of them.”

My anger exploded, and I opened my purse, digging out my wallet. “You want money, Collin?” I grabbed what little cash I had and held it out to him. “Here.” I shook my hand. “Here’s some goddamned money.”

His face softened, defeat in his eyes. “I don’t want your money, Ellie.”

“Collin, please.”

He watched me again, and then he took a step to the edge of his boat and reached his left hand out to me. I took it and stepped over the edge. He didn’t move backward, so my stomach bumped into his.

I flinched in pain, but Collin didn’t seem to notice.

“Why do you want to go out onto the ocean?”

“I need some answers, and I’m hoping it will help to be in the ocean. Like when we went to the beach and pressed our marks together.”

“You want to press our marks together?”

“Yes.”

He watched me for several seconds. “Okay. But we do this my way.”

I sucked in a breath. “What does that mean?”

“It means we do it my way.”

“I’m not having sex with you.”

A sneer crossed his face. “Because you’re having sex with him.”

I couldn’t look into his eyes. “Don’t do this, Collin.”

He stiffened. “My way or not at all.”

Did I have a choice? “You’d really force me to have sex with you?”

“I can assure you, I wouldn’t have to force you, Ellie.” His cockiness was back. “How badly do you want me to help you?”

That’s what it boiled down to: What was my life worth? Could I live with myself if I had sex with Collin when I wasn’t even sure I’d get my answers? Still, I couldn’t sit back and wait to be killed, or worse, play mother to Okeus’s monster babies. Collin held all the cards. “Do you really want me to hate you even more?”

His eyes narrowed. “You realize that’s not helping your case, don’t you?”

“Fine.”

He stepped to the side and said in a snotty voice, “Well, welcome aboard the Lucky Star.”

The deck of the boat was a mess full of rope and nets. I looked around for a place to sit.

“It’s a fishing boat, Ellie. Not a yacht.”

“Whatever. As long as this rust bucket can get us out there, that’s all that matters.”

“Well, that’s the spirit,” Collin muttered. “You can sit inside or outside. Which do you prefer?”

“Outside.”

“Have a seat right here.” He pointed to a raised metal box just outside the wheelhouse. “I’ll start up the engine and we’ll be off.”

I nodded, still pissed.

“Any particular place you want to go?”

“Wherever you think this will work.”

The engine started and Collin untied the boat from the dock before heading out onto the sound.

I underestimated the amount of time it was going to take for us to get to the ocean. The sun was already dipping into the horizon by the time Collin found a place to stop. He shut off the engine and came out of the cabin, looking toward shore. He moved to the end of the boat and unfolded a metal contraption over the side.

My stomach twisted with nerves. What if we didn’t get back to shore before dark? But we were already here, and I wasn’t turning back now. Besides, Collin and I could protect each other if anything happened.

Right now I needed to focus on why we were here. “Do I need to get completely in the water?”

“You can sit on the bottom of this ladder and put your feet in.” His tone was gentler than I expected. “Your legs were all that were immersed the first time we did it.”

“Okay.” I nodded and looked over at the seat at the bottom of the ladder. I could manage that.

I maneuvered over the edge and managed to sit on the metal slats, dangling my lower legs in the water. I felt the rush of power as the waves rocked the boat, splashing onto my lap and chest. I was going to be soaking wet when I finished this thing. Collin reached out to me and I lifted my right hand, preparing my body for the surge.

I pulled my hand back slightly. “Don’t let Mishiginebig eat me.” Now that I’d pissed Okeus off, there was no guarantee that I was still protected.

He grimaced. “I’m more worried about you falling off and drowning. Last time we tried this, you were completely oblivious to what was going on around you.” His gaze flicked to the shore, then back to me. “Besides, I doubt he’d come out this far. It’s too deep. I’m more worried about other things.”

My eyes widened. “How do you know it’s too deep?” I ignored the implication that there might be other waterborne demons out there.

He shrugged. “He likes shallow water.”

My voice rose. “And you didn’t think I needed to know this?”

Exasperation covered his face. “Ellie, if you’d given me the fucking time of day, I might have told you.”

“You mean if we were still fucking.”

He shook his head in disgust. “You wanted to come out here, so I brought you. I’m helping you, Ellie. Quit giving me shit. I don’t have to do this.”

He was right. What was I doing? “Okay, let’s do this.”

Collin started to lean over again, then stopped and stood.

Oh, God. I’d pushed him too far.

He stripped his T-shirt over his head and tossed it down, then unfastened his jeans, dropping them to his feet.

“What the hell are you doing?” I hissed.

Collin stepped off the edge of the boat and into the water. He disappeared with a splash, and his head popped up in front of me a few seconds later. “I’m making sure you don’t drown, although I’m not sure why. You are the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever known.” He spread my legs apart and grabbed the end of the metal ladder, pulling himself up so that he was almost level with my face.

I gaped, surprised by his sudden intrusion into my personal space.

He saw my shock and gave me his shit-eating grin. “I said we’d do this my way.”

But I knew it had been a spur of the moment decision. I swallowed, my body already reacting to his nearness. “Okay.”

His smile fell, and his gaze landed on my lips. “Loop your arms through the ladder.”

I struggled to breathe. “What?”

He released his hold, dropping into the water again, and reached up and threaded my right arm and then the left around the ladder so that the crook of my elbows caught on the support. His grabbed the ladder and pulled himself up again, weaving his arms above mine. “Lift both your hands and hold on with your left.”

I did as he asked and looked into his face, expecting to see his usual arrogance there. Instead, I saw desperation and longing.

He reached up and grabbed the bar with his left hand before reaching his right across his chest to mine.

“Don’t let us drown,” I whispered.

“I’m already drowning, Ellie.”

His mouth lowered to mine, and my breath caught in my chest as fire shot through my body. I started to turn my head, but then his hand grabbed mine, and my senses were jolted by the Manitou. The life force of millions and millions of beings poured through me at once. The sensations flooded every part of my being. I leaned my head back and gasped, staring up into the now darkening sky. A star shone brightly overhead.

Collin’s feelings washed through me in thick waves of desire and sadness, guilt and stubbornness. His pulse quickened. He wanted me more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life, but something was holding him back. Something that frightened him.

His breath became more rapid and the star overhead began to pulse, expanding and contracting over and over again until it swallowed me whole.

I found myself standing in a field that was flooded with bright white light. It should have been blinding but wasn’t. The colors of the grass and flowers, the stream that gurgled nearby, the mountains in the distance, and the blue sky full of puffy clouds were vibrant, but they seemed washed out at the same time.

“Ellie?”

I spun around and gasped. Daddy was standing in front of me. I stumbled backward, splashing into the stream. “No. You’re not Daddy.”

His face softened, a warm smile lighting up his face. “Yes, Elliphant, it’s me.”

Tears stung my eyes, and my breath came in pants in my attempt to keep control. “No.” I shook my head. “Okeus tricked me before.”

“Ellie, it’s me.” He took my hand and smiled. His was warm and soft. “I can’t come back to you in the earthly world, but Ahone has allowed me to see you.”

I threw my arms around his neck and he held me tight. His familiar smell surrounded me. It was the right one this time.

“Ellie, I’m so proud of you. And so is your mother.”

I pulled back to look into his loving face. “Momma?”

“She’s with me. We’re together.”

My heart shattered, and my voice broke. “She’s in Popogusso too?”

He shook his head, tenderness washing over his face. “No, baby. We’re not in Popogusso. We’re in heaven.”

“But how?” My knees felt weak, but he grabbed my arms and steadied me.

“I sacrificed myself to Ahone, not Okeus.”

I started to cry. “I thought you . . . ”

“I know. I wanted you to know that I’m fine. You have so much to worry about, and I don’t want you to worry about me anymore.”

My chin trembled. “Daddy, I’m so scared. I can’t do this.”

He reached up a hand and gently stroked my hair. “You can, baby. You can and will do this and so much more.”

“I’m so sorry. I should have listened to you.”

He shook his head, grabbing my face with both hands, ferocity burning in his eyes. “Everything is as it should be. You’re on a journey. Watching you face these challenges is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I have faith in you, Ellie. You will save the world.”

I shook my head. “How can I do anything? Collin has all the answers, and he won’t share them with me.”

“Collin has his path to follow and you have yours. Eventually, they will merge, but your journeys are separate for now.”

“I can’t do this alone.”

His smile was full of tenderness. “But you’re not alone.”

Was he referring to David? “The mark on my back is gone, and I’m unprotected. Both Ahone and Okeus have claimed me. And Okeus says I’m bound to Collin in all things, but Collin is destined to go to Popogusso. I don’t know what to do.”

“There’s always more than one answer. I taught you that.”

I shook my head. “I know. But even if I decide to use Ahone’s mark, I don’t know what it is.”

“Yes, you do.” He smiled and pointed up. It had grown dusky, and a star burned in the sky, growing brighter and larger until it assumed the shape of the four-pointed star.

“You must do it soon, Ellie. It’s almost too late.” His face tightened. “But the mark can only protect your Manitou. It doesn’t protect you from Okeus’s plan.”

Tears clogged my throat. “You know what he wants.”

“I wish I could protect you. I’m sorry.”

“Okeus tried to trick me into agreeing to cooperate. He said you should have been home the night Momma was killed. Was he lying to confuse me?”

Pain filled his eyes. “There’s so much I regret.”

“Was she killed because of the Ricardo Estate?”

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. “There is much for you to learn. But the watches are important.”

“The pocket watches?”

“They hold a key.”

“What is it?”

“Finding the key is part of your journey.”

I sucked in a breath, becoming frustrated. “Ukinim is coming to kill me and Collin isn’t helping. David thinks I’m a conjurer and can banish spirits to hell on my own right. Is he correct?”

“You have more resources at your disposal, but finding them is part of your path. Remember that it’s not a weakness to use them. You don’t have to do this alone.”

My eyes flooded with tears. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, Elliphant.” His eyes darkened. “You must find Ukinim and Ilena tomorrow night and send them back.”

“But I still don’t know how to do it on my own.”

“You will find the way.”

“I need more answers, Daddy. I came to you for answers.”

“Remember the star.”

I looked up into the star, watching it expand and contract until it swallowed me again. I felt myself being jerked backward, and then I was bobbing in the ocean. Collin had an arm around my back and was holding onto the ladder with his free hand.

He searched my face. “I’m sorry. I tried to keep contact with you for as long as I could. But you fell off and—”

“It’s okay. I got what I needed.”

“That’s good.” He continued to watch me and then nodded toward the ladder. “Then I guess we can climb out.”

I grabbed the rungs and pulled myself up, Collin following behind me. I stood on the deck, lifting my T-shirt and trying to wring all the water out of it.

He looked down at my stomach, his mouth hanging open. “What is that?”

The gauze had fallen off my arm in the water and the gashes were healed, but the wound on my stomach was a well-defined scar. I pulled my shirt back down.

His eyes widened in anger. “Ellie, what the hell is that?”

I took a step backward. “It’s none of your business.”

His face reddened. “You talk about me keeping secrets, but you keep a shitload of them yourself.”

I put my hands on my hips. “What am I keeping secrets about?”

He flung his hand toward my stomach. “That, for starters.”

Collin didn’t deserve to know anything about my life, but he was right—this concerned him too. “You want to know what this is?” I grabbed the bottom of my shirt and tugged it over my head, the wet cotton sticking to my skin. I threw it down and stood in front of him in my denim shorts and black bra. “Here it is, Collin. You’re the guy with all the answers. Why don’t you tell me what it is?”

He stared at my stomach, and his eyes were glazed with horror when his gaze rose to my face. “Okeus.”

“Yeah.”

“When? How?”

“Last night. He came to me in my dreams.”

“How the hell did he come to you in your dreams?” he shouted, the veins in his neck bulging. “I put that goddamned mark on your door to protect you.”

“What? I don’t understand.”

“You told me that they were coming to you in your dreams, so I put the diamond symbol with the X on your door. The diamond represents your dreams.” He ran his hand over his head and looked toward the shore. “Goddamn it! I redid it last night to make sure it worked.”

My stomach fell to my feet. “So it wasn’t the dream catcher?”

His face wrinkled in confusion. “What dream catcher?”

I shook my head. “I wasn’t home last night.”

“You were with him.” A sneer covered his face. “Your professor who doesn’t know shit and is going to get you killed. How can you not see that?”

“At least he tells me the truth, Collin. Something you are completely incapable of.” I took a deep breath. “Besides, you don’t know I’m sleeping with him.”

“Look who’s incapable of telling the truth now.” His face turned ugly. “Our connection works both ways, Ellie. I know you slept with him. I know that you have feelings for him. Hell, I could smell him on you the minute you got on the damned boat.”

Shame and indignation swept through me. “Who the hell are you to talk? You’ve probably slept with half a dozen women since me.”

“I haven’t slept with anyone since you.” His voice broke. “How could I even consider it after what we shared?”

I stumbled backward and sat on the metal box. How was that possible? Oh, God. What a mess.

He watched the water for several seconds. “What happened in your dream?”

“Okeus said he’d give me Daddy back if I gave him what he wanted.”

“And what does he want?”

“Me to choose him.”

“What else?”

I looked up at him.

He met my gaze. “To give you something that big, I know he must have wanted something in return.”

I swallowed. “He wants me to have his baby.”

“He wants you to do what?”

“My pure soul, plus my Curse Keeper power . . . he thinks he can finally make a real human baby.”

“What the fuck, Ellie!” He looked devastated.

I didn’t answer. There was nothing to say.

“And if you don’t?”

“He said it wasn’t a choice.”

The water began to rumble off the side of the boat, bubbling about ten feet out.

I looked over the edge. “I thought you said we were out too deep for Mishiginebig to bother us.”

“We are.” Collin moved next to me. “This has to be something else.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“What if it’s Okeus? I don’t have a mark on my back.”

He turned to me, horror on his face. “You haven’t found Ahone’s?”

“Not until a few minutes ago.”

“Shit.” The water bubbled higher. “There’s no time to mark you.”

“Collin.” I grabbed his arm. “We can fight this thing together. We can send it back to hell.”

He shook his head, watching the water. “We don’t even know if it’s after you, Ellie. It could be a good spirit. They’re getting stronger too.”

My eyes widened. “So they really are out there?”

“I told you they were weeks ago. It’s just taking them longer because they don’t take other creatures’ Manitou.”

“How come you know this and I don’t?”

He gave me a smirk. “I can’t divulge all of my secrets.”

The water began to shoot into the air, churning with an angry current.

A friendly spirit might even be able to give me information. “Do you think it’s one of the friendly ones?”

Collin scowled. “No.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

A large mountain lion head shot out of the water and then dove back into it, revealing a furry mountain lion body with jagged plates on its back, like a stegosaurus, and a long, lizard-like tail.

Panic gripped my chest as I watched it disappear into the water. “What the hell is that?”

Collin ran to the other side of the boat. “A water panther.”

That didn’t sound good.

He ran into the cabin and started the engine. “We have to get out of here.”

I followed him into the cabin. “Why? We can send it back to hell.”

“I can’t, Ellie!” The engine roared to life and the boat took off toward the shore.

I fell backward into the wall. “Why not?” And then I knew. Okeus.

He grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the wheel. “We’re heading north. Just keep it straight.”

I grabbed the wheel, looking back at him. “What are you going to do?”

“Take care of this.”

“Are you sure Okeus will allow it?” My tone was snotty. I knew I should be grateful that he was trying to save me, but I was pissed. Why wouldn’t he take care of it permanently?

He ignored me and stormed out the back.

I hoped we had left the water panther behind us, but a quick glance back assured me it was following us. It seemed insane to think we could outrun a demon.

Collin lifted his hand and a glow filled the air as I heard him shouting his words of protection. A vortex appeared and the water panther screamed.

I slowed the engine and then killed it. This was ridiculous. We could get rid of the demon together.

Collin shot me an angry look through the open door, but he’d have to stop reciting his words of protection if he wanted to stop me.

The boat slowed enough for me to release the wheel, and I moved next to him and shouted over the wind of the vortex he’d created. “Collin, listen to me!”

But Collin’s eyes hardened and he finished the chant.

“ . . . everything in between. I compel you to leave my sight.”

The water panther screamed as it was lifted into the air and disappeared into the closing vortex.

Collin turned toward me, livid. “Why can’t you just fucking do what I tell you? Just one goddamned time!”

I shoved his shoulder, my temper raging. “That’s what it all boils down to, doesn’t it? You want me to be a stupid girl and do whatever you say without asking questions!”

“Ellie, you’re being ridiculous!”

“Take me home, Collin.”

“Now look who’s doing the ordering!”

I hated that he was right. My temper vanished, leaving behind sorrow. “Why couldn’t you just trust me, Collin?” My voice broke. “I wanted to be with you. Why couldn’t you just tell me the truth?”

His face softened and he wrapped his arms around my back, pulling me to his chest. “It’s not too late, Ellie. I can make it up to you.”

I stepped back, and his eyes fell to my stomach. “You chose your side, and I have to choose mine. You say you care about me, but you refuse to stop those things from killing me.”

“How can you say that? I always make sure your door has fresh marks!”

“If you want to protect me, then tell me what’s out there, Collin! At least let me know what’s after me so I can protect myself.”

He didn’t answer.

I suddenly realized the truth. “You think you’ll never see me again if I have all the answers.”

He looked away.

“Why couldn’t you trust that what we had was enough?”

His chest heaved as he released a breath.

“You can’t manipulate someone into being with you, Collin. You can’t build a relationship on that.”

“It’s not like that, Ellie. I swear. I love you.”

I gasped.

He reached for my hand. “Ellie, I love you. Look, you’re right . . . I’ve never given a shit about anyone but myself my entire life. Until you.” He pulled me to his chest. “We can make this work. I promise. I’ll tell you everything.”

“What about Okeus, Collin? Are you going to let him impregnate me?”

Horror covered his face.

“Will you stop him?” When he didn’t answer me, my shoulders started to shake with silent sobs. “You’re so blind in your devotion to Okeus that you would sacrifice even me to him.” I shook my head, tears streaming down my face. “How could I be with you?”

He took a breath, tears in his eyes.

“I wanted you. I’d never wanted anyone like I wanted you. And you’re right.” I leaned into his face, my anger turning to hate. “You did ruin me. Sex with David is nothing compared to what we had.”

Pain covered his face.

“But I can’t trust you. I’m scared to death, Collin. I needed you to be there for me. I needed to know we were partners in everything, that we shared everything. But you can’t even trust yourself.”

“Ellie.”

I put my hands on his chest. “If this was just you and me, and we hadn’t opened that gate, I would have waited for you to figure things out, Collin. I would have waited.” My voice broke at the realization. “But it’s not just you and me. And I can’t stand back and wait for these things to settle down, because a lot of people are going to end up dead. Including me.”

“Ellie, please. You don’t understand.”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t understand, because I would never pick Okeus over you. Never.”

His eyes narrowed and I could see he was closing himself off from me again. Not that he’d ever been completely open to me to begin with.

“I can trust David. I know that he’s there for me despite all of this. And not because he’s stuck with me because of some curse. He’s with me because of me.” I turned my back to him. “I want to go home. To David.”

He stood behind me for several seconds and then turned around and started the boat.

I had myself under control by the time Collin pulled up to the dock in Wanchese. I was already climbing out of the boat when he emerged from the cabin.

“Ellie.”

I stopped on the sidewalk, waiting. I needed to ask him a few more questions, but the more distance between us, the better. “Tell me about the Ricardo Estate. How are you tied to it?”

He shook his head, a determined look in his eyes. “Like I said: the less you know, the better.”

“Marino thinks you’re involved with me because of my parents’ expertise in the field. Is that true?”

His face scrunched as he shook his head. “You know why I found you.”

“Did my parents’ professions make a difference to you?”

“I swear to you, Ellie. I never once took it into consideration.”

“Where’s my pewter cup?”

His body tensed. “In my truck.”

“Locked in your glove compartment? With your bowl and the map?”

He didn’t answer.

“I want my cup and the map.”

His mouth tipped into an ugly grin. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.”

“And you declared that rule to be bullshit. I want them now.”

“No.”

“I need the map.”

“You’re going after Ukinim, aren’t you?”

“He made it pretty clear last night that it was him or me. What would you do in my shoes? I need every resource at my disposal.”

He swung his head away. “Goddamn it.”

“You still won’t give it to me?”

“No.”

My temper rose and I considered finding a rock or something heavy to beat in his dashboard, but he’d stop me before I ever got the stupid thing open. I’d have to figure out another way.

As soon as I got in my car and headed back to Manteo, I picked up my phone and saw that I had five missed calls from David. Given that it was ten o’clock, I wasn’t surprised.

He answered on the first ring. “Ellie, thank God. I’ve been worried half to death.”

“I’m fine,” I said, forcing my anger out of my voice. “It just took longer than expected.”

“Did you find what you were looking for?” I knew what else he was asking.

“I did. I have a lot to tell you. I can’t wait to see you.”

I heard his sigh of relief. “I have something to tell you too. After I got back to the flat, I remembered something I read in one of the books I’ve got here. I think I’ve figured out how you can defeat Ukinim.”

“How?”

“There’s a chant that you can supposedly use. I think it’s similar to the original curse.”

Hope bloomed in my chest. “And do you know it?”

“Yes.”

I released my held breath. “Oh, thank God. We have to do it tomorrow night.”

“Why tomorrow?”

“I saw Daddy in my vision, and he told me that I have to defeat Ukinim and Ilena tomorrow night. He says I can do it on my own.”

“That’s the second best news I’ve heard all day.”

“And what’s the first?”

“That you’re coming home to me.”

I expected to be attacked by some demon or god before I got home, but I pulled into the parking lot without incident and ran up the stairs, stopping outside the door to stare at the symbol in the middle of the door.

But as I stared at it, the door flung open and David appeared in the doorway. I wondered what he thought. I was just in my shorts and bra, as my shirt had disappeared when we were fleeing from the water panther. But he gathered me in his arms, holding me tight.

“I was so scared, Ellie.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

He dragged me across the threshold and closed the door, pushing me against it and kissing me thoroughly.

I laughed against his lips. “I’ve been gone a few hours, not days.”

He lifted his head. “I swear to you, I’m not the clingy type, but I’m also not used to the woman I care about being in constant danger.”

My smile fell. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to this arrangement.”

“But it’s a different arrangement now. You couldn’t anticipate that.”

He didn’t answer. “Do you want to go first or me?”

“You,” I said. “But I need a cup of tea.” I nudged his arm. “Rumor has it that Englishmen are experts at making tea.”

“Is that so? Well, you might be right. I’m brilliant at making tea even with tea bags. Do you have any in the apartment?”

I laughed. “Yeah. In the kitchen.” I went into my room and grabbed a T-shirt, pulling it over my head.

David had found the tea bags and was looking for the kettle. His gaze lingered on me, questions in his eyes.

“You’re probably wondering where my shirt went.”

He looked into my eyes. “I trust you, Ellie.”

“I know, but I want to tell you anyway.”

“Okay.”

“After I got out of the ocean—after my vision—I was wringing the water out of my T-shirt when Collin saw Okeus’s artwork.” I sighed. “I’ll admit that I was pissed that he was still defending Okeus, so I tore my shirt off to show him what Okeus has done to me.”

His voice softened. “I trust you, Ellie,” he repeated.

I threw my arms around his neck, clinging to him. “Thank you.”

His mouth found mine as his hands held me tight. He lifted me up so that I was sitting on the kitchen counter and slid his hands under my shirt and up my back.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled his shirt over his head.

“You probably think I’m some sex-crazed Brit who can only think about shagging.”

I gave him a saucy look. “Lucky for me I want a sex-crazed Brit who only thinks of shagging.”

He picked me up off the counter with my legs still around his waist and carried me to my bed.

“Hey,” I said as he unfastened my shorts and pulled them off. “Where’s my tea?”

David shed his jeans and straddled my waist, pinning my arms over my head and grinning. “You’ll get it when I’m done with you.”

My skin flushed and my hips instinctively rose. “I like the sound of that.”

His mouth lowered to my breast and I arched up to him while he still had my arms.

“Ellie, how can I be so attached to you after so little time?” he murmured, trailing kisses over to my other breast.

“I don’t know,” I panted. “But I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

He slid up, his mouth hovering over mine. “Then let’s not find out.”

I lifted my head to kiss him. He released my arms and rolled me over to my side, facing him as his mouth lowered to my breast again. My leg straddled his waist and his erection pressed against my thigh.

He had me out of breath and begging him to enter me within minutes. When he started to roll away to get a condom, I held him in place. “I have an IUD and I’m careful. I don’t want to use a condom if you don’t.”

He brushed a hair off my cheek. “You didn’t ask about my sexual history.”

I stared into his eyes. “I trust you. If it was unsafe for me, you wouldn’t do it.”

He shook his head in wonder. “How can you trust me so completely, Ellie? Not just in this, but in everything. I feel like you have offered yourself to me completely without even considering that I might abuse the privilege.”

“Because I know you wouldn’t. It’s why I’m with you.”

He picked up my right hand and placed a gentle kiss in my palm, in the center of the circle, and then looked up at me. “I don’t know what I could have possibly done to earn such blind trust.”

“It’s not blind.” My eyes penetrated his. “I swear to you, you are the one person on this earth I want to be with.”

David’s mouth lowered to mine as he rolled me onto my back. His hand lifted my hips as he entered me and I tilted up so he’d slide deeper. He lifted his head and stared into my eyes as he began to move.

I watched him through blurry eyes, overcome with emotion. How had I been so lucky to find such a gentle and trustworthy man?

His hand stroked my cheek, worry in his eyes. “Am I hurting you?”

“No.” I shook my head, my voice tight. “I’m just so grateful that you’re mine.”

“Oh, Ellie,” he murmured. His pace quickened, and he buried his face in the nape of my neck. I clung to him, wanting him to go even deeper.

When I came, it wasn’t the earth-shattering experience Collin used to give me. Instead, it was something I needed more.

I felt like I’d come home.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

We lay in bed for an hour, wrapped in each other’s arms. David lazily stroked my body, and I felt a peace and contentment I’d never known.

I told him about Collin taking me out to the ocean and my vision, but I left out some of the details. I worried that I was being deceitful, but I didn’t want to hurt him. He knew some parts were left out, but he didn’t ask any questions. When I mentioned there was more, he gently kissed me and smiled softly. “I trust you,” he said.

“But now that I know Ahone’s mark, I can get my tattoo.”

“And how do you feel about that? I know you’ve been resistant.”

“I think it offers less protection than I originally expected. The demons will still be able to kill me; they just won’t be able to steal my Manitou.”

“Well, at least that’s something, love.”

“And Okeus can still try to be my baby daddy.”

David stiffened. “I’ll figure out a way to protect you.”

“Short of a hysterectomy, I’m not sure there is one.”

“No need to get that drastic just yet.” He rolled me over and kissed me.

I sobered. “I found out about the mark on the door. It stands for dreams. I had told Collin that I was having nightmares, and he put it on the door. It was the same night you gave me the dream catcher.”

He was quiet for several seconds. “So, Collin, huh?”

I tilted his face down to mine. “I don’t need Collin to put marks on my door. I can do that myself.”

He nodded.

“Hey.” My eyebrows rose. “You said the salt was missing from the window in my old room. Maybe that’s why the dream catcher didn’t work.”

“The symbol is probably the reason why you’re not having dreams, Ellie.”

“Well, I’m sleeping with both. I’m not taking any chances. We’ll find answers on our own. Collin keeps things from me as a way of controlling me. I’m done with it.”

“Okay.” His fingers traced Okeus’s scar on my stomach. “Tomorrow we need to go to that tattoo place your friend recommended to get you your mark. I don’t want you to face Ukinim without it.”

“But I hear those things hurt. Do I really want to get it before I go head-to-head with a demon?”

“Ellie, you’re running around with Okeus’s mark carved into your skin like it’s nothing. You can handle a tattoo.”

“How would you know? I don’t see any ink on your skin.”

“Humor me.” He kissed my palm. “If your father said you need the watches, we need to buy back the watch you sold to the pawnshop.”

“I sold it. I didn’t pawn it. I don’t know if it’s even there anymore.”

“We’ll just hope for the best.”

As embarrassing as it was, I had to tell David the truth. “Even if Oscar still has it, I don’t have enough money to buy it back.”

He shifted so he was lying on his side. “Ellie, we’re in this together. I’ll buy it back.”

I cringed, my humiliation deepening. “That’s not what I’m asking.”

“I know. But I’m part of this too now, and if we need the watch, it’s in my own best interest to get it back.”

I buried my head into the nape of his neck. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything. Trust me, Ellie. It will help me feel an ownership in this endeavor.”

“Okay.”

He lifted my chin and gave me a slow, lingering kiss, then pulled back grinning. “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

I snorted.

David smoothed my hair back from my face. “We have to figure out how to get more information about the Ricardo Estate. Inquiries with my own sources have turned up nothing.”

“Collin is out, so maybe I should give Marino’s guy something tomorrow night, even if it’s a false lead. If I string him along, he might give me some helpful information.”

His eyes widened. “Do you hear what you’re suggesting? Stringing along a thug to use him? I think you’d be better served turning him over to Officer Helmsworth.”

“Other than Collin, Marino’s our best lead on the collection.”

“You do know how wrong that is on so many levels?”

“It’s all we have at the moment. Until I figure out a way to break into Collin’s truck.”

“Let’s not resort to theft just yet.”

“We’ve moved way past theft, and you know it.” I yawned, exhaustion overwhelming me.

“Ellie Lancaster, Curse Keeper and petty thief.”

I closed my eyes and murmured. “That’s me, never a dull moment.”

Before I knew it, I started to doze off.

Several hours later, David woke me with a kiss. “How are your dreams?”

I cracked my eyes, still groggy. “Dreamless.”

“Good.” He kissed me again. “Go back to sleep, and I’ll wake you in a few more hours.”

The next morning we got up early and headed to the inn. David called the tattoo shop and made an appointment for early afternoon. When we showed up several minutes early, my nerves were a jumbled mess. “It seems like committing my soul to a deity should come with a bit more pomp and circumstance.”

“You want a ceremony?” David teased. “I can give you one.”

I shook my head with a grin. “Just hold my hand. I really have no idea what will happen when this thing is on my back. When Collin did it with henna, I didn’t feel anything until he put his mark on it. But this is real. I’m worried I’ll do something stupid when the needle hits.”

He bent down to kiss me. “I’ll be with you the entire time.”

“Thanks.”

True to his word, David held my hand the entire time, and I struggled not to compare the two experiences—the solemnness and seductiveness of the ceremony with Collin and the sterility of the tattoo application. I only hoped it would work.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening at the inn, coming up with a plan to lure in Ukinim and Ilena and practicing the chant that David had found.

“Daddy said there were many resources I could use.”

David didn’t look so sure. “If I had the choice, we’d hold off and practice this on something less threatening.” His mouth pressed into a tight line. “Are you positive your father said you had to do it tonight?”

“Yes, I told him I didn’t know how to send them back, and he said I’d find a way.” The pocket watch box sat on the kitchen counter, and I opened the lid. “He also said the pocket watches were important, but I’m not sure how.” I picked up the one with the starry-sky background. “I can bring them, but I have no idea how I’d use them.”

He took a deep breath. “I think I’ll bring some holy water for backup.”

My jaw dropped. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No. I’m deadly serious.” He stood. “I can’t believe we’re doing this. Maybe you should call Collin for backup.”

I jumped to my feet. “I’m not calling Collin.”

“Don’t be stubborn, Ellie.”

“You said I was the conjurer and that I could send them away on my own.”

“I do think you’re the conjurer.” His breath came in short bursts. “I’m just frightened for you. I can honestly say I’ve never been more frightened in my life.”

“Why? Because you think I can’t do it?”

“No, because I’ve never risked losing something so precious to me.”

I grabbed his hands and held them between my own. “Why would my own father tell me to do this if I wasn’t going to be successful?”

“Does he know the future, Ellie? Can you be certain?”

I hesitated.

“No. You can’t. You could die tonight.”

My shoulders stiffened, and I dropped his hands. “You knew the danger coming into this, David. Do you want to back out now?”

“Is that what you want?” he asked. “You want me to leave? Like everyone else?”

“That’s not fair!”

“It’s perfectly fair, but guess what? I’m not leaving you, Ellie. I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me.”

“Why?” I pleaded, trying to understand. “Why would you do this to yourself?”

“Because I love you.”

I grabbed the edge of the counter. “What?”

His eyes widened. He was obviously as surprised by his announcement as I was. His face softened. “I love you.”

“David.”

He took a step toward me. “I don’t expect you to say it back. I didn’t mean to say it at all.”

“I . . . ” I tried to catch my breath. “How long have you known?”

“Longer than you would believe.” He leaned down and kissed me. “It doesn’t matter whether I said it or not. We need to focus on what needs to be done.”

I shook my head. “Don’t do that. Don’t minimize your feelings.”

“Ellie, I’m sorry. It slipped out. Now isn’t the time to discuss it.”

“No.” I looked up at him in shock. “Now is the perfect time to discuss it.”

“I know your soul is bound to Collin. I know I’ll always be second to him.” He took my hand. “I’m okay with that.”

My heart ached. “How could you be okay with that?” I knew that I would never be.

“Because I told you: I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are my destiny.”

I closed my eyes, feeling nauseated. I was so unworthy of his love and devotion.

“I’m thirty-one years old, Ellie, and I’ve never been in love before. Don’t go and die on me tonight and leave me brokenhearted.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. “Then I shall try my very best not to die tonight. Just for you.”

He murmured against my lips with a grin. “Thank you.” Then he released me and grabbed his car keys off the counter.

“Where are you going?”

“To get some holy water,” he said as he walked out the door.

I stared at the empty room. I had time to kill, and I wanted to look for more of Daddy’s notes and the ring, but I wasn’t sure where to look next. David and I had searched the other guest rooms, turning up nothing. I knew I needed to relax and try to remember specific incidents of when Daddy and I had played the hiding game. But I was four or five years old at the time. I was surprised by how many of the memories from my early childhood I had lost. How ironic that Momma had made Daddy stop the game because I was too good at finding the quarters, and now all I could find was a single hidden note.

I went upstairs to Myra’s room and was searching there when my phone rang. Claire was miffed. “I didn’t think you were ever going to call me again,” she pouted. “It’s been days.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve just been busy.”

She heard the smile in my voice. “You totally hooked up with that hot British professor. Am I right?”

“Well . . . ”

“You did! I was joking! Is he as hot naked as he looks in his clothes?”

“Claire!”

“Well? Is he?”

“Let’s just say I’m fairly certain I have a date to your wedding next weekend.”

“That doesn’t tell me anything about how hot he is sans clothes. And my cousin will be extremely disappointed.”

“He’ll get over it.” I paused. “Say, I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to have a tattoo on my back in that halter dress you got me.”

“You found Ahone’s mark?”

“Yeah, finally.”

“Where?”

“It’s a long story, but I got the tattoo this afternoon.”

“It had to hurt like a son of a bitch to get it on your shoulder blade.”

“People say that about pretty much every body part.” I shook my head. “And it didn’t hurt too bad. David held my hand.”

“Is it okay if I gag now?”

“Stop!” I laughed.

“I’m happy for you, Ellie. He seems like a really great guy. He’s much better for you than Collin.”

“Yeah.” So why was I so sad for Collin? “Say, Claire. Something dangerous is going to happen tonight, so be sure to stay inside, okay? Do I need to come remark your door?”

“No, my door is fine. And why do I think you’re about to take part in this dangerous thing?”

“Because you’re smart and perceptive. Just stay inside.”

“Be careful, Ellie. Do you know how hard it will be for my sister to fit into your dress if you get yourself killed?”

“Ha! I’d like to see that. But sorry, I’m not planning on getting myself killed.” I heard noises downstairs. It sounded like the researchers had arrived. I needed to go down and make sure they got resettled. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

I hung up and went downstairs, happy to see Myra setting her bag down by the back door.

“Did you have a good weekend?”

She looked up and smiled. “I did. How about you? Everything go okay?”

“Yeah, great.” I smiled.

She studied my face and her eyes glittered. “You look happy.”

“I am.”

“David?”

I nodded, blushing.

“That’s wonderful, Ellie. David’s a wonderful man. Your father would have loved him.”

“I think so too.” But I could tell that she looked happy too. Her face had a soft glow to it, and she seemed more relaxed than I’d seen her in ages. “Steven’s a good man too.”

She blushed.

“And he and Daddy were friends, so we know he’d approve.”

“How do you feel about it?”

“Honestly?” My eyebrows rose. “It’s a bit weird. You’re my mom. But I love you, and if anyone deserves love and happiness, it’s you.”

“Thank you, Ellie.” She threw her arms around my neck and squeezed, then stepped back. “I heard David had applied to get a longer position at the colony site. It sounds like it’s going to go through.”

“Yeah, he’s excited about it and I have to confess that I am too.”

“That’s great.” She looked down.

“What’s wrong?”

Her brow wrinkled and she forced a smile. “What are you talking about?”

“Myra, I know you. You’re sad about something.”

“Steven only has a week left here on site before he has to go back to Durham. His university won’t let him stay longer.” She swallowed, refusing to meet my gaze. “There’s a position that’s opened out of the blue, one I’m a good fit for. Steven had mentioned it, but I didn’t think much of it until we had dinner with the department head on Saturday night. He’s asked me to formally apply. It’s nothing prestigious and although it’s highly unusual, Steven thinks I have good chance at being hired if I want the position.”

“Oh.”

“I’m not considering it. Steven just wants me closer to him, and he knew that at one point in my life I wanted to teach at a university.” She paused and her face softened with affection. “But he doesn’t know anything about the curse. He doesn’t know the danger you’re facing and how much I worry about you. I could never leave you, Ellie.”

“I never knew you wanted to teach.”

She waved her hand. “That was long ago.”

Funny how I’d never given any thought to my parents’ lives before me. But David was right. There were no coincidences. A position opening up out of the blue? The farther Myra was from all of this, hopefully, the safer she would be. I had known this time was coming, I just hadn’t known goddamn fate had decided it for me. “I think you should apply.”

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. “What?”

I smiled, refusing to cry. “If you want to do it, you should. I’ll come visit you or you can visit me. We’ll be fine.”

“Ellie.”

“Promise me you’ll really think it over, okay?” I hugged her again. “You deserve to be happy. And safe.”

She jerked back and searched my eyes.

I could tell there were a thousand questions she could ask me. I shook my head. “Don’t ask, Myra. I love you, and nothing is going to change that. I have to get home.” Before she could say anything, I grabbed the box of watches and went out the side door, my gaze landing on the rope swing hanging from the tree in the front yard.

“Swing me higher, Daddy!” I squealed. “Higher.”

“If you go any higher you’ll touch the stars, Elliphant.”

“Can I really touch the stars, Daddy?”

He laughed. “A child of opposites. You want to touch the stars while you dig into the earth.”

I used to bury things under that tree.

I ran underneath it, finding a patch that looked like it had been recently disturbed. Using my hands, I dug up the loose dirt until my fingertips hit a flat metal surface. Excited, I crammed my fingers around the edge of the object and pried a mint tin free. Something metal clanged inside. My fingers trembled as I opened the lid.

A dull gold ring on a chain lay inside.

I’d found the ring. Now what did I do with it?

Pulling out my phone, I texted David that I’d found something important, asking him to meet me at the apartment.

He arrived only minutes after I did, bursting through the door. “What is it?” he asked, breathless.

“I found Daddy’s ring.”

We examined it together, and had I not known that he’d told Myra it was important, I never would have suspected. The band resembled a wedding band, but it was engraved with symbols. Some we recognized, some we didn’t.

“Symbols for nature,” David murmured, turning it in his fingers yet again. “But no signs for gods—that we know of. There are about half a dozen I don’t recognize, and most of them aren’t on the plank from the colony site.” He looked inside the band. “But the most noticeable thing about it is the fact that the entire inside of the ring is engraved with alternating signs for the land and the sea.”

“The question is how do I use it?”

David’s jaw hardened. “I wish I had more time to figure that out.”

“So I show up to fight these monsters carting my assortment of good luck charms like I’m going to play bingo? Because without knowing how to use them, that’s all they are at the moment.”

His mouth quirked. “I’m sure that might be more amusing if I knew what it meant.”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” I gave him a kiss. “We need to figure out where to find Ukinim.”

David pulled a map of Roanoke Island from a bag he’d brought in and laid it out on my table. “You said Tom told you that the victims were found at the lighthouse, and a quarter mile west and north of the apartment. That leaves east.”

I looked up. “That’s Festival Park.”

He nodded.

“Well, that’s good, right? It will be closed and deserted after dark. Less of a chance that someone else will get hurt.”

“But we’ll have to break in.”

I shot him a grin. “All we need is a pair of bolt cutters.” When he looked surprised, I winked. “I learned a thing or two from Collin.”

“Ah, the education of the American youth.”

“So what time do you want to do this? We need to be here at eleven when Marino’s guy shows up.”

“Ellie, I cannot express my disapproval of that idea strongly enough.”

“And your disapproval is noted, David, but he might know something important.”

“So we wait for you to have tea with a thug before we go off to fight demonic badgers? Just another Sunday night in sleepy Manteo. What do you plan on telling him?”

“That Collin is taking me to see the collection this week.”

“You know this is absolute madness, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

David sighed. “Well, if anyone can pull it off, it’s you.” He took my hand and pride filled his eyes. “And you can send Ukinim and his mate back to hell. I believe in you, Ellie.”

I nodded. I was glad someone did.

The wait was agonizing. We came up with a skimpy plan for dealing with Marino’s guy and one that wasn’t much better for fighting the badgers, but at ten minutes after eleven, I was beside myself, pacing the living room floor frantically.

“Marino’s guy doesn’t seem like the fashionably late type. Where is he?”

David leaned his back against the kitchen counter. “I don’t know. Maybe they changed their mind about you.”

Dread cramped my stomach. “No. Marino doesn’t change his mind.”

My cell phone rang in my purse. I dug it out and anxiety stole my breath when I saw the unfamiliar number. “Hello?”

“Ellie, this is Tom.”

“Hey, Tom. What can I do for you?” My gaze searched out David, and he moved across the room toward me.

“Just thought I’d let you know that we picked up two known associates of Joseph Marino crossing the bridge to the island about thirty minutes ago.”

I sat on the sofa, my body tense. “You’re kidding.”

“It was a routine traffic stop, but when we ran their licenses we turned up some outstanding warrants. They’re currently in the Manteo jail.”

Would Marino blame me for this one? “That’s great, Tom, but why are you telling me?”

“I thought you’d like to know that this mess might be over now.”

I closed my eyes, resisting the urge to sigh. Little did he know, it had only just begun.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

It was much easier to get into the park than I expected.

When we mapped out a quarter mile east of my apartment, it put us squarely in the English camp of the re-created settlement of the first Roanoke colony of 1586 that had consisted entirely of men. The section featured a guardhouse, a blacksmith shop, a woodworking lathe, and an officer’s tent.

“So cliché,” I muttered for the fifth or twentieth time.

“Yes, Ellie, I know,” David murmured softly, keeping his flashlight beam low so we wouldn’t be seen by anyone across the cove in Manteo.

I clutched the strap of my backpack, which carried the watches. The ring was around my neck on the chain. I still didn’t know how to use them, but I hadn’t known the words of protection and how to use the symbol on my hand until I needed them. I hoped the same would prove true tonight. “How are we supposed to lure them here?”

“You’re the bait, love.”

“That’s reassuring.” But true. “If things get too intense, maybe we can lure them to the water and Big Nasty will come save me.” I snorted. “It’s a sad day when you hope a giant evil snake will save you.”

“Indeed.”

When I got nervous, I got chatty. Obviously, David got quiet.

When we reached the middle of the English camp, I looked around. “I haven’t been here in years.”

He spun around, taking in the buildings. “I’ve never been here.”

I pointed to the south. “The sound is just on the other side of that brush.”

“So that’s our escape plan. Pathetic as it is.” He spun in a circle. “There doesn’t seem to be a high place around here like the lighthouse.”

“Well, there is,” I corrected. “The tents are worthless but the roof of the blacksmith’s building is a good two stories tall. It just isn’t easily accessible.”

He disappeared into a tent and dragged out a round table into the middle of the clearing. “This isn’t much, but it’s better than nothing. Climb on top of it after you finish marking your symbols.”

“What are you talking about? We aren’t going to try to get up on the blacksmith’s building?”

“Ellie, look at it. Even if you get up there, you’re liable to break your neck if you fall off. Besides, you need to be more tempting to them. So lower it is.” He walked over to the woods and grabbed a long stick, then handed it to me. “You work on the markings, and I’ll get started with the candles.”

I nodded and reached for the stick. Our hands brushed, and I looked into his eyes.

He smiled softly and leaned down to give me a gentle kiss. “You can do this, Ellie. Just stick to the plan, as arse about tits as it seems.”

I started giggling, relieved that he’d broken some of the tension. “Arse about tits?”

He grinned. “I have so much to teach you.”

I began marking symbols in a big circle in the dirt, using the same ones I used on the doors, while David set up candles around the perimeter and lit them. When I finished the outer circle, I started on an inner circle of markings while David pulled a container of salt from his bag and poured a thin line around the candles.

When I finished the second circle, I stood up.

“According to Cherokee and Algonquian tradition, we either need seven circles or four,” he said. “Nothing in between. We have four now, counting the salt and the candles. How’s your palm?”

I lifted my hand. “It’s fine. It doesn’t itch or burn.”

“Then make another circle and I’ll make two more salt circles.”

“Okay.” My job was easier since I had a smaller circle to mark and I finished just as he ran out of salt, halfway through his next to last line.

“Remember to stay up there on the table unless they break through. If they do, run for the water.” He pulled another salt carton from his bag and began to pour. “When both of them are in view, start the chant. Read it. I know you probably have it memorized, but in the Cherokee belief system, the wording has to be exact to make a spell work. We’re not sure what we’re dealing with here, so it’s safer to hedge our bets. Read it slowly and don’t stop. If you do, start over again.” He looked up at the sky, then back at me. “Use your torch even if you can read the text by moonlight. It may be cloudless now, but you know how quickly the wind gods can summon a storm.”

I dug the book out of my bag along with a flashlight and set them on the table, leaving the bag on the ground. “I’m scared.”

He looked up, his determination written across his face. “I’m past scared, love. I moved into scared shitless about an hour ago while we were waiting for Marino’s guy to show up. But just stick to the plan. You can do this.”

I nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” Why else would Daddy have told me it had to be tonight? I had to trust my instincts, but I had to admit that something about this didn’t feel right.

I climbed on the table as he continued with the line.

“I’m going to be up in the tree right here.” He pointed to a large oak tree next to my planned escape route.

“I’d feel better if you were in here with me.”

“Ellie, we’ve discussed this already. The temples were considered sacred and only priests and conjurers were allowed inside. We just made you a temple. If I went in there with you, I’ll dull or negate your power. Then all of this would be for naught.”

I climbed on top of the table and picked up the book and flashlight. “Make sure that you’re high enough in that tree so that they can’t jump up and claw you. One of them got to the top of the lighthouse roof.”

When he was halfway finished pouring the salt circle, my palm started to burn. A low growl rumbled in the woods, and my heart took off like a racehorse. “David, get in the tree.”

He turned to look into the trees behind me and then continued to pour salt. “I’m almost done.”

“David, get your ass into that tree now, or I’ll come over there and push you into it.”

“I’m not done—”

“If you think I’m lying, you don’t know me very well.” I moved to the edge of the table, ready to leap off.

“Ellie, don’t you dare! It has to be seven full circles or it won’t work.”

He was right, but I didn’t like admitting it.

He finished the circle and ran for the tree, tossing the salt container to the ground. He’d made it to the first branch when red eyes became visible in the woods. The badgers were on opposite sides of the clearing, hunching down amidst the trees.

Ukinim stepped out first. “Witness to creation, you brought me a snack.” His right eye glowed bright red, but the left one was noticeably paler. Was physical harm permanent to them? Did that mean they could die?

The wind picked up and clouds began to form on the horizon.

“An eye for an eye.” Ukinim sniffed the ground. “Or in this case, an eye for something of worth.”

Fear gripped my chest. “No!”

David was on the second branch when Ukinim bashed his head into the trunk, shaking the tree.

David lost his foothold and hung from a branch, his legs hanging over the badger. Ukinim’s claw made a large swing, digging into David’s thigh.

David cried out and pulled himself up onto the branch.

“David!” I moved to the edge of the table.

“Ellie, no!” David shouted. “Stay where you are!”

I tried to catch my breath. I had to keep my wits about me, but this wasn’t going according to plan. I was supposed to be the bait, not David. I needed both badgers to be close for this to work. If it worked.

Ilena appeared from the opposite side and bolted for the tree. She threw her body into the trunk, shaking the branches so hard that David began to slip.

I fumbled to turn on the flashlight and started reading the text, my voice faltering as the pages fluttered in the gusts.

“Louder, Ellie!” David shouted over the wind. “Start over.”

Ukinim leapt for the first tree branch, pulling himself up by his claws.

I started over, reading the ancient words in a booming voice.

The clouds billowed overhead and lightning shot from cloud to cloud, casting an eerie glow on the re-created village.

“That’s good, Ellie! Keep going.” David scrambled to the next branch, barely out of Ukinim’s reach, but the badger was on the move again even as his wife smashed the tree trunk.

I held the book vertically so I could keep an eye on David over the top of the pages.

A splitting sound filled the air. I forced myself to keep chanting. David had climbed up to the smaller branches at the top of the tree. Soon they wouldn’t support his weight.

I was more than halfway through the chant and nothing was happening. The vortex always started to manifest as soon as I started to recite the words of protection. The weather had changed, but it seemed to be the work of the wind gods rather than my own power. Were the wind gods here to protect me for Okeus? If so, that didn’t mean they’d protect David. In fact, it was in their best interest if he wasn’t around to help me.

Ukinim laughed as Ilena continued to ram the tree trunk. The splitting sound rent the air again, and the tree bent a few inches to the side.

All I had to go on were my instincts, and my instincts told me this wasn’t working. Even if I finished the chant, David would be dead—either by the claws of the badgers or the power of the wind gods. I threw the book down and jumped off the table, stepping over the first two circles of symbols. I needed to protect David from the most immediate threat first. “Hey, Ilena. Don’t you want me?” I walked over the third circle. “Come and get me.”

“Ellie!” David shouted, fumbling to get his backpack open. “Get back in the bloody circle.”

I had managed to attract Ilena’s attention. She sniffed the ground, eyeing me with wary suspicion and greed.

Ukinim’s nose lifted into the air.

“That’s right.” I held my hands out higher. “I’m out in the open. Don’t you want me? Won’t it piss Okeus off when he finds out you’ve killed his precious treasure? He cares way more about me than he does about that guy.” I stepped over the fourth circle of candles.

Ukinim jumped to the ground.

David was climbing down the tree when I heard a loud cracking sound. The tree fell the rest of the way to the ground, David deep within its foliage.

“David!”

The badgers bent their heads low to the ground, pacing around the outer salt line.

David groaned, pulling himself up through the branches. “Ellie, get back to the inner circle!”

“It didn’t work!”

“I know. Now you need to protect yourself.”

But even if I listened to him, I wasn’t sure how long it would help. The badgers were kicking dirt over the salt, breaking the outermost circles.

The clouds overhead rolled furiously and thunder rumbled long and loud as if in protest.

“Hey, you wankers!” David shouted, holding the bottle of holy water in his hand. “Look at me!” He stood on the fallen tree trunk, waving his arms in the air.

“David! No!”

But the badgers had turned to face David, who was seemingly easier prey. His leg was dripping with blood, which had to only increase their interest in him.

He held out the bottle of holy water and shook it toward the nearest badger. Ilena squealed in pain and bolted backward, crashing into a tree as the scent of singed skin and hair filled the clearing.

Ukinim stopped charging David and turned toward his mate, sniffing her back and licking her face.

I knew David’s intention was to distract Ukinim and Ilena so that I could get back to the table, but I needed another plan, since the first one had failed. Right now I needed to get the badgers away from David, or I needed to use the words of protection to send them away temporarily. Which meant we would be back at square one.

Daddy had told me I had the resources to send them away. Why hadn’t my instincts kicked in yet?

Ilena was still howling but Ukinim turned toward David, his menacing growl filling the air. “I will make you pay, tosh-shonte.”

I headed over to the path that led to the replica of the Elizabeth II, which was docked several hundred feet away. “Hey, Ukinim!” My voice was barely audible over the blustering wind.

“Ellie!” David shouted in irritation. “Stop!”

But Ukinim’s attention turned to me.

Rain began to pour from the sky and lightning struck the ground on the other side of the park, filling the air with the stench of burnt wood.

“Come and get me!” I walked backward. I was leading the badgers away from David, but what would protect him from the wind gods? He couldn’t run on his injured leg.

The circle. It had protected me from all the gods and spirits except Okeus at the gate ceremony.

“David, get into the circle!” I turned around, making sure the badgers were following, and sprinted for the ship that was anchored in the cove, hoping he would listen.

I had no idea how fast giant badgers could run, but I had a feeling it was faster than me. The wind shifted direction, pushing me forward instead of impeding my progress. I scrambled toward the ship as they chased behind me, smashing the wooden floor as they went.

I only realized what they were doing when it was too late to change course—they were destroying my escape path.

I made it to the dock and ran over the gangplank onto the boat. Now I was really trapped unless I jumped into the sound. I knew they could swim, but all the information I’d found indicated that they preferred not to. Of course, they might decide I was worth the effort.

Where was Mishiginebig when I needed him?

Ilena walked along the edge of the dock and growled. A large bald spot covered her back where the holy water had doused her. “We have you now, Curse Keeper.”

I flexed my hand, ready to use my power. I knew that I should. My instincts had yet to kick in. But stubbornness won out. If I sent them away, they’d only come back again . . . and the next time they’d be even angrier. Daddy had said to do this tonight. I had to trust him.

Ilena leaped over the gap between the dock and the ship, landing on the deck, while Ukinim blocked any attempt I might have made to jump back onto the dock.

Crap.

I started climbing the rope ladder up one of the masts.

“You’ve got nowhere to hide, Curse Keeper,” Ukinim slurred.

Movement at the side of the dock caught my attention, and the torrential downpour slowed to a sprinkle. “You are the biggest pain in the ass,” Collin shouted, climbing over the edge of the dock.

“Collin?”

Ukinim turned toward him. “Son of the land.”

Collin stood on the wooden platform, cocking his head to the side. “You and Ellie have more in common than you think.” He took a step closer to the ship. “You both hate Okeus. Just let her go.”

“Let her go?” Ukinim lowered his head and turned his good eye toward Collin. “Okeus stole what was most precious to me. My humanity,” he growled. “And now I will take what’s most precious to him.”

“Goddamn it, Ukinim. Okeus will never let you get away with this,” Collin spit. “It’s not worth it. Just let her go.”

“Never.”

Ilena rammed her body into the mast and the rope ladder shook. My foot slipped from its rung, and I clung to the ladder as the mast shook again and began to tilt over the dock.

“Ellie!” Collin shouted.

Ukinim laughed, swinging his claws, but I jerked out of the way and skittered back down the pole, reaching for a rope ladder attached to another mast. Grabbing hold of it, I crouched on the wood beam and leaped for the nearby pole, sliding and fighting for purchase as my legs became tangled in the ropes. At least I was back over the ship.

My relief was short-lived. Ilena hit the new mast and I screamed as my hands slipped, my legs still entwined in the ropes. I now dangled upside down over the deck, just barely out of Ilena’s grasp.

“Ukinim.” Collin sounded desperate. “Let her go or I’ll be forced to destroy you.”

The badger swung his head around, his red eye glowing even brighter. “All the spirits know you aren’t a threat. That’s why they leave you alone. For now. If you do this, you will be as much of a target as she is.”

“Listen to me!” Collin shouted in frustration. “Don’t you see that if you kill her, Okeus will hunt you to the ends of the earth to make you pay?”

Ilena laughed. “Don’t you think he knows that? He doesn’t care.”

Collin shot me a worried glance as I pulled myself up and fumbled to free my legs from the lines.

Ukinim slinked over the bridge onto the boat and laughed. “I’m going to send you straight to Popogusso, Curse Keeper.”

“Don’t waste your time,” I said, finally freeing myself. “My Manitou belongs to Ahone now.”

Ilena rammed the mast and the wood cracked, the pole leaning over the front end of the ship. I struggled to keep my hold.

The clouds rolled and lightning struck the lighthouse on the other side of the bay, the building erupting into flames.

“Ellie!” Collin shouted. “Start your words of protection.”

“No! If I send them away, they’ll just come back.”

“Trust me.”

Two words, so simple but so elusive. I would have given anything to trust Collin, but he’d proven himself untrustworthy time and again. Still, he’d always gone out of his way to protect me. I knew he’d do it this time too. Wasn’t that why he was here?

Collin took a running leap onto the ship.

Ukinim’s feet gripped the pole, and he started inching up toward me.

I lifted my hand, but it was too late. Even if I started my words of protection, Ukinim would get me before I could stop him.

A bright, warm light appeared toward the shore, and I gasped. A golden deer appeared on the dock. Every part of him glowed, including the massive antlers on his head.

The badgers stopped their pursuit and turned toward the creature.

“A wutapantam,” Collin said beneath me, his voice a combination of awe and grief.

“What is it?” I struggled to catch my breath. The animal was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.

“A sacrificial deer.”

Tears welled in my eyes.

The badgers crawled to the edge of the ship while the deer watched, its head lifted high.

“Ellie.” Collin stood about six feet below me. He lifted his hands up. “Jump while it distracts them. They won’t be able to resist its lure.”

The badgers were mesmerized, and they moved as if in slow motion across the gangplank toward the dock.

Collin reached for me as I dropped, his arm wrapping around my waist to keep me from falling to my knees.

My palm felt like it was on fire as the badgers advanced on the deer. “Collin! We can’t let them kill it!”

“It’s too late. It doesn’t want to be saved.” His words were filled with agony.

Ilena circled the deer, but Ukinim stopped and shook his head, releasing a low growl. “I won’t fall for Ahone’s trickery.” He spun around to face us, lowering his nose to the wooden slats. His red eye burned bright.

Collin wrapped his left arm around the small of my back, his fingers digging into my waist as he pulled me against his chest.

Ilena pounced on the deer, throwing it to the dock and ripping its abdomen apart.

I felt the loss as a crushing pain in my chest, and my knees buckled.

Ukinim arched his back as he prepared to leap back onto the ship.

Collin’s body tensed and his hand tightened on my side. “Put your arm around my back.” He was already reaching his right hand toward mine.

“I don’t know what to do, Collin.”

“Yes, you do. You’re the witness to creation. You’ve known all along.” He pressed our marks together, and power greater than anything I’d yet experienced jolted through my body and Collin’s. The presence of the Manitou was stronger than ever, and they were all grieving the death of the wutapantam.

Collin pulled me closer to his chest, guiding our pressed hands over our heads.

Fear stole my breath as Ukinim pounced at us. I cringed, releasing a shriek as Collin held me in place, but the badger hit an invisible shield—just like on the night of the ceremony. My gaze jerked up to Collin. He was right. I did know what to do.

“I am the daughter of the sea . . .”

Collin’s eyes bore into mine.

“Born of the essence present at the beginning of time and the end of the world.”

My vortex appeared.

“I am the son of the earth, born of space and heaven.” His face grave, he nodded to me.

“I am black water and crystal streams. The ocean waves and the raindrops in the sky.” I stopped and looked up into his eyes.

Lightning shot through the air and the wind gusted. I struggled to stand, but Collin helped me remain upright.

“I am black earth and sandy loams. The mountain ranges and the rolling hills.”

My voice grew louder. “I am life and death and everything in between.”

“I am the foundation of life and the receiver of death and everything in between.”

Our blended voices echoed off the water. “I compel you to leave my sight.”

A crack appeared in the sky, ripping the seam between our realm and the spiritual one. The badgers screamed and cursed. The ground shook and the boat swayed violently, but Collin spread his feet apart and stayed upright, our hands still joined.

Rays of bright white light shot from the badgers’ bodies, filling the boat and nearly blinding me. The creatures shrieked with agony and fear until their bodies exploded in a ball of white light. Then a million pieces that looked like fireflies were sucked up into the crack overhead. When all the pieces were gone, Collin looked down into my face, fear and devastation in his eyes.

He slowly pulled his hand from mine but kept his arm around my back. “Do you even realize what just happened?”

I swallowed the lump in throat, my chin trembling. “I’m not sure about the wutapantam, but we sent the badgers away.”

“Yes,” he whispered. “We sent them away. But at what cost? A wutapantam sacrificed himself for you. Do you even understand the significance of that?”

I didn’t know for sure, but the loss I’d felt at its death had left me dazed.

“There are four, Ellie. Four in all of existence, and one is now gone because of what you started tonight.”

Tears burned my eyes. “I didn’t know, Collin,” I choked out. “I saw Daddy when we were in the ocean and he insisted that I had to do this tonight.”

He shook his head, disgust pinching his mouth. “He told you what Ahone wanted you to hear, Ellie! He tricked you into doing what he wanted. Just like he tricked Manteo.”

My mouth opened, but I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to believe anymore.

“We’ve both learned something tonight,” Collin said. “None of the gods are to be trusted. We’re all pawns in an eons-old power struggle, and both sides will sacrifice everything and everyone at their disposal to get what they want, including their own creations. The Croatan and the colonists. Manteo and Ananias.”

My chin trembled. “You and me.”

He swallowed, lifting his hand to my cheek, longing in his eyes. “Especially you and me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We are responsible for destroying three creations tonight. For eternity.”

I shook my head and jerked out of his grasp. “I’m devastated about the deer, but I’m not sorry about the badgers. That’s what we’re supposed to do, Collin. We’re supposed to send those things back where they belong. That’s our job! We’re Curse Keepers.”

Sadness filled his eyes. “We earned new titles tonight. Destroyers of life.”

“They thought nothing of condemning innocent lives to Popogusso, so why should we feel sorry for them? They were going to kill us, Collin.”

“No, Ellie. They were going to kill you.” He paused. “And they wouldn’t have stopped until they succeeded.” He looked toward the town, sirens blaring in the distance. “I’m not sorry we destroyed them. I couldn’t let them kill you. But we crossed a line we can never uncross. There’s a good chance that we just declared war on Okeus’s demons. My only hope is that they see the badgers as enemies of Okeus and think we did them a favor.” He turned back to me. “But even so, they’ll no longer trust me.”

“Your allegiance to Okeus protects you.”

He shook his head. “Not necessarily anymore. Not after this.”

“So what happens next?”

“We stay on guard and wait to see if they attack us. They won’t kill you, not unless they’ve gone rogue like the badgers. Okeus still wants you.”

Like that was supposed to make me feel better. I clenched my fists. “If the others start killing people too, I’ll send them back, Collin.”

“Not if I don’t help you.” His face hardened.

“There’s a way for me to do it without you, and I’ll find out how.” I instinctively reached for the ring hanging around my neck.

His gaze fell to my chest and he reached for the band, lifting it up to study the symbols. His face grew stern as his eyes lifted to mine. “Where did you get this?”

“It was my father’s.”

“No, it wasn’t, Ellie.” His voice was harsh. “Where did you get it?”

And then I knew. “It’s part of the Ricardo Estate,” I whispered.

His fist tightened around the ring. “Did you get it from Marino?”

I shook my head.

The sirens grew louder.

“Ellie!” David shouted from the shore. He leaned against one of the still standing poles.

“We have to get out of here, Collin.”

Collin dropped his hold on my chain and nodded, looking dazed as he examined the dock.

We picked our way across the splintered wood and circled around the damage and holes until we reached David on the shore.

He was sitting on a rock, both of our backpacks slung over his bare shoulders. He’d tied his shirt around his leg and his face was pale. “You did it.”

We had, but Collin’s words worried me. At what price?

Collin had healed my wounds from the badgers with our marks. I considered trying the same on David but instantly knew it wouldn’t work. The ability to heal was one more resource for us as Curse Keepers.

David and I had already planned an escape route at the back of the park. We hurried toward it in silence, David hobbling to keep up.

Collin stayed with us until we slipped through the fence, and then he got into his truck and drove away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The following Saturday night, the summer evening had cooled off and a breeze tickled the hair hanging down my back. Drew and Claire were dancing their first dance in the middle of the Grand Ballroom at 108 Budleigh, and Claire was gorgeous. She had gotten her dream wedding.

David leaned down toward my ear. “You do know that the maid of honor isn’t supposed to be more beautiful than the bride, don’t you?”

I looked up into his loving face and smiled. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who thinks that.”

He pursed his mouth into a mischievous grin. “Nope. That bloke over at two o’clock hasn’t stopped watching you since you walked down the aisle.”

“That’s Claire’s cousin and he’s had a crush on me for years. He doesn’t count.”

After all the recent craziness, I couldn’t believe we were doing something normal. It felt good.

For the last week I’d replayed the events in my mind, and I couldn’t see how we could have done things differently. Especially when I took into account that Daddy had told me to do it. But was Collin right? Had Ahone tricked me by using Daddy? Did Ahone have his own secret agenda? Whatever the original agenda, the new one was clear. There was a good chance that Collin and I had giant bull’s-eyes on our backs. Everyone in our lives was fair game too.

Claire and Drew’s dance ended, and they invited the rest of the wedding party onto the dance floor.

David hobbled out with me. “Your dress is too beautiful to waste, Ellie.” He’d needed to get multiple stitches for his leg wound, and he had trouble getting around, but he still insisted on dancing with me. Tom had questioned him endlessly, but ultimately he let it rest after the attacks stopped.

I had to admit, Claire was right. The emerald-green gown clung to my curves and the color perfectly complemented my auburn hair and hazel eyes. I really did feel beautiful, even if just for a night.

David wrapped me in his arms, and I looked up into his face, feeling both blessed and guilty. When the song ended, I helped him back to our seats.

My mouth dropped open when I saw Collin standing in the back of the room, dressed in a suit. He walked toward me, then looked down at David. “Would you mind if I steal a dance with Ellie?”

David stiffened slightly, then covered my hand with his own. “It’s not my decision. It’s Ellie’s.”

I nodded, my breath catching. I hadn’t seen him since we’d earned our new titles.

Collin took my hand and pulled me to the center of the crowd, placing his hand on my hip and keeping a respectable distance between us. “I’ve never seen you look more beautiful, Ellie.”

I flushed. “Thank you, but then again, I never really dressed up or wore much makeup when we were together.”

“You don’t need those things to be beautiful.” His voice was husky.

I flushed.

“Are you happy with him?”

“David?” I glanced up at him through my eyelashes, hesitant to answer. He watched me with an expression I’d never seen him wear before. I nodded.

“When you came to me and asked me to take you out onto the ocean, I told you that I knew from our connection that you had slept with him.”

I looked away, pain shooting through my chest. “Collin, don’t.”

“But I felt something else. I felt the contentment and peace he gives you. I never felt that from you when you were with me. And I was jealous.”

I closed my eyes.

“I told you that I love you, Ellie, and I do. But I want you to be as happy as you can possibly be given our circumstances.” He lifted my chin and forced me to look into his face. “He makes you happier than I ever could. He can give you what I can’t. You deserve someone who’s good to you. You should be with David.”

Tears stung my eyes. “But what about our souls being connected?”

“There’s no changing that, and I confess, it will kill me to see you with him, but he’s what you need. Not me. Perhaps you and I aren’t meant to be together in this lifetime. Maybe we’re supposed to wait for eternity.”

“Do you really believe that?”

He stopped dancing and his eyes clouded. “I have to, Ellie. It’s the only way I can bear to live without you.”

“Collin.” My voice broke as my heart shattered.

“I want you to know that I’ll always be here when you need me. I told you that you became my responsibility when I broke the curse, and I stand by that. You may be with David now, but you and I are far from done. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other once the rest of the demons gain their strength.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek. “I hope you find happiness while you can, Ellie.”

“I need you to tell me about the Ricardo deal.”

He stopped dancing, his shoulders tensing as his gaze landed on the ring, which I now wore on the middle finger of my right hand. “Ellie, let it go. You may have gotten lucky that Marino’s guys got picked up on a routine traffic stop, but they are only a couple of many. Marino is far from done with you. The less you know the better.”

“I don’t care about Marino. I want to know the connection to my mother’s death.”

His eyes widened. “Why do you think there’s a connection?”

“I just do. Will you help me?”

“You have to let this go, Ellie.” He dropped his hold and turned to leave.

Maybe he wouldn’t tell me now, but I’d wear him down. “Collin.”

He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

“How did you know I’d be there last Sunday night?”

His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “You really don’t know?” A soft smile lifted the corners of his mouth but pain filled his eyes. “David called me earlier that evening and asked me to come help you.” He took a couple of steps and then stopped again. “There’s a surprise for you in your apartment. Something you’ve been wanting.”

“The map?”

He grinned.

I watched the man who had changed my destiny walk out the door, then turned to face the man who would shape my future.

However short that would be.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

They say writing is a lonely profession, but somehow I always seem to be surrounded by people. Perhaps it’s all the kids running around with all my dogs. But I’m blessed with friends and associates that not only make my job much easier but also more fun.

This book wouldn’t be what it is today without the invaluable assistance of my editor Angela Polidoro. Her patience has been put to the test since she became my editor with this book. I love that she gets what I’m trying to say even when it’s not quite there yet, and her suggestions are always spot on. Her email inbox had to have been on fire with the final edits of this book. I’m sure I owe her a bottle of wine. Or maybe a case.

I’d like to thank my copy editor, Jon Ford, who added his own very valuable insight to both The Curse Breakers and The Curse Keepers. I’d also like to thank the 47North team—especially my editor, David Pomerico, who was crazy enough to take a chance on an urban fantasy based on the Lost Colony of Roanoke after what had to be the worst pitch of all time in the history of pitches.

My beta readers not only give me valuable feedback in the revision process, but keep me sane pre-release when I begin to doubt myself and my books. I can count on Rhonda Cowsert, Stormy Udell, Christie Timpson, Emily Pearson, and Anne Childon to tell me the truth. Rule number one of beta reading: friends don’t let friends look stupid in print.

I wouldn’t be able to spend as much time writing as I do if it weren’t for the patience of my children. We’re striving to find a “normal” that works for all of us. I think we’re almost there. Well as normal as the Grover Swank household will ever be . . .

And finally, I’d like to thank you—my dear reader. You take a chance on me and read my books, then recommend them to your friends. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be doing what I love: living the life of a full-time writer. I’ve never worked so hard in my life, and I’ve never been so happy. Thank you.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER ONE

“Higher, Claire! Higher!” Ellie squealed, her long auburn hair flying behind her. She’d had a bad day at school, and swinging always made her feel better. Daddy told her that her troubles in third grade were nothing compared to the real world, but that was easy for him to say. He wasn’t in Mrs. Hinkler’s class.

The swing arced, then swung down. Claire had to jump to push the swing again, her small fingers digging into Ellie’s back. “It’s my turn, Ellie!”

“Not yet. I want to reach the stars!” She stretched her feet so the tips of her loafers pointed higher. Obviously she’d never reach them, but when she was little she used to believe she really could. At eight, she was smart enough to know it wasn’t true, but it didn’t stop her from wishing it were. “If you keep pushing, I’ll tell you a secret.”

“You’re going too high and you’re gonna fall out. And I still haven’t had a turn.” Claire stepped back as the swing lowered. “Besides, you never tell me your big secret.”

Ellie twisted her face around the rope to look down at Claire. “This is a good one.”

Claire crossed her arms, her brow lowering into a glare. “What? That Drew ate dried glue before recess?” She shrugged with a scowl, flipping her pigtail over her shoulder. “Who cares? He’s gross.”

Ellie let the swing slow, sucking her top lip between her teeth. When had Claire heard about that? “Fine, you can have a turn.” She jumped out of the swing, landing on her feet and falling to her knees. The compacted patch of earth scraped her bare knee, but she turned her attention to her best friend.

“I don’t want to swing anymore.” Instead, Claire sat on the ground, her back to the giant oak tree, tilting her head to look up into the brown leaves.

Claire had been acting weird all day. Confused, Ellie sat in front of her, crossing her legs and tugging down her skirt hem so her underwear didn’t show. “Do you want to go inside and eat some chocolate chip cookies? Momma and I made some last night.”

Her friend shook her head, tears filling her eyes.

Claire never cried, so Ellie must have really hurt her feelings. Ellie twisted her hands in her lap. “I’m sorry I didn’t let you have a turn.”

Claire shot her an angry glare. “I don’t care about the stupid swing.”

“Then why are you mad at me?”

She released a loud sigh. “I’m not mad at you.”

“Then who are you mad at?”

Her dark brown eyes locked on Ellie’s. “My daddy said he wants a divorce.”

Ellie’s mouth dropped open in shock.

Claire wiped a tear from her cheek with a dirty fist. The wind picked up, blowing the loose hair from her messy pigtails in her face. She brushed them away absently, but several black strands stuck to her damp cheeks. “I heard Momma and Daddy yelling last night after I went to bed. Daddy said if Momma didn’t stop nagging him he was gonna go back to Greenville and get a divorce.”

Fear caught Ellie’s breath. Deep in her heart she felt badly that Claire was upset, but all she could think about was herself. Would Claire move back to Greenville with him? She was Ellie’s best friend ever, and she didn’t want to lose her. Several of her friends’ parents had gotten a divorce and then her friends had to split their time between their mommas and daddies, sometimes even moving away and not seeing their other parent for months. Ellie couldn’t imagine not living with both her parents. It was hard enough when her daddy left on his occasional business trips. But Ellie never questioned if her parents would get a divorce. They were happier than any other parents she knew. They were always kissing and hugging, and while Ellie’s friends thought it was gross, it only made Ellie more sure that when she got married, her husband would love her just as much as Daddy loved Momma.

Still, not everyone was so lucky. Claire’s family had only moved to Manteo this past summer because her daddy had lost his job in Greenville. Claire’s great-uncle offered him a job on his fishing boat, but Claire’s father hated it. Her mother had gotten a job at a hotel as a housekeeper, but the summer season was over and she’d been laid off. Now she worked over in Nags Head at a grocery store and she was always gone. When her parents were home, they spent most of their time fighting over money, but this was the first time Claire had ever mentioned divorce.

Ellie grabbed Claire’s hands in hers. “They won’t get divorced.”

Fat tears ran down her cheeks. “You don’t know that.”

Ellie wished she could assure her friend they wouldn’t, but she knew it might be a lie. Instead, she said the only thing she could think of that might make her friend happy. “I’ll tell you part of my secret.”

Claire narrowed her eyes and she jerked her hands from Ellie’s. “I told you I don’t want to hear about Drew Reeves eating glue.”

Ellie steeled her shoulders. “Not that secret. The secret.”

Claire still looked skeptical, but she stopped crying. “You told me you couldn’t tell me. That only family can know.”

Tilting her head to the side, Ellie gave her friend an exaggerated grimace. “I know, but you’re at my house all the time and we have lots of sleepovers. Besides, I told you I always wished I had a sister, and you and me are just like sisters.” She nodded her head firmly, proud of herself for coming to this conclusion. “So that means I can tell you.”

“Really?”

Ellie didn’t know if it was true or not. She hadn’t intended to tell Claire at all, but she’d do anything to make her happy. And it was true that Claire probably spent more time at Ellie’s house than her own. With her parents working strange hours and her older sister, Melanie, spending more time yelling at her than watching her, it wasn’t a surprise. Heck, Momma had started calling Claire her “other daughter,” so didn’t that mean that she was like a sister? In any case, she couldn’t back out now, even though Ellie’s chest felt heavy, like an elephant had sat on it. Claire was no longer crying, and Ellie didn’t want to upset her again. Besides, telling Claire would give them something special to share, just like real sisters.

“Really.”

Claire placed her elbows on her upper thighs and leaned forward, waiting.

Suddenly, Ellie didn’t know where to start. She’d known about the curse since she was a tiny girl. The curse had always been part of her life, her secret to keep. It would be nice to have someone to talk about it with, especially since Momma didn’t approve. Whenever Ellie asked her momma questions about the curse, her forehead wrinkled in irritation. She hated what she called all the “curse nonsense.” Ellie leaned forward and whispered, “My secret is about a curse.”

Claire’s eyes flew open, and she practically shouted, “You’re cursed?”

“Shhh!” But it was actually a good question, and Ellie’s brow lowered in thought. She’d never thought about if her role meant she was actually cursed. After a moment, though, she shook her head. “No, but Daddy says one day I’ll be a Curse Keeper.”

“What’s a Curse Keeper?”

“Daddy is the Curse Keeper now and there’s another one, only we don’t know who it is. When I turn eighteen, I’ll be the real Curse Keeper.” Ellie’s voice filled with pride, even though it seemed so far away—and she wasn’t actually sure what it meant, just that Daddy was always very serious about it. It was a very important job, which meant she would be very important too. Just like Daddy.

“But what are you supposed to do?” Claire asked, as if reading Ellie’s thoughts.

“Wait for the curse to break.”

Claire shook her head in confusion. “What’s the curse?”

Unsure how to answer, Ellie leaned closer again and whispered, “I know what happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke.”

“Mrs. Hinkler says no one knows what happened to the Lost Colony. She said it’s America’s great mystery.”

“Well, of course no one else knows,” Ellie said with a smug smirk. “Only the Curse Keepers know.”

“And me,” Claire whispered, wide-eyed.

And Claire . . . but not yet. Daddy had warned her that terrible things would happen if she told someone, and she was about to spill a huge secret. Her back tingled and her right palm itched and burned. She scratched at it, wondering if this was a good idea. The pressure on her chest was heavier and she sucked in a deep breath.

Claire’s cold hands grabbed Ellie’s, her fingernails digging into the padding inside her fingers. Her tears had dried up and excitement sparkled in her eyes.

How could Ellie not tell her now? “The colony disappeared because of the curse.”

Claire’s grip tightened.

“We live in Manteo, but do you know who it’s named after?”

Her friend shook her head.

Ellie wasn’t surprised. Claire hadn’t been born here. Everyone who lived here knew the Lost Colony story by the time they were in first grade, but Claire had moved here six months ago, right after the end of second grade. “Manteo was an Indian who helped the English people. So they named the town after him. But he didn’t just help them get food and protect them from the other tribes. He tried to get rid of the Native American gods of the enemy tribes.”

Claire was mesmerized. “Why would he do that?”

“Because he thought that was how they got their power to fight,” Ellie said, trying to say it the way her father had taught her. Sometimes it was still hard to understand, but Ellie would always nod her head and repeat whatever he said, eager to please him. “Manteo thought if their gods were locked up, they couldn’t attack and hurt Manteo’s tribe—the Croatan—and the colonists, so he and Ananias Dare performed a ceremony.”

“Ananias Dare! I know that name!” Claire said, her voice rising in excitement. “That’s the name of the street downtown!”

“Yeah, but he was a real person too. He was married to Elinor Dare, and her father was the governor, John White.”

“Wait.” Claire’s eyes bugged out. “Your name is Elinor Dare Lancaster.”

“Because she’s my great, great, great something grandmother.” Daddy had told her, but she always forgot how many “greats” there were.

Claire frowned her skepticism. “Nuh-uh.”

Ellie’s irritation ignited. She wasn’t even supposed to be telling Claire, and now she acted like Ellie was lying. She crossed her arms over her chest and asked in a snotty tone, “Do you want to hear what happened or not?”

Claire flinched with contrition and nodded. “I do.”

Ellie fumed for a little bit before going on. “So these two guys had some kind of ceremony. They each had something special to help them. Ananias had a pewter cup. It’s in Daddy’s office right now.”

Claire’s eyes were about to bug out of her head. “No. Way.”

“I’ll show you.”

Claire jumped to her feet. “Okay.”

They climbed the steps to the screened-in front porch. Ellie was careful not to let the door slam shut. Usually she didn’t care, but she was sure Daddy wouldn’t approve of her showing Claire the cup, let alone telling her about the curse. But at this point, she was upset that Claire wasn’t believing her, so she had to show it. Following Ellie’s lead, Claire tiptoed behind her into the office.

Ellie loved her daddy’s study. A big dark wooden desk was in the middle of the room, and Daddy always looked so important when he sat there, searching through his books and writing in his notebooks. The walls were lined with hundreds of books. She’d tried to count them several times and always lost track. The room smelled of cinnamon and leather, a scent that always seemed to hang onto her father. Sometimes when he was on a trip and she missed him, she’d come into the room and close her eyes and breathe in the smell of him.

But today, she was on another mission.

When they entered the room, she shut the French doors, even though the glass panes wouldn’t hide them from Momma, who was due home from work at any time. Right now, though, the only person she needed to worry about was Miss Marney, the older woman who watched Ellie after school. She’d known Daddy since he was a little boy and now she helped with Ellie’s parents’ bed-and-breakfast, sitting in the office and talking to guests while her parents worked their other jobs at the Fort Raleigh visitor center. But she was in the bed-and-breakfast—the converted house next to Ellie’s—and she most likely wouldn’t catch them. Even if she did, she was used to finding Ellie sitting in her daddy’s office chair.

Ellie moved to the back of the room and opened the blinds to give them more light. The next-door neighbor’s puppy romped outside in a pen made of baby gates. Maybe Claire would want to go play with Chip after she showed her the relic. The puppy would be much more fun than looking at an antique.

Eager to go back outside, she pointed up to the tallest shelf in the back corner. A small brown cup sat in front of a row of very old books, looking just as old, dirty, and unimportant as Ellie always thought it was. “There it is.”

Claire stood next to her, her head tilted back and her mouth dropping open. “That’s it?”

“Yep.”

“Why do you still have it?”

“Because we have to keep it for when the gate opens again and all the gods and spirits come out.”

Claire turned toward Ellie, her face pale. “What?”

Ellie was having trouble keeping the smug look off her face whenever she revealed another layer of the secret. “See, when Manteo and Ananias locked away the gods, they trapped them behind the gate to hell. And the colony disappeared with it. But when the gate breaks open, the colony will reappear with all the people who were there in the place where it used to be.”

“Where?”

She shrugged. “At Fort Raleigh, probably.”

Claire gave her head a little shake. “Will the colonists be dressed like they were when they disappeared?” Her eyes widened. “They’re sure gonna be surprised when they see cars and TVs.”

Ellie shook her head. “No, they won’t. Daddy told me that no living person could go to hell and come back alive.”

“So they’ll be a bunch of dead bodies? Will they be skeletons?”

Ellie shrugged again. “I guess.” She’d never given that part too much thought. She didn’t want to think about a bunch of skeletons, but she wasn’t surprised that Claire did. She was fascinated with ghost stories. Abnormally so. “But the curse is over four hundred years old and it’s never broken. It probably won’t break when I’m the Keeper.”

“That is so cool!” Claire squealed. “Maybe you’ll be lucky and it will break. Then what do you do?”

“Then the other Keeper and I will have to close the gate. And I’ll have to find a ladder to get the cup off the shelf.”

“That part’s easy!” Claire grabbed a shelf and began to climb. “I’ll get it for you.”

Ellie started to protest and tell Claire to leave the cup alone, but after talking about it she was surprised to discover that she actually wanted to see it and touch it. Daddy had taken it down once, but whenever she asked to see it since, he told her it was precious and not something to be “mauled.” She’d never understood that part. She knew bears mauled animals and people, but Ellie only wanted to look at it. And now she reasoned that if she were really the Keeper and needed the cup to close the gate someday, she should look at it so she’d be ready.

Claire loved to climb things—trees, ladders, the sand dunes at Jockey’s Ridge State Park—so climbing a ten-foot-tall bookcase was easy. She grabbed the cup and quickly descended, landing in front of Ellie. “This is it?”

“That’s what Daddy says.” Ellie understood her disappointment. For something that was supposed to be so important, it looked so boring. She took it from Claire’s outstretched hand and turned it upside down, looking for some sign of its specialness. There was nothing. Maybe Daddy had gotten it wrong.

“So what do you do with it?”

Ellie wondered how much she should tell. There was a ceremony with rules to be followed. The first had been led by Manteo. Ananias had gone along, not understanding that he’d been tricked. Daddy told her that Manteo had stolen Ananias’s family from him. He warned her that the Keepers had to perform the next ceremony as equals. He’d gone through the ceremony with her, making her repeat it all so she didn’t forget. They were to set up the site by etching symbols of the gods and spirits as well as the forces of nature, asking Ahone to grant his mercy on the children of the land and the sea. They were to cleanse their souls, and then they could ask the ancient magic, as old as time itself, to help them protect humanity by closing the gate. But her father had warned her that Manteo had used blood in the first ceremony, and she needed to use something stronger this time. Only she couldn’t remember what it was . . .

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 anyone. 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.

“You should have told me instead of going to Steven, Amanda!” her father said. He wasn’t yelling, but it was much louder and harsher than he usually spoke.

“I couldn’t, John. I signed an NDA. I can’t even tell you all the details, and I knew you’d insist that I did. Besides, I didn’t tell Steven. I only asked for access to papers in the library.”

Their voices faded and Ellie realized they probably moved into the kitchen. Her fear returned. They were fighting, and it wasn’t about the curse.

She climbed into her parents’ bed, snuggling under the covers and turning on the TV with the remote. Her mother came in several minutes later. She changed into her own pajamas, climbed into bed, and pulled Ellie into the crook of her arm. Ellie snuggled against her mother, soaking in her warmth.

“Ellie, I know something’s bothering you and I’m worried about you. Will you please tell me what’s wrong?”

She hesitated. She didn’t want to admit to eavesdropping. It was better to start with Claire. “Claire heard her dad say he wants a divorce and wants to move back to Greenville.”

Her mother’s hand smoothed over the top of Ellie’s head and her voice was soft and gentle, the tone she used when she comforted Ellie after one of her many nightmares. “That must make Claire very sad.”

“Yeah.” It felt good telling Momma about her worries. “And . . . and then I heard you and Daddy fighting and I got scared.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Her mother’s arm tightened around her. “First of all, we weren’t fighting. We had a disagreement—there’s a difference. Second”—she lifted Ellie’s chin so she was looking into her mother’s hazel eyes—“your father and I aren’t getting a divorce. We love each other—and you—very much. We couldn’t bear to live without each other. You have nothing to worry about.” Her mother kissed her forehead. “Do you believe me?”

Ellie nodded, reaching an arm across her mother’s stomach and squeezing her side.

“Is there anything else bothering you?”

She hesitated. “It’s about the curse.”

Momma’s eyes widened before she recovered. “Okay.”

“Daddy says I can’t tell anyone about it or bad things would happen.” She bit the right side of her lower lip. “What if I accidently told someone?” It hadn’t been accidental at all, but it was easier to admit that way.

Her mother pulled her closer. “Ellie, the curse is all fairy tales and make-believe. I let your father tell you his tales, but I want you to know that it’s not real. If you tell someone, nothing bad will happen. I promise.”

As Ellie snuggled closer to her momma, she could almost believe everything would be okay. But she knew something wasn’t right. It was like when the mist rolled in from the sound, making everything all blurry and fuzzy. She knew she had to make everything right again.

If only she knew how.

CHAPTER THREE

The rain beat against the windows as Ellie hunched over her spelling words in the kitchen after dinner. A cold wind blew in from the north, and her chest had felt heavy all day. It had been two days since she’d told Claire about the curse, and so far nothing terrible had happened. Still, Momma and Daddy had been acting strangely, whispering when Ellie was around and raising their voices in heated discussions when they thought she wasn’t. She couldn’t figure out what they were talking about except for bits and pieces.

Even now she could hear as her parents’ voices floated in from her father’s office, and her curiosity got the better of her. She slid off her chair and snuck into the hallway, hiding in the shadows, her back pressed against the wall.

“I know you signed a nondisclosure agreement, Amanda, but I’m begging you to tell me what you saw.” There was a pause, and finally he said, “At least tell me what you hope to find at the library at Chapel Hill.”

Her mother was silent for several seconds. “Fine, but I can’t tell you everything.” When her father didn’t answer, her mother continued. “I think it might be the missing artifacts from the Middleton collection.”

“The collection lost during the Civil War?”

“Yes.” She paused. “But I’m going to Chapel Hill to investigate a particular artifact. It was given to me in good faith. I have a week to discover its significance. I didn’t tell Steven I had it, only that I needed access to his papers.”

“They gave you an artifact?” His voice rose, making Ellie jump. “What is it?”

She didn’t answer.

“Amanda, I’m your husband for god’s sake! Who am I going to tell?”

Her voice quivered. “I can’t tell anyone, John. Anyone.” She took a breath. “Especially you.”

“Why especially me?”

She didn’t answer again.

“Is it related to the curse?”

Her mother’s temper exploded. “Goddamn that curse! You’ve devoted your entire life to a bunch of hocus-pocus and nonsense. You have Ellie terrified to death that something terrible will happen if she accidently tells someone.”

“Did she tell someone?” He sounded panicked.

Ellie’s heart lurched in her chest. Oh, no. She had done something bad.

“Will you listen to yourself?” her mother shouted. “Your daughter is living in fear because you’ve filled her head with frightening stories of demons and weapons she can use to destroy them, then you tell her not to tell anyone and your biggest concern is that she actually did. She’s eight years old, John. Eight. I want you to stop telling her these stories. It was fun at first, but now you’re asking too much of her.”

They were quiet for so long that Ellie peeked around the corner, hoping the darkness hid her face. Her father stood behind his desk and her mother rested against the front edge. She was turned at the waist, looking toward the bookshelves.

Her father rubbed his forehead. “What is the artifact, Amanda?” His voice sounded tired.

She didn’t look at him, her face expressionless. “A gold ring.”

He shook his head, his brow wrinkling. “Why would they have you research a piece of jewelry? Why is it significant?”

“Because of what’s on it.” She groaned and stood, turning to face him. “It has Native American symbols carved around the band.”

Surprise and excitement lit up his face.

“And this is exactly why I didn’t tell you.” She put her hands on her hips. “Not everything that blends English colonial artifacts and Native American symbols means it’s related to your damned curse!”

“Amanda, you have to let me see it.”

She looked down at her feet, shaking her head.

He moved in front of her and grabbed her arms. “Amanda. Please.”

After several long moments, she reached into her shirt and pulled out a chain.

“You’ve been wearing it all this time?” her father asked in disbelief.

“I’m terrified to let it out of my sight.” She slipped the chain over her head and handed it to him.

He took it with trembling fingers, lifting it to get a closer look, then gasped. “Do you have any idea what this is?”

“Due to the thickness of the band and the metals used, I think it dates back to the seventeenth century.”

Daddy looked up, wide-eyed. “Not when. What.”

She didn’t answer.

“It’s the ring Ananias’s great-grandson had created by a Croatan priest.”

“No, John. It’s an artifact from the early colonists, perhaps Jamestown or Williamsburg.”

He ignored her. “It’s been missing since the late seventeen hundreds. He had it made to create an extra protection against Okeus. The priest thought the person wearing the band could banish demons on his own.”

“Enough nonsense!” Momma reached for the ring, but he pulled it out of her reach.

“How can you pretend this isn’t real when you’ve been wearing proof?”

“It’s not proof! It’s a ring engraved with symbols. I want to access the papers at Chapel Hill and see if I can determine what tribe the symbols belong to.”

“It would be a wasted trip.” He tightened his fist around it. “It’s Croatan. It bears the symbols for earth and water, wind and Okeus.”

She shook her head. “You don’t know that.”

“I do. I can prove it to you. I have papers in my office at Fort Raleigh. I’ll go get them and bring them back to show you.”

She wiped at her face, and her voice broke. “This obsession has to stop, John.”

He pulled her into his arms. “Amanda, I can help you. I’ll get the papers and come right back, but I need to ask a favor of you.”

Her back stiffened and she tried to pull away, but his arms tightened around her.

“I want to keep the ring with me. It’s supposed to sing when it’s near Popogusso.”

“Sing?”

“It has power over the gate to hell.”

“John! Listen to yourself!”

“Give me a week. The gate is on the island, and I think it’s on the park site or close by. I’ll walk around with the ring and find it.”

She shook her head, turning away from him. Ellie saw tears on her cheeks.

“If I don’t find it, I’ll stop.”

Her mouth dropped open and her head jerked back to face him.

“I swear. If I don’t find the gate, I’ll stop telling Ellie the stories.” He paused, then said, “But you have to give me the full week.”

She hesitated.

“What do you have to lose? You don’t think it’s real, so you have to believe I won’t find it. Then you’ll get what you always wanted. No more ‘curse nonsense,’ as you put it.” He smiled at her, taking some of the harshness out of their conversation.

“Why get the papers tonight? It’s storming.”

“Because I need all the time I can get before I start searching. You have to give me the full week. Starting tomorrow. If I can translate the rest of the symbols tonight, I can start on locating the gate tomorrow.”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Okay.”

Her father stuffed the ring into his shirt pocket, then cupped her mother’s face. “You and Ellie mean more to me than anything else in this world, Amanda.” He placed a soft kiss on her lips and raised his head. “I’m sorry I’ve brought so much turmoil into your life.”

She wrapped her arms around his back. “I love you, John, and if it was just you and me, I could handle it. But I have to think about our little girl.”

His head lowered and he kissed her again as she grabbed handfuls of the back of his shirt. Whenever Ellie caught her parents kissing like this, she knew they had something none of her other friends’ parents had. She would never settle for anything less.

Her mother leaned back. “Don’t go tonight. I have a bad feeling.”

He stroked her cheek with his thumb, his eyes glittering as they looked into hers. “The weather has you on edge.”

“No, it’s something else. I think Ellie feels it too. She hasn’t been herself for days. Something’s not right.”

“If I don’t find the gate, you’ll be free of the curse forever.”

She sighed, guilt pinching her forehead.

He kissed her again, his hand sliding up under the back of her shirt.

Ellie turned away. She’d caught them without clothes on before and it felt wrong and gross to watch. Thankful they’d made up, she went back into the kitchen to finish her homework.

Daddy came in about ten minutes later with his arm around Momma’s back. Both their faces were slightly red, and they held on to each other as though they hadn’t seen each other in weeks.

“I have to go out, Elliphant. I want you to take care of your mother for me.”

Ellie nodded solemnly. “Okay.”

He bent over and kissed her forehead, his lips lingering longer than usual. “I love you, Ellie. I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you.”

Ellie blinked in confusion. “You haven’t hurt me, Daddy.”

He offered her a soft smile, but his eyes looked sad. “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Daddy.”

He headed for the back door and grabbed a coat and an umbrella. He started out the door and her mother rushed for him, hugging him tight.

“Be careful,” she said softly.

He bent down and kissed her. “Don’t worry. I’m not afraid of a little weather.”

Momma stood at the back door for several minutes, watching out the glass panes before she turned to face Ellie. “Did you finish your homework?”

Ellie nodded, worry knotting her stomach into a tight ball. The moment Daddy walked out the door, she found it difficult to breathe.

“Why don’t you put on your pajamas and pick a story to read. You can sleep with me tonight and we can read together.”

“Can I wear my nightgown?”

“I think that’s a great idea,” her momma said, smiling.

“Okay.” Usually Ellie would squeal with excitement, but she could barely catch her breath.

“I’m going to check on the guests in the inn and then I’ll be right up.”

“Okay.”

Ellie’s mother pulled her into a hug, clinging tight. “I love you more than anything.”

“More than the flowers and the bees?” Ellie asked the familiar line.

“More than the ocean and the trees.”

It was their special game. But instead of filling her with warmth, her stomach churned.

Her mother released her hold and smoothed back Ellie’s hair. “Now go upstairs and get ready.”

Ellie headed for the steps, her feet heavy.

“And don’t forget to brush your teeth,” she called after her.

“I won’t.”

The back door opened and closed as Ellie headed up the staircase. Daddy said if he didn’t find the gate to hell, he’d give up the curse. Could he really do that? What if he didn’t find it but it was still real? Who would close the gate then? Would the spirits and gods break loose and hurt people?

Ellie put on her lacy white nightgown, the one that made her feel like a princess. Daddy had bought it for her on his trip to Atlanta a month ago. Grabbing her stuffed rabbit, she put her dirty clothes into the hamper, then moved to the edge of the staircase, listening for signs that her mother was back. Her back prickled with fear but she didn’t know why. She only knew she needed her mother’s reassurance.

“Momma?” she called downstairs.

“I’ll be right up.”

Relieved, she went into the bathroom and set Bunny on the counter. She brushed her teeth, thinking about which book to read with Momma and deciding on her new favorite, The Secret Garden. After rinsing her toothbrush, she grabbed Bunny and headed into the hall.

Suddenly, her right palm burned like it was on fire, and Ellie cried out in pain and surprise. She ran to the stairs to tell her mother when she heard shattering glass.

Then her mother screamed.

CHAPTER FOUR

Ellie’s heart jumped into her throat and she started toward the stairs, then stopped, nearly falling forward when she heard a man’s angry voice.

“Where’s the ring?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” her mother answered, the words shaky.

The howling wind shook the house.

The man’s voice lowered to a growl. “I’m going to ask you nicely one more time: Where is the ring?”

Momma started to cry. “Do you want my wedding ring? Here. I’ll give it to you.”

The loud sound of a slap echoed up the stairs, and Ellie’s mother cried out.

He’s hurting Momma. Tears burned Ellie’s eyes, but she remained frozen with fear.

“Amanda. I thought you were smart. Isn’t that why Higgins asked you to come to Charlotte?”

“I don’t know”—she took a breath through her sobs—“what you’re talking about.”

“I’d hate to cut up that pretty face. All you have to do is cooperate.”

Momma didn’t answer, but the sounds of her crying made Ellie panic. I have to help Momma.

She bolted for the staircase, her foot landing on the top step, but the gentle voice of an older man spoke softly in her ear. “No, Ellie. Don’t go downstairs.” He sounded so nice and insistent that she stopped in her tracks and looked behind her, finding no one.

Was this what it was like for Claire when she heard voices?

Ellie wanted to go to Momma, but the man’s warning sent a new wave of terror through her blood. Sinking to sit on the top step, she clutched Bunny, shaking uncontrollably. She struggled to breathe through her tears, but a comforting warmth pressed against her side.

The mean man asked her mother, “Why were you in Charlotte a few days ago?”

“I was invited to see an antique collection.” Momma wasn’t crying as hard, but her voice was shaky. “But it wasn’t a man named Higgins. His name was Juan Ricardo.”

A flash of lightning lit up the downstairs, and a loud clap of thunder behind it made Ellie jump.

“See?” the man asked, trying to sound nice but Ellie wasn’t fooled. “That wasn’t so hard, was it? Now tell me about the ring.”

“I don’t know anything about a ring.”

Why was Momma lying? Why didn’t she just tell him that Daddy had the ring? Then he’d go away and stop hurting her.

Ellie heard the bad man hit Momma again. She clutched Bunny to her stomach, once again ready to spring down the stairs.

“No, Ellie,” the kind man cooed in her ear. His voice reminded her of her grandfather, warm but strong. “You can’t tell him about the ring or he’ll hurt you, and I can’t let him do that. You’re very special to me.”

Ellie’s chin trembled. “But I have to help Momma,” she whispered. Daddy told her to take care of her mother. She didn’t know what to do, but she had to do something.

“If you go downstairs, they will hurt her even more. And they’ll hurt you, too. Trust me, Ellie.”

She had no idea who this bodiless voice belonged to, but she clung to his words. They felt true. He said he wanted to protect her, and she didn’t know what else to do. “I have to call 911,” she whispered.

She started to stand, but the warmth around her increased, enveloping her in a blanket of security. “No, Ellie. Not yet.”

The man downstairs laughed, but it sounded mean and ugly. “Where’s your daughter? What’s her name? Ellie?”

Ellie’s chest froze, refusing to suck in air as terror coursed through her blood, making her light-headed.

“You know her name?” her mother wheezed out.

The man chuckled. “I know all kinds of things about you, Amanda.”

“Ellie’s not here.”

Rain pelted the windows so loudly it sounded like someone was throwing rocks.

“Then where is she?” the man asked.

“She’s spending the night at a friend’s house.” Her mother’s voice sounded stronger than before.

“On a school night? I don’t think so,” he growled. Then he shouted, “Ellie! Where are you? Come out and play.”

Ellie’s body trembled with fear, and she gritted her teeth to keep them from rattling.

“Don’t listen to him, Ellie,” the nice man said in her ear. “He wants to hurt you.”

A river of tears streaked down Ellie’s face, and she struggled to keep from sobbing. “I have to help Momma,” she forced out between hiccuped breaths.

“No,” the voice said. “Stay here with me.”

“Ellie!” the man downstairs shouted. “If you don’t come down, I’m going to hurt your mommy with this very sharp knife.”

Ellie covered her face with her bunny as she bit her lip to keep from crying out.

“Show her what happens to people who don’t cooperate,” the bad man said. “Go find her.”

Ellie thought he was talking to her mother until another man said, “Okay.”

There were two men.

“No, please.” Her mother’s voice was raspy and full of tears. “She’s not here.”

“Hide!” the voice next to Ellie’s ear insisted. “Now!”

Ellie stood, torn between her fear of getting hurt and her desire to help her mother. She’d promised Daddy she would. The bad man was going to hurt Mommy if she didn’t go downstairs.

“Ellie, I want to protect you,” the bodiless voice said, still nice but louder. “But you need to hide. Now!”

Her fear won out and she scrambled to turn around, running down the hall, making sure to miss the squeaking boards. She rushed into her room, threw open her closet door, and burrowed behind a pile of stuffed animals, her back to the wall. Sobs shook her shoulders, but she covered her mouth with her hand to keep from making any noise.

“Good,” the voice whispered, soothing her frayed nerves. “Good girl.”

Footsteps landed upstairs, going into the bedrooms at the front of the hall.

“Stop! Please,” her mother begged. “I’ll tell you!” She was upstairs now, in the hallway. Ellie only had to run out through the bedroom door to get to her.

“I thought Ellie wasn’t home, Amanda,” the mean man said in his fake-friendly voice. “Did you lie to me?”

Ellie’s mother said something, but her crying made it incoherent.

“Keep checking,” he growled.

The light from the hall spilled through the partially opened bedroom door, and her mother’s sobs echoed in the hall.

“Momma,” Ellie wailed softly, trying to get up.

The warm presence held her firmly against the closet wall. “No.”

“What is it that you want to tell me, Amanda?” the bad man laughed. “Because I’m most interested in the ring. Maybe Ellie can fill me in.”

“She doesn’t know anything.” Her mother sounded panicked and her words came out in bursts. “I swear. Please. Just leave her out of this.”

A long shadow moved on the wall in the hallway, visible through the open door.

Ellie pressed harder against the closet wall, her upright knees banging together as she shook. They were coming for her.

The tall shadow faltered as another shorter one rushed toward it. Her mother cried out, “No! Don’t hurt her!” The two shadows blended into a shaky blob before she heard a man cry out in pain. The tall shadow separated from the shorter one and a loud piercing scream filled Ellie’s ears.

She scrunched her eyes shut as she released a helpless sob. “Momma.”

“Ellie!” Her mother’s voice sent a flood of terror down her back.

Momma needed her. Her heart pounding against her chest, a deep fury erupted and Ellie fought against the force that held her tight, crying in frustration. “Let me go! Let me go!”

The taller shadow jumped the shorter one, grunting and releasing a growl. It lifted its arm and swung toward the smaller shadow, over and over, as Ellie’s mother screamed.

“What are you doing?” the bad man shouted, sounding furious. “Stop!”

Ellie kicked and tried to scream, but it lodged in her throat as the smaller shadow fell to the floor with a loud thump.

Momma.

A fresh burst of anger rushed through her and she pushed against the bond holding her in place, but the warmth held her still and the voice murmured softly, “Not yet, Ellie.”

She clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms. Her breaths came in quick pants as she rested the back of her head against the wall, waiting for the voice to let her go.

“Keep looking.” The bad man didn’t sound happy. A new shadow on the wall squatted next to the smaller one. “Where’s the ring, Amanda?”

Ellie heard a wheezing-coughing sound.

The bad man swore a string of bad words, then the shadow rose. “Why can’t you keep your goddamned temper in check just one fucking time? She’s useless now! Damn it!” Ellie heard a banging noise and the wall shook. “I’m searching downstairs. You look up here and bring the brat down when you find her.” His feet clomped on the stairs as he left.

Momma.

The only shadow left was the one close to the floor, and it began to crawl in a slow, jerky movement toward Ellie’s room. Her anger dissolved into pure panic. A monster was coming to get her.

Her eyes were riveted on the floor, so the sudden movement in her doorway startled her. Her breath sucked in as her gaze rose to the dark figure filling the doorframe, his head covered with a hood. His right hand gripped a large knife, the metal gleaming in the flashing lightning outside her window. The wind gusted, knocking a tree branch into the glass with a loud, repetitive thump.

He jiggled the blade in his hand as he slowly entered her room. Ellie’s chest constricted, her lungs burning as he walked around her bed and squatted to look underneath.

Wide-eyed, she forced her body to remain still, afraid he might see or hear her. He stood and moved back toward the bedroom door. Abruptly, he stopped and pivoted on his feet until he faced the closet door, hunching down in a slow movement. His stubble-covered chin lowered and the hood on his forehead rose, exposing his dark, glaring eyes that focused on hers. His right hand rested on his knee, blood dripping from the knife into a pool on the wood floor.

A scream bubbled in Ellie’s throat as he reached for her with his free hand, but a bright white light filled the room, partially blinding her. The hooded man lifted his arm to shield his face.

“I claim her as my own, Curse Keeper. You will not harm her.” Although the voice coming from the light was the same one that had comforted her, now it sounded angry.

The man bolted upright, his hand shaking as he held out the knife. “What is this? Who are you?”

“You know who I am,” the voice boomed, shaking the floor beneath Ellie’s bottom. “I know the foolish quest you seek. But where you fail, another will succeed.”

“You have no idea what I want,” the man snarled, holding out the blade.

“Do not think me stupid, son of the land. You wish to break the curse. You are not the first, nor will you be the last.”

The hooded man turned to Ellie, lifting his blade over his shoulder as though ready to strike.

Ellie screamed.

“If you harm a hair on her head, I will kill you and your sons.”

The man froze, his knife poised to strike.

The white light pulsed. “Look at her, Curse Keeper. She is an innocent child, not much younger than your eldest son. I know it was your original plan, but can you really kill her?”

The knife still loomed over Ellie and she pressed her back into the wall, sobbing.

“You attacked her mother when she tried to stop you. You hurt her out of reflex. But to kill this girl will be in cold blood. Can you look into her eyes and do it?”

The man glanced toward the open door, his arm still raised.

The white light expanded and contracted. “You and the child are the only ones who can hear me. Your friend will not come to help you. No one will.”

The man crouched again, lowering his arm as he searched Ellie’s face. Blood dripped from his bloody hand, and Ellie realized the drops were from his own wound. The hood lowered over his brow and shadows covered most of his face. Hatred filled his eyes, and his mouth pressed into an angry line.

The light shined brighter. “You are mistaken if you think that I will let you hurt her. I need her for another purpose.” The orb moved closer to the man. “The curse will be broken, but not today. It will happen when I deem it so.”

The man’s grip on the knife tightened and he shifted his weight. “I’m sick and tired of being at the mercy of the curse. I want this to end. Tonight.”

“It began with my will and will end when I wish it.”

The man’s face contorted with rage.

“I do not condone you forcing my hand, Curse Keeper, and you will pay for this transgression, just like the others before you.” The light glowed bright white. “This girl changes everything. If only you had shown patience and restraint, you would have seen this. You will get what you want, but not during your tenure. At a time of my choosing, I will find your son and help him break the curse, only because it serves my purpose.” The voice lowered and the glow pulsed. “But because of your treachery, he will rue the day I sought him out, and he will curse you for the sacrifices he must make as penance for your betrayal.

The hooded man rose to his feet. “With the help of Okeus, my son will defeat you, Ahone.” Pride and anger drenched his words.

“He will try, and he will fail. The girl will be his downfall.”

“No!” A guttural sound rumbled from the man and he lifted the knife, lunging for Ellie.

She screamed and the orb exploded, filling the room with a light brighter than Ellie had ever seen. The blast of light sent the man flying out the door and into a crumpled heap in the hall. His head rose and his face twisted with fear.

“I have let you live out of my infinite mercy, Curse Keeper, but my patience has worn thin.” The light’s voice boomed, shaking the walls.

“Dailey! Where the fuck are you?” the bad man downstairs shouted. “Did you find her?”

The man’s hood had slipped from his head, puddling on his shoulders and leaving his dark, wavy hair a ruffled mess. A dazed look filled his eyes, and his gaze landed on Ellie.

“Dailey!”

The light pulsed. “Go!”

The man slowly got up off the floor. “No,” he answered, then paused before speaking louder. “The bitch was right. She’s not here. Let’s get out of here.” His footsteps hurried down the hall and to the bottom steps.

The ball of light folded in on itself until it became a soft, glowing orb about the size of a baseball floating in front of Ellie’s face. It blocked her path, moving with her as she tried to get around it. She cried out in frustration.

“Not yet,” the light said, his voice becoming gentle again.

The nice voice had turned mean, but he’d done it to save her, right? Didn’t that make him good? “What are you?” Ellie whispered between hiccuped breaths.

“Not what, but who. And you will find out soon enough.”

Ellie looked out the door, expecting the man to come back and kill her, but all she saw was the shadow close to the floor. It jerked, then stopped moving. She screamed, releasing a fresh round of sobs.

“Ellie?” her mother’s soft cry came from the hall. “Ellie, are you okay? Momma’s here.”

“Momma!” Ellie screamed until she was hoarse, fighting against the force still holding her in place. “Momma!” she wailed, becoming light-headed from her hysteria.

“Ellie.” Her mother’s voice was faint.

The light bounced in front of Ellie for several seconds before fading until it was barely visible, then moving to the side.

Ellie burst from the closet, pushing off the floor with the fingertips of one hand while she clutched Bunny with the other. Blinded by her tears, she tripped on her nightgown and fell to her knees in the puddle of blood in front of her closet, releasing another high-pitched scream.

“Ellie!” her mother’s faint voice called, terrified.

“Momma!” Ellie called out, finally getting to her feet and running out the door. But she stopped in the doorway at the sight of her mother.

Momma lay on her side, her body sideways across the floor. The front of her shirt was soaked in blood. “Mommaaaaa!” The word gushed out in a wail of grief and fright as she took in the large puddle of blood covering the floor.

Her mother’s head shifted to the side and she rolled on her back as her eyes found her daughter’s. “Ellie, call 911.”

Ellie froze in panic, unable to move or even breathe.

“Ellie, it’s okay.” Her mother used her soft voice, the one that made Ellie believe everything would be all right. Her eyes sank closed and she released a gurgled breath before opening her eyes with a sad smile. “Come here and sit with me.” Her hand lifted off the floor and her fingers curled inward.

Ellie’s chest released and she sucked in a breath before falling to her knees and inching forward, terrified. Her gaze shifted from her mother’s pale face to the pool of blood that still spread out across the floorboards, filling the cracks and spreading outward. Her stomach revolted and she felt like she was going to throw up.

“Ellie.”

The briskness in her mother’s voice startled her and her gaze lifted, her chin quivering.

A soft smile lifted Momma’s mouth as tears rolled out of her eyes and down her face. “That’s my girl. Look at my face. Don’t look down, baby.”

Ellie moved closer until she was next to her mother, sitting on her bottom. The fold of her nightgown skimmed the edge of the thick red puddle. The cotton fabric absorbed the liquid, seeping up to her legs.

Momma reached out a hand toward Ellie’s, making three attempts to grab hold. “My dear, sweet, Ellie.” Her chin quivered and her voice broke.

“Momma.” Ellie started to sob again.

“I love you, Ellie.” Her mother stared into her face, her eyes soft and adoring. “I’ve loved you since the moment I knew you were in my tummy. I almost lost you then, you know.” She paused and took a breath, wincing in pain. “Elinor Dare Lancaster—you’re a fighter and don’t you ever forget it.” She coughed, and blood oozed from the corner of her lip.

The blood trailing down the side of her face filled Ellie with panic. She dropped Bunny and grabbed her mother’s other hand. “Momma, I’m scared.”

“I’m sorry, Ellie. I’m so sorry.” Her mother choked on a sob, her face wet with tears. “You have to be strong for your daddy. No matter what happens, know that he loves you.”

Ellie nodded, unsure what else to do.

“Someday you’ll fall in love. Find a man like your father, who loves you fiercely.” Her voice softened and Ellie strained to hear. “Don’t go for the flashy men, Ellie. They’ll only break your heart. My friends thought your daddy was boring, but he gave me a life full of so much love . . . ” Her voice broke and fear filled her eyes. “There’s so much to tell you and not enough time.”

“Momma, please,” Ellie cried. “Pleasssse . . . ”

“Oh, Ellie,” she whispered, sounding devastated. “I wanted to protect you from the ugliness of the world, and I brought it to your front door.” Her eyes fluttered and her grip on Ellie’s hand loosened.

Ellie watched her chest, waiting for Momma to take a breath and when it didn’t come, Ellie grabbed her shoulders and shook. “Momma! Please, Momma! Don’t leave me all alone. Mommaaaaa!” she screamed, shaking her mother and getting no response. She collapsed on her mother’s bloody chest, the smell of copper filling her nose as cries racked her body, ignoring the warm, sticky liquid covering her cheek and clothes.

Daddy had told her to protect Momma and she had let him down. What would he think of her now?

She sobbed on her mother so long that she felt the warmth of the body beneath her begin to seep away. Opening her eyes, she saw the shadowy figure of an older man with white hair and a white beard floating over the staircase. She should have been frightened, but somehow she knew he belonged to the voice that had helped her.

“Ellie, you are strong and brave. When it is your time, you will make an excellent Curse Keeper.”

She lifted her head in an exhaustion so deep she thought she would drown in it. “You said the man who killed Momma was a Keeper. I don’t want to be a Keeper anymore.”

“Elinor, you are destined to be a Keeper. It was foretold from the beginning of time. You are more special than any Keeper before you. I’ve been waiting centuries for you to arrive. The forces of nature have finally heard my plea and sent you so that I may finish the job I began with your ancestor, Ananias Dare. Tonight begins a chain of events that brings us to the end.”

“I want my momma,” Ellie wailed in anguish.

“Daughter of the sea and witness to creation, your first sacrifice has been made.” His light faded slightly, and he sounded sad.

“It will be the first of many.”

Ellie was too tired and in too much misery to care what he was saying. Luckily, the man seemed to have a similar idea in mind.

“Tonight the unraveling of the curse begins. But I will take all memories associated with the curse from you, so that the events of tonight will be locked deep in your mind. I need you to be willing to accept your role when the time comes.” The image moved closer and his voice softened. “But you will also lose all other memories of the curse. They’ve already begun to slip away. You will believe it is because you told Claire, and you will be filled with a heavy burden of guilt. I’m sorry, but it is the best way.”

Ellie looked up again, shaking her head as confusion overwhelmed her. “I don’t understand.”

“I know, but one day you will. When the time comes for you to know, you will remember everything.”

Then the light faded and he was gone, leaving Ellie with her mother. She looked down at her hands, realizing they were drenched in blood. Holding them out in horror, she glanced down and saw blood covering everything—her mother, her nightgown, Bunny, the floor. She started to scream.

A door downstairs banged and Ellie screamed louder. The bad men had come back, but she couldn’t make herself get up. She couldn’t leave Momma. Sobbing, she grabbed her mother’s arms and shook. “Momma, get up! Momma, please!”

“Ellie!” her father shouted in panic downstairs. “Ellie!”

She heard his footsteps on the stairs before his horror-stricken face appeared. His feet faltered, and he fell on his knees on the top step.

“Oh, God. Oh, God.” He crawled toward them, his eyes wide with fright. “Ellie? Where are you hurt?”

Ellie shook her head, trying to catch her breath. “Momma.”

He reached for her mother, carefully touching her shoulder with shaking fingers. “Amanda?” When she didn’t answer, he became more insistent. “Amanda?” He began to sob, grabbing her arms and pulling her up. Momma’s head leaned back, her long red hair hanging behind her. Daddy’s hand got tangled in it as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. “No! God, no!”

Ellie watched in horror as her father fell to pieces in front of her.

He rocked Momma back and forth, crying so hard he couldn’t catch his breath and uttering incoherent sentences.

“ . . . my fault . . . I shouldn’t have gone . . . ”

Ellie got to her feet and walked to her parents’ room, feeling like her body was moving and she was just watching it happen. She grabbed the phone off her mother’s bedside table, and her shaking fingers wouldn’t cooperate, making four attempts to press 911.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

The phone to her ear, Ellie moved to the bedroom door, not recognizing the man at the end of the hallway.

“Is there an emergency?” the operator asked.

“My momma,” she whispered. “She’s dead.”

“What happened?”

Ellie couldn’t answer. She could only stare at her parents. The events of the night had begun to fade, making her memories fuzzy.

“Little girl?” the operator became insistent.

Momma died because Ellie had told Claire about the curse. Momma died because of her.

This is all my fault.

Dropping to her knees, tears filled her eyes as the horror of her guilt washed through her.

She had killed her mother.

A dark, bitter anger swelled in her chest, replacing her overwhelming grief. No, Ellie had played a part, but the stupid curse had killed her. Her chest burned with fury and she swore the curse was dead to her forever. She didn’t want to be part of something so evil that it would kill her mother.

“Little girl?” the operator repeated. “I’ve located your address and I’m sending a police car and ambulance now.”

Ellie dropped the phone to the floor and slumped against the wall, staring at her parents as her grief broke loose again, making everything move in slow motion and feel like it was a million miles away.

Her father continued to cry, mumbling about the curse and her mother’s death being his fault. She wanted to tell Daddy that it was her fault, not his, but he’d hate her. How could he not? She’d already lost Momma; she couldn’t lose Daddy too.

Ellie tried to imagine a world without her mother and came up with nothing—only darkness and despair and emptiness. But there was one thing she knew, the devastating proof in front of her: her life would never be the same.

The voice whispered in her ear.

“Yes, witness to creation. This changes everything.”

To my daughter Emma, whose stubbornness simultaneously exhausts and inspires me.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CHAPTER ONE

I felt the demon before I saw it. The mark on my palm tingled slightly, and the tattoo on my back began to burn.

“Curse Keeper.” The low voice floated in the wind.

I sighed. Yep. A demon. No one knew my recently initiated title except for the spirits and gods of the Croatan Indian tribe, along with five other people. I was Elinor Dare Lancaster—otherwise known as Ellie—multi-great-granddaughter of Ananias Dare, one of the original colonists from the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Only the colony wasn’t lost anymore. The entire thing had reappeared out of thin air a month and a half ago. The reappearance was the signal that a four-hundred-year-old curse had been broken, cracking the gate to Popogusso—the Croatan word for hell—and releasing a slew of spirits, demons, and gods that had been locked away by my ancestor Ananias and Manteo, the son of a Croatan Indian werowance. I was one of two Curse Keepers, a title passed down from generation to generation. While I was the Dare Keeper, Collin Dailey was the Manteo Keeper. And it wasn’t a coincidence that the curse had broken while he was on duty.

It had been a week and five days since I’d heard anything from the spirit world, which was one week and four days longer than expected. Collin and I had destroyed two demons over three weeks ago, and while there had been a few minor metaphysical encounters since, the spirits had been keeping surprisingly quiet, particularly considering Collin’s claim that they considered us fair game now that they knew we could and would destroy them.

Part of it was undoubtedly because I had the protection of the god Okeus. And many of the spirits still needed to regain strength after their four-hundred-year-long incarceration. But even though I hadn’t seen or heard much from them, I still sensed them. They were growing restless, causing an itch in my palm that wouldn’t go away. So although I wasn’t happy that I was about to face a Native American spirit, I wasn’t exactly surprised. But I had just gotten off a double shift from my waitressing job at the New Moon restaurant and it was close to midnight. I had to walk home, and I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with a cranky supernatural being. And from past experience, they were always cranky.

The demon seemed to be waiting for me to take the lead. Since I didn’t know what I was dealing with, I decided to ask the question that would help me most in the long run. “Who are you?” Surprisingly, I’ve found that most supernatural creatures are eager to identify themselves to me. Maybe it’s an ego thing.

The demon’s answer was to appear in the middle of Sir Walter Raleigh Road in downtown Manteo, North Carolina, population twelve hundred. I had encountered giant badgers and a golden deer. A huge horned water snake and a panther-reptile hybrid. That didn’t even take into account the multiple gods with whom I’d dealt. But after all of those encounters, I still wasn’t prepared for the figure that appeared in front of me.

An old woman.

I blinked. Yeah, an old woman.

She looked like someone’s grandma. She was slightly over five feet tall and she couldn’t have weighed much more than a hundred pounds. Her face resembled a prune, and she had bushy gray eyebrows and a hooked nose that looked like a bird’s beak. Her hair was long and scraggly and pure white, hanging past her shoulders. Dressed in a faded blue housedress, she was leaning over a plain wooden cane. The only thing about her that clued me in on the fact that she wasn’t on her way home from bingo was her glowing red eyes.

Yeah, a demon.

I flexed my wrist, preparing to hold up my right hand. I could use the mark on my palm—an intersecting circle and square—and say the words of protection that would send the bitch away. Not permanently, but for at least a few days. I needed Collin with me to send it back to Popogusso for good, and that was something he wasn’t willing to do. I was on my own.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I am here to tell your future.” Her voice sounded like she’d smoked two packs of cigarettes a day since she was fourteen.

A shiver of fear crawled up my spine. Nothing this woman could say would be good news. “Thanks, but I’ll pass. Knowing my future is a lot like knowing what all my Christmas gifts are before I open them. Why spoil the surprise?”

Her glowing red eyes shined brighter than flattened pennies. “You are the vessel that will determine the fate of the world. You will either save it or destroy it. And it will happen soon.”

Oh, shit on a brick.

“Are you sure that’s not Collin’s future?”

The old woman’s eyes narrowed as she pointed her cane at me. “Do not mock the Fates.”

Fates. Old woman. Was she one of the Greek Fates? Weren’t they a set of three? And if I remembered correctly, they always traveled with yarn and a pair of scissors. There was no sign of either, not even a loose thread on her worn housedress.

“Is there anything else? Any love notes from Okeus?”

She smiled, and it was far from a pleasant expression. “You will see the Great One soon enough.”

I almost snort-laughed. Was that what he was calling himself these days? Since Okeus had made it all too clear that he wanted to be my baby daddy and she’d called me a vessel in her premonition, seeing him was the last thing I wanted to do. “Tell Okeus that I’m pretty busy. I’ll let him know when I’m free.”

Rather than answering, she disappeared, replaced by a flame that shot into the sky.

I needed to talk to David. Stat.

I hurried the rest of the way home. Until a couple weeks ago, home had been my apartment behind the restaurant where I worked. But now I was back in the home where I’d grown up, one of two houses on the property. One house was our family residence and the other was a bed and breakfast my father had owned until his death a month and a half before. Daddy had suffered from Alzheimer’s for several years, so my stepmother, Myra, had been left with most of the responsibility for the inn, along with her part-time job at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, the location of the no-longer-lost colony. I’d helped by working without pay around my waitressing shifts and providing financial support whenever I could. But the B&B had lost money for years, and the property was in so much debt I wasn’t sure we could ever get out of it. Even with the recent boom in business. Everyone wanted to see the reappeared colony. And since Myra had moved to Durham two weeks ago, I was stuck running the inn. Thank God David was so willing to help me. Him and our part-time—now full-time—employee, Becky.

As I walked up the path to the house, I stumbled, then groaned in irritation. I had tripped a lot over the last week, which made me wonder if all my demon-related injuries had affected my gross motor skills.

I slipped in the side door to the house, checking out the Native American symbols scrawled in charcoal around the perimeter of the door. Collin hadn’t been by for several days to put his mark on the door, so the marks needed to be redone. I decided I’d redo them in the morning in the hopes that my own power would be enough to protect us.

A soft light glowed in the office, and I found David hunched over a book, a legal pad and a coffee mug next to him. When I pushed open the French doors, he looked up, pulled his reading glasses off, and gave me a soft smile. “How was work?”

Every time I saw him after we’d been apart for more than a few hours, the sight of him stole my breath away. Dr. David Preston was a gorgeous man. He was tall and broad shouldered, with sexy dark hair that begged my fingers to touch it. His warm hazel eyes looked at me with a combination of love and lust. It was no wonder he had a mile-long waiting list of attractive college girls dying to get into his intro to history courses back at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

I sighed. “Exhausting. Frustrating.”

“Is your new boss still being a wanker?” he asked in his sexy British accent. David was a UK-born history professor who specialized in Native American studies. Talk about an anomaly. But he was my anomaly, and the thought warmed my insides.

My mouth lifted into an amused grin. “That’s putting it lightly. Though my crash course in British slang had led me to believe a wanker was a man.”

He shrugged, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “I don’t discriminate.”

After I’d sought out David’s help over a month ago to get information about the Croatan spirit world, he’d taken a leave from UNC, extending his research sabbatical at the colony site so he could study Manteo’s hut. While helping me, he’d pursued a romantic relationship. I’d tried to keep our partnership professional, but he had been impossible to resist. I still wondered at the wisdom of being involved with him with so much danger lurking around. Making him my boyfriend painted a bull’s-eye on his back. Still, I knew his physical safety wasn’t the only thing at risk.

For one thing, Collin Dailey was the other Curse Keeper, my true partner, not that he believed in helping me much. But mostly, I worried that I’d never give David everything he deserved. Dr. David Preston was a kind, thoughtful, incredibly intelligent man who had devoted his time and attention to helping me discover everything I needed to perform my duties as a Curse Keeper. Granted, he wanted to help me protect humanity, but his devotion ran much, much deeper.

He’d already confessed that he loved me. I hadn’t reciprocated yet. Maybe it was because there was too much going on to fall in love with someone, although I suspected it had more to do with the fact that I’d bound my soul to Collin’s during the short week we’d been together while trying to reseal the gate. Of course, Collin had been set on keeping the gate open the whole time and had only fooled me into thinking we were closing it. In any case, we’d had a brief, highly intense, sexually charged fling and had inadvertently bound our souls together. If Collin had his way, I’d probably be in his bed at this very moment, and if things had gone differently, I would have been eager to comply.

Only Collin had betrayed me by opening the gate and releasing countless supernatural beings, a good portion of whom, on their way streaming out of Popogusso, had vowed to make me pay for my ancestor’s crime. My father had died as a sacrifice, and I was on the supernaturals’ most wanted list. While Collin had offered me his own twisted form of apology, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to forgive him, let alone forget. Especially since he’d pledged himself to Okeus, the malevolent Croatan god.

No, I’d decided a month ago that David Preston was an honorable man, of whom my father would have approved. I loved him in my own way, and we had a very healthy sex life. It wasn’t the highly intense connection I had experienced with Collin, but it was deeper and, more importantly, it was full of trust. I could trust David implicitly with everything. I couldn’t trust Collin with anything.

David set his glasses on the desk and scooted his chair back, motioning me around the desk. I obliged and he grabbed my hand, pulling me onto his lap so that my legs were hanging over the arm of the chair. He placed a soft kiss on my bottom lip. “You look exhausted, love. How about we go to bed?”

I sighed with a combination of exhaustion and contentment. “That sounds wonderful, but I’m almost too tired to climb up the stairs.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to carry you,” he said in a husky voice, lifting his hand to the back of my head and pulling my hair free from my ponytail.

“Then maybe I shouldn’t have had that piece of cake on my break. You’ll never hoist me up the stairs now,” I teased. Then I heaved a sigh. I hated that I always had to steer our conversation back to serious topics, but David had a right to know what was going on. “Something happened on the way home.”

He stiffened slightly. “And what was that?”

“I met a demon in the middle of the road.” I shook my head and grimaced. “That sounds like the beginning of a bad joke.”

His eyes widened and he ran his hands up my arms, checking me for any injuries. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. There was no confrontation. Not really.” I couldn’t blame him for worrying. Some of my recent encounters had left me physically injured. David too. He still had a slight limp from our battle with the two rabid spirits Collin and I had ultimately destroyed.

“Then what happened? Which one was it?”

“That’s the odd part,” I said. “I asked her for her name and she never gave it to me. They always seem eager to identify themselves, like their names are their calling cards.”

“Her? You knew it was a female?”

I wasn’t surprised by the question. Most of the spirits I’d met were animals. “It was an old woman. I would have thought she was just any old woman, nothing special, if it weren’t for her glowing red eyes.”

“What did she look like?”

I described her, but David’s brow stayed lowered, his mouth pursed. I could tell that he didn’t recognize her from his research. “Did she say what she wanted?”

“To tell me my future.”

“What?”

“I told her that I didn’t want to hear it, but she pushed on anyway.”

“And what did she say?”

I took a deep breath. “She said I was a vessel that would either save the world or destroy it, and that it would happen soon.”

He sagged back in his seat, his arm still around me. “Bollocks.”

“Yeah. Exactly.”

“Did she mention Okeus?”

A shiver ran down my spine. Obviously, David’s thoughts were headed in the same direction as mine. “No. I asked her if she had a message for me from Okeus, and she said I would see the ‘Great One’ soon enough. As though he wasn’t enough of a pompous ass without the new title.”

His hold tightened and he sat up, burying his face into the crook of my neck. “I’m trying to figure out a way to protect you.”

I lifted my hand to his face, my thumb lightly stroking his cheekbone as I stared into his hazel eyes. “I know.” I gave a half shrug. “But maybe there isn’t one. Maybe I’ll just have to be on high alert for the rest of my life to avoid getting ravaged by him.” I couldn’t bring myself to say “raped.” Okeus had indicated at our last meeting that forcing himself on me was option number two if I didn’t willingly comply. “You would think the tattoo of Ahone’s mark on my back would protect my uterus along with my Manitou.”

“Alas, they are two very obviously different things. While your soul is yours, your uterus could harbor a life with its own soul.”

“I love how we’re rambling on about my uterus. It’s so romantic. Just what you want to do with your boyfriend. Next thing you know, we’ll be discussing my menstrual cycle,” I grumbled.

“That might not be a bad idea,” he said. “Maybe you shouldn’t leave the house when you’re ovulating.”

“I’m done with this conversation.” I started to get up, but he pulled me back down. “Besides, I’m on the pill now. Ovulation isn’t an issue.” But could that stop a god? How much control did Okeus actually have over worldly events?

“Maybe we can convince Okeus that you won’t provide the perfect baby for him.”

I laughed, leaning my forehead against his. “You mean like how irresponsible I am and what a terrible mother I would be?”

He placed a gentle kiss on my lips, then looked into my eyes. “No, more like trying to convince him that you’re incompatible DNA-wise.”

I groaned in frustration. “DNA was never the issue with the other women he used, David.”

He shook his head slowly. “I completely disagree. Okeus seems to think he was too powerful for the women who gave birth to his monstrosities. He thinks your Curse Keeper blood and power, along with the fact that you’re a witness to creation, will make you strong enough to give birth to a child who inherits both your powers. But what if we can convince him that he’s wrong?”

I gave him a blank stare. “You want to convince a malevolent, egotistical, arrogant god that he’s wrong?” I climbed out of his lap and shook my head. “Good luck with that, David. I’m going to bed.”

He stood and grabbed my hand, twining our fingers together. “Ellie, don’t get frustrated with me,” he said, sounding tired. “I’m doing my best.”

I felt like a bitch. After being out in the heat all day working at the colony site, he’d returned home to help with the bed and breakfast. Then he had spent the rest of the evening researching for information to help me. I locked my hands around the back of his neck and rested my cheek on his chest. “I’m sorry. You deserve better.”

“Ellie.” He tilted my chin up so I was looking into his face. “We’re both exhausted.” He paused and his eyes turned serious. “Why don’t you quit working at the restaurant? My university salary isn’t a lot, but it’s enough to cover our expenses here. Especially if I sublet my house in Chapel Hill.”

I released a heavy sigh. “We’ve discussed this before. You don’t owe me anything. I can’t let you do that. It’s bad enough that you’re working at the inn when I’m not here. Not to mention the money you spent buying back my father’s pocket watch.”

“You’re protecting humanity,” he said with a small smile. “The financial strain shouldn’t fall squarely on your shoulders.”

“And it shouldn’t have to fall on yours either.” My voice rose in frustration. I needed to be quieter. Several researchers visiting the colony site were staying in the main house, and I didn’t want to wake them.

“Ellie,” he whispered gently. “It’s okay.”

I took a deep breath and pressed my cheek to his chest again. Just his tender voice helped center me. What would I ever do if he grew tired of me and my crankiness? I’d become so dependent on him in such a short time. I didn’t know how I’d survive without him. My boss at the New Moon was awful, and I’d have loved nothing more than to quit. Still, being totally dependent on Collin had bitten me in the ass. Granted, this situation was totally different, but it was difficult enough to accept that I needed David so much emotionally—I wasn’t sure I could give up my financial independence too. “I need to take care of myself.”

He stroked the back of my head. “I know, love. I know. But you’re getting worn out and you haven’t even really had to battle anything yet. Just consider it, okay? You would have your hands more than full with the B&B.”

“Okay. I’ll consider it.”

“Let’s go to bed.”

I nodded my agreement and we headed upstairs to my childhood bedroom. When I let go of my apartment and moved back home, David had suggested we sleep in Myra’s room, but her things were all still there, awaiting her return in December. But I knew deep in my gut she wouldn’t be back. She’d just started her dream job at Duke University—working in the history department—and had begun a relationship with one of the professors. Myra had spent the past several years caring for my father as his illness slowly stripped him away from us, so I was grateful that she had found happiness and love. She was also so much safer two hundred miles away than she would be at home. But I missed her like crazy, even if she’d been avoiding my calls lately.

After I stripped off my clothes and put on a short nightgown, I climbed into bed, snuggling into David’s side.

His fingers lightly stroked my arm. “Ellie, I think you should stop taking guests in the main house, even if they are researchers.”

I propped up on my elbow, searching his face, which was spotlit by the full moon. “But we’re bringing in extra money.”

“I know, love, but let’s be honest: it’s a drop in the bucket. You said yourself you’re about to go into foreclosure. What if you lose the house before finding all of the clues your father left? It’s next to impossible to search when there are guests staying here.”

A heaviness weighed down on my chest. He was right on both counts.

“Not to mention there’s someone on the other side of this wall behind us.” He laughed softly. “We have to make sure we’re quiet if we want to be able to face the guests the next morning at breakfast.”

“Very funny.”

“You have to admit we were much more liberated in our sex life when we were living in your flat.”

“My bedroom was on an outside wall.”

“Exactly,” he teased, lifting the edge of my nightgown. His hand slid up, over the z-shaped scar on my abdomen, tracing the underside of my breast. “Before I forget, one of the boarders said he smelled something bad in his room. Maybe we should get someone out here to look for rodents. It could be a dead mouse or maybe a squirrel or bird that got trapped in the attic.”

“Great,” I grumbled. “Just what I need. To spend more money.”

His fingers soon distracted me from my financial woes and had me panting with need. His lips skimmed along my neck and up to my ear. “What do you think about going out of town for a few days?” His voice was low and husky.

My eyes widened in surprise. “You’re seriously suggesting a vacation? Now?”

He laughed again as his hand concentrated on making me squirm. “No, not exactly a vacation. More like a change in scenery.”

“I’m listening,” I forced out, trying to focus.

“You know how I’ve asked several of my colleagues to keep an eye out and an ear open for anything about the Ricardo Estate? Well, I heard back from one today.”

I grabbed his hand to stop his torture. “What did he say?”

“She e-mailed tonight to tell me she’d been invited to see a collection of antiquities, and it was all very secretive.”

I bolted upright. “Is it what we’re looking for?”

He rolled to his side and propped his head on an elbow. “She can’t be sure. She already went to see the collection in Charlotte. She said it was mostly an assortment of weapons and pocket watches. It didn’t contain the candlesticks or other paraphernalia that you saw in those photos from Marino’s guy.”

“So it’s not the estate?”

“Not necessarily. She says she saw a watch similar to your father’s. I sent all of my colleagues a photo of it when I put out word about the collection.”

“The four-century-old pocket watch?”

“Yeah.”

That didn’t make sense. “So if it is the Ricardo Estate, what happened to the other stuff?”

“I don’t know, but there’s something I should mention about Allison.” He paused and waited for me to meet his eyes. “She’s a history professor at Chapel Hill and she’s an expert on old weaponry, particularly from the Middle Ages. The curators of the collection asked her to examine one of their swords.”

“Swords? And isn’t that the wrong time period?”

“She says they told her this particular sword was rumored to have been blessed by priests for a knight to carry into the Crusades.”

I shook my head. “I’m confused. What would that have to do with the curse?”

“Ellie, the sword was blessed to fight demons.”

A chill ran down my spine. “Oh, shit.”

“She took several pictures of the sword. And she says she has something she thinks I’ll want to see.”

I fingered the gold band on my right middle finger. “What is it?”

“She wouldn’t tell me.”

“And you want to go see it?”

“If you’re open to it. I won’t go without you. I’d be sick with worry the entire time I was gone.” He pulled me back down to him and placed a sweet kiss on my lips. “And I thought I’d check on my house. I haven’t been back in over a month. You’ll get to see where I live, and I can pack up most of my things so we can start renting the place out. Maybe we can stop and see Myra too.”

I only hoped Myra would want to see me. “That sounds like a good idea.”

His hand resumed its previous task on my breast. “So we’ll go?”

“I’ll have to get off work.”

“If your boss won’t let you off, then quit.”

“David.”

His mouth replaced his hand as his fingers glided over my abdomen and between my legs, making me squirm. “Promise one way or the other that you’ll get off work.”

“You fight dirty.” But he didn’t have to convince me. Wild horses couldn’t keep me from going to Chapel Hill this weekend. If Allison had seen a sword capable of killing demons, I needed to figure out how to get it. And if I had to quit my job to go, maybe that was the catalyst I needed to get me out the door of the New Moon for good.

“When it comes to your safety, I’ll use all my resources to protect you.” Then he proceeded to show me how talented some of his resources were.

Long after David fell asleep, I lay awake in his arms. My mind returned once again to the old woman’s premonition, and a feeling of dread weighed down my limbs and kept my eyes open late into the night.

CHAPTER TWO

“You can have Saturday off over my dead body,” Phoebe, my new boss, said, brushing past me and heading into the back room.

I stood in the middle of the dining room of the New Moon ten minutes before we opened, wondering how that could actually be arranged. Phoebe and I had butted heads ever since I showed up two minutes late for our first mandatory staff meeting right before the reopening of the restaurant. While Marlena, my old boss, had believed in firm authority, she’d also possessed a heart. Something Phoebe Willington seemed to be without.

A sudden wave of grief and guilt washed over me. The two emotions were usually hand in hand when I thought about my old boss, who had also been my friend. She’d died because of me, because I’d refused to side with Okeus.

Now Marlena’s husband was a widower and her three children were motherless. The only thing I could possibly do to make things right was to make Kanim, the bastard spirit who had killed her, pay. Only I hadn’t seen Okeus’s messenger spirit since Collin opened the gate at our ceremony, and I didn’t know where to look. Collin had given me a map that documented the sanctuaries of a dozen Croatan spirits, along with the gate to hell—a location with which I was all too familiar. But there was no mention of the wind gods, Okeus and Ahone, or either of their messengers. David and I had visited at least half the marked sites, but always during the day. They were difficult to find since the landmarks had all changed, not that we could get too aggressive anyway. No sense flushing them out if I didn’t have the means to permanently destroy them on my own. Perhaps that would all change if we could manage to secure this sword.

I followed Phoebe into the back, my voice firm. “Look, Phoebe, I know it’s short notice—”

She turned to me with blazing eyes. “You’re damn right it’s short notice. Not to mention it’s on the weekend. You already have Sunday off.”

“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

She shook her head. “You already have special privileges. No one else gets away with only working day shifts.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. You made me work last night after I worked all day.”

“And that’s because Nina quit. It was a special circumstance.”

“That seems to happen every week. And whose fault is that, Phoebe? Maybe if you were nicer, your employees would stick around for longer.”

She put both hands on her hips. “If people bothered to do their jobs, they might keep them. And as for the answer to your question . . . ” She lifted her eyebrows, her eyes bugging out like a pug’s. “It’s a firm no.”

I reached for the knot that tied my apron behind my back. “Then I quit.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Do you think I’m bluffing?”

“I don’t care if you are or not.” I pulled the apron over my head and spiked it onto the floor. “I’ve worked my ass off for this job, but dealing with your attitude just isn’t worth it.” I grabbed my purse off the desk and headed for the back door.

“Fine!” she huffed, throwing her hands into the air. “You don’t have to work the night shift anymore. Ever.”

“No shit, I don’t,” I said. “Because I just quit.”

I stormed out the back door and walked until I got to the parking lot of my old apartment, sucking in deep breaths.

What had I done?

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed my best friend, Claire.

“Ellie, I thought you were working today,” she answered. “Is everything okay?” I didn’t usually bother her when she was at her housekeeping job at the Tranquil Inn, so she knew it had to be important.

“Actually, I don’t have a job anymore since I just quit.”

“You did what?”

“I think I’m going to hyperventilate.” I walked over to the wooden steps leading up to my third-floor apartment and sat down, running my hand through my hair.

“Ellie, it’s just a job and your new boss is a bitch.”

“But it still paid the bills. And Darrell’s Restaurant will never take me back after all the times Tom showed up to question me while I was working.” We’d grown up with Tom. That, along with his respect for my father, was why he cut me some slack even though there was plenty of evidence that I was tied to the strange things happening on Roanoke Island. Still, his patience was wearing thin. Especially when his intuition told him I knew more than I pretended to know. Too bad he was right.

“I thought you said David wanted you to quit.”

“He does, but this means I’m totally dependent on him. I’m supposed to be a strong, independent woman and now I’m just what Collin thought I was when he first showed up at the New Moon.”

“An easy mark?”

“No! An opportunistic gold digger. Now David will end up paying my bills and helping float the inn.”

“Oh, Ellie. There’s a difference. David loves you and wants to help you.”

“It’s still not right.”

“Okay,” she murmured. “So you’ll get another job. It’s not the end of the world. Now tell me what’s really going on.”

My head jerked up in surprise. Sometimes I wondered if Claire knew me better than I knew myself. “Something’s wrong with Myra.”

“With her new job?” she asked, surprised.

“I don’t know. She was fine until the day before she left, and then she started to act . . . distant. She hasn’t called me in over a week, and she acts like I’m bothering her whenever I call her.”

“That doesn’t sound like Myra at all. Could she just be nervous about her new job? She hasn’t taught in a long time and classes started this week.”

“Maybe.” But she’d never blown me off before, no matter how busy her schedule. “David and I are going to Chapel Hill this weekend. I think I’ll drop by Durham to see her.”

“Are you going there to pack up David’s house?”

“Yeah, and one of his colleagues might have some information about the Ricardo Estate.”

“Really? That’s great.” Her voice lowered. “Listen, I’ve got to go. I think my boss is coming down the hall. Are we still cleaning your apartment after I get off work?”

“Yeah, see you at three.” I hung up and glanced up toward my apartment. Now that I didn’t have a job, I could go up and clean it myself. But I’d only seen Claire twice since her return from her honeymoon in Charleston, and I couldn’t ignore the fact that she’d been acting different too. While she hadn’t blown me off, she had been more subdued than usual.

With nothing to do for several hours, I went back to the inn to help Becky. I called David to tell him that going out of town wouldn’t be an issue since I quit my job. I hung up as I walked into the inn, finding Becky at the office desk.

She looked up in surprise. “Ellie! Why aren’t you at work?”

I shrugged. “I guess inn keeping is my new full-time job.”

Her face fell. “Does that mean you don’t need me full time anymore?”

Oh, crap. I hadn’t considered that. The inn could barely pay her salary and the mortgage along with the other expenses of running the place. But I couldn’t count on being here all the time with my new Curse Keeper responsibilities. “No. I still need you. Tell me what still needs to be done today.”

Relief washed over her face as she told me what she’d accomplished while I was gone.

After I did laundry and some long-overdue deep cleaning, I realized it was almost time for me to meet Claire. I grabbed a bottle of water and stepped out into the August heat to walk to my apartment.

When I stepped onto the third-floor landing, I stared at the now-bare front door. It looked naked without all the symbols Collin and I had marked on it.

Claire was waiting for me in one of the plastic chairs on the front porch, watching me with a wistfulness I hadn’t expected.

“I forgot about those chairs,” I said as I moved toward her. “I’m not sure I want to drag them several blocks to the house.”

Claire shrugged, lifting a bottle of beer to her lips. “Toss ’em in the Dumpster. They cost less than ten bucks at Walmart, not to mention they’re tacky.”

“What are you doing outside? You have a key.”

She stared at the door for several seconds. “It’s too sad and creepy in there now that it’s empty.”

“Creepier than my father’s house?”

She cocked an eyebrow, her dark brown eyes bright with amusement, but there was some heavier emotion behind them. “That’s a telling phrase right there—your father’s house.”

I released a sigh. “You know what I mean.”

“Why are you doing this, Ellie? You hate that house.”

“I don’t hate it. It just makes me uncomfortable.”

“Well, no shit!” she shouted, waving her hand in the air. “Maybe you should listen to your instincts. Your mother was murdered there. You recently found out that the killer had you trapped in your closet. You were eight years old, Ellie. Eight!” she said, her eyes blazing. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because someone needs to take care of the inn.”

“That’s bullshit. What’s the real reason?”

“Because Daddy hid notes to me in the house and I have to find them.”

“And have you found any since you banished those evil badgers?”

I scowled. “No.” I turned toward the door and put the key into the doorknob. “We need to clean my apartment. I want to be home when David gets back from work.”

“Ellie. It’s me, Claire. I know you better than probably anyone alive. What’s the real reason?”

Tears filled my eyes. “I let him down, Claire.” My voice broke. “I have to try and save it.”

She leaned forward and grabbed my wrist, guiding me to the chair next to hers. Then she reached under her seat and grabbed a paper bag that I hadn’t noticed. After pulling out a second bottle of beer, she popped the top off and handed it to me. “Here.”

I took a long sip, then placed the cold bottle against my chest to help me cool off. “You came prepared.”

She took a drink from her bottle and shrugged. “I was going to make you talk one way or another. Getting you drunk was Plan B.”

“And Plan A?”

She grinned. “Asking you.”

I chuckled softly and took another drink. Claire was right. She knew me better than anyone. Being best friends with someone for fifteen years wasn’t for nothing.

“You seriously think you let him down?” she asked.

“Of course I did. In every conceivable way. I refused to relearn the curse after Momma’s murder. If only I’d listened to him—”

Her hand covered mine, her eyes pleading. “Ellie. Enough. We’ve rehashed this every which way left of Sunday. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. We all have things we wish we’d done differently, but what good does it do us to dwell?”

“Maybe Marlena wouldn’t be dead right now if I’d known enough to figure out what Collin was up to. Maybe Daddy would still be alive too.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” She took another drink. “How in the world could you have stopped Okeus’s lackey from killing Marlena? And Ahone demanded a sacrifice—your father. All the knowledge in the world wouldn’t have prevented either of their deaths.”

“I have to blame someone, Claire.”

“Fine, then blame Collin. Blame Okeus. Blame Ananias Dare and his cohort, Manteo. But stop blaming yourself, because that’s just bollocks, as your Brit likes to say.”

I grinned. “I’m quite fond of my Brit.”

“No wonder. He’s hot and he’s great in bed.”

My mouth dropped open in protest. “I never said he’s great in bed.”

“I know. I’m reading between the lines. You’ve told me all about all the awful experiences you’ve had. The fact that you won’t tell me a thing about sex with David speaks volumes.”

“I never told you about sex with Collin either.”

She lifted her beer bottle in salute. “Exactly.”

I laughed and we drank the rest of our beers. Once we were done, Claire pulled out two more bottles, then stopped, her gaze drifting down the landing toward my neighbor’s door.

“What are you looking at?”

She shook her head and handed me the drink. “Nothing.”

“We’re supposed to be cleaning,” I said, taking the proffered beer and checking out the door that had caught her attention. Claire was lying to me, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why.

“Your apartment isn’t going anywhere,” she said, but she didn’t sound happy. “I seriously think you should reconsider.”

“It’s too late, Claire. My landlord has already rented it out.”

We were quiet again, the silence more heavy this time. “Tell me more about your honeymoon,” I finally said. “You’ve been home for two weeks and every time I ask you about it, you change the subject.”

She shot me a grin, but she looked somehow nervous, a first considering that she was a chronic oversharer. “Now who’s trying to get sexual exploit details?”

“Please. You’re the queen of TMI. But that’s not what I’m asking and you know it. Tell me about Charleston. You’ve been dying to go there your entire life and you finally got to go. What was it like? Were the ghost tours fun?”

She took another sip from her bottle. “We need to take care of your apartment.”

“Claire. You and Myra have something in common: you’re both acting strange. Her since she moved and you since you came back from your honeymoon. If I wasn’t full of so much self-confidence, I might start getting paranoid,” I teased.

She was silent for several seconds, her face turning pale.

Oh, shit. Something was wrong. “Did you and Drew have a fight?”

She shook her head with a wry smile. “No. Drew is perfect.”

“Then what happened?”

She leaned forward, fear in her eyes. “Promise me that you won’t think I’m crazy.”

“Are you serious? You’re one of the sanest people I know. You keep me sane. How could I think you’re crazy?”

She nodded, pressing her lips together in concentration.

“So tell me what happened.”

“Drew and I went on a ghost tour the second night we were there. The tour guide was lame. In fact, I was kind of bored. I kept thinking how I would have done it differently.” I didn’t find that surprising since Claire ran ghost tours in downtown Manteo. Hers were always quite entertaining.

“And which part of that is crazy?”

She took a long pull on her beer. “The Unitarian Cemetery was part of the tour, but we didn’t even get to go in. The tour was at night and the cemetery was closed. When we were about ten feet away from the gate, something happened.” She paused and chewed on her thumbnail. “One minute I was in the hot, muggy evening air, and the next a cold chill hit me, like I’d walked into a freezer.”

Fear crawled up my spine.

“The closer I got, the colder it became. The tour guide’s voice faded and a figure appeared. A woman. But she wasn’t really there.”

Oh, God. Were the demons going after Claire now? Had they actually followed my friend on her honeymoon? “Did she try to hurt you?”

“No.” She swallowed, refusing to look at me. “She was wearing an old-fashioned dress, long and flowing, and her hair was pulled back. She was pretty, but she looked sad. She was watching me from the other side of the locked gate. As the guide started to lead the tour away, I approached the gate, and . . . that was when she spoke to me.”

“What did she say?”

“She said, ‘It’s time to wake up.’ Then she vanished into thin air.”

“What does that mean? Wake up?”

She didn’t answer my question. “I was pretty shaken up, but we were still on that stupid tour. Drew knew immediately that something was wrong. He even stood at the gate next to me, but he didn’t see her—the ghost.”

“You think you saw a ghost?”

She stiffened. “You don’t believe me.”

My eyes flew open in astonishment. “How can you say that? After everything that I’ve seen, that you’ve seen with me. Of course I believe you. I’m just scared for you. They’re coming after you now.” My worst nightmare was coming true. I should have made Claire leave Manteo like Myra. Everyone close to me was in danger.

“No, Ellie,” she said, shaking her head. “She didn’t want to hurt me. She was trying to help me.”

That didn’t make sense. “Why do you think it was a ghost? And what did she mean about it being time to wake up?”

She sucked in her top lip between her teeth. “When I was little . . . I used to hear things. Voices.”

Something stirred deep inside my head. The flutter of a memory trying to break free. Then it dove below the surface, out of reach.

“I heard them when I was little, but soon after we moved to Manteo, they went away.”

“Around the time Momma was killed.”

Claire’s face paled. “How did you know that?”

I shook my head, feeling light-headed. “I don’t know.” But I knew it was true.

“I told you about the voices when we were little,” she whispered. “The day you told me about the curse after school. Your mother got a phone call that made her upset. She was crying. You’d told me the truth about the curse before she came home, and I felt like I should share something with you too. I hated to see you so upset. So I told you, scared to death you’d think I was crazy or lying, but you didn’t. At least not that day.”

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the chair. “The memory is there. I can feel it, but when I try to remember, it’s like I’m reaching for water that’s running through my fingers.”

“After your mom died, I mentioned something about the voices I heard, and you looked at me like I was crazy. I figured you didn’t want to talk about it.”

“No, Claire. I don’t remember it at all. It disappeared with all memories of the curse. I don’t even remember Momma taking a phone call or getting upset. Before my dreams and everything started to come back, the only thing I remember about that day is that I told you about the curse while we were sitting under the oak tree at the side of the house.”

“So you really didn’t remember me telling you about the voices?”

I shook my head.

Her eyes widened. “I can see you forgetting everything about the curse, but why would you forget the other things? Was it trauma, or something else?”

“I don’t know.”

“Ellie, she said something else before she disappeared.”

Oh, lord. After seeing the old woman last night and finding out that Claire could see ghosts, I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. “What?”

“She said, ‘You have to help her.’ ”

“What does that mean?” My voice rose. I was starting to panic and I didn’t even know why.

“You know what it means.” She leaned forward. “And why are you freaking out?”

“I don’t know.” I stood up and reached for the doorknob. “Let’s get started. I need to finish up here soon so I can get home to David.”

Claire followed me inside, where the emptiness of the apartment was still a shock to my system. “Ellie, why are you running away from this?”

I spun around and glared at her. “Why did you wait almost two weeks to tell me?”

“I was worried about how you would react.”

“Why?”

She waved her hand at me. “Maybe this is why.”

My anger faded and my shoulders slumped.

“Ellie, talk to me. Why are you freaking out?”

“I’m scared, Claire. I’m scared for you. If something happens to you—”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me.”

I shook my head, my anger resurfacing. “You don’t know that! The more involved you are, the more at risk you are.”

Claire closed the distance between us and grabbed my arms. “Ellie, I’m not going anywhere.” Her eyebrows rose in mock surprise when I gasped. “What? You don’t think I can see what you’re doing? First sending Myra to Durham—”

“Myra wanted to go to Durham!”

“Don’t tell me that you weren’t happy to send her off.”

Tears stung my eyes. “How can you say that? I love Myra.”

“I know you do! And the way I said it came out wrong. I know you were trying to protect her, but I also know you’ve been trying to figure out how to distance yourself from me too.”

“I love you, Claire. I have to protect you.”

She shook her head. “Maybe I’m supposed to protect you. Just like David’s trying to do. We’re not Curse Keepers, but we have other ways of helping. And don’t get it into your head that we’re not meant to be involved. What do you think, that the professor whose help you were seeking just happened to show up in Manteo to work at the colony site? That I just happened to hear ghosts who know about you and your role as Curse Keeper?”

My mouth moved like a fish trying to breathe as I struggled with what to say.

“Things happen for a reason, Ellie. Yeah, Collin-fucking-Dailey won’t help you, but that doesn’t mean you have to be alone. Maybe we’re meant to help you.”

I shook my head, trying to make sense of her words. “How?”

“You need to listen to me. I’m telling you that you shouldn’t be living in that house. There’s a darkness there.”

Sweat prickled the back of my neck. “I thought you just heard voices?”

Her face softened. “That was when I was little . . . now I can see things too. Like that ghost. Something changed after we got home from Charleston. Whenever I look at the house, it’s covered in a hazy darkness.”

“You’re scaring me, Claire.”

“Good. You should be scared. There’s something dark in that house. Maybe that’s why you’ve felt uncomfortable there since the curse broke. It’s because you shouldn’t be there at all.”

I knew there was some truth to what she said. Ever since the curse broke, I’d felt something bad in the house, mostly in my bedroom. But over the last week, I had felt something ominous in both houses. As long as David or someone else was with me, I could handle it. But I couldn’t bear to be there alone. “What am I supposed to do? I gave up my apartment. I have nowhere else to go.”

“Ellie, you’re about to lose the house anyway. Find somewhere else to live. And whatever you do, don’t stay there without David.” Claire hesitated. “She says you need him.”

“Who says I need him?”

She sucked in her top lip. “I see ghosts all the time now. When you asked me what I saw outside that other apartment just now, it was a ghost. An old guy wandering around in his bathrobe, holding a newspaper and a cup of coffee.”

My eyes widened. “Mr. Murphy. He liked to walk around in his robe. He died about two weeks after I moved in here. That was four years ago.” I took a deep breath. Why was this freaking me out? After everything else I’d seen, ghosts should have been nothing.

“He’s pissed that someone is living in his apartment. He says she doesn’t keep it clean enough.”

I stared at Claire, wide-eyed. “How many do you see?”

“Some days one or two. Yesterday I saw ten.”

“And you’re not scared?”

“No. Unlike your demons, the ghosts seem harmless. But not all of them are fully formed. Some are blobs—kind of like when we saw Kanim. From what I can tell, the longer they’ve been dead, the more I can see of them.”

“And the ghost that thinks I need David? Can you see her?”

“No. She’s a blur, not even a blob yet. She started making sounds a few days ago, and yesterday was the first time I could string the words together. But I’ve figured out enough to know that she’s worried about you and wants you to leave.”

“How do you even know you can trust the voices, Claire? What if this person is somehow working with Okeus?”

“I just know that we can. Call it instinct.”

I headed for the kitchen and started opening cabinets to make sure they were empty. “Well, then you must be happy that David and I are heading to Chapel Hill for the weekend.”

“Relieved.” She leaned her hands on the bar. “Then you can find somewhere else to live when you get back.”

A movement in the open front door caught my attention.

“Why are we looking for somewhere else to live?” David asked.

I bugged my eyes at Claire in warning, then turned to face David. “What are you doing here?”

“I missed you.” He moved toward me with a mischievous grin. “I wondered what was taking you so long, and then I saw the empty bottles on the porch.”

“Busted,” Claire said with a laugh.

David pulled me into a hug. “I figured I’d come and help, and then we can grab something to eat before heading back.” He looked over my head at Claire. “And why do we need to find somewhere else to live? And no, I’m not so easily veered off topic.”

I’d discovered that firsthand when David started asking questions about the marks on my door a month ago.

She glanced from my pleading face to David’s. “Oh, you know. It has to be difficult for Ellie to live in the house where she grew up.”

“You mean the house where she suffered a horrible trauma?” David was quiet for several seconds when Claire didn’t give him an answer. “We’ll definitely keep that in mind. Now what do we need to do to finish up here?”

We spent the next half hour cleaning. When we were done, I stood in the doorway and spent a moment surveying the only place that had ever been completely mine. I had to wonder if Claire was right. I knew I should tell David the whole story—that she wanted me to tell him—but there was someone I needed to talk to first. I hadn’t seen him in weeks, and just the thought of it made me nervous.

Before I left for Chapel Hill, I needed to talk to Collin.

CHAPTER THREE

The next morning I texted Collin. It felt wrong and underhanded, but I knew it was the right thing to do. Although I had a hard time convincing myself of that fact since I was hiding my plan from David. We had promised not to keep secrets from each other. I justified my decision by telling myself that I’d tell David everything after I talked to Collin. For some reason, I felt the need to get his take on the situation before putting it out in the open. If Claire really could see ghosts, if they really did want her to help me, it might be a game changer.

Of course, I ran the very real risk of Collin refusing to tell me anything at all. But he knew much more than I did about demons and spirits, and his expertise in the supernatural might extend to ghosts. It was worth asking.

I composed the text after I put two breakfast casseroles in the oven and quickly sent it before I could change my mind.

Something’s come up. I need to talk to you as soon as possible.

I wasn’t sure the last part of the second sentence was necessary, but I wanted answers before we left for Chapel Hill later in the afternoon.

David walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Is Becky okay with running the inn this weekend?”

I shoved my phone into my jeans pocket. “Yeah. She’s happy to do it. She really likes the added responsibility.”

He kissed me and then looked around the kitchen. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Nope. Got it under control. It’s not so humid this morning. If you want, you can take your coffee out to the front porch before you leave for work.”

His forehead wrinkled. “And leave you in here working? Not likely. Besides, I’ll have plenty of time outside today.” He sat on a stool in the corner and studied me for a moment. “I’ve been thinking about what Claire said. Have you called Myra yet to arrange a time to meet her?”

“No,” I murmured, not looking at him. “I haven’t had a chance.” But that wasn’t why I hadn’t called. Considering the way she’d been brushing me off lately, I was worried how she would react to a suggested visit. What if she’d decided she preferred her new life without me? I wasn’t sure I could bear it.

“And Claire said a lot of things,” I said, wiping a counter and avoiding eye contact. My guilt over texting Collin was already eating at me. “Especially after Drew joined us for dinner and she and I split a bottle of wine.”

“I really like Drew. He seems like a good bloke.”

“Yeah, I like him too. We’ve been friends for even longer than Claire and me. Did you know that Drew’s had a crush on Claire since she first moved to town in the third grade?”

“You’ve mentioned that about ten times, and I’m talking about when Claire said we should find somewhere else to live.” He quirked an eyebrow before taking a sip of his coffee. “I’m on to you, love. I know when you’re trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.”

I rested my butt against the counter to watch him. “She’s just being a protective best friend.”

“I know. But I can’t help wondering if she’s right.”

I released a heavy sigh. “David.”

“No, hear me out. I know you hate your bedroom, but we’re staying in there anyway since you refuse to invade Myra’s room. Let’s give the boarders notice, search the house from top to bottom again, then put the property up for sale.”

My muscles tensed. “You want me to give up on it just like that?”

He cringed. “I didn’t mean to put it so flippantly.”

“This house has belonged to my family for over one hundred years. My father did everything he could to save it. What would he think of me if I just left?”

“Ellie, the way I see it, you have two choices: you can either be an innkeeper or you can be the Curse Keeper. The inn is a distraction for you. You constantly worry about money and making sure the guests are happy. It’s draining you. You can’t deny it.”

I stayed silent.

“If your father were here right now, you know which one he’d choose.”

I pushed away from the counter and moved to the sink. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

David got off his stool and pressed his chest against my back. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to push you. You don’t have to make any decisions now. In fact, let’s use this weekend to try to distance ourselves from all of this as much as possible.”

“While we go to Chapel Hill to talk to your colleague about a sword that kills demons,” I said dryly as I spun around to face him.

“Point taken.” He kissed my forehead but then drew back. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

My gaze lifted to study his face, my stomach knotting. “Conversations that start with ‘there’s something I need to tell you’ never lead to anything good. Should I be worried?”

A soft smile spread across his face. “Ellie, how can you doubt that I love you? I know I haven’t said it since—”

Since he had told me several times without any reciprocation. “Stop.” I put my fingers on his lips. “You don’t have to say it. It’s just that I’m not the easiest person to live with. If you decided—”

“Ellie, I love you. I promised you that I’m not going anywhere, and I meant it. Please rid yourself of any worry to the contrary.”

“Okay.” I gave him a gentle kiss. “So what did you want to tell me?”

“About some research I’ve dug up. As I mentioned last week, I expanded my search to include possible fringe group interest in recent supernatural activity.”

“You mean the crazy conspiracy theory people?” I asked skeptically.

“Yeah, the people who aren’t afraid to think outside the box.”

“And I take it you found something?”

“Maybe.” He paused. “There’s a group called the Guardians. They say they’ve been around for hundreds of years. They’ve been preparing for a surge of demons to be released upon the earth.”

“You mean the apocalypse.”

“Think about it—the breaking of the curse could be seen as the apocalypse by a lot of people.”

“If you ignore the fact that half the people on the earth didn’t disappear in the rapture.”

“Many fundamentalist Christians estimate that only a quarter of the population would be raptured.”

My eyes narrowed. “The fact that you can spout that without blinking an eye scares me more than a little bit.”

“It’s on their website. And this group doesn’t believe in the rapture anyway. Not all Christians do, you know.”

I’d spent a fair amount of time in church growing up, and we’d never been told anything about the rapture, but demon attacks hadn’t come up either. “You must think there’s something there if you’re mentioning this group.”

“I had to do a lot of digging, but I finally found out where they’re from.” His eyes turned serious. “Ellie, they’re based in Charlotte.” Just like the stash of antiquities that might be the Ricardo Estate.

I felt like I’d been kicked in the gut as I backed into the counter behind me. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

“I agree. There’s been an upsurge in online activity for the group. As well as mention of new interesting developments in the last month or so.” He paused. “I’d like to stay for a couple extra days. I want to go to Charlotte on Monday to look into this some more. Do you think Becky will be okay with taking point at the inn while we’re gone?”

I nodded, my stomach churning. “Yeah.”

“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

His words reminded me of Claire, which in turn made me think of my text to Collin. Guilt quickly replaced my shock. “This is good. It’s our first solid lead on who’s in possession of the Ricardo Estate.” I shook my head. “I don’t know why I’m so upset.”

“It’s understandable. After all, we think there’s a tie between the people behind the Ricardo Estate and your mother’s death.” He gripped my shoulders and lowered his gaze to my eyes. “Word of warning, love: the closer we get to the truth, the more difficult this is going to get, emotionally and otherwise.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” I smiled up at him. “I’m fine. I promise.”

“How about you let Becky do the rest of the work today? You could use some time to relax. I’ll be back by three. If you’re ready to go when I get back, we’ll have plenty of time to get to my house before dark so you can mark the doors.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t considered that. Sloppy on my part.

He gently kissed my lips, his tenderness catching me by surprise. “I think I’ll take off for work now and get an early start. Come out to the site if you’d like. Text me first and I’ll meet you at the entrance.”

“Thanks. I’ll think about it.”

“And don’t forget to call Myra. I know her behavior has been upsetting, but she’s probably just distracted by all the changes in her life. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to see you.” My eyebrows lifted in surprise and he shot me a grin. “Like I told you, I know you by now. Call her.”

As I watched him go, I thought about his parting words. He was right about Myra. I decided to give her a call and leave her a message if she didn’t answer. A small part of me hoped she wouldn’t. It would hurt too much if she rejected me.

Myra answered on the third ring. “Ellie, what a surprise.” While she didn’t sound like herself, she didn’t sound as cold as she had recently.

“Hey, Myra. How’s the new job going?”

“Oh, you know . . . keeping me busy.”

I waited for her to ask about my life, but she stayed silent. Trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice, I said, “David and I are coming to Chapel Hill this weekend. He’s meeting with a colleague to discuss some things. I thought maybe we could come see you. I’d love to see your new apartment.”

“Well, I’m fairly busy this weekend.”

Tears burned my eyes. Myra might have been my stepmother, but she’d spent more years with me than my biological mother. Myra had been the one to help me navigate the minefields of middle school and high school. She’d always sworn that while I may not have been born from her body, I was part of her heart. And now she wanted nothing to do with me. “Myra, have I done something to upset you?” My voice broke. I couldn’t help it.

She paused for several seconds before her voice lowered. “No, Ellie. I’m sorry. I’ve been insensitive. I just have a lot going on.” Her words were gentle and soft. “Of course I’ll make time for you. Why don’t you call me when you get to Chapel Hill and we’ll figure out a time.”

“Okay.”

“I have to go. We’ll have a nice chat this weekend. Bye.” She hung up and I stared at the dead phone. Why hadn’t she told me that she loved me? I shook my head. She was probably on her way to a class or something. I was making too much of this.

To get my mind off Myra, I decided to figure out my day. One, I needed to talk to Collin, and two, I needed to reexamine my treasure chest of trinkets—which included Daddy’s pocket watches and the gold engraved ring I wore, which I’d found buried under the oak tree in the yard. It couldn’t be a coincidence that my mother had been murdered a week after being asked to examine the contents of a collection called the Ricardo Estate. Especially when I took into account that a thug in Buxton thought I was part of something he called “the Ricardo deal.” His goon had cornered me after finding my father’s pocket watch collection and showed me a photo of an almost identical watch from the Ricardo Estate. Now David’s colleague had recently seen a watch similar to Daddy’s.

Coincidence?

My mother’s death had happened years ago, so figuring out the circumstances seemed less important than wrestling actual demons, but as David had pointed out soon after agreeing to help me, there weren’t any coincidences in this thing. And while her murder was a long time ago, she was my mother, and it was difficult to let go with so many unanswered questions. I needed closure. Nevertheless, I was clueless about how it all wove together. I hoped we’d get more answers this weekend.

My cell phone dinged. I picked up the phone and nearly choked when I read the text message.

I’m always here for you, Ellie. When?

What a fucking lie. He knew so much about the curse and its background, yet he refused to share any of that information with me. Instead, he used it as bargaining material, parceling out little bits at a time. But I had to admit that he seemed to have experienced a change of attitude the last time we saw each other, at Claire’s wedding reception. He’d given me the map and he’d given me his blessing to be with David. Maybe he’d changed.

In person. Anytime today.

His answer came seconds later.

Noon. The foot of the Nags Head Pier.

I stared at my phone for several seconds, wrestling with my conscience. David wasn’t the jealous type, and he’d actually called Collin to ask for his help when we were fighting the demon badgers Ukinim and Ilena. The cold hard truth was that I’d probably be dead if Collin hadn’t helped us. I knew David wouldn’t have a problem with me meeting Collin, so why didn’t I want to tell him?

Okay

Despite David’s suggestion that I take the day off, I spent the rest of the morning helping Becky clean the rooms in the inn and tidy the bathrooms in the main house. I just couldn’t lie around while she was working. It didn’t seem right, even if she was getting paid. Plus, working helped keep my mind partially busy. At eleven thirty, I checked my reflection in the mirror. I was wearing a pale-green sundress that made my hazel eyes greener than usual, and my long dark red hair was arranged in a loose French braid. My makeup was minimal—some mascara, a little bit of eye shadow, and blush. The brightness of my gaze gave me second thoughts. My bond to Collin was strong, and I found it difficult to resist him when he pursued me. I just needed to keep David first and foremost in my mind while the two of us were together.

The traffic wasn’t bad crossing the bridge off Roanoke Island toward Nags Head, so the trip was short. The closer I got to the ocean, the antsier I became. My bond to Collin wasn’t the only pull I had experienced since the curse broke. The ocean called to me, begging me to touch it. As the Dare Curse Keeper, I was the daughter of the sea. I had always been drawn to the ocean, ever since I was a girl, but after the breaking of the curse, the pull was irresistible at times.

I arrived five minutes early and parked in the public lot, where I was surprised to see that Collin’s beat-up old pickup truck was already in a space. After locking my purse in the trunk, I walked toward the pier.

Collin was waiting at the edge of the parking lot at the entrance to the pier restaurant. I stopped in my tracks, the sight of him sending an overwhelming yearning shooting through my body.

I still wanted him.

I’d been drawn to him from the beginning. It had been hard to admit that to myself when we first met; he’d acted so egotistical and arrogant, making no secret of the fact that he couldn’t stand me. But my attraction had taken root the moment we saw each other. He had felt the same undeniable draw, and when we finally slept together, Collin Dailey had been imprinted on my very soul. But our connection was more powerful than that. He was the literal other half of me. I was the daughter of the sea and he was the son of the earth—the yin and yang of the curse—and I couldn’t help but wonder if our strong mutual attraction was a chemistry that went back to the curse itself.

He watched me, his face expressionless. He carried two bags and had a blanket tucked under his arm. His dark hair was shorter than the last time I’d seen him, and he was tanner too. Short stubble covered his face. He wore a pair of khaki shorts and a V-neck white T-shirt, and he looked sexier than I’d ever seen him.

Turn around and go home, Ellie.

That’s what I knew I should do, but my feet disagreed, and I took several steps toward him, stopping several paces away.

“You look beautiful, Ellie.”

I swallowed a burning lump in my throat. This was why I couldn’t be around Collin very often—not because of how drawn to him I was, but because I knew I could never be with him. David wasn’t the reason for that; Collin himself was. “Thank you.” I forced a smile, my eyes tearing up. “You look good too.”

His mouth pinched and I could see an inner battle wage in his eyes before he reached out his right hand—the circle and square burned into his palm clearly visible—and took my left hand, linking our fingers together. “Come sit with me.”

I nodded my consent and we walked fifty feet south of the pier until Collin stopped and released my hand, then set his bags down and spread out the blanket.

“Have a seat, Ellie.”

I kicked off my flip-flops at the edge of the blanket and walked to the center, tucking my legs to the side as I sat down. Collin lowered himself next to me, grabbed one of the bags, and pulled out two foil-wrapped sandwiches.

He handed me one, flashing his cocky Collin grin. “I knew I could get you to eat lunch with me if I held out long enough.”

I took the sandwich and released a soft laugh. “I didn’t know you’d been trying.”

He was reaching into the bag again when he stopped midgesture and looked into my face with a sadness that ripped my soul to shreds.

“And I didn’t say lunch,” I said. “Just that I needed to see you.”

He shrugged. “So I improvised.” He pulled out two bottles of water and set one next to me.

I opened the sandwich and the smell of a bacon cheeseburger filled my nose, making my stomach growl. I took a bite and couldn’t contain my groan of appreciation.

Collin laughed. “They say the way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach.”

I shook my head and chuckled. “That’s a man.”

We looked out onto the crashing ocean waves for several seconds in silence, both eating our sandwiches, so much like our last night in Morehead City. The night before everything fell apart. I had expected to be more anxious around him. I’d expected more animosity from him despite the fact that the last time we’d met had been on civil terms. What I hadn’t expected was this sense of peace. My yearning was still there, but this time I had it under control. It just felt good to be with him.

“When was the last time you were in the ocean?” he asked, keeping his gaze on the horizon.

“Last week.”

“You need to visit it more, Ellie. It’s a part of you now.” His voice was soft and noncondemning.

“It’s hard to get over here, even though it’s just a fifteen- to twenty-minute drive. When you take into account that I lose anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour when I zone out every time I come . . . ” My voice trailed off in frustration.

“You wouldn’t spend as much time in the water if you came more often. It gives you power. And if you’re losing that much time, you’re using more energy than you’re getting.”

“This Curse Keeper gig didn’t come with an instruction manual, Collin. At least not for me.” Ordinarily it would have come out as an accusation, but today it was laced with exhaustion.

Collin’s hand covered mine. “I know.”

His touch was comforting, and although I knew I should pull away, I couldn’t make myself do it.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said when I took you out on the boat, about me keeping things from you so you’d keep coming back to see me.” He paused, then stared into my eyes. “I think there might be some truth to it, but it’s more complicated than that.” He offered me a wry smile. “I’ve partially done it to protect you.”

“Hiding things from me won’t protect me. It puts me in more danger. I have no idea what to expect, and that could get me killed.”

Collin stiffened and started to say something before stopping himself. “Why did you want to see me?”

He changed the subject. He still wasn’t willing to fill me in on everything. Bitter disappointment seeped into my blood. “Do you know anything about people being able to see ghosts?”

He hesitated. “Why do you ask?”

My anger, dormant for longer than I’d expected, rushed to the surface. “For once would you just answer a goddamned question?”

His jaw clenched and I wondered if he was going to get up and walk away, but he blew out a breath instead. “Yes. I’ve heard of it. But contrary to what people believe, it’s not that common.”

“Are the ghosts good or bad? And how would someone know if they were ghosts and not spirits or demons?”

“I told you the first day you asked about good gods and bad gods that there’s good and bad in everything. People included. There are a lot of shades of gray, Ellie. Take Ahone.”

Pissed, I started to get up, but Collin wrapped his hand around my wrist and pulled me back down. “For Christ’s sake, you asked me a question, and then you start to storm off when you don’t like the answer. Did you ever consider you might actually know more if you stuck around and listened?”

I sat back down and took several breaths to settle my anger, part of which was directed at myself. He was right.

“Okay.” His hold on my wrist loosened, but he didn’t let go. “Ahone isn’t all good, Ellie. He made you sacrifice your father, for fuck’s sake.”

My simmering temper exploded again and I turned to him, livid. “That was your fault, Collin! You broke the curse! Daddy never would have died if you had left things alone.”

A tourist family gave me curious looks as they walked by, but kept moving.

Collin watched me and waited until they passed. His face softened. “You asked me why I broke the curse. Do you remember what I said?”

My anger clung to me like a familiar friend. “You said you wanted it done! That your family had paid the price, but you didn’t give a shit about my family.”

“Ellie.” His voice lowered and there was no anger in it, only regret. “Did you ever wonder why I walked into your restaurant that day? Or how I knew where to find you? Did you wonder how I had the henna supplies ready the day I took you to Buxton?”

My mouth opened and then closed without emitting any sound.

“I didn’t just come up with this on my own, Ellie. Granted, I hated the fucking curse, but I never considered breaking it until about two months before I did.”

I blinked, amazed that he was finally opening up to me. “What happened?” I asked, my voice breathless.

“Something came to me one night while I was out on the boat.” He paused and glanced out at the water. “I had already forked over a ton of money on repairs for the engine, and Marino wanted me to work some big job. I’d been resisting because I was trying to distance myself from him.” He swallowed and let go of my wrist. “This ball of light appeared and told me that I could change things. That my family had been punished because of the deeds of my ancestors and that we didn’t need to suffer any longer. It told me that I could make things right. All I had to do was break the curse.”

“But—”

Collin turned and put his finger on my lips. “Shh. Let me finish. Then you can ask questions.”

My lip tingled where he touched it and fire raced through my body. My breath came in rapid bursts as Collin’s finger lightly slid along my bottom lip, his gaze pinned on my mouth. It took every ounce of restraint in me not to close the distance between our mouths. It couldn’t have been more than a foot.

David. Remember David.

My expression must have changed because the longing in Collin’s eyes turned to resignation. He dropped his hand and turned back to face the water. “I didn’t listen at first. My job was to protect the curse and keep the gates closed, but the seed of doubt had been planted. And I began to wonder: What if the curse was broken and I didn’t have to spend the rest of my life stuck around Roanoke Island? I could go anywhere I wanted. I could start over where Marino would never find me. After that, it was easy.”

I watched the emotion battle in his eyes.

“A month or so later, the ball of light returned with its whispers about how I could make things right. This time I was willing to listen. It told me that all I had to do was find you—I already knew we had to touch our right palms together. Then the curse would break, cracking the gate open, and after six days I could seal it so that it would never open again. And the curse would be done. Forever. The light told me that I would need to protect you until the ceremony because you didn’t have the mark of protection that the Manteo line wore. After the ceremony, you would be safe.”

Collin ran a hand through his hair, then leaned his forearm against his upright knee. “I still wasn’t sure. It went against everything I had been trained to do and believe.” He sighed and closed his eyes, then slowly opened them. “That’s not entirely true. My father was the Keeper before me. He was angry about his fate, and he always swore he’d break the curse someday. Then he disappeared when I was ten. He just vanished, and my mother didn’t take it well. She was in and out of mental health facilities and my brother . . . ”—he turned to me, his eyebrows lifted—“Conner and I were passed around from family member to family member when she was away.”

I stared up at Collin in disbelief. I couldn’t believe he was sharing so much with me.

His hand rested between us on the blanket. I placed my hand over his and he flipped it over, lacing our fingers together. I could feel strength from my body flow into his, and we weren’t even touching marks.

Our power had grown.

Collin’s eyes widened slightly in surprise before he continued. “I decided to get advice from my grandmother, who was the Keeper before my father. After he left, she took over responsibility for my training, teaching me everything I needed to know. She was only the third female Keeper in the Manteo line, but when I was younger, my father told me that she was the wisest of them all. I suspect he was right. She has much wisdom about the curse and life in general. She instructed me with a firm hand and made sure I believed in the importance of our task. So I went to her and told her about the ball of light. She told me not to trust it.” He laughed. “Of course, I talked myself into believing it in spite of her warnings. The ball of light was telling me things I wanted to hear. So I went to Conner and asked what he thought. He told me that if I was conversing with talking balls of light, I was crazier than our mother. But I think a tiny part of him believed.” He grimaced. “Or was afraid not to believe. Rosalina was Conner’s girlfriend and I knew she had access to henna supplies. After the wind god Wapi almost stole your Manitou, I knew I needed to step up to keep you safe. So I went to Rosalina. Conner had already warned her that I was going to come by for supplies, so she had them ready.

“By then I knew I’d fucked up and fucked up big, but the gate was open and I only had to keep you safe until the sixth day. Then we’d shut the gate and that would be that. But when Wapi attacked you in the ocean, I knew that the ball of light had lied.”

“What did you expect, Collin?” My tone was hateful and condescending. “Okeus is a liar. He’d do anything to get what he wanted. Besides, you told me that Okeus bribed you to keep the gate open, not closed.”

Collin stared into my face with more patience than usual. “Okeus is a god, Ellie, and gods are by definition self-centered, egotistical beings who will do whatever they have to do to get what they want.”

“You’re defending Okeus again? After everything you just told me?”

My hand was still linked with Collin’s and he grabbed my other hand, searching my eyes. “After you had your vision of creation in the ocean, you told me the gate wasn’t thrown open all the way when you and I met, that it was only partially open and only a few spirits were let loose.”

“So? Okeus lied again. Why are you surprised?”

“Ellie, you told me who escaped that day. Okeus hadn’t.”

The blood drained from my head. “What?”

“You told me that two spirits and one god escaped when we cracked the gate. Who was the god?”

“Wapi,” I whispered, horror washing over me.

“The ball of light came to me before the curse broke. Before the spirits and god were released. Four hundred years ago only one god escaped being trapped in Popogusso by the curse, and he ascended to the heavens to wait for hundreds of years. You saw it in your vision.” His voice was low and insistent. “Who was it, Ellie? Who convinced me to break the curse?”

My mouth gaped in dismay and the edges of my vision went black.

“Ellie, who was the god who escaped being trapped in Popogusso with all the others?” he asked again, more insistent.

Tears stung my eyes and I shook my head. “No.” Everything I’d been led to believe was an outright lie.

“Who deceived me and told me that you would be safe when you are anything but? What sick and twisted god withheld his mark from you until you finally came to me and I took you out on the ocean?”

My mouth opened, but I couldn’t make the word come out. If this was true, what did it mean? Not if it was true—I knew in my gut that it was. I’d seen the proof of it. Only I’d been too stupid to put all the pieces together.

Sympathy filled Collin’s eyes. “You know. I can see the horror in your eyes, but you have to tell me, Ellie, you have to tell me who betrayed you. Who betrayed us both. Which god really wanted to break the curse?”

My shell of control was cracking. The black edges were creeping into my peripheral vision.

“Ellie, who really destroyed your life and killed your father?”

“Ahone.”

CHAPTER FOUR

I was in the upstairs hallway, my pretty white princess nightgown billowing around my legs. I clutched Bunny to my chest, terrified.

I could hear my mother crying downstairs as the rain beat against the windows. A crash of thunder made the whole house shake.

“I’m going to ask you nicely one more time: Where is the ring?” a mean man asked Momma.

“Do you want my wedding ring?” my mother asked. “Here. I’ll give it to you.”

A man slapped her and she cried harder.

I knew I had to help Momma, but I was terrified.

“Amanda, I thought you were smart. Isn’t that why Higgins asked you to come to Charlotte?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’d hate to cut up that pretty face. All you have to do is cooperate.”

I couldn’t let the man cut Momma. I ran to the staircase and set my foot on the top step, but an older man’s voice stopped me. He whispered in my ear, “No, Ellie. Don’t go downstairs.”

Ahone.

“Ellie.” Collin’s insistent voice filled my head.

My eyes blinked open and I was blinded by the sunlight glaring in my eyes. A shadow crossed over my face and Collin’s worried face blocked out the sun. I was on my back and he was leaning over me, his hand by my shoulder, bracing his body. “He was there,” I whispered in horror.

Collin shook his head in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Ahone. He was there the night Momma was murdered.”

Collin’s eyes flew open in astonishment and he gently helped me sit up, keeping his arm around my back for support.

“Ahone was there! He told me not to go downstairs. He wouldn’t let me help her.”

“Oh, fuck.”

I leaned my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes, trying to remember every detail. It was all still there, perfectly preserved like a DVD on pause; all I had to do was rewind it. “The man wasn’t there for me. He was there for a ring.” I looked up into his face. “She told the man who broke into our house that she didn’t know about the ring.” I shook my head. “She was lying to him. I know it, deep in my gut. But how do I know she was lying when I don’t remember anything else?”

Sorrow filled his eyes. “I don’t know, Ellie. Maybe you know from your memories, even if you can’t access them.”

“He told her that he thought she was smart and that was the reason Higgins asked her to come to Charlotte.”

His face paled. “Charlotte?”

The pieces were starting to fit together. “My mother saw the Ricardo collection a week before she was murdered. She was murdered because of a ring, the ring I found buried under my oak tree, the one I’m wearing now”—I held up my right hand and showed him the ring—“not because that man was after me.”

“Your mother saw the Ricardo Estate?” His arm dropped away from me as his back became rigid. “You told me you thought there was a connection between the estate and your mother’s death, but I didn’t understand how you’d made that leap.” He watched me for several seconds, terror washing over his face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I only found out a couple of weeks ago. From a friend of my parents.”

Collin leaned forward, looking like he was about to be sick. He squeezed his eyes shut. “Fuck.”

“Why are you so freaked out?” Collin was always in control when it came to the curse and all things supernatural. The only time I’d seen him panic was after Wapi attacked me in the ocean. He’d suddenly realized the danger I was truly in from the gods and demons and was hit by the full impact of what he’d done to me. So what had him freaked out now?

He glanced over his shoulder at me. “We’re just pawns in some monumental game. He’s been planning this for centuries.” His voice sounded strained.

I wanted to argue with him, but I knew he was right. I just didn’t know what to do about it. “So Ahone let that man kill my mother?”

Collin shook his head and turned away. “I don’t know, Ellie.” He ran a hand over his scalp, refusing to look at me. “Maybe . . . Probably.”

In light of everything else, I didn’t doubt it.

“Then Ahone killed my mother and my father,” I whispered as the horror washed over me. “He took them both from me. Why?” Tears slid down my cheeks.

Collin grabbed my hand, linking our fingers and holding tight, still staring out into the ocean. “I don’t know.”

We sat in silence, watching the waves together. Tears burned my eyes. Ahone was a monster too. “I have his fucking mark on my back. I want it off!”

He turned to me, pity in his eyes. “It’s too late. You’ve been picked.”

“Oh, God, Collin.” My voice cracked as I desperately tried to keep control, but panic was overtaking my senses. “I feel so disgusted and used and—”

“Betrayed.” His voice was full of resignation.

“Yes. Betrayed.”

His mouth twisted into a sad smile. “I know exactly how you feel.”

I should be angry. Where was my anger? But all I felt was a numbing iciness. “Why? Why would he do this?”

“I don’t know. He’s a god. Was he bored? Was it fun for him to set this all up? But you can’t trust anything he says or does.”

Collin was right, and part of me hated him for that. He’d tried to warn me, but I’d refused to listen. “What about Okeus? Are you suggesting that I should follow him instead?”

“No. He’s just as bad, although maybe Ahone is worse. Okeus was still trapped after the curse broke, but he sent his messenger to me. Kanim told me that Ahone had used me, just like Ahone had used Manteo years before to create the curse. If I pledged myself to Okeus, he said, I would be rewarded for my loyalty.” He looked away. “At least Okeus is fairly up-front about his deviousness. Ahone masquerades as a kind, benevolent god.”

Tears welled in my eyes and my throat burned, but I was too shocked and devastated to cry. What little I knew about the curse was all a lie, which meant I knew absolutely nothing.

Collin stood and reached down for me. “Come here.”

“What are you doing?” I asked as he pulled me to my feet and started for the water.

“You need the ocean.”

I dug my heels into the sand. “No. It’s from Ahone. I don’t want any part of it.”

“Don’t be stubborn, Ellie. You need it whether you want it or not.” He continued to drag me. “And it may have been Ahone’s idea to invest us with the power of the earth and the sea, but they belong firmly to us. Especially you. You’re the witness to creation. And there’s no way he could have given that to you.”

“How do you know that?”

“Ellie, you saw it yourself. You were present at the birth of the gods. They have no control over that part of you.”

I still resisted. I knew it was stupid, but to go into the ocean felt like accepting what Ahone had done, and there was no way I’d ever accept it or him again.

Collin stopped pulling and I fell against his chest. He took advantage of me being off balance and scooped one arm around my back and the other under my knees, picking me up and holding me to his chest.

“Put me down, Collin!”

He was in the water in only a few strides, walking farther out until the waves hit his waist and he dropped my legs into them.

The power hit me as soon as my toes touched the water. I started to fall as the onslaught of power shot through my entire body. This was my most intense experience yet, and I struggled to stand once my feet hit the sand.

Collin wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me to his chest. “Fuck, Ellie. You’ve been without the ocean for longer than a week.”

But I was too overwhelmed to answer. Before I realized what he was doing, his right hand reached for mine, pressing our palms together.

The Manitou of every living thing filled my head at once, and I felt like I was drowning in the sea of life. Collin and I were even more powerful than the last time we’d joined our marks. His emotions pushed through our connection—guilt, worry, love. Deep love and deep lust.

I looked into his face and wasn’t surprised to see that his eyes were dilated and filled with intense longing. His mouth hovered over mine, waiting for me to close the distance of an inch. I stretched up on the balls of my feet, but I sunk into the sand when I felt something else seep through our connection.

Deception.

Even after his confession, he was still purposely hiding things from me.

“Don’t fight it, Ellie,” he groaned, and his mouth covered mine.

It was all too much for me to resist. Getting lost in the intensity of the experience, I wrapped my free hand around the back of his head as his tongue coaxed my lips apart and explored my mouth.

I wanted him. All reason fled and my only thought was to be with him in every sense of the word. Nothing made me feel so complete as when I was one with Collin, and I was desperate to feel whole again. I reached for the button of his shorts . . .

Suddenly I felt myself falling into a dark abyss.

I was in the valley where I’d seen my father weeks ago, only now the sky was overcast, tinting the scene a dingy gray. The flowers were wilted and dying, and the air was thick and heavy and difficult to suck into my lungs.

“I wish we were meeting under different circumstances.”

I’d recognize that voice anywhere. I spun around, my heart racing. Okeus sat on a tall-backed wooden chair that resembled a mini throne. The tall grass was trampled flat underneath the chair and in a three-foot circle around it. He was dressed in modern clothes again—a pair of dark gray dress pants and a pale-gray dress shirt tailored to fit his toned body, the first two buttons of the collar open. His black hair was cropped short, and his piercing, dark, almost black eyes were pinned to my face. “Ellie, come speak with me.” He gestured to the path of flattened grass that led from me to him.

“I don’t want to be here. Send me back.” I spun around in a circle, looking for an escape. The last time I’d met Okeus like this had been in a dream. The only reason I had escaped was because I’d screamed for David, who had woken me up and saved me. Who would save me now?

Okeus crossed his legs, his mouth twisting in irritation. “There’s no need to be so dramatic, Ellie. I don’t plan on stealing your virtue today, although I have to wonder how much virtue you actually possess.” He placed both hands on the arms of the chair and grinned. “You were about to fuck Collin on a public beach in front of families with children.”

Horror flooded me. He was right. What had happened to me?

He shook his head and tsked. “No need for shame, Ellie. It’s not surprising. You and Collin were handpicked for one another. The perfect match in every way.” Okeus stood and took a step toward me. “Did you know your mother had five miscarriages before giving birth to you?”

“No.” I knew my parents had experienced infertility issues, which explained why Momma was in her late thirties and Daddy in his forties when she got pregnant with me. But I didn’t know about the miscarriages.

“Do you know why?” He looked amused.

I shook my head. But the truth hit me as soon as he opened his mouth to gloat.

“Those pregnancies were unacceptable. Three were boys, which automatically ruled them out since Collin isn’t gay. One of the girls was deemed incompatible. She would have been too meek and Collin wouldn’t have given her the time of day. The second would have developed leukemia at age six, then died ten years later. Finally, there was you.” He grinned and took several steps toward me, stopping two feet in front of me. “And you were perfect. A fire that would catch his interest. A stubbornness to keep him on his toes.” Okeus lifted his hand to my cheek, running his fingertips down to my jaw. “A beauty that would draw him to you. The fact that you are a witness to creation was a lucky coincidence.”

I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around myself. My thin sundress was soaking wet and clung to every curve of my body. “There are no coincidences in any of this.”

His gaze fell to my right hand. “Take that ring on your hand. If only you knew its history, its intended purpose.”

I curled my fingers into a fist.

A devious grin spread across his face. “No coincidences? Are you so sure of that? Granted, many things have been finely orchestrated, more nuanced than you can imagine, but even Ahone can’t control the Manitou. It is a force greater than all of us.” His knuckles slid down my bare arm. “He could control your characteristics. Your personality. But he couldn’t bestow you with your pure soul. That was out of his control, as hard as it must be for the creator god to accept. But you can be sure that once he realized his good fortune, he chose to use it to his advantage.”

“For what purpose? I could have been anyone and all Collin had to do was grab my hand to break the curse.”

A grin spread across the god’s face. “Now there is a good question. But there’s no arguing that you were meant to be Collin’s, Ellie.”

This was surreal. “I thought you wanted me for yourself.”

“What I need from you is easily enough given. I’ll impregnate you. You’ll gestate my child, then give birth. If it’s successful, we’ll repeat the process.”

Disgust nauseated me. “You’re such a romantic. A girl needs a little wining and dining, you know.”

He lifted his eyebrows with a half shrug. “I tried that last time and it didn’t work. I’ve decided to take a more direct approach.”

“Sorry. Still not interested. And why would you care if Collin and I get together?”

“Ellie, Ellie.” He shook his head, smirking with amusement. “How easily you forget. Why would I care if you were perfect for Collin? It’s all part of Ahone’s game.”

Okeus lifted his hands from his body and shrugged, his grin fading. He began to slowly circle me, but I was too paralyzed with shock to stop him. Why would Ahone care if Collin fell for me? He wanted Collin to open the gate, but obviously there was more to it, though I had no idea what it meant.

“You needn’t feel shame for your intense attraction to Collin. Ahone created you to be drawn to each other. Throw in your Curse Keeper bond and your souls’ strong connection . . . well, I’m not sure why you fight him. It’s a waste of energy.”

Obviously he had brought me here for a reason, and it had to be more than just an opportunity for him to gloat. “What do you want, Okeus?”

He stopped in front of me, his forehead wrinkled with a mock scowl. “So impatient.” He turned away and walked back to his chair, sliding into his seat with a graceful flourish. “You came to Collin with questions, did you not? I would like to give you answers.”

“Why would you help me?”

He sighed, rolling his eyes in boredom. “To prove to you that I have no hard feelings over our last encounter, nor over your foolish decision to choose Ahone instead of me.”

I shook my head, my eyes narrowing in suspicion. “No. You’re not altruistic. You want something in return. Even if it’s a long-term payoff.”

He shifted in his seat. “Ellie, you know what I want. Perhaps you’ll be more compliant if I make a goodwill gesture.”

I clenched my fists at my sides. “I’ll never agree to become pregnant with your child, so you might as well send me back now.”

His elbow rested on the arm of the chair and he set his right cheek on his upraised fist. “I think I’ll overlook your rude and shortsighted request and help you anyway.” He sat up slightly. “I believe you want to know about your friend’s ability to see the souls of those who have yet to cross over to the spirit world.”

My mouth gaped. “Claire?”

“Yes, her. And the answer is yes, there are some who possess this gift. You can use your friend to your advantage.”

A cold chill shot through me. “Did Ahone set her up too?” I was already positive that Ahone was responsible for bringing David into my life; was it too much to think he’d involve Claire in his plans too?

“No, I suspect not. She has the potential to be useful in sniffing out his deceptions. The souls of the departed are not easily fooled.”

My father instantly came to mind. The last time I’d joined hands with Collin in the ocean, I’d seen my deceased father, who had given me a message from Ahone. My back stiffened. “Are you calling my father a fool?”

“Did Ahone send your father to you after my plan failed?” Okeus laughed, shaking his head. “So unoriginal.”

“The man with you was not my father.”

Okeus shrugged like it was nothing of concern. “Your father believed I was evil incarnate. Besides, Ahone took your father’s soul. It belongs to him, thus Ahone controls him. He is not a normal spirit.” His expression darkened. “You would be wise to remember that in any future encounters.”

Would I see Daddy again? How much would this revelation cloud my perception of him?

He paused, turning serious. “Your friend will help you navigate the waters of what to believe and what not.”

I shook my head in disgust. “Let me guess. All the souls will tell her that you’re the good guy and Ahone is bad.”

He laughed again, this time more genuine. “You are a fearless creature, aren’t you? Most beings tremble at my feet.”

“Cut to the part when you tell me that you’d never try to get Claire to dupe me like that.”

His mouth lifted on one side. “The answer to your question about good and bad isn’t so simple, Ellie. There is no perfect good or bad. You are neither completely pure nor completely evil. Your level of selflessness or self-centeredness varies from day to day. Some days Ahone will want something that is for the good of his creations. Other days he will want something that benefits him and his own needs and desires.” He gestured his hand toward me. “Just like creating and using you.”

As much as I hated to admit it, I knew he was right. I’d been stupid to blindly accept Ahone, but I’d seen no other choice at the time.

“All is not lost, little Elinor Lancaster. Your friend is now your shield of truth. She will be your counsel.” His mouth lifted into a smirk. “And yes, sometimes she will counsel you not to trust me.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?”

He leaned back his head and gave me a calculated glance. “To prove to you that I have something of worth for you, just as you have something of worth for me.” His eyes narrowed and glowed red. “Do not think for a moment that if I grow weary of waiting, I won’t take what I want when I want it.” His eyes returned to their usual dark brown. “But for now, I will remain patient and wait for you to change your mind.”

“Why do you seem so certain that I will?”

His eyes twinkled. “Because I know something about you. You love deeply, and that is your greatest weakness.”

Suddenly, I was whisked back into the ocean, Collin’s left arm supporting my dead weight. Our right hands had broken contact. He was still standing in the same place, but we’d gathered a small crowd of curious onlookers.

I looked up into his worried eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked, helping me regain my footing.

I nodded. Three times now I’d joined marks with Collin in the ocean, and three times I’d had some type of vision involving the gods. But each time I’d been completely unaware of my surroundings, leaving me utterly vulnerable. I might have been the daughter of the sea, but I wasn’t sure it made me invincible to drowning, as ironic as that seemed. I couldn’t ignore that Collin had protected me each and every time. Didn’t that constitute a type of trust?

But while I might have been able to trust Collin to protect me when he was with me, there were too many other things I couldn’t count on him for. One constant with Collin was his secrets. “Did Okeus tell you to bring me out here and press our marks together?”

Guilt flickered in his eyes.

I jerked out of his hold. “Why couldn’t you have just been honest with me?”

“Do you really think you would have agreed to come out here if I had?”

“I don’t remember agreeing in the first place!” I shouted.

“Ellie, you’re making a scene.”

The crowd had begun to grow, the families staring at me like I’d grown a second head. I rolled my eyes in disgust. “Leave it to you to turn this around and blame everything on me.” I stomped out of the water, Collin following close behind me. Our connection was even stronger now and I could literally feel his presence. What would it be like if we were together all the time?

I stopped at the blanket and bent over to pick up my flip-flops. I had to get away from him. The draw I felt to him was too strong. I could barely stop myself from turning around and throwing myself into his arms, begging him to take me right there, in front of everyone. But another part of me hated every fiber of his being. He was the reason why my life was utter hell. I couldn’t ignore his betrayal and dishonesty, even if Ahone had tricked him.

He stopped next to me, clenching his hands into fists at his sides. “We’re not done here, Ellie. We have more to talk about.”

I gritted my teeth, trying to keep my hands to myself. “Well, I’m done.”

“You are such a hypocrite,” he sneered in disgust. “You always accuse me of hiding things, but here I am offering you information and you’re running away. Again.”

“I can’t, Collin.” I looked up into his face, pleading. “Don’t you see? I can’t. I need to think. And I can’t do that around you.”

He shook his head, his irritation palpable. “You can’t run away from this. This is our lives now. We’re pawns being manipulated by selfish gods, and that means everyone and everything in our lives is vulnerable to them. Is that fair? Hell no, but there it is nevertheless. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you learn to adapt and roll with whatever these bastards throw your way, the better off you’ll be. I want to help you—I’m begging you to let me help you—but you rebuff me at every turn. Decide right now, Ellie: Do you want my help or not?”

My mouth dropped open in shock. “Are you saying you won’t mark my doors anymore if I say no?”

“Do you even want me to? You keep telling me that I’ve ruined your life, but mine’s been ruined too. Do you think I want to go to Manteo every couple of days to mark your door? Did you ever once think that I may need protection?”

The blood drained from my head. Finding out about Ahone, seeing Okeus, listening to Collin say he didn’t want to mark my doors anymore—it suddenly felt like I was drowning. I sank down to the blanket, too numb to know whether to be angry or sad.

“What do you want from me, Ellie?”

I slowly shook my head. “I don’t know.”

“Well, I need to know.”

I nodded. He was right. He’d been screwed by this whole mess too. He was an easy scapegoat, but I wasn’t guiltless in this either. I searched his dark brown eyes, again resisting the urge to touch him. “After what Okeus told me, I need some time to think. I’m sorry, but I do. I just found out my entire existence can be attributed to the gods’ ulterior motives. I need to sort this out in my head.”

He studied my face, and some of his guard fell. “Okay.”

“You’re not going to ask what he said?”

“No.”

My shock was wearing off, replaced by a profound sadness. “I’m going away for the weekend.” I paused and picked at a fold in the blanket, avoiding eye contact. “We’re going to Chapel Hill. David dug up some information he wants to check out.” I still didn’t trust Collin, so the less he knew about our trip, the better.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Part of me wanted to rise up and fight him. Who was he to ask me that? Was he doing it out of jealousy? But I was so tired of fighting with Collin. I lifted my gaze to his face.

“You’ll be a couple hundred miles from the ocean, Ellie. What happens if you need it?”

“I’ve never really needed it before. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“You have needed it,” he said softly. “What about the times you drive here before even realizing what you’re doing? You’ll be weaker that far away from the ocean, so be careful if you face any demons or spirits.”

I lifted my mouth into a lopsided grin. “I thought you weren’t going to help me anymore.”

A soft smile spread across his face. “I’m waiting for your decision. Until then, I’ll keep with the status quo.”

The thought of banishing Collin from my life was inconceivable, like cutting off an appendage. But I couldn’t resist him if I kept seeing him on a regular basis. So what was the answer?

One thing was certain: my life was a freaking mess.

CHAPTER FIVE

My clothes had dried by the time I got back to the house, but the dried salt on my skin felt disgusting. As I walked up to the house, I stumbled and then spun around to see what had made me trip. That was the fifth time I’d felt my foot catch on something by that exact spot on the path, but nothing was ever there. I was not only losing my mind but also my coordination.

Grunting in frustration, I let myself in through the side door and checked the kitchen before climbing the stairs and heading for the bathroom. I stood in the shower, letting all that I’d discovered marinate in my head. I couldn’t change the fact that Ahone had been setting me up since before my birth. I couldn’t change the fact that Collin and I had been created to be—what? Partners? Lovers? What was Ahone’s end goal? But it didn’t mean that I had to sit back and accept it.

I stayed under the spray a long time, resting my head against the cool tiles. The shock was wearing off and anger was seeping into the cracks, filling the marrow in my bones with simmering rage. My life was part of some elaborate game. My mother had died for the amusement of a bored god. Was my father’s dementia part of the plan too? To keep me from having the information to stop Collin? Daddy’s death most certainly was. I knew what Okeus wanted from me, but what about Ahone?

My defiance swelled. I was done playing into the gods’ hands. The path they had chosen for me might or might not be inevitable, but it didn’t mean I’d go quietly along like a sheep to the slaughter. I would go kicking and screaming.

But I didn’t want to waste my energy on anger. Collin was right. This was my life, and I needed to figure out how to deal with it. I didn’t have to accept the gods’ plans, but lashing out in a blind rage wouldn’t help either. I’d figure out my own path. I lifted my face into the shower stream, letting the now-cooling water roll down my body. I needed to stuff my anger back inside, but that was going to take more than a few minutes in a shower. And one thing I didn’t have was time. I’d been with Collin for longer than planned, and David was going to be home in less than an hour. I still needed to pack.

Reluctantly, I got out of the shower and dried off. Thoughts whirred through my head as I got dressed and packed several days’ changes of clothes. I should never have gone to see Collin. At least not right before my weekend with David. Now I felt guilty and dirty. Sure, Collin had been the one to kiss me, but I’d welcomed his embrace and had been about to pursue more. I could attribute part of my reaction to him as part of our magical bond, but how much was really out of my control?

I should have told David I was planning to see Collin. And I should also have told him about Claire hearing voices. Why had I felt the need to keep both things to myself? I was afraid to answer my own questions.

Collin’s concern about going too far inland was sobering. What if he was right? What would happen to me if I used energy to send away a demon or god while I was so far away from the water?

I was in the bathroom packing my makeup bag when my phone rang. I raced into my room to grab it before the caller hung up, expecting to see David’s name on the screen. My stomach dropped when I saw that it was Tom Helmsworth.

After taking a deep breath, I answered. “How’s my favorite Manteo police officer?”

“I need to talk to you, Ellie.” He was using his serious voice. The one that told me I was in trouble . . . but for the life of me, I didn’t know why. The spirits had laid low for the past few weeks, which meant that I had done the same.

“Well, I’ve missed you too, Tom, but it’s going to have to wait. I’m about to go out of town for the weekend.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing I caught you before you left.” His tone was far from friendly.

“Actually, Tom, I don’t have time to chat. David’s supposed to be home in less than thirty minutes. I’ll be back on Sunday night, so we can talk on Monday.” I almost added, “before I go to work.” At least that wasn’t an issue anymore. Too bad it didn’t make me feel any better.

“Actually, Ellie, if you leave town before you talk to me, I’ll put out a warrant for your arrest.”

I sank to the edge of the bed, feeling light-headed. “Why? What did I do?”

“You didn’t do anything, Ellie.” He sounded exasperated. And tired. “I just need to talk to you.”

“Then why can’t it wait until I get back?”

“Goddamn it, Ellie. Will you just do as I ask for once?”

My irritation was back. “Maybe I would if you asked nicely.”

“We both know that’s bullshit,” he grumbled. “You have thirty minutes to get your ass to the Manteo police station or I’m going to send someone to pick you up.”

I started to tell him off, but the dead silence in my ear told me he’d hung up.

Damn it. I didn’t have time for this, for any of it. If Tom wanted to talk to me, it could only mean one thing: the supernatural world was up to some serious shit again. The last time he’d grilled me was when the demon badgers had started ripping out dogs’ hearts before moving on to humans.

I grabbed my weekend bag and took it downstairs with me, setting it by the side door before heading outside. I needed to tell David, but he would be worried. I had to admit that I was more than a little worried myself. But I’d kept enough secrets from him for one day. And if this made me late, I’d have to tell him what was going on anyway. I typed a quick text and hit send.

I need to talk to Tom Helmsworth before we leave. Don’t worry—it’s just a chat. I’ll be home as soon as I can.

I hoped to God the chat part wasn’t a lie.

I considered driving since it was a hot and humid August afternoon, but the car would have barely started to cool down by the time I pulled into the parking lot of the police station a few blocks away. Ten minutes later, I walked into the building a hot sweaty mess and approached the receptionist’s desk. I lifted my heavy braid off the back of my neck. “I’m here to see Tom Helmsworth.”

The elderly female receptionist eyed me up and down, frowning slightly, as though she found me lacking. I knew I was a mess, but I couldn’t be that bad. “Officer Helmsworth will be with you in a minute.”

“I’m kind of in a hurry. Could you tell him I’m here?”

Her mouth puckered and she looked down her nose at me while she picked up the phone. “Officer Helmsworth, someone is here to see you. She didn’t give her name.” She paused. “Yes, that’s her.” She hung up and offered me a tight smile. “He’ll be here in a moment.”

A few seconds later, Tom appeared in the doorway holding a stack of files. Tom was a good-looking guy with dark hair and a toned body. We’d gone to high school together, although he was a couple of years older than me—making him twenty-five—but the last month had been hard on him. Dark circles underscored his eyes, and I even noticed a few crow’s-feet. “Come on back, Ellie.” At least he sounded a little less cranky than he had on the phone. He led me to a room and pushed open the door, motioning me inside. “Thanks for showing up so quickly.”

“Well, when you put a time limit on my arrival, I considered walking in twenty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds after your call, but I actually have things to do.”

He scowled and I wondered why I was being so hateful to him. Tom was just trying to do his job, and he wasn’t wrong in thinking that I had some connection to all the odd things that had happened since the reappearance of the colony. I just wasn’t sure how safe it was for him to know about it.

I entered the room and was taken aback when I saw that it was an interview room with a table in the middle and two chairs, one on each side. My heart lurched and my breath stuttered. “Am I in trouble?”

“Ellie, I just need to talk to you, and you haven’t exactly been cooperative in the past. This time we’re going to have an official interview.” He waved to the chair. “Why don’t you take a seat.”

I walked around the table and slid into the metal chair, folding my hands on top of the table. I tried not to look nervous, but I wasn’t sure how effective my strategy was. “What do you want to know?”

Tom sat down across from me, setting the files to the side of the table. His face was devoid of any expression. “Other than the usual public drunkenness, petty theft, and vandalism, things have been quiet on Roanoke Island for several weeks. Until this past week.”

I shifted my weight to the side, keeping my eyes on his face. So far, he wasn’t giving anything away.

“This week there have been four deaths in town—one every night for the last four nights. All four patients were ill, but none of them was in serious condition on the morning that they died.”

Tom was quiet for several seconds and I realized he was waiting for me to respond. “Is this some kind of flu like H1N1? I’m not sure how I can help you with that. Shouldn’t you call the health department?”

“The health department has already been notified. They were the ones who contacted us.”

“I’m still not sure why I’m here, Tom.” For once, I was genuinely confused. I had no idea how or why he was connecting this problem to me.

“The patients were all ill with some minor condition.” Tom slid the stack of files to the center of the table. “One had strep throat, another had bronchitis.” He spread out the stack as he spoke, four manila folders with a note paper-clipped to each file. “The third victim had food poisoning and the fourth an abscessed tooth. They were ill during the day, but not deathly so, at least not until the sun went down.”

A chill started at the back of my neck and crawled slowly down my spine. It didn’t escape my notice that he’d called the third patient a victim. “Then what happened?”

“Then they deteriorated quite rapidly, hallucinating and screaming and thrashing in pain. Within two hours they were dead.”

I sucked in a breath. If there was some kind of deadly virus going around, I was glad David and I were leaving town. “I’m still not sure what this has to do with me, Tom.”

“After the second patient died, the coroner became concerned and did an autopsy.” Tom leaned his forearm on the table, leveling his gaze with mine. “And what he found is the reason why you’re here.”

I resisted the urge to ask. Tom would tell me soon enough, and he seemed to be making a production out of it.

He waited for a long moment, a flicker of disappointment flashing in his eyes when he didn’t get a reaction from me. “The patients had no hearts.”

All the blood in my body instantly pooled at my feet. Could the demonic badgers be back? They had eaten out their victims’ hearts after ripping their abdomens open. Collin had assured me they were gone forever, earning us each a new title: destroyers of life. “Did they leave their houses? Were their abdomens ripped open?”

He pressed his lips together as he fingered the edge of one of the files. “No. That’s the strange part. Two of them never even left their houses. Two went to the hospital. One died on the way; the other died in the ER.” He opened one of the folders, exposing a photo of the naked body of a little boy.

I gasped, choking back a sob. “A kid?”

“Yeah, a kid.” He pushed the file closer to me. “Notice anything?”

“Are they all kids?”

“No. Just this one. One was a middle-aged woman and the other two were elderly.”

I looked away. “I don’t want to look at that, Tom.”

Tom banged the table and I jumped.

“Look at it, Ellie. This kid’s heart is missing. Gone. Do you notice anything strange?”

I forced myself to look at the five-by-seven photo, trying not to focus on the boy’s face. I couldn’t stop myself. He was seven or eight at most, with dark brown hair and freckles scattered across his face. He had a tan line at his waist and his lower thighs, most likely from a swimming suit. “What am I looking for?” I started to cry. “I don’t know, Tom.”

His voice softened. “Ellie, I’m sorry. But look at the photo. His heart is gone.” He asked again: “Do you notice anything strange?”

I forced myself to look again, which is when it hit me. “There’s no wound where it was removed. Is there one on the back?”

“No.”

I shook my head, my tears drying up. “But how . . . ?”

“Exactly. How.”

I lifted my face and stared into his eyes. “Tom, I swear to you. I have no idea what’s going on. I didn’t even know anything about it until you just told me.” But if something evil was killing children, I didn’t know what it was or how to stop it.

He closed the file. “It’s okay, Ellie. I believe you.”

The image of the little boy was burned into my brain, and I knew I was about to lose it. “Can I go now?”

“In a minute. I want to ask you a few more things.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“One of the deaths, the elderly woman, happened two blocks from your house.”

“Two nights ago?” I asked.

Tom jerked upright. “Yeah, how did you know?”

Crap. I couldn’t tell him about the old woman who’d told me my future. Was she the one who had died? Could she have been a ghost rather than a demon? “I was walking home from work. I saw the ambulance.”

He sighed in disappointment. I’d guessed about the ambulance.

“What else do you want to know?”

His voice lowered. “Ellie, I’m begging you. If you have any idea what might be doing this or how to stop it, either tell me what to do or make sure it’s taken care of.”

My head jerked up in surprise. “What?”

“Whatever was ripping out people’s hearts before suddenly stopped, the exact same night when we found some strange things out at Festival Park. There were circles with candles, salt, and markings very much like the ones you make on your doors. We also found gigantic claw marks on a tree that had been knocked over, along with extensive damage to the Elizabeth II.”

We’d been sloppy to leave so many signs of our fight in Festival Park, the re-creation of the first English settlement in Roanoke, that night. We’d been sloppy about a lot of things. David had been certain I was a conjurer and could send the demons back to hell on my own. We’d made a temple of sorts for me, creating seven circles consisting of tribal markings, candles, and salt. I had stood inside the circles and recited the Cherokee chant David had been so sure would end the lives of the badgers. He had been mistaken. I had lured the demons away from David and onto the replica ship. We would probably both be dead if Collin hadn’t shown up to save us.

“I think you did something that night. I don’t know how you managed it, but I think you made that wild animal go away. I’d prefer if you would tell me what’s going on so trained professionals can deal with the situation. But I also know how stubborn you are. So if you refuse to tell me, but you can make this thing go away, please do what you can.”

My mouth dropped open in shock.

He gave me a wry smile. “Not what you expected?”

I took a deep breath and released it. “No.”

“I have to warn you, this isn’t officially sanctioned by the Manteo Police Department. It’s off the books.”

I shook my head, wiping the tears from my cheeks. I was both shocked by his change of attitude and grateful for it, but there was one problem. “I swear to you, Tom. I have no idea what this thing is.”

He leaned across the table, his eyes piercing mine. “Then find out. And take care of it.”

CHAPTER SIX

Tom insisted on driving me home. I considered refusing, but I was still shaken from seeing the photo of the little boy. Besides, I suspected that the air-conditioning in his squad car got cool pretty quickly. It was better than walking in the heat.

“Are you going to let me ride in front?” I asked as we walked across the parking lot.

“This time,” he said, opening his car door. He glanced over the top of the car and winked at me. “Don’t get too used to it.”

I slid in the passenger seat. It occurred to me that I’d been in this exact car a month and a half ago when Tom found me in the botanical gardens shouting at Okeus. “Who says I plan to?”

He put his key in the ignition and shot me a weary gaze. “Call it a crazy hunch, but I have a feeling this won’t be the last time we’re thrown together.”

I was envious of his AC by the time we pulled up next to my house. I considered sitting in front of the blasting cold air for several seconds, but David burst out of the door, his face contorted in anger.

“Shit. Your boyfriend’s pissed,” Tom muttered as he climbed out of the car, readjusting his belt.

I opened my car door as David started shouting, “What is the meaning of this? On what grounds did you bring her in for questioning?”

He charged toward Tom, but I jumped in his path and grabbed his arm, holding him back. “David, it’s okay.”

“Bloody hell, it is.”

“Dr. Preston.” Tom hooked his thumbs in his belt. “Ellie isn’t in trouble. I asked her in as a consultant.”

The tension in David’s body faded, and he glanced from my face to Tom’s. “What the bollocks does that mean?”

I dropped my hold on his arm. “Something weird has been happening, and Tom wanted to make me aware of the situation.”

Confusion washed over David’s face.

“I’ll explain it on the way to Chapel Hill.”

Tom narrowed his eyes, anger stiffening his shoulders. “You’re still going out of town? Even after what I told you?”

I met his gaze without flinching. “And I told you I don’t know what it was. We’re going to Chapel Hill to get information. We’ll be back Sunday night.”

Tom didn’t look happy.

“It’s the best I can do.”

The officer moved closer to me and lowered his voice. “People are dying, Ellie. Kids.”

“I know.” My voice broke. A few months ago my biggest worry had been scraping together enough money to help put a new roof on the inn. Now I was expected to save lives even though I had no idea what I was doing. “The only thing I know to tell you is that people can try to protect themselves by putting salt on their windowsills and across the threshold of their doors.” I paused. “It should keep the evil out.”

His eyes widened in disbelief. “You can’t be serious? How am I supposed to tell people that?”

“It’s all I have at the moment. If anything changes, let me know.”

“I still don’t like it.”

My patience gave way to irritation. This day had sucked all the way around, and I was just about through with it. “Well, welcome to my world. There’s a shitload of crap I don’t like, but I don’t have a say in any of it.”

We had a stare-off for several seconds before Tom swore under his breath and looked away. He turned and climbed back into his squad car, leaving without another word.

“Did you actually tell Tom Helmsworth what’s going on?” David asked from behind me. He sounded incredulous.

I stared in the direction in which the police car had disappeared. I had a sort-of ally in the police department now. I was still trying to determine if this was a good thing or a bad one. “No. But Tom’s a perceptive guy, and he’s figured out quite a few things on his own. He knows I had something to do with the badgers disappearing.”

David put his hands on my hips and pressed his chest against my back. “It was inevitable, I suppose. As long as he’s not blaming you.” He paused. “I take it that something else has happened . . . ”

I spun around to face him, and an unexpected wave of love and gratitude washed through me as I took in his concerned expression. I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and holding him tight. My hormones might have been infatuated with Collin, but I needed this man. He was my rock, my stability. He was the support I needed that Collin wouldn’t—or couldn’t—give. But after what had happened at the beach—both with Collin and Okeus—I was suddenly terrified of losing David.

“Hey.” He gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead and pulled away to study my face. “What’s going on?”

“Can we just go? You have no idea how much I need to get out of Manteo.”

“Of course, love. I’ve put your suitcase in the trunk already. Do you need anything else?”

Did I? The crushing guilt of what had happened with Collin was making me addled. I rubbed my forehead, trying to focus. “Um . . . I need to talk to Becky about overseeing the inn this weekend.”

His hands ran up and down my arms. “I’ve already spoken with her. She’s all set. She’ll call you if a problem arises.”

“Okay,” I said, distracted.

“What did you and Tom talk about? It has obviously upset you.”

I gazed up into his face. “Can we talk about it in the car?”

“Of course, Ellie.”

He led me to his car and we drove out of Manteo in silence as I leaned my elbow on the armrest, staring out the window. Something was terrorizing Manteo, and I had to wonder if Tom was right. Was it wrong to leave at a time like this? David didn’t need me to talk to his colleague, and he didn’t need me to visit Charlotte with him. I wondered if I should stay and try to convince him to go without me, only the selfish part of me didn’t want to be alone for that long. Even if it meant possibly saving people. What did that say about me? But the truth was I had no idea what was killing those people or how to stop it. David had more resources at his disposal to figure it out. I wasn’t sure what good I could do if I stayed, and the truth was I needed David.

As he started across the bridge from the island to the mainland, I was struck with a new worry. How could I have forgotten about my agoraphobia, which was the curse’s way of preventing me from traveling too far from Manteo and the gate to Popogusso at the edge of the Elizabethan Botanical Gardens? Of course, the curse had allowed me to leave the island before when fate required it.

David must have sensed my trepidation because as soon as we crossed the first bridge, he reached over and covered my hand. “How are you doing?”

“Okay so far.” I usually felt an immediate pressure on my chest when I left the island. Since I felt fine, it appeared that this trip was sanctioned, but the question was by whom? Ahone?

My anger surged out of nowhere, but I pushed it back down. It wouldn’t do me any good right now. I’d save it for when I needed it.

“What happened?” David asked.

It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about. “With Tom?”

“Of course, with Tom.”

I knew I was going to have to tell him about seeing Collin, but I wanted to tell him about our newest adversary first. “Tom called and asked me to come in so he could tell me about some recent cases.” Since Tom had told David he’d called me in as a consultant, I decided to keep the harsh tone of his phone call to myself. After I shared the information Tom had given me, I asked, “Do you have any idea what’s doing this?”

“Maybe, but what I’m considering is Cherokee.” He paused, his forehead wrinkling in concentration. “If it’s what I’m thinking, it would mean that it’s not acting completely in character.”

“Yeah, well none of us seem to be acting in character lately, so we’ll take that into account. And besides, you said Big Nasty is Cherokee, so why wouldn’t this thing be?”

“Mishiginebig—or the great horned serpent—crosses multiple tribal belief systems. The Raven Mockers seem to be purely Cherokee, although it’s possible that they were Croatan too and the information has just been lost to history along with just about everything else.” His mouth twisted to the side as he considered it.

“Raven Mockers?”

“They haunt the deathbed of a victim and hasten his or her death. They add the years they shave off the victim’s life to their own, which means they can grow to be very, very old. The victim never even knows the Raven Mocker is there, since no one can see them.”

“They’re invisible?”

“To everyone except for those with powerful magic. The legends say that the victims’ families often report hearing the screaming of a large bird. Did Tom mention anything like that?”

“No.”

David was silent for a moment. “You said the deaths came out of nowhere, and if the victims were in as much agony as legend has it, the families were probably too upset and preoccupied to notice.”

“You said that if Raven Mockers were responsible, they were acting out of character. If it’s them, what are they doing that’s different?”

“The legend says that Raven Mockers go after the hearts of the elderly, but you said one of the victims was a middle-aged woman and the other was a kid. That’s unusual.”

I pursed my lips in silence. This was bad . . . and probably about to get much worse.

“Ellie, the old woman you met in the road the other day . . . ” He cast a wary glance at me.

I shifted in my seat. “Do you think I saw a ghost of one of the victims?” I couldn’t help but think about Claire and her newfound “gift.” “The thought had occurred to me.”

“No.” He paused, looking serious. “It might have been a Raven Mocker. Legend has it that they sometimes tell a person their future . . . and that the predictions they make are set in stone.”

“So if I’m to believe the message she gave me, I’m a vessel and will either be the salvation of the world or its destroyer?”

“A vessel can mean many things.”

“Yeah.” Maybe so, but my mind kept racing right to Okeus.

“One more thing about the Raven Mocker and its vision. I told you that they can only be seen by someone with powerful magic, but there’s more to it. If they are seen, it’s a death sentence for them. Once a Raven Mocker has been seen by someone with magic, they only have seven days to live.”

“What?” That got my attention. “So if it was a Raven Mocker, it basically committed suicide to give me some lame prediction.”

“There must be more to the message if it was willing to die to give it to you.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. If Raven Mockers tortured their victims, that made them evil. So why did I feel badly that this one had given its life for me? “So all I have to do is see all the Raven Mockers and they’ll all die? How many of them are there?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. Some legends say there are countless. Some say the Raven Mockers are the children of Kalona.”

“Who is Kalona?”

“Kalona is the equivalent of the angel of death.”

I sighed. “Of course he is.”

“He may be called an angel, but he’s really a demon. If we can figure out a way for you to defeat a demon without Collin’s help, you can defeat Kalona. And without their leader, the Raven Mockers will be lost. They’ll crawl back into their holes until someone else takes control.”

“That’s a big if, David.”

“You can do this, Ellie. And I think I know how.” He squeezed my hand. “I know we’re going to talk to Allison about the weapons she saw, but I also want to visit the library while we’re there. There are a few books and documents I want to review, and one letter that I’m eager to reread. It tells the story of a Croatan conjurer who created two weapons capable of defeating demons.”

“Two weapons?”

“A gold ring created by an Englishman, consecrated and carved with Croatan symbols by a Croatan conjurer. The other is a spear. I know there’s more to the story, but I’ve forgotten. It seemed like an ancillary tale at the time. But I know the document is in the archives. Once we find it, we can figure everything out.”

“You sound so certain that I can do this, that I can fight these things on my own.”

His eyes widened in disbelief. “Ellie, how could I not be?”

We spent the next couple hours of the four-hour drive with David catching me up on the latest findings at the colony site. While he was most interested in Manteo’s dwelling, there were thirty other buildings that had been inhabited by the colonists, one of which had been the home of my multi-great-grandfather, Ananias Dare, and his wife and infant daughter.

I considered telling him about Claire’s reawakened ability and my new memory about Ahone, but I decided both were serious enough to require his undivided attention. We’d get into Chapel Hill early enough for me to tell him. But there was something else that couldn’t wait.

My guilt over what had happened with Collin started eating me alive, getting worse the longer we were in the car. I needed to tell him. Now. David would understand why I had met with him, so I needed to just put it out in the open. “David, there’s something I have to tell you.”

David shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Actually, there’s something I need to tell you first. I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to bring it up, so I’m just going to come out with it.”

My breath stuck in my chest. I wasn’t sure how many more surprises I could take today. “Okay. What?”

“Allison’s not just a colleague.”

“Okay,” I said, hesitantly.

David shot me a glance before looking out the windshield. “Allison is my old girlfriend.”

“Your old girlfriend is a history professor?”

“Yes.”

I felt like I’d been doused in ice water. It was hard enough to accept that David not only had a college education but a master’s and doctorate degree, while all I had was a Manteo High School diploma and a Dare County food worker’s certificate. But what had I expected? He worked at a university, and while plenty of students were interested in him, he would never get involved with one. Of course he had dated a fellow professor.

“I should have told you sooner.”

My mouth dried up and I took a breath before answering. “Why didn’t you?” I didn’t want to think of the implications.

“I was afraid it could get messy”—he cast a glance in my direction before returning his attention to the road—“on her end, and I didn’t want to worry you. I was the one to end our relationship, and I know she hoped I would change my mind. Given the circumstances, there’s a chance that this lead will turn out to be nothing.”

Great, just what I needed—a jealous ex-girlfriend to add to my list of adversaries. “I guess we won’t know until we see whatever it is she wants to show you, right?”

He took a deep breath, then released it. “I have no reason to believe she’ll be anything but professional. Allison was never overly dramatic or emotional. And I told her that you’d be with me. Still, I’m worried.”

“The ex-girlfriend and the new one together in the same room. I can see why you might be on edge,” I tried to tease, but I wasn’t any more happy about the situation than he was. I could only imagine how ecstatic Allison had to be about David’s new, younger girlfriend.

“I would suggest I go alone, but this concerns you too and I think you should be there. That being said, if it makes you uncomfortable—”

“I’ll be fine. And don’t worry. I’m not jealous, David.” And I wasn’t, not really. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that David wanted to be with me, that I could count on him to always be there. And I believed him. I had no worries that he would dump me after meeting with his old girlfriend this weekend.

My biggest concern was that I wasn’t good enough for him. This morning was proof positive of that.

“David, please. It’s not that big of a deal. We’ll handle it.”

“Thank you, Ellie. I know we’ve only been together a short time, but I’ve grown very attached to you, and I don’t want to jeopardize our relationship.” He picked up my hand and kissed it. “I would never intentionally hurt you. I want you to know that.”

Guilt gnawed at my gut. I didn’t deserve this man, but I was going to do everything in my power to change that. I knew I should tell him about kissing Collin earlier. I just couldn’t. “I do.” I choked out.

“Now what did you want to tell me?”

I was a Curse Keeper because Ananias Dare had done everything in his power to protect his family, even if he’d inadvertently destroyed them in the process. I wouldn’t destroy David. I needed him too much, in every possible way. But I had to tell him something about meeting Collin. I owed him at least that much. “I saw Collin at the beach today.”

He was silent for a moment, and then he forced a smile. “It’s okay, Ellie. He’s the other Curse Keeper. I know you’re going to see him sometimes.”

“You don’t want to know anything else about me seeing him?”

He hesitated again, swallowing before he answered. “No. I trust you.”

Did he have reason to trust me? I’d only kissed Collin, but I’d wanted so much more. It killed me that my carnal need for Collin simmered under the surface of my subconscious no matter what the commonsense part of me wanted. I knew I should tell David the full story, but would it help anything? It would probably just hurt him without helping either of us. Still, I couldn’t ignore the fact that burying my feelings meant that I was breaking my own cardinal rule for our relationship.

No secrets.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The sun dipped close to the horizon as David pulled into the driveway of a tiny bungalow. “Here it is,” he said, opening his car door.

“It’s cute,” I said, climbing out and staring at the front porch covered in vines. Somehow I’d pictured him in a more contemporary house, not an older one with so much character. But after seeing the place, I realized it fit him perfectly.

David moved to the trunk and popped the lid. “Let’s get the door marked and get inside before we stumble upon any nasty surprises.”

“You think there’s a chance that we’d find any spirits or demons this far from Manteo?”

He already had his bag slung over his shoulder and my bag in his hand. “Honestly, I don’t know,” he said as he closed the trunk. “But I’d rather not hang outside and find out.”

He led me down a short cobblestone path to the stone-covered front steps, and I noticed that two wicker chairs had been arranged on one side. Several flowerpots with dead plants were in one of the corners.

“You had flowers?” I asked.

He cast a glance at the containers and shrugged before placing his key in the doorknob. “Yeah, they reminded me of my mother’s garden back home.”

“Do you miss your family?” His mother and father lived in London, and he saw them no more than once or twice a year.

“Sometimes. I was feeling a bit nostalgic at the beginning of the summer. I told you I was going through a rough patch.”

He pushed the door open and stepped inside to turn on a light. A warm glow lit up the sheer curtains in the windows.

I grabbed a piece of charcoal from my purse and tossed the bag on the porch. David came back out, his gaze dropping to my hand. I lifted it and shrugged. “I came prepared. Why don’t you go inside and I’ll start marking.”

He moved behind me, standing on the top step as if guarding my back. “And leave you out here alone? I’d rather not. Besides, I like to watch you mark the doors. It’s like watching a ceremony.”

I gave him a small smile, though his comment made me think of how I’d felt when I first saw Collin marking my door. “How many doors are there?”

“Two.”

I nodded and then began, making the marks for the elements around the perimeter of the door, starting with the four corners. As I applied the signs to the door, I asked the moon to lend its protection through the night, for the sun to add its strength to the moon as it watched over us, for the air to protect us from the wind gods. And in the center of each edge, I placed my own symbol for water along with David’s initials—the two people I was asking the elements to protect. In the very center of the door, I placed the new mark that Collin had begun to add, a diamond with an x in the center—the symbol that would keep the gods and spirits from invading our dreams.

When I finished, I stepped back and made sure it looked complete. The black charcoal marks on the red door were really going to stick out tomorrow in the daylight.

“What are your neighbors going to think?” I asked.

He chuckled. “They know I’m a professor of Native American studies. They probably won’t think anything of it. Besides, we’ll only be here two nights. Now let’s go mark the back door so we can give all of my neighbors something to talk about.”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the front door. Like the house itself, the furnishings weren’t what I’d expected. There was a vintage sofa in the living room and a couple of armchairs arranged in front of a brick fireplace.

“The back door is off the kitchen.” We walked through the dining room and into the small kitchen. David flipped on the overhead light, then opened an upper cabinet door and pulled out a flashlight. “There’s a small landing outside the door. We both won’t fit on it, so I’ll muck about the yard while you do the marking. When we go back inside, we can both take care of the salt.”

“Okay.”

We walked out the back door and I started making the protective marks while the flashlight beam bounced around the backyard. When I finished, I looked around, the nearly full moon providing enough light for me to tell that the yard butted up to some woods. A small shed was in the back corner.

Realizing that I was finished, David came back and flipped off the flashlight. “Nothing looks amiss, so that’s good.”

“I can’t wait to see everything in the daylight.”

He laughed. “I hope you’re not too disappointed. The grass is overgrown and the flowerbeds need weeding.”

We went back inside and I poured salt on the window ledges in the front room while David worked on the back. When we were finished, I asked for the location of the bathroom, and David pointed me toward a short hall off the dining room.

“There are only two bedrooms and mine’s in the back,” he said, moving into the kitchen and opening a cabinet. “I put our bags in there. Feel free to make yourself at home. I’m going to figure out what I have for us to eat.”

“Okay.” I took my time walking through the dining room and down the hall, amazed by how comfortable and cozy David’s house was. I closed myself in the small bathroom, which was covered in light blue tiles. The shower curtain and towels were white, making the room feel clean and fresh.

When I finished, I wandered back to David’s room. He’d left the lamp on next to his bed, and my bag was sitting in a chair in the corner. The room was small, so the queen-size bed filled up most of it. The room was warm and inviting, with light tan walls and a dark red comforter on the bed.

I found David in the kitchen, standing in front of the oven with a frozen pizza box. He looked up with a grin. “The bad news is that we’re having a three-month-old frozen pizza for dinner. The good news is that I have a bottle of wine that’s even older.”

I laughed. “Sounds good. Especially the part about you cooking.”

David put the pizza in the oven, then poured wine into two glasses and handed one to me.

“I love your house,” I said after taking a sip. “Are you still planning to give it up?”

He picked up his glass and rested his backside against the kitchen counter. “I don’t see the point in keeping it. At least for the next few months. Subletting it to a grad student or a new professor seems like the best plan.”

“What about your things? We probably won’t have time to move everything out while we’re here.”

“I can pack up most of my personal items this weekend and store the boxes in the shed. I’ll just rent it furnished.”

“Are you sure you want to do that? You have some really nice furniture.”

His eyes narrowed in concern. “What’s this all about, Ellie?”

“I just feel so guilty. You’re giving up everything, literally everything, for me.”

He cracked an ornery smile. “Not just for you, Ellie. I’m doing my part to save humanity. You’re just a fringe benefit.”

I laughed. “So you’re telling me that your decision to live in Manteo—with me—was made with purely altruistic motives.”

He stepped toward me and pulled me into his arms. “Yes. Pure and utter selflessness.” He kissed me, taking his time as his mouth explored mine.

But I wasn’t so easily distracted. I pulled my head back and searched his face. “David, I’m serious. What happens when your sabbatical is up? It only lasts until the end of December.”

“It’s only mid-August. We have a few months to figure it out.” He cupped my cheek. “Don’t worry, Ellie. I’m exactly where I want to be.”

“Back in your kitchen?” I teased.

“No, with you. Wherever you are is where I want to be, Ellie Lancaster.”

We sat at his kitchen table and drank wine while we waited on the pizza. “What’s your plan with Allison?” I asked, keeping my gaze on my glass.

David hesitated. “I’m supposed to call her in the morning to confirm, but last I heard, she can’t meet with us until tomorrow evening. So I thought we could go by the library during the day to look at those resources I mentioned.”

“Okay.” Part of me was happy to hear we wouldn’t see David’s ex for almost twenty-four hours, even if she had potentially seen the Ricardo Estate. I needed to suck it up and be mature.

“The library opens at nine and closes at one on Saturday. I want to get there as soon as it opens so we don’t run out of time. Afterward, we can go out to lunch and figure out what to do with the rest of the day.” He paused and reached for my hand. “And then if everything is still a go, we’ll meet Allison in the evening.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Sounds great.” I sucked in a breath, hating myself for what I was about to ask. “Why did you break up?” Talk about sounding needy.

He sat up straighter but didn’t release my hand. “We dated for a year and Allison was ready to get serious and start a family. I cared for her, but I knew she wasn’t the one.”

“How long ago did you break up?”

He hesitated. “Last winter.”

The timer on the oven went off and David hopped up to get the pizza out. I grabbed two plates out of the cabinet and rinsed them off and dried them before putting them on the table. When we sat down, I grimaced and turned to him. “I have a feeling this meeting might not go very well.”

“Why?”

“From everything you’ve said, Allison obviously loved you. She’s going to be able to tell how you feel about me. We’ve been together for a little over a month. You didn’t love her after a year. That’s not going to go over well.”

He sat back, looking slightly alarmed. “What do you want to do? I really think you should be there. You might have some insight that I don’t.”

I had to admit that I wanted to see whatever it was that she had in her possession. “How about I go, but if things get too tense, I’ll leave.”

He nodded, but he didn’t look happy about it.

We ate in silence for several seconds before I decided now was a good time to tell him about my recent discoveries. “Yesterday, when Claire and I were supposed to be cleaning, she told me about something that happened on her honeymoon.”

He laughed. “She’s not urging us to try another new sexual position, is she? Why she cares so much about our sex life is beyond me.”

“No.” I chuckled nervously. “Nothing like that.”

“Why do you look so anxious? Should I be worried?”

“No, I don’t think so.” I told him about her seeing the ghost of poor Mr. Murphy at my apartment building and her experience at the cemetery in Charleston. “She used to hear voices when she was a little girl,” I said. “They stopped right around the time of Momma’s murder. Apparently she told me about it when we were kids, the day I told her about the curse. Only I don’t remember her telling me.”

His eyes widened. “Claire’s ability to talk to ghosts is related to the curse?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. All I know is that her ability has suddenly returned, and she says a voice is telling her that we need to move out of my parents’ house, that there’s a darkness there.”

“How do we know we can trust this voice?”

“When Claire was a little girl, the voices used to say ‘you have to help her.’ Claire didn’t know what it meant then, but now she thinks it means she needs to help me.”

He looked skeptical. “I still don’t know if this voice is a credible source.”

I cocked my head. “It also told Claire that I need to stay with you.”

A sly grin spread across his face. “I suddenly like this voice.”

“Besides, Claire says she sees the darkness too. It could be nothing, but you know I don’t feel comfortable there. Especially since Myra left for Durham.”

“I know, love. It might be because you miss her so much.”

While I had to admit it felt empty without Myra and Daddy in the house, I was sure there was more to it. I rubbed my greasy hand on a paper towel. “I’ve put more thought into selling it.”

He looked surprised. “But you haven’t found all the notes from your father. And what about it being in your family for generations?”

“Those are all still issues, but I trust Claire.” I paused. “I trust the voice.” I knew I should tell him that Okeus had said Claire could help me, but that would mean telling him more about Collin.

“Okay.” He looked lost in thought. “Do you have any idea where you want to move?”

“I think I’d like to be closer to the ocean.”

He was lifting his wine glass to his mouth, but he lowered it, his face expressionless.

“I know it’s expensive, and we don’t have to find somewhere that’s oceanfront, but if I could find an apartment—”

“Ellie.”

“—and real estate is cheaper since the last hurricane—”

“Ellie.”

I stopped talking and started twisting my hands in my lap.

“I think it’s a great idea. I don’t know why I hadn’t considered it before. If you’re closer to the ocean, you can swim in it every day. The spirit world is getting stronger, which means you’re going to have more and more contact with them. I think you’re right. I think we should do it.”

I released a heavy breath. “Thank you.”

His brow furrowed. “Did you think I’d be upset?”

“It’s so expensive. But if I manage to sell the house quickly, I can use what little money I get from the sale toward a down payment on a new place.”

“Ellie, we’ll sort it out. I think we should start looking right after we get back.”

“There’s something else.”

“Something bigger than Claire’s newly awakened ghost-whisperer ability?”

“Today I remembered something about the night Momma was murdered.”

“You did?” He set down his wine glass. “When? What did you remember?”

“The man who was downstairs with Momma was looking for a ring. I think it was the one I’m wearing now.”

David stared at the wall behind the table, concentration wrinkling his brow. “That would definitely tie her death to the Ricardo Estate.”

“And there’s one more thing about my memory.” I waited until I had his full attention. “Ahone was there, and he kept me from going downstairs.”

“Ahone? Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“This is a big deal. Do you remember anything else?”

“He told me that the man would hurt me.” I bit my bottom lip. “David, if he was there, he could have prevented Momma’s death. He’s using me. He’s been using me since I was a little girl. I think he knew I was a pure soul and he’s been waiting for me to be ready. He was the one who convinced Collin to break the curse.”

David looked skeptical. “That’s a lot of suppositions.”

“You’re the one who said there are no coincidences when it comes to the curse.”

“True enough.”

I needed to tell him what I’d discovered. “When I saw Collin today, he told me that Ahone came to him as a glowing ball of light two months before the curse broke. He’s the one who wanted Collin to come and see me.”

“Can you trust him?”

“I didn’t at first, but then he made a good point. All the other gods and spirits were locked behind the gate to Popogusso. It had to be Ahone. He was the only one who was free.”

“And how do you know that Collin isn’t lying to you, that he didn’t come up with this plan all on his own?”

“Because I felt it through our connection. He’s telling the truth.”

He hesitated. “You touched marks today?”

Damn my mouth. But David deserved to know. “Yes.”

He gave me a soft smile, but sadness filled his eyes. “You’re the Curse Keepers. You were meant to use them.”

I threw my arms around his neck. “I need you, David. You have no idea how much I need you.”

He pulled me back and cupped my cheek. Disappointment covered his face. “I know, Ellie.”

Those weren’t the three words he wanted to hear, but I couldn’t bring myself to say those other words yet. I dropped my gaze. “I can’t trust Ahone. He’s just as bad as Okeus, and I have no plans to align myself with him either, but now I’m stuck with his mark on my back and I’m not sure what that means. His messenger led me to believe that it meant I could go to heaven with my parents. But Okeus said my soul is bound to Collin’s, so I’ll end up in Popogusso with him. Which is it?”

David shook his head and said softly, “I don’t know.”

“I need to figure out how to do this without relying on Okeus or Ahone or even Collin. I’m the witness to creation. I must have some kind of power of my own other than the mark’s ability to send away spirits. I want to find out what it is and how to use it. I want to make my own destiny.”

“Perhaps Allison will have some information that will help us. If the Ricardo Estate really does have weapons that can kill demons, it will be a complete game changer.”

“You’re right and I hope it’s true, but Collin pointed out that while Ahone gave us the power of the earth and the sea, he had nothing to do with the fact that I witnessed the birth of the gods. I can’t help thinking that I can somehow harness my power as a witness to creation. I’m sure Ahone wanted to use it to his benefit, even if I’m not sure to what purpose. And we both know how Okeus wants to use it.”

He pushed his plate away and sat back in his chair. “Okay, Ellie. How do you want to go about this?”

“I want to scour those books at the library for any kind of clue. Not only about any prophecies, but also for any mention of a previous witness to creation. Do you remember ever coming across something like that?”

“No, not offhand, but I wasn’t looking for it then either. We’re investigating texts anyway, so we’ll just expand our search. But it might take all weekend. And then some. The books and documents in the archives can’t be removed, but we have full access to them during library hours.”

“Okay. Collin and I still have the power of the earth and the sea as well, but I’m not sure how to use the ocean either. Surely it involves more than being a power generator.”

His mouth pursed. “And Collin definitely has the advantage there since he’s the son of the earth. He can go anywhere to tap into his power. You’re tied to the coasts.”

“Exactly. Not very convenient, which is why I need to figure out how both sources can be used.”

He nodded and I could see him thinking my ideas through. His gaze lifted to mine. “Yeah, it’s a good idea. We’ll start looking into it tomorrow.”

I took a sip of my wine, feeling more in control than I had in a long time. It was good to take charge of my life and not feel like a leaf dangling in the wind. I watched the man across from me, reassured that he was the one for me. I gave him a sexy smile. “You haven’t shown me the rest of your house.”

He polished off the small amount of wine in his glass and set it on the table. “I take it that you have a particular room in mind.” He stood and reached for my hand, pulling me to my feet.

“I most definitely do.” I stood on my tiptoes, pressing my mouth to his.

“You’re being very assertive tonight,” he murmured against my lips, then grinned. “It’s very sexy.”

“You mean bossy?”

He lifted his head, still grinning, but his gaze was serious. “No, bossy insinuates that someone has overstepped their bounds. You’re a bloody Curse Keeper, Ellie. I think you’re right. There’s more power available to you than you know. That makes you a person of authority. Hell, demons need to bow to your wishes.”

I gave him a wicked grin. “Then I command you to take me to your bedroom and undress me.”

He took a step backward, pulling me with him. “It will be my pleasure.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

I woke up disoriented, barely registering the banging on the front door.

David bolted upright. “Bollocks.”

With a groan, I sat up, completely naked, and checked the time on the clock on David’s nightstand. Three a.m. It had been too much to hope that I’d escape a nocturnal visit two hundred miles away from ground zero. Especially since my front door hadn’t seen any middle-of-the-night action in a couple of weeks.

There was more banging on the door, followed by a moan. “Curse Keeper.”

Climbing out of bed, I groped around in the dark for something to wear, finding David’s button-down shirt on the floor where he’d thrown it a few hours earlier. Slipping my arms through the sleeves, I fastened the middle buttons as I walked to the front door. David was on my heels, tying the drawstring of a pair of pajama bottoms he’d pulled out of a dresser drawer.

“David, stay back. I don’t know what’s out there.”

“All the more reason for me to be close at hand. You could be facing an entirely new set of spirits this far from the coast. If I recognize it, I can help you.”

“No. All the more reason for you to take cover. Even if the spirit can’t cross the threshold, it might be able to project its power.”

“If you think I’m just going to leave you to face it alone, you’ve got another think coming.”

I stopped at the front door. “If you’re going to stick around to watch, at least go hide behind a sofa or something.”

“Do you know how emasculating that sounds?” he asked, running his hand through his hair.

“David, please.” Some of the fight left my words.

“Fine,” he said, moving behind the sofa and crouching down. “Just please be careful.”

I flashed him a grim smile before opening the door.

A three-foot-tall bird with a human head sat on the front porch. A wind god. I was used to regular visits from Wapi, the white-haired wind god of the north, but damned if I could remember which one this was. His hair was red and his nose was wider than Wapi’s.

“Curse Keeper,” he groaned.

“Hello, wind god of—sorry, I’m not sure which one you are.”

The bird man screeched his displeasure. “You will fear Mekewi, god of the south, Curse Keeper. You will remember my name and it will strike fear in your heart.”

I grabbed the edge of the door and leaned into it. “Well, Mekewi, I’ve had a long day and you’re interrupting my sleep. How about you cut to the chase?”

He shouted something unintelligible, but the force of his breath blew my hair out behind me. “You do not give orders to a wind god!”

I waited a couple of seconds and then lifted my eyebrows in mock surprise. “Are you done with your fit now? Because so far this has been a huge waste of my time. Do you have something to tell me or not?”

“Do not trust the children of Kalona or their overseer. They wish to seek you out, but Okeus worries for your safety.”

I wanted to ask why Okeus hadn’t bothered to mention it the day before, but I didn’t want to broach the subject while David was listening. “I’m an equal opportunist—I distrust all of you, so tell Okeus not to worry. I’ll be on guard.”

The bird moved closer until he stood only inches from the invisible wall between the inside and outside. “You have many enemies in the spirit world as well as out of it. One day, Okeus will be done with you. And then we will feast.”

“Sorry. My Manitou is no longer fair game.”

His grin was wicked. “There are other parts of you to devour besides your Manitou.”

Then he vanished into thin air.

“You really need to quit taunting them.” David stood up from behind the sofa. “He’s right. Okeus’s protection probably won’t last forever. Then you’ll be at their mercy.”

“Not for long, I won’t.” A small part of me knew he was right, that mocking them was stupid, but I hated that they had the upper hand. I needed to show my defiance somehow and my mouth was the only way I knew how.

But not for long.

I slammed the door shut and strode past David to the bedroom. “I will never be at their mercy, because you and I are going to figure out how to defy them with magic.”

I was amazed that I managed to get back to sleep. I usually couldn’t after a confrontation with a god, but I realized I was becoming desensitized to them. I was also smart enough to know that that could prove dangerous. I could mock the gods and spirits all I wanted behind my protected doors, but I refused to live hidden behind them. Especially while people were dying.

When I woke up again, sunlight was streaming through the crack between the curtains hanging in David’s window. He sat upright in bed, holding a cup of coffee, his computer in his lap. When he realized I was awake, he glanced down and smiled. “Good morning.”

I arched my back and stretched. “What time is it?”

“Seven fifteen.”

“I haven’t slept this late in weeks.” I sat up, propped my pillow against his headboard, and leaned back. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

David set his cup on the nightstand. “You needed the sleep, and I loved watching you.”

“Well, you obviously have coffee, but is there anything to eat?”

He leaned over and gave me a kiss.

“I was talking about actual food.”

He pushed me back down. “Did I mention how sexy you looked standing in my doorway last night, wearing my shirt with nothing on underneath?”

I grinned. “No. You didn’t.”

His mouth covered mine as his hand slipped under the covers and up my shirt. “We have an hour and forty-five minutes and I live ten minutes from the library.”

“Don’t we have something more important to do?” I asked, my chest rising and falling in quick bursts.

A huge smile spread across his face. “I can’t think of a single bloody thing.”

“Well, all right then.” I reached behind his head and pulled his mouth to mine, kissing him hard. A half an hour later, we lay in bed naked, our arms and legs tangled.

“As crazy as it is in all this chaos, I’ve never known such contentment as I feel with you, Ellie.”

I sighed with my own contentment, even if it was tinged with guilt. David was the man I wanted. The one whom I had chosen. I’d be damned if some asshole gods thought they could control that part of my life. “I know exactly what you mean, but I want it to last. Let’s go find some answers in your books.” I sat up. “But first you need to feed me breakfast. I’ve worked up an appetite.”

After we got ready for the day and stopped to pick up breakfast sandwiches and coffee on the way to the campus, David parked in the faculty parking lot at eight fifty.

“We need to stop at the coffee shop on the way to the library,” David said as he took the key out of the ignition.

“We just got coffee.”

“Oh, this isn’t for us.” He climbed out of the car, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

“Okay . . . ”

As we started to walk across the campus, he shot me a sly grin. “This is for Penelope, the archivist I usually work with. I’m lucky she works on Saturdays.”

“You’re bringing the archivist coffee?”

“This morning I made a list online of all the books and documents I want to see and uploaded it to the system, but one of them is an older letter that will require more attention. This is my way of saying thank-you.”

“What?” I laughed. “Your good looks, charming smile, and sexy accent aren’t enough to get her to help you?”

He shot me an ornery look. “Penelope can see right through that nonsense.”

“Then I can’t wait to meet Penelope.”

The coffee shop was in the bookstore, which happened to be on the way to the library. Once we reached the library, David logged on to one of the computers and printed out his list of requested documents before taking it to the desk.

“Well, Dr. Preston.” A woman with graying dark hair beamed from behind the desk. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“I’ve been working in Manteo. At the colony site.”

Her eyes widened. “What I wouldn’t give to see that.”

“Come over to the Outer Banks and I’ll get you a visitor’s pass and show you around.”

She blinked in surprise. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m totally serious; just give me a day or two of notice so I can get it pushed through the approval process.” He set the coffee cup on the desk. “In the meantime, I hope you still like vanilla soy lattes.”

“You know that I do.” She grinned and took the cup, then glanced up at me.

“Ellie, this is Penelope Fisher, my favorite archivist.” He winked at her, and an amused smile spread across her face. Then he motioned toward me. “Penelope, this is Ellie Lancaster, daughter of John and Amanda Lancaster. They both lived and breathed the Lost Colony before their deaths. John was well known for his work—”

“On the colonists and their relationships with the neighboring Native Americans,” Penelope finished. “We have some of his work in the North Carolina collection.”

My mouth parted in astonishment. “You do?”

“I attended one of your father’s lectures twenty years ago when he came to Chapel Hill. He had some fascinating insights. He was a great man. I was sorry to hear about his passing.”

“Thank you.” I waited for the familiar lump in my throat when talking about my father’s death and was surprised when it didn’t come. Maybe I was getting desensitized to that too.

“Ellie’s mother was an archaeologist who worked at Fort Raleigh. She specialized in English artifacts dating back to the colonies. Ellie practically cut her teeth on anything to do with the Lost Colony, so you can appreciate her fascination now that it has reappeared.”

“Of course,” Penelope agreed. “Are you two here to research something connected with the colony?”

“Yes, but I’m studying Manteo’s hut that was located on the site, and I need to research some books and letters that might help me interpret what I’ve found. And there’s also an old letter I’d like to examine.” David handed Penelope the printout.

She studied the list before looking up at David. “The books I can get for you right away. But it will take me a bit to get the letter.”

“Thanks, Penelope.”

“I’ll bring the books into the reading room. Why don’t you two wait for me there.”

David nodded his agreement and led me into a large room full of wooden tables and chairs. The marble floor was set in a checkerboard pattern, and tall arched windows lined the walls. The multiple gold chandeliers hanging overhead completed the impressive décor. Less than a dozen other people filled the room, not that I was surprised. Who wanted to spend a Saturday morning in the library the first week of school? Even one as nice as this.

“This place is amazing,” I murmured.

He looked around with a grin. “One thing I love about it is that there’s always plenty of light in here. I spent so much time in this room when I first came to Chapel Hill, I was grateful it wasn’t some dark, dingy hole.”

The archivist appeared ten minutes later with several books and set the stack on the table. “Give me about twenty minutes’ notice before you want to see the letter. Then I’ll take you back to examine it.”

David smiled softly at her. “Thanks, Penelope.”

“I’ve missed your face around here,” she said with a wink before she left us.

“You haven’t been gone that long,” I murmured, sitting next to David.

“True. But I haven’t been here in the library since last spring. As I mentioned, I spent a lot of time here when I first came to Chapel Hill. There were so many documents about the Cherokee that I could access from the archives. But I was also lonely and didn’t have anywhere else to go. After spending so much time here, I got to know Penelope pretty well. She lived in London in her twenties and early thirties, so we had that in common. She felt sorry for me and started baking things and bringing them for me to take home.” He pulled the first book from the stack. “I’m going to put you to work on this too. These books are older, but they’re not rare and fragile. I’m not sure how much we’ll find, but a few pieces of information here and there could help. If you find something that looks useful, let me know.”

“Okay.”

We spent the next hour and a half reading and scanning through the books before I found something that mentioned Ukinim, the malevolent badger. “David, look at this.”

He leaned closer, reading the passage. “This is good. And a few more of the deities are mentioned as well.” He reached for the book. “Do you mind?”

I gladly slid it over to him. “I’d like to read it when you’re done, but go for it.”

He scrawled several pages of notes and then glanced up at me with excitement. “I’ve got a list of twelve supernatural beings, some considered good, some evil. This is fantastic.” Glancing down at his phone, he grimaced. “The library closes in two hours. I’ll go tell Penelope we’re ready to look at the letter as soon as possible. We can come back when the library opens tomorrow to review the rest.”

“Sounds good.”

He passed the book back to me and I read the material about the assorted spirits. There was a rabbit that watched over crops, a white crane that brought good luck, and a lizard that liked to play tricks on children. I read about a bear that brought destruction to those who offended the gods—I suspected I’d meet him at some point—and a large bird with razor-sharp teeth that liked to eat young men as they passed into adulthood. But the scariest was the Wendigo, a demon that possessed the body of a human before attacking and killing other humans.

“Have you heard of a Wendigo before?” David asked. I hadn’t even processed his return, but he must have noticed I was lingering over that portion of the text.

“No.”

“They appear quite a bit in folklore and stories. Most historians think the legend came from the northern Algonquian, who were known to perform acts of cannibalism on enemy tribes. But consuming human meat produced a psychosis in aboriginal tribes called Wendigo psychosis.”

“So you think that maybe Wendigo aren’t real?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all.” He shook his head. “While there were cases that were attributed to psychosis, they happened after the disappearance of the colony. I think it’s two different things, but I also think it’s good to have all the facts and not jump to conclusions.”

I nodded my agreement.

We had gone through six books by the time Penelope came back an hour later to tell us the letter was ready, apologizing for the delay. “We’re short-staffed today.” She collected the volumes and asked us to follow her into a small hallway with dim lighting. “Wait here a moment and I’ll let you in.”

Penelope carried the books down the hall and turned the corner as David cast an anxious look at the closed door.

I glanced at it too, now worried about what lay behind it. “Why do you look nervous?”

“I’m hinging a lot of hope on this document, Ellie.”

“What? You didn’t tell me that. Only that you thought you could get some useful information.”

“I didn’t want to give you anything else to worry about. In case it came to nothing.”

I wanted to call him out for keeping something from me, but who was I to judge? My own guilt smoldered in my gut. “What do you hope to find?”

“I think this letter will tell you what you can do with the ring on your finger. I only hope it lives up to my expectations.” He paused, fear filling his eyes. “Ellie, your life depends on me finding answers. What if I’m wrong? What if I keep failing you?”

My eyes widened. “David, you could never fail me. Even if we don’t find anything useful in the letter about the ring, you still haven’t failed me. Besides, we’ve already gotten information about a dozen other spirits today, not to mention your connection to Allison and her possible information about the Ricardo Estate. And what about everything you’ve discovered about the Guardians? I never would have known about any of it if not for you.”

“But the possible connection to the Guardians is a shot in the dark. And it could be a coincidence that Allison saw a watch similar to your father’s.”

“Who’s the one who keeps insisting there are no coincidences?”

“I know, Ellie.” He grimaced. “I’m sorry. It’s just that if you can’t learn how to fight these things on your own, we’re lost. It’s almost too much to hope for that the information would conveniently show up like that.”

“We could use a little convenience for once. But I understand what you’re saying.”

His voice softened. “You have so much faith in me. I just hope it’s not misplaced.”

I shook my head. “Don’t think like that. I need you, David. And not just for this.” I pointed to the door to the climate-controlled room. “I need you. When I feel like this situation is completely hopeless, you make me believe I can actually do it. That we actually have a chance.”

“We do.” He leaned down and gave me a soft kiss.

“That’s just it,” I murmured as he pulled away. “That’s why I need you. You have enough faith for both of us.”

Penelope cleared her throat as she reappeared. “I think you left out an important piece of information about Ms. Lancaster.”

David laughed. “I didn’t think it was important.”

“Anything concerning your love life is important. Especially after Dr. Moran.”

David stiffened slightly and cast a glance in my direction, but I offered him a reassuring smile. So Penelope knew about David’s old girlfriend. It wasn’t really a surprise, since they’d dated for a year.

She led us into the room, where a document lay on a tray on a metal table. “You know the rules. I don’t think I need to go over them again.”

David sat down in front of the document, already enthralled.

“I’m not supposed to leave you alone with this, but if I can’t trust you, I’m not sure there’s anyone I can trust. I need to go check on something, but I’ll be right back.”

David grunted his acknowledgment.

Penelope chuckled as she walked past me. “He gets like that when he’s reading these old things. I love when someone appreciates these antiquities as much as I do.”

I watched her leave, then sank into the chair next to David’s, worried about disturbing him. But he reached over and placed his hand on my lap for a moment before turning back to his reading.

Penelope came back in the room just as David sat upright, groaning. “This isn’t it.”

“What are you looking for?” she asked, moving closer and resting her hand on the back of his chair.

“I remember coming across a letter from an English settler, dating back to the late 1600s, that tells about a Croatan conjurer who created two weapons to defeat demons.”

The archivist’s forehead wrinkled. “What else did it discuss?”

“It seems like it was a letter sent from a man in the Albemarle colony to his sister up in Jamestown. It mostly discussed his daily life as a farmer, but he also shared this story with her.”

“Hmm.” Penelope murmured. “I may know where to look, but I’m not sure I can find it today.”

“Okay,” David said, disappointment in his voice.

“But there’s another one that might be helpful too, and this one’s easier to retrieve. I take it you’re looking for something pertaining to the Croatan and a conjurer? It’s another letter, from the same area, but pertaining to the proprietor Seth Sothel and his harsh rule over the colonists. It dates back to the 1680s if I remember correctly. I believe there’s mention of a Croatan conjurer.”

David’s forehead wrinkled. “You would think I’d remember that.”

“It’s fairly new. Just added to the collection via a private donation a couple of months ago.”

David shot me a look before turning back to Penelope. “It’s definitely worth looking at. Thank you.”

“No problem. Let me just put this away and I’ll pull it for you.”

David and I waited in the room while the archivist took the document away.

“Do you think it’s a coincidence that the letter showed up right before the curse broke?” I whispered.

“No,” was his terse reply.

“Why are you so upset?”

“I know I should be grateful that this might answer some of our questions, but I hate being a pawn of the gods.”

Closing my eyes, I released a heavy sigh. “I know. And it’s becoming more and more obvious that that’s exactly what we are.”

His hand covered mine again. “We’re in this together.” His touch was comforting, but it reminded me of my moment at the beach with Collin. If only I could sever my attraction to him entirely.

Penelope returned about twenty minutes later with the document. She set it in front of David. “Like I said, this is a fairly new addition.”

“Do you know who donated the letter?”

“Not offhand. It came from a private collection and was the only letter donated. Usually they come in groups. It’s also unusual in that we had little advance notice that it was coming. It’s almost as though it just dropped from the sky.”

David shot me a glance before turning back to the letter. “I’m eager to take a look.”

Penelope nodded and then moved to the corner of the room to give us some privacy. David read for a couple of minutes before he sat upright, his eyes alight with excitement.

“Did you find something?” I whispered.

He turned to me and gave me a hard kiss on the mouth before leaning back, grinning with excitement.

“Ellie, this changes everything.”

CHAPTER NINE

“What does it say?”

He cast a glance at Penelope, who was still standing in the corner of the room and was clearly dying with curiosity.

“It has the information we needed and so much more.”

The words were obviously bursting to be released, but I could tell that he didn’t want to talk about it in front of the archivist.

“So this letter was helpful?” she asked, prodding.

“More so than you can know.”

“Well . . . ?”

“It talks about a Croatan conjurer who spoke to demons at the gate to Popogusso.”

Penelope smiled. “So it’s a legend.”

David hesitated. “It reads as though this man witnessed the event, which of course is ludicrous,” he added. “But it corroborates another story I’ve heard.”

“From the other letter?”

The corner of his mouth quirked. “Yes.”

“I take it that you still want to see it?” Penelope asked. “I can leave a note for Sylvia that you’ll be in to view it tomorrow afternoon.”

“That would be great. Thanks.” He pulled out his phone and started to take photos of the text—flash off, of course—while Penelope watched. After he examined the photos, he told her that he was done and picked up his bag.

Penelope could obviously tell that he wasn’t being straightforward, but she seemed to be willing to let it go.

“There’s another document you might be interested in,” she said as she started to take the letter away. She paused and looked up at him with a smug smile. “If you’re interested in stories about Croatan demons and gods, that is.”

David’s head jerked up.

“I’m a resource, David,” she said, using his first name. “Use me.”

“You’re right, Penelope. Thanks.”

“It’s a handwritten book of sorts, quite unusual. It tells the story of an Englishman and a Croatan warrior who had a confrontation one night. It mentions demons and the gate to hell.”

“Why haven’t I heard about this one either?”

She shrugged. “It’s anecdotal. There’s some argument over whether it’s even legit.”

“And what was the conclusion?”

“There wasn’t one. The paper was determined to be old enough, but the ink that was used was unconventional for the time period.”

“And what time period was that?”

“Mid-eighteenth century. The manuscript was dated.”

“And I take it that I can’t read it until tomorrow.”

She grinned.

“Okay,” he said. “Can you add it to the list?”

“You got it.”

We left the room and David grabbed my hand, practically dragging me outside the library.

“Okay,” I said, barely able to contain myself. “What did you find?”

“Let’s go to my office. I want to upload these photos and show you.”

While I could see the wisdom in that, and I knew we shouldn’t be talking about this out in the open, I was dying to know. “So it’s good?”

“It’s better than good. It’s the best we could hope for.”

Thankfully, his office building was practically behind the library. He pulled his keys out as we climbed the stairs to the second floor and had the door open within seconds. The room was small, less than eight feet wide. There was a window with vinyl blinds in the outside wall, and a wooden desk sat against the wall, perpendicular to the door. There was a tall metal file cabinet next to the desk.

“I guess you get a proper look at it this time, huh?” he said as he shut the door behind us and sat in his office chair. He opened a drawer and pulled out a cord to hook his phone to his computer.

“It’s so weird,” I said, looking around. “I was with you the last time you were here. As you were getting ready to leave.” I had come to see him two months ago. He’d been packing for Manteo at the time, though I hadn’t realized that. At first he’d thought I was an overzealous undergrad who was trying to get into one of his intro classes. “I bet those poor girls who moved mountains to get into your class are beyond devastated to find out you weren’t their instructor after all.”

He laughed, sounding embarrassed. “I’m mortified when I think about how incredibly rude I was to you that day.”

“You were pretty bad. But I’ll let it go if you tell me what you found in that letter.” The suspense was starting to eat at me.

I perched on the edge of his desk as he started the photo upload.

“Parts were a bit smudged, but I was able to make out most of it. The man who wrote this letter was a farmer from the Albemarle colony in northern North Carolina. He came down from Jamestown with a group who started a settlement along the Albemarle Sound in the mid-1600s. The note we found from your father said your ancestors went to Jamestown and then down to Albemarle with the initial colonists. In any case, this man—George—was part of a scouting expedition.”

“So this George is one of my ancestors?”

He glanced up, shaking his head. “No, I don’t think so, and I’ll tell you why in a second.” He picked up an ink pen and pointed the end at his screen. “It says here that there had been some skirmishes with the natives, and the colonists decided to take the offensive and scout for any hostile parties. They took three boats and set out on the sound. After a long day on the water, they landed on an island and started to look around, but something spooked George’s friends and they took off without him. Soon after they left, the sun went down. George was worried, but he figured his friends would come back. There was a new moon, though, so he knew they wouldn’t be able to retrieve him until morning. He decided to walk around the perimeter of the island and he came upon two boats—one obviously native, the other English. Worried, he pushed into the woods until he heard voices and saw a fire in the distance. While he was hiding in the trees, he saw a Native American man and an Englishman deep in the forest. The native was conducting a ceremony of some kind while the Englishman stood to the side and watched.

“There were multiple circles and markings on the ground. The native—George calls him a conjurer—had a spear in his hand, along with something else. He smeared his own blood on the objects, and then a huge storm rolled in out of nowhere. He said the trees shook violently, but the conjurer and the Englishman paid no attention, and the conjurer continued his chant. Suddenly something appeared in front of an oak tree—a gate.” David scrolled to the next photo and enlarged it, then read: “ ‘All manner of beasts and demonic creations were trapped behind the massive gate. The air was filled with wailing and moaning and screaming pleas to be set free.’ ”

My mouth gaped. “He saw Popogusso? When was this written?”

“1687.”

“A hundred years after the curse? How is that possible?” I tried to make sense of it. “So he had to be on Roanoke Island.”

“Agreed.”

“You said this was good. There must be more.”

David spun his chair around so he could look up at me. “George wrote that while the conjurer ignored the demons and spirits, the Englishman looked frightened. Then one of the demons—a man with black hair that was long on one side and short on the other, who was dressed in native attire—grabbed the bars and shouted at the men.”

“Okeus,” I breathed out in a gush. That was how he’d looked when he’d passed through the gate the night Collin let the demons loose.

David nodded and then turned back to the computer and pulled up another photo, reading the text on the screen. “He shouted, ‘Conjurer! Give up this madness. Find your fellow Croatan brother, the Manteo Keeper, and have him join with the Dare Keeper to open the gate. If you do this, I will offer you great rewards.’ ”

“How did the conjurer have the power to expose the gate?”

“I don’t know,” David answered, deep in thought. “After reading the rest of this letter, it sounds like Ahone set the whole thing up.” He turned back to the screen. “It says here that an older man appeared as the conjurer continued his ceremony. He had long white hair and a beard, and he told the demon behind the bars, ‘One day you will be free, but not for long. Once the seal to the gate breaks open, I will set in motion a plan that will seal the gate permanently with you and your vile creations locked behind it forever.’ Then the white-haired spirit chanted words and the spear and the other object in the conjurer’s hand—a gold ring—began to glow so much that they lit up the forest. The demons started to scream and the white-haired man’s voice rose above the noise, telling the Englishman, ‘You now have a weapon to use on your own. And the other Keeper has one too. When you bring the weapons close to the gate of Popogusso, they will sing, and that’s your sign that the weapon will allow you to send the demons back to hell.’ ”

“The weapons sing?” I asked. A thought tickled in the back of my head, a memory just out of reach. “The ring that sings at the gate of Popogusso,” I murmured.

David sat up straighter. “You say that like you’re remembering something.”

I closed my eyes to concentrate, but nothing emerged. Shaking my head, I opened my eyes. “There’s a memory there, but I can’t reach it.”

He snaked my hand and cradled it in his. “Obviously your memories have information we can use. Perhaps we should consider hypnosis to bring them to the surface.”

I’d never thought of that before. “Do you think it would work?”

He searched my face. “It might be worth a try.”

I released a sigh and stood, breaking free of his hold. “Does it say anything else?” A hint of irritation laced my words. I wasn’t frustrated with David, though, just my own broken memory. I wasn’t sure hypnosis was the answer. Did I really want a psychologist hearing my memories of the curse? I’d probably get a one-way ticket to the loony bin.

“It says the ceremony ended and the gate disappeared and the demons along with it, but the older spirit stayed and told the Englishman that one day the curse would break and his descendant would need the ring. That she was to stand next to the gate and recite the inscription on the band and reseal the gate. That her survival would depend on it.” David looked up. “Her. All mentions of the Keepers on both sides seem to refer to them as men. Do you remember there ever being a female Keeper on the Dare line before you?”

I scoured my memory and shook my head, my breath catching. “No. Collin said his grandmother was a Keeper. She was only the third female Keeper in the Manteo line. But Daddy never mentioned a woman on our side.”

David’s mouth puckered with concentration. “It’s not surprising that women would be the Keeper in the Manteo line. The Croatan were a matriarchal society. Although the conjurers were traditionally men.”

“So the her could have been a Manteo Keeper?”

David shook his head. “I don’t think so. Ahone told the Englishman—a Dare Keeper—that his descendant’s survival would depend on it.”

If the her referred to me, Ahone had predicted my birth over three hundred years ago. This had all been planned centuries ago. “Ahone had the letter sent here.”

“You don’t know that.”

My gaze found his. “Yes. I do. It goes back so much further than I thought it did.” It was past time to tell him about my chat with Okeus. I shouldn’t have kept it from him for this long. “When I was at the beach yesterday, Collin and I joined hands when I was in the ocean. I had a vision of sorts. I was in the field where I saw my dad. Only this time, I saw Okeus.”

“What?” he shot out of his seat and stood in front of me. “Why didn’t you tell me? Did he try to hurt you?”

I understood his concern after my last encounter with the god. I shook my head. “No, he didn’t, and I’m not sure why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to worry you, I guess.”

“Ellie.” The disappointment in his voice killed me.

“He told me that Ahone had orchestrated my birth. That my mother had experienced five miscarriages before giving birth to me.”

He blinked in surprise. “Did she?”

“I don’t know.” I turned away and moved to the window. “I know my parents had fertility issues. They were older when I was born. It’s not outside the realm of possibility.”

“But why?”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell him what Okeus had told me about Ahone wanting to create the perfect counterpart to Collin. “Who knows why they do what they do? Maybe he was waiting for a Keeper who was a witness to creation.” I shrugged, hoping I was convincing. “Like I told you, Ahone was there the night my mother was murdered too.” I spun around to face him, my face burning with anger. “He’s a fucking god, David,” I said. “He could have saved her that night, but he only saved me. He kept me hidden while I listened to her screams. I couldn’t help her.”

David’s eyes widened. “What did you just say?”

I shook my head, fighting a faint feeling. Where had that come from? Was it true?

“Ahone saved you?” he asked.

I moved to the desk and sat on the edge. Too many things were happening and too many memories were rushing back to me before fading away just as quickly. I needed to get myself together. “It just popped into my head. I knew he kept me from going downstairs, but somehow I know he did even more to protect me. I just can’t remember what.”

He released a deep breath. “Wow. Okay. Ahone really wanted you alive. That’s good.”

“Is it? Okeus wants to use me because I’m a witness to creation, but at least he’s semihonest about it. Ahone’s a sneaky bastard who’s trying to get what he wants without admitting to any of it. He was the one who told Collin to open the gate. He was the one who tricked him. Why would he want me to use the ring? For what purpose?” I’d spent a good part of the morning mulling it over while I scanned page after page, coming up with nothing.

Until now.

My eyes widened. “The inscription. He wants me to recite it at the gate. That’s exactly what Ahone told my ancestor I needed to do.” I shook my head in disgust. “I’m not giving that bastard what he wants. I don’t think I should use it.”

David’s jaw dropped. “What do you mean you shouldn’t use the ring? We just found out that it’s real and you can use it on your own. Without Collin.” He took a step back and ran his hand over his head. “Ellie, Ahone told the Dare Keeper that the ring would save your life by locking up the demons. No Collin needed. Why wouldn’t you use it?”

“Because that’s what Ahone wants, David! He’s using me. I don’t trust him, so I don’t trust the ring either.” I looked down at the vile thing on my hand. It had gotten my mother killed. I was certain of it. Was Ahone planning to sacrifice me as well? “I will never side with Ahone again.”

“You’re not seriously thinking about siding with Okeus, are you?”

My eyes narrowed. “No, of course not. I already told you last night that I don’t want to side with either of them.”

He shook his head in frustration. “If you won’t use the ring for yourself, think about the lives of countless other people. Four people already died in Manteo because of the Raven Mockers, Ellie, and that might just be the beginning.”

“I don’t trust him. If I use it, I’m falling right into his plans, which we both know is never in my best interest. So if I use the ring, what price will I have to pay?”

“You already put his mark on your back, Ellie. You sold your soul to him. What else can he take?”

“You.” Tears burned behind my eyes. “He can still take you. He’s using me, yet he keeps taking things from me. He took my mother and my father. You might be next.”

David heaved out a breath and pulled me against his chest, wrapping his arms around my back. “Oh, Ellie.”

“I can’t lose you, David. I don’t think I could survive it.”

He cradled my head against his chest. “I’m not going anywhere.”

But I knew he couldn’t promise me that.

Only one being could. And I was going to stop him if it was the last thing I did.

I suspected it just might be.

CHAPTER TEN

I gave David a kiss and stepped away from him, moving back to the window.

“Ellie, don’t pull away from me because you’re afraid of losing me.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned my attention to the wall of photos opposite his desk. “You have a lot of pictures.”

He rested his butt against the desk, watching me. “Yeah,” he murmured.

“I don’t see any photos of naked coeds,” I said with a small smile. “When I tried to show you a photo of my tattoo on my phone, you told me that you’d have me arrested if it was a naked picture. Have you really gotten any of those?”

“A few times, which was a few times more than I cared for. I think you know me well enough to know that I’m not really into that sort of thing.” A slow grin spread across his face. “Unless you want to text me some photos of yourself.”

I snorted. “Not a chance.”

“You can’t blame a bloke for trying.”

My heart was heavy, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. I stepped closer to the wall, where there were several pictures of David with an older couple. “Are these your parents?”

A soft smile spread across his face. “Yeah. And that’s my brother, Matthew.”

I studied a photo of a younger David with a guy who looked a lot like him. They were indoors, but the photo was so closely cropped, I couldn’t tell much else about the room where they were standing. “He has a nice smile. He looks friendly.”

“He is. We aren’t close—we’re just such opposites—but we’re there for each other if one of us needs something.”

“So you miss them?”

“Yeah. Particularly my mum, but we get to chat on the phone and Skype.”

My head jerked up. “You haven’t talked to her very much since you’ve been with me.”

“I usually call during my lunch break at work.” He shrugged. “The time difference.”

I continued down the wall. The photos were random snapshots of his life. Pictures with friends at parties and a few archaeological sites. And there were several of David with a pretty blonde woman. Even though they weren’t showing any signs of physical affection, I knew they were a couple. In one of the photos, they were in the mountains, both of them dressed in ski jackets and carrying poles. “You ski?” I asked.

“Yeah.” He shifted nervously.

I pointed to the photo while looking over my shoulder at him. “This is Allison, isn’t it?”

“We’re still friends, Ellie. As I told you, our breakup was amicable.” He pushed himself off the desk. “I can take them down.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Please don’t.” I gave him a tentative smile. “I’m not jealous of her.”

He flashed a wonky grin. “I’m not sure whether to be worried or relieved.”

I turned around so that I was facing him and stared into his anxious face. “Go with relieved. I know you want to be with me, so I’m not worried.” Although I still wondered if it was a good idea for me to keep him around. The last thing I wanted to do was endanger him. “Do we know anything about when we’re meeting her?”

“She texted earlier. She wants both of us to come over for dinner.”

“Dinner?”

“We parted friends, Ellie. She’s curious about what I’ve been up to in Manteo.” He hesitated. “But we’ll only do it if you’re okay with it.”

I didn’t want to, but David put up with so much crap involving Collin, how could I refuse him? I could tell he really wanted to go. “Of course. It’s fine.”

“Okay.” But he didn’t sound convinced. “She’d like us to come to her house at seven.”

“Okay.” I paused. “I still haven’t made arrangements to see Myra. I was waiting to see what happened with Allison. I’ll see if she can meet me tomorrow.”

“Let’s grab some lunch and head back to my place. I can pack up some of my personal things before we go over to Allison’s.”

David led me to the doorway of his office. Before walking out of the room, he surveyed it for a moment, releasing a sigh. Then he locked the door behind us without another word.

“You miss it,” I said softly. “Being here at the university.”

He looked down at me, his brow furrowed. “Ellie.”

“No, you do. I can tell.”

He lowered his head close to my ear. “Do you remember when I told you weeks ago that I thought you were my destiny? That I had been moving on a path toward you for years? I still believe that.”

“Maybe so, but you didn’t answer my question.”

He hesitated. “Yes, I miss it. I like teaching, and I miss the interaction with students.”

My heart ached and guilt flooded in.

“You just asked me a few minutes ago if I miss my family and I admitted that I do. But I still wouldn’t move back home.” I started to talk and he put a finger on my lips. “Even if you weren’t part of my life. I miss them, but it wouldn’t be the same if I went back. I’ve changed. They’ve changed. I can’t go back to that life even if that’s what I wanted, which it isn’t . . . ” He took a breath. “This situation is exactly the same.”

“No, it’s not. You’ve only been gone about two months, not years.”

“Maybe so, but I’ve changed. I can’t just come back here and pretend like the last two months haven’t happened.”

I started to respond and he leaned down to kiss me. When he lifted his head, he grinned. “I’m hungry. Let me take you to my favorite Italian restaurant.”

I nodded my agreement and we went to lunch, making sure to steer our conversation away from anything related to the curse. We spent so much time in Manteo talking about the curse that I worried our conversation would flounder, but David told me stories about teaching and some of his students. And I told him some horror stories about training new employees at the restaurant. By the time we left to go back to his house, our moods had lightened, even after David stopped at a hardware store to pick up a load of boxes and packing tape.

We spent the rest of the afternoon packing up David’s house. I expected it to be sad for both of us, but David seemed to enjoy showing me some of his favorite things from his travels in the States and in the UK. I wanted to take a shower before we went to meet Allison, so I stopped working at around five thirty to get cleaned up while David continued to pack.

When I got out, I dried off and looked around the bathroom for a hair dryer. I couldn’t find one, so I wrapped a towel around my body and opened the door, intent on asking David. As soon as the door was open, I could hear his voice in the living room.

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea, Allison.”

Curious, I stood in the bathroom doorway. David’s back was to me.

“Because I don’t want to overwhelm her.” He sensed me behind him and turned, pointing to the phone.

“What’s wrong?” I whispered.

He covered the mouthpiece with his hand. “Allison has invited a bunch of our mutual friends to see me and meet you.”

“Why isn’t it a good idea?” Was he embarrassed about his friends meeting me?

He removed his hand from the phone. “Allison, hold on for a moment.” He pushed mute and lowered the phone. “Ellie, you’ve had a stressful afternoon. It isn’t fair to make you deal with a bunch of people who want to ask you a million questions. They know we’re together and they’re extremely curious.”

“Do you want to see your friends?”

“That’s not the point.”

“It’s a valid question. Do you want to see your friends?”

“Well, yes.” He shrugged. “I don’t know when we’ll be back to Chapel Hill, so I would like to see them.” He held up his hand. “But this is about you, Ellie. I’m sure you must be uncomfortable with going to Allison’s house. I don’t want to make this any more awkward for you.”

I shook my head. “No. I want to meet them. Don’t you see, I want to see as much of your life as possible.” And I meant it.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. I’m excited to meet them.”

He took the phone off mute. “Okay, Allison. We’ll see you at seven.” He hung up and studied me. “You can still change your mind if you’d like.”

“No way. But now I really need a hair dryer. I forgot to pack mine.”

“Bedroom closet. I’ll get it for you.”

As I followed him to the back room, a new thought occurred to me. “Are you nervous about me meeting Allison?”

He stopped in front of the closet. “Yes, although I’m not embarrassed or ashamed of you in any way. I know that’s where your mind is going.” He shot me a nervous smirk. “I want you to be comfortable.”

“I’m not some fragile flower, David.”

“Oh, I know. I’d never accuse you of that. It’s just that you deal with so much crap between the curse and your job . . . well, I wanted this weekend to be a chance for you to get away from it all. But tonight could end up being another stressor for you.” He pulled the hair dryer down from a shelf and handed it to me. “If it gets overwhelming, just let me know and we’ll take off.”

But we couldn’t, not really. We needed whatever information she had, and I couldn’t help wondering if this was her way of stalling so she could spend more time with David. Still, I wasn’t about to tell him that. I wrapped my hands around his neck and pulled his mouth to mine. “Thanks.”

David took a shower while I got dressed and used a mirror in his bedroom to put on my makeup. Once I was ready, I grabbed my phone and worked past my nerves to call Myra. Our last call had ended on a good note, but what if she’d reverted to her previous indifference?

To my relief, she sounded happy to hear from me. “Ellie. How are you? I take it you’re in Chapel Hill?”

“We made it in last night.”

“Have you seen David’s colleague yet?”

“No, we’ll see her later tonight. But David’s researching some things related to the curse in the library, and we made some headway there today.”

“Really? Good news I hope.”

Myra’s emotional distance had hurt me more deeply than I’d realized. The fact that she was now acting more like the stepmother I knew brought tears of relief to my eyes. My throat burned and I swallowed before answering. “Yes, we found out something that could help us use the ring.”

She paused. “Really? That’s wonderful, Ellie. Will I still get to see you this weekend? I’d love to hear all about it.”

“I hope so. Would sometime tomorrow work?”

“That would be great.” Myra sounded happy. “How about a late breakfast? Were you planning on bringing David?” She paused and her voice lowered. “You know I’m fond of him, but I was hoping it would just be the two of us.”

Myra had made no secret of her concern that my relationship with David was moving at light speed, so her request wasn’t a complete surprise. I suspected she wanted to make sure I was still happy. I wouldn’t be able to answer honestly if he was there.

I cast a glance toward the bathroom door. The shower had turned off, but the door was still closed. I could use this to my advantage. If I was going to sell the bed and breakfast, I owed it to Myra to consult her first. “I’d like that too. There’s something important I need to talk to you about.”

“Oh.” She sounded surprised. “Is it serious?”

“It’s about the inn.”

“Is everything okay?”

“I’d rather talk in person.”

“Of course, Ellie. How about I text you directions to my apartment? Can you be here around ten?”

“Yes, sounds perfect. Thanks, Myra. I love you.”

She paused. “Me too.”

A few moments later, the bathroom door opened and David emerged, walking into the bedroom completely naked. I felt warm just looking at him, my fingers itching to touch his still-wet skin.

He caught me watching him and grinned. “You having second thoughts about going tonight?”

“No, but I’m wondering if we can be fashionably late.”

“Nope.” He laughed. “Let’s go on time, stay as long as we feel like it, and then you can bring me home and ravish me.”

I smirked as he brushed past me. “You think you can turn me down?”

“I will tonight. I’m always on time, so my friends will wonder why I’m late. And the guys will take one look at you and know.” He gave me a passionate kiss and then lifted his head to smile at me. “And I’d prefer not to give them a reason to think about you like that.”

I lifted my eyebrows in amusement. “You’re jealous?”

“Not typically, but tonight I’m feeling a bit protective. I confess, it’s caught me a little off guard.”

“You act like you’ve never had a girlfriend before,” I teased.

He turned serious, his hand cupping my neck, his thumb brushing along my jawline. “You know you’re the only one I’ve ever loved.”

For some reason, his words were my undoing. He’d said those three magic words to me weeks ago, and I had wanted to say them back. At the time, something had stopped me, even though all the signs were there.

“Ellie?” He was watching me, a strange look in his eyes.

I didn’t want to keep holding back. I had no idea how long I had left in this world, and I didn’t want to waste another minute without letting David know how much he meant to me. I kissed him softly. “I love you, David Preston.”

His eyes widened in surprise.

I smiled as the truth of my words washed over me. “I love you.”

His arms wound around me, pressing his naked body against my clothes. He started to unbutton my shirt and then dropped his hands and groaned. “No. Later.”

I gave him a sexy grin. “Are you sure?”

“No.” He laughed. “But I’ve resolved for us to be on time and now I’m determined to see it through.”

I reached my hand behind him and cupped his ass. “And you do know that makes me even more determined to break your will.”

His mouth lowered to my ear and he pulled my earlobe into his mouth, biting gently, then sucking. “You are an evil woman, Ellie Lancaster.” His warm breath fanned against my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

“And you like me that way.” I laughed, but I dropped my hold on him. “You better get dressed if you want to be on time.”

I picked up the hair dryer and went into the bathroom, drying my thick hair until it was only slightly damp. After pulling it into a loose French braid, I studied my reflection, worried I wouldn’t be good enough for David’s friends. I was probably younger than all of them and far less educated, but David loved me. That had to mean something, right?

I shook my head at the mirror, a slight smile on my face. A slew of evil spirits and demons roamed the earth, and I was worried about impressing David’s ex-girlfriend and his professor friends. I obviously needed to get my priorities straight.

David appeared in the bathroom doorway wearing a dark green shirt and a pair of jeans. I took one look at him and my breath caught in my chest. More unneeded confirmation of what a gorgeous man David was.

“You look beautiful, Ellie. Don’t look so worried. My friends will love you.”

I followed him through the house and out the front door. “You’re not just saying they’ll like me because you think it will set me at ease, are you? I’d rather prepare myself for the worst.”

“What’s not to love about you? You’re beautiful, kind, thoughtful, and funny.” He gave me a gentle kiss. “Besides, they aren’t pretentious stuffed shirts. You get along well with Steven and the researchers who stay in the house. My friends will love you.”

“Okay.”

The drive to Allison’s house was short, only five minutes. Several cars were already parked in front of the cute two-story home. I smoothed my skirt, trying to get control of the fluttering in my stomach.

David grabbed my hand and interlaced our fingers. “It’s hard to believe you’re so nervous. Last night you faced a wind god and back-talked him like he was some punk on a street corner.”

“That was different.”

“Yeah, it is. Which is why it’s so shocking you’re this anxious over meeting a few academics.”

We stood in front of the door and I took a deep breath, pulling my hand free of David’s grip. I didn’t want to look like I couldn’t walk into the room without his support, even if I wanted it. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Chuckling, David rang the doorbell. Seconds later a cute blonde I recognized from the pictures in David’s office opened the door. She had on a light pink ruffled shirt and white capris. Her face broke out into a huge smile. “David!” She threw her arms around him and squeezed him tight.

He returned her hug, but with a much looser hold. “Good to see you, Allison.”

She stepped back and eyed me up and down, still smiling. “And you must be Ellie.”

I returned her smile. “Thank you for inviting us.”

Her face tightened a bit. “David knows he’s always welcome.”

I resisted a sigh. So it was going to be one of those nights.

But David wasn’t one of those oblivious men, thank God, and he put his arm around the small of my back. “I’m eager to see everyone. Thanks for inviting them.”

“Of course. You take a two-week trip to Roanoke Island and the next thing we know, you’re taking a semester’s leave. We never got a chance to say a proper good-bye.”

David’s arm tensed.

She turned her head to the side and coughed before looking back at us. “Excuse me. My summer allergies have kicked into high gear.” She stepped to the side, opening the door wider. “Everyone is in the back. We’re grilling. I’ve been marinating steaks all day and I hoped you’d take over your official duties as grill master.”

David had stepped inside the house, but he stopped short in the entryway. “Allison.”

She turned around to see why he wasn’t moving, and they had a stare-off for several seconds until I looked up at David. “You grill? I can’t wait to see you in action.”

Allison’s eyes widened in surprise. “David hasn’t grilled for you?”

“The bed and breakfast doesn’t have a grill, Allison.” David’s voice was tense. “And I’ve been working late at the colony site most nights.”

I wasn’t sure if David was defending his behavior to Allison or me or perhaps both. He had nothing to apologize for as far as I was concerned. “Well, thanks to Allison’s thoughtfulness, you can grill tonight,” I said, forcing myself to sound pleasant.

David beamed down at me and took my hand. “Let’s go see everyone.” He walked past Allison, leading me through the entryway and a renovated kitchen. I gasped when we reached the open French doors leading into the backyard—although calling it a backyard was like calling the Atlantic Ocean a body of water. The steps led to a cobblestone patio that held about ten people, some standing, some sitting in chairs by a koi pond with a waterfall. Multiple flower beds surrounded the perimeter of the yard. It looked like something straight out of a decorating magazine.

“It’s gorgeous,” I said before I could stop myself.

“David did a wonderful job, didn’t he?” Allison asked from behind me. Then she sniffed and reached for a tissue. “He’s very gifted.”

I glanced up at him in awe. “You did this?”

His face reddened. “It was nothing.”

“This isn’t nothing, David.”

“I’m sure he misses puttering around since he moved into his rental house,” Allison said. “He tried to make up for it with all those pots, but it’s not the same.”

I turned toward her, unable to stop myself.

“We had just started dating when I mentioned I wanted to landscape my yard,” she went on. “He was eager to help. I teased him that he should have been a landscaper.” She cocked her head with a pensive look. “He got so much more accomplished after he moved in with me.”

My stomach dropped. He hadn’t told me that he and Allison had lived together.

David’s hand tightened around mine. “That was a long time ago.”

“It was only last summer,” Allison said in a smug tone.

“David!” called out one of the men on the patio. “Get over here and tell us how it’s going out in Manteo.”

David pulled me away from Allison and leaned down into my ear. “I had no idea she’d act this way. We can leave if you like.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I want to meet your other friends.”

The group of people turned to face us as we approached, and their genuine smiles helped soften the tension that was building in my shoulders.

A man in his thirties reached out his hand to David and pulled him into a hearty handshake. “Congrats on the Roanoke assignment.”

“Thanks,” David beamed.

“And who have you brought back with you?” the woman next to him asked.

David smiled down at me, then glanced back at her. “Cheryl, this is Ellie Lancaster. Ellie, Cheryl Dalton. Her husband, Noah, works in the English Department.” He gestured toward the man who had just greeted him.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” I said.

Cheryl grinned. “Noah might be asking about the colony, but what we really want to know is how you met Ellie. We hear it’s quite serious.”

The group of six people around us turned their attention to David.

“And who tells you that?” David asked, brushing off her question.

“Please.” She waved a hand. “Noah knows Charles Ditmore at Duke, who knows Steven Godfrey. When Steven came back from Roanoke Island, he told Charles that you found the lost colony and the love of your life.”

I shifted uncomfortably, but David wrapped an arm around my back and held me close. “I found a lot of surprises in Manteo.” He grinned down at me, setting me at ease. “But I’m sure everyone would love to hear more about the colony. Especially what’s been found in the Dare house.”

Someone brought two chairs and we sat while David and his friends spent the next ten minutes talking about the colony and the things that David had seen, before Allison walked over with a bottle of beer and a plastic cup. “Where are my manners? You two don’t have drinks yet.” She handed the bottle to David and the cup to me. I took it hesitantly, wondering if she’d done something to it.

She smiled, but I could see the bitterness in her gaze. “I made sure to have your favorite beer on hand, David. I wasn’t sure if Ellie was legal to drink, so I brought her lemonade.”

David stiffened next to me and started to say something, but I patted his arm. “Allison, how thoughtful of you. Thank you.”

Confusion flickered in her eyes and her mouth parted as if she wasn’t sure how to react. The group around us hushed, their expressions shocked.

After a couple of seconds, Allison’s smile returned. “David, the grill’s ready.” She pulled a tissue out of her pocket and wiped her nose. “I really need you to help out. I shouldn’t come into contact with raw meat with this runny nose.”

David glanced over at me, then back at Allison. “Ellie, why don’t you come over with me and I’ll teach you the fine art of grilling, something I’ve picked up since moving to North Carolina.”

Allison shot me a challenging look that said she firmly believed I couldn’t handle her on my own. I’d dealt with her kind before back in high school. For some reason, I’d expected better manners from a college professor. Well, I wasn’t about to back down. I could take demonic badgers. This bitch was nothing.

I leaned back in my chair and took a sip of my drink. “No, I think I’ll stay here and chat with the girls.”

David’s eyes widened, so I leaned over and placed a kiss on his mouth, lingering for a couple of seconds before brushing my mouth against his ear. “Go. I’ll be fine.”

He pulled back, worry in his eyes.

A smile spread across my face. “Make my steak medium-well.”

The guys in the group cast nervous looks between me and Allison and hopped up, following David to the grill. The four other women who’d been left behind looked as though they wished they could join them. Instead, we all settled in our chairs on the patio. I turned my attention to a woman who had been talking to David. “So, Trina, how long have you known David?”

She and the other women all told me how they’d met him. Trina was a professor of Native American studies, and the other three were married to professors David knew from the university.

After a while, there was a pause in the conversation and Allison leaned forward. “Don’t you want to know how I met David?”

I offered her my sweetest smile. “Of course.”

Sipping from her wine glass, she leaned to the side of her chair. “We met in the library. Penelope, the archivist there, was sure to introduce us.”

“I met Penelope this morning at the Wilson Library,” I said. “She seems very sweet.”

She gave me a conspiratorial grin. “She can be quite the matchmaker. She hooked up Trina and Phil too.”

Trina glanced over at the men and grinned. “She sure did.”

“David had been at Chapel Hill for over a year and Penelope thought he needed a girlfriend. He doesn’t cook very much, so she suggested I invite him over for a home-cooked meal. He protested that he didn’t want to be a bother, but he came over and then the next thing you know, we were dating.”

Trina narrowed her eyes. “I thought it was several months after you cooked for him before you two started dating.”

Allison shot Trina a glare, then turned her attention to me. “In any case, he moved in and helped me with this old house. He’s really quite handy.” She took a drink of her wine, watching me over the rim. “Like I said, he landscaped this entire backyard.”

“It’s very beautiful,” I said. “You’re lucky he shared his talent with you.” She wanted me to act like a jealous lover, but I wasn’t going to fall into her trap. For one thing, I wasn’t jealous. David had left her, not the other way around. If he wanted to be with her, he would. If anything, I felt sorry for her. David was a wonderful man, and I knew it had to be hard for her to see him with me. I didn’t appreciate her bitchiness, but I understood it.

I crossed my legs and smiled. “I hear that you’re a history professor. My parents and stepmother were all history majors. My father was the park ranger at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site for many years until he became ill. My mother died when I was a girl, but she was an archaeologist at the site and specialized in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century artifacts. Their names were John and Amanda Lancaster.” I tilted my head to the side. “Perhaps you’ve heard of them?”

“Your father was John Lancaster?” Trina asked in awe.

I nodded. “He was very passionate about the early colonies.”

“He’s a legend, but he had stopped lecturing by the time I started my undergraduate work. Do you know why?”

I pushed down my sorrow. “My mother’s death was hard on him and he found it difficult to leave me after that. I had no idea how respected he was in academia until I spoke with Steven while visiting the colony site.”

“You visited the site?” Trina asked.

“I did.” I told her my impressions of the reemerged colony and how hard it was seeing tiny baby Virginia’s skeleton in her cradle.

Allison shifted in her seat and I could tell she didn’t like that the conversation was steering away from her. “Allison, David said you specialize in weaponry from the Middle Ages. I’m curious about what prompted that interest.”

The color left her face. “David’s mentioned me?”

I took a sip of my lemonade. “Yes, very fondly.”

She eased back in her chair. “My parents and my older brother were participants in our local Renaissance festival. We spent every weekend in October there, and I became fascinated with it. But once I went to school, my passion turned to the Middle Ages. So much has been lost over the years, and I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of discovering lost things.”

“What happened with that exhibit you were invited to preview?” Trina asked, crossing her legs. “You were so excited to see it.”

Allison took a sip of her wine, then frowned. “I signed a nondisclosure agreement when I went to Charlotte. You know that.”

Trina leaned forward. “Come on. It’s us. Who are we going to tell? Did you see any Native American artifacts? I’m dying to know.”

Sucking in a deep breath, Allison’s mouth puckered as her gaze rotated to David before returning to her friend. “Yes, there were several.”

Trina waited for several seconds. “You can’t stop there. Tell us more.”

Allison shifted in her seat. “I’m really not supposed to tell anyone, but I agreed to tell David what I saw.” A wicked smile twisted her lips. “Well, I guess you two work in the same department and share information anyway . . . ”

I was sure an attorney would be able to point out any number of flaws in her logic, but Trina’s face beamed with excitement.

“You know I don’t know much about Native American weaponry, but I can tell you that there were multiple spears that looked to be quite old based on the warping of the shafts. There was also a large collection of arrowheads and ax heads.”

“We all know you were asked to examine something else,” Trina prompted.

“There was a large collection of pocket watches. One was identical to the watch in the photo David sent to all of us weeks ago. It’s really quite a find. I’m amazed there are two in existence.”

“Allison,” Cheryl said. “You said you were invited to see something that you were sure would provide the source for your next paper. Stop being so mysterious. Did you see it?”

For the first time since she started spilling details about the collection, Allison looked hesitant. “Now, that I’m really not supposed to talk about. Not yet anyway.”

The woman turned her attention to me. “Ellie, why is David so eager to find out about a bunch of English pocket watches and swords?”

My eyes widened in dismay. I hadn’t planned on having to answer questions about the Ricardo Estate. I shook my head while my tongue stumbled for an explanation. “I . . . David . . . since the majority of the colony site is composed of English artifacts, he’s found a new appreciation for them. In fact, the majority of Manteo’s hut consists of English items.”

Allison frowned. “Then what on earth is he still doing there? He’s a professor of Native American studies.”

Trina rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so shortsighted, Allison. David’s studying Manteo’s residence. What’s actually in there is less important than the fact that Manteo lived there. And even if some of his things are English in origin, they must still say a lot about how he lived his life.” Her eyebrows rose. “Am I right, Ellie?”

“Uh . . . yeah.” I never could have come up with that answer in a million years. I owed Trina big. But if Allison was willing to discuss the collection, I wanted to get as much information out of her as I could. “So did you see anything else that was particularly interesting?”

She cocked her head to the side.

“Well, did you?” Trina asked.

“Yes.” She licked her lower lip and grabbed the arm of her chair, looking nervous. “But if the Guardians find out . . . ”

The blood rushed from my head. “Did you say the Guardians?”

Allison’s face paled and she stood. “I’ve said too much. I’ve never been good at keeping secrets. I better go check on the baked beans.”

Allison hurried into the house. I was dying to tell David our new information, but he was deep in conversation with his friends. This could wait a few minutes.

“Wow. That was weird,” Trina said, watching Allison slip through the kitchen door.

Cheryl cast a glance from me to Trina. “She’s been out of sorts since she started planning tonight’s get-together.”

Everyone was quiet and I shifted in my seat, wondering if I should get up and check on David, when one of the women addressed Trina in a serious tone. “The campus police say there hasn’t been any trouble here, but they’re being extra vigilant.”

My attention perked up. “Why would the campus police need to be vigilant?”

The three of them were quiet for a long moment, and then Trina spoke up. “There have been some missing person reports in Durham. Duke students.”

“Missing?”

“Yeah, three in the last two weeks.”

“Just students?” I asked, suddenly worried about Myra. What if some of the spirits had followed Myra to Durham? What if they went after her to make me suffer? “No professors? My stepmother just took a position there.”

“No.” Trina shook her head. “Two guys and a girl, all students. Just vanished.”

“And the police have no idea what happened?”

“Not a clue. But I’m sure you have nothing to worry about. Your stepmother will be just fine.”

She was right. These could very well be garden-variety disappearances, but I had begun to take the stance that anything unusual was supernatural until deemed otherwise.

I needed to protect Myra, no matter what it took.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I wanted a few minutes alone to sort through all the cards I’d been dealt in the last half hour. I stood. “I need to use the restroom. I’ll be right back.”

“It’s the first door on the left,” Cheryl called after me.

My movement caught David’s attention. He turned to look at me as I walked toward the house, an anxious glint in his eye. I smiled at him—even if I didn’t feel like it—and the tension in his face instantly eased.

“He loves you,” Allison said, her voice matter of fact.

I jumped at the sound of her voice, surprised to see her standing in the doorway to the house. I could lie to her, but I didn’t see the point. “Yes. He does.”

Tears filled her eyes and she forced a smile. “How wonderful for you both.” Her lip quivered, but she kept right on smiling. “These stupid allergies.” Then she pushed past me into the yard.

I didn’t have to go to the bathroom, but Daddy had always taught me to go when I had the opportunity, whether I needed to or not, and old habits died hard. It felt invasive walking through David’s ex-girlfriend’s house, but I couldn’t restrain my curiosity. While her kitchen was generic with white cabinets and laminate counters, her living room was lined with glass display cases filled with knives and swords. I abandoned my original plan and wandered into the living room, stopping in front of one of the cases.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Allison asked. She must have changed her mind and turned around to follow me.

I jumped again. Damn it. Some super-stealth sneak I was. Collin would be horrified. “I didn’t mean to snoop.”

“It’s not snooping.” She shrugged and a soft grin lifted the corners of her mouth. “If I were in your shoes, I’d do the same.”

Guilt slammed my chest. “Allison, I never meant to hurt you in any way. I considered not coming—”

She shook her head. “No, I specifically asked David to bring you. I wanted to see who had finally managed to win David Preston’s love and devotion.” She turned to face the case, her expression painted with sadness. “I’m not surprised he fell for you.”

My mouth parted. That was the last thing I’d expected her to say.

“Why does he really want to know about the collection I saw?”

“I told you.”

She turned to study me. “That’s a bullshit answer and we both know it.”

I resisted the urge to stiffen my shoulders in defense. “I can assure you that it does have something to do with the colony site.” When she didn’t respond, I decided to take the offensive. “You mentioned the Guardians. Were they the ones who contacted you?”

She glanced around and moved deeper into the room. I followed. “Yes. I wasn’t sure who they were until I got to Charlotte. They contacted me through the university and said they needed to consult with someone who had my expertise. But they told me I couldn’t tell anyone and made me sign and scan an NDA before they’d give me more details. After they received it, they gave me an address and told me to show up there the next day at one p.m. I almost told them no; it was the day before classes started and I really couldn’t afford to leave town for the day. Plus I wasn’t sure I could trust them.”

“But you went anyway?”

She released a short laugh. “They told me they thought they had the Sword of Galahad. Of course I went.”

I gave her a blank look.

“It’s a legendary sword rumored to have been blessed with the ability to kill demons.”

I held my breath, then forced it out. This was the one she’d mentioned to David. “Was it?”

She laughed again, the sound deeper and richer this time. “Are you asking if it was the actual Sword of Galahad or if it can really kill demons?”

I decided to go for broke. “Both.”

Her smile fell. “You’re serious.”

“David said the sword was blessed by a priest in the Middle Ages for a knight to use as a weapon in the Crusades. Would they really have used a sword that old? King Arthur’s court would have been centuries before the Crusades.”

Allison watched me intently for several seconds. “You’re not what I expected.”

“I hear that a lot.” Although it was usually from gods and spirits.

She shook off her musings. “You’re correct. If King Arthur were real, historians would place him between the fifth and seventh centuries. The Sword of Galahad is mentioned in relation to King Richard the Lionheart and the Third Crusade. That would have been 1189 to 1192, making it highly doubtful it could be the same sword, even if Galahad were real. Most historians think the sword was created specifically for King Richard and only modeled after a sword they attributed to Galahad. Still, the styling of swords had evolved—not surprisingly—over several hundred years. An Arthurian sword would have had a wider, bulkier blade, while one from the twelfth century would have been more tapered and lighter in weight.” She moved to another case, staring at the jewel-encrusted handle of a small knife. “But calling it the Sword of Galahad makes sense symbolically. Galahad was entrusted with the job of finding the Holy Grail. King Richard was on a holy mission too. People weren’t happy when Richard raided the treasury to support his quest. Saying he carried the Sword of Galahad into battle would have elevated him in people’s eyes.”

“Did you see it?” I asked. “Do you think it was the sword King Richard attributed to Galahad?”

“Now, that is the question, isn’t it?” A sly grin spread across her face. “I showed up in Charlotte and was met by an older woman. She told me her name was Miriam and she was with a very old organization called the Guardians. When I asked her what they were guarding, she laughed and told me I wouldn’t understand. Then she took me into a back room. They had enough antique weapons there to fill a museum and then some, along with a collection of pocket watches.”

“No other jewelry?”

Allison looked surprised by my question. “No.”

I involuntarily fingered the ring on my right hand, but Allison’s gaze followed my movement. “They wanted you to authenticate the Sword of Galahad?” I asked, to divert her attention.

“Yes, but they had other swords and knives as well. Miriam gave me a few moments to examine several of them. I asked to take photos, but they only allowed me to take one picture of the sword in question. After I told them there was no way I could verify on the spot whether it was authentic or not, they relented and allowed me to take one more. Photos aren’t enough, but they’re a start. I’m supposed to go back on Monday with some conclusions.”

“So what’s your gut reaction? Is it the Sword of Galahad?”

She stared at me for a few moments, her friendliness fading. “I don’t have to help you, you know. I don’t have to tell you a damn thing.”

“I know,” I said quietly. “Why are you telling me?”

Her eyes burned with intensity. “Because I have a feeling you’re putting David in some kind of danger.”

“What?”

She moved closer and grabbed my arm. “These people—the Guardians—I get the impression they don’t like it when people get into their business. But that’s exactly what David’s doing, isn’t it? Tell me I’m wrong.”

I didn’t answer. She was right.

“I also have a feeling you’re a huge part of this thing; otherwise why would you be hanging on my every word? Call it woman’s intuition, but David is doing this to help you.”

Again, I didn’t contradict her.

Her face softened and her eyes turned glassy. “So I’m begging you, Ellie. I’ll tell you everything you want to know, but leave David out of this.”

I shook my head, “Allison . . . I . . . ”

“Ellie?” David stood in the doorway to the living room. “Is everything okay?”

My head spun around to face him. “Yeah. Fine.”

Allison put her hands on her hips. “I was just showing Ellie my collection. Who knew she’d be so fascinated with dangerous things?”

David hesitated before responding. “The steaks are ready.”

“Then let’s eat.” She brushed past us, but before she stepped into the kitchen, she turned to look at me. “Ellie, think about what I said.”

I walked over and pulled David into a hug. “What did she say?” he whispered in my ear.

“More than I expected.” I glanced up into his worried face. “You were on the right track. The Guardians are behind this. They have a large collection of antique weapons and pocket watches, which I highly suspect is part of the Ricardo Estate. Allison went to look at a sword that is rumored to have belonged to King Richard the Lionheart, not just some random knight in the Crusades. It’s also known as the Sword of Galahad.” I filled him in on everything she’d said about the sword and its rumored history.

“Did she tell you what she originally wanted to show me?”

“No, but she confirmed she has two photos of the sword. She didn’t show them to me, and I suspect she’s holding them for ransom.”

“What’s the reward?”

“You. She’s figured out that I’m the one who needs the information. She’s worried for your safety, so she hopes that if she tells me what I want to know, I’ll leave you out of this mess.”

Anger darkened his eyes. “That’s bollocks!”

“She cares about you. She’s trying to protect you. I’m not sure I wouldn’t do the same thing if our roles were reversed.”

His gaze softened. “Ellie.”

Voices filled the kitchen and irritation pinched David’s mouth. “We’ll talk about this later. And I’ll set her straight.”

“Don’t be angry with her. Please.”

He gave me a gentle kiss. “You’re an amazing woman, Ellie Lancaster.”

I wished I were as amazing as he thought I was.

“We’ll ask her about it after everyone else leaves.”

I released a sigh. “I think she’s told me everything she plans on sharing unless I agree to give you up, and I refuse to lie. You’ll probably get more out of her if I’m not with you.”

He scowled. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ellie.”

“David, I know that you love me. I trust you.”

He looked torn.

“You trust me when I see Collin.” Guilt stabbed me through the gut. I had every reason to trust David, while he had every reason not to trust me.

“That’s different. He’s the other Keeper. You’re tied to him whether you like it or not.”

“If we want more information—and we definitely do—you need to see her on your own. After dinner. I’ll go back to your place and come back to pick you up later.”

He grumbled his acceptance and we went off to join the others. Several of David’s friends teased him about going off into the other room with me, but he laughed it off good-naturedly. We filled plates with food from the buffet on the kitchen island and then headed outside to eat. I listened in rapt attention as David’s friends told me story after story about him. He had some wonderful friends, and it was obvious that they both liked and respected him. Even Allison seemed to loosen up after a while.

When the sun went down, David offered to start a fire in the fire pit. To my surprise, I felt slightly awkward that he felt so comfortable here at Allison’s house. But of course he would if he’d created this backyard oasis. Maybe when we moved closer to the ocean and found a place that was ours, David could grill and look as relaxed as he did here. But part of me knew that would never happen. As long as he was with me and demons roamed the earth, David would always be on guard. The thought made me sad.

Trina came and sat next to me while Allison helped David search for a lighter.

“You’re a better person than me.”

“What?” I asked in surprise. “Why do you say that?”

“Allison is determined to win him back. She always assumed their breakup was temporary. She thought David just got cold feet and would come back to her in good time. Then he went to Manteo and met you. I can tell you one thing—he never looked at her the way he looks at you. And she doesn’t like it.”

Trina must have read the surprise on my face. “You seem like a sweet girl,” she said. “I just wanted to warn you.”

I met her gaze. “Thank you. I appreciate it, but I trust David.”

“I’m sure you do. I just wouldn’t trust Allison.” She got up and returned to her friends.

David got the fire started and came back and sat next to me, draping his arm around my shoulder.

The sun had set, and I cast a glance up at the stars. The darkness always made me nervous now. And as our midnight visitor from the previous night had proven, we weren’t too far from Manteo for the Croatan gods to find us.

Allison sat across from us, her eyes glued on David for the next half hour. Dark clouds began to roll in after a little while, and the rest of David’s friends decided to call it a night.

David stayed back and said good-bye to everyone, promising to come back soon to see them. Once they were gone, David walked me to the front door while Allison started cleaning up the kitchen.

“I’ll wait at your place for an hour, and then I’ll come back and get you. Do you think that’s enough time?”

David took his keys out of his pocket. Worry filled his eyes, and it struck me that his smiles were becoming like a rare ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.

What if Allison was right? Once I had enough information to survive on my own, maybe I should set David loose so he could go back to his job and his friends.

I reached for the keys, but he held them tight. “Why do you have that look on your face?”

“What look?”

“The look that says you’re about to do something you don’t want to do.”

I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed him. Even if setting him free was the right thing to do, I wasn’t sure I could do it. Especially now that I loved him. But wasn’t that reason enough to let him go? Even so, the whole idea was preposterous. David Preston would never willingly walk away from me, and it only made me love him even more. “I’m just being sentimental. If you get done sooner, let me know. I’m eager to show you how much I love you.”

He wrapped an arm around my lower back and pressed his forehead to mine. “When you talk like that I want to say screw it all and take you home.”

I laughed and broke free. “Find out what we need to know, and then I’ll give you a special reward later.”

“I like the sound of that.”

I snatched the keys out of his hand and hopped into his car, driving off before I changed my mind. While I trusted David, Trina’s warning looped in my head.

When I got back to David’s house, I got out of the car and promptly tripped over something on the driveway. I nearly fell flat on my face but managed to catch myself with my hands. Just as my right hand hit the ground, my palm started to tingle. But it was gone just as quickly as it came, replaced with the pain of a scrape. I hurried to the front door to make sure the marks weren’t smudged, and after I went inside and turned on the lights, I went out the back door to do the same.

Just as I was about to go back inside, something moved at the edge of the yard. Since the property backed up to the woods, I figured the creature was probably a raccoon or an opossum.

No. My hand was tingling again. It was supernatural.

A tiny dark figure streaked across the yard and scampered behind a tree ten feet away.

I resisted the urge to shriek. Whatever it was, it was no more than two feet tall. It was probably an animal, just as I first thought. My hand had been randomly itching for weeks, so there was no reason to believe this was any different.

The creature ran to the far edge of the house and the porch light made it easier to get a good look at it. I couldn’t ignore the fact that it wasn’t covered in hair or fur. It looked like it was covered in skin.

Holy shit, it was a tiny person.

The mark on my hand began to burn.

Shit. It was a demon.

I held out my arm, flexing my wrist so that my palm was aimed at the creature. “Demon, come out and face me.” But I was on the edge of the porch and I lost my balance, falling the two feet to the yard. After landing on my feet, I stumbled around to face it.

“I’m not a demon,” a voice grumbled. “You know nothing.”

I took a breath, holding up my hand. “Then what are you?”

“A guardian of sorts.”

“Like the Guardians who are collecting all those old weapons?”

He scoffed. “They may call themselves guardians, but they are thieves and liars.”

He obviously knew about the Guardians and I considered asking for more information, but finding out about him took priority. “What or whom do you guard?”

“You, you idiot, now lower your hand.”

Rebuked, I lowered my hand without even thinking about it. “Come out and let me see you.”

“No.”

Whatever it was, it thought it was superior to me. I could use its arrogance to my advantage. “You mustn’t be much of a guardian. You tripped me in the front yard, didn’t you?”

“You’ve been too stupid to even notice that I’ve been tripping you for over a week. I needed to do something to get your attention.”

“Well, now you’ve got it. Come out and see me.”

A tiny head poked out from under the bush. The face reminded me of a gnome’s—round with big brown eyes. But his mouth was turned down in a pronounced scowl. Dark brown, scraggly hair hung around his face.

“I’m not going to send you away,” I said. “I just want to ask you a few questions.”

He stepped away from the bush and I could see the rest of his body. My first impression had been correct: he was a tiny person. He looked to be the same height as those American Girl dolls a lot of tourist girls brought into the restaurant, but I was sure he’d be offended by the comparison. An animal-skin tunic covered his stocky body, though his slightly hairy feet were bare.

“I’m Ellie,” I offered, hoping it would introduce itself.

“You are Curse Keeper, daughter of the sea and witness to creation.”

So much for my plan working. “And you are?”

“Tsagasi.”

“Tsagasi.” I let the name roll off my tongue.

He shook his head in disgust. “You are careless. Some of the salt on the threshold of the western window isn’t thick enough.”

“How do you know that?”

“Don’t insult me,” he said, sounding annoyed.

“Who sent you?” If he was one of Ahone’s lackeys, I was going to send him away as soon as I was done getting information from him.

He curled his upper lip in disgust and took a step toward me. “No one sent me. I came on my own. You’re the Curse Keeper, are you not?”

“Yeah. So what are you protecting me from?”

“The baddies. The ones who want to see you gone forever.”

A chill shot through my body, making me shiver. “Does that mean you’re a good spirit?”

He gave me a smile, but it was more ornery than friendly. “I’m not a demon or a god. Many people consider me to be a fairy, but that’s not true either. I prefer little person.”

“You still didn’t tell me whether you’re good or not.”

His grin grew wider. “I’m not going to harm you.”

“Why do I find that hard to believe after you tripped me?”

“For being the Curse Keeper, you’re remarkably dense.”

I released a sigh. Great. Now I was being insulted by a good spirit. “How long have you been watching me?”

“Two weeks.”

“You say you’re here to protect me. What do you plan to do?”

“I’ll know when another spirit is close and I have some magic of my own I can use.”

“Okay,” I said, still trying to process this in my head. “Why do you want to help me?”

“You are the salvation of the world.”

And we were back to the Raven Mocker’s prediction. I was in big trouble, all right.

He crossed his arms, a stubborn frown settling on his face. “Now that you know I’m here, I’m through with hiding.”

“So you’re here because I’m the salvation of the world?” I repeated.

He nodded.

I moved over to the porch and sat down. “Three nights ago I met an old woman on the road home and she told me my future. What was she?”

He shrugged and walked over to stand beside me. “An elderly woman?”

“Very funny. Her eyes glowed red. She was definitely a spirit of some kind.”

“She was a Raven Mocker. But you already know that.”

A chill ran down my back. “Why would she come see me?”

“Kalona has his own plan for you, and it is different from what Okeus wants. But Kalona fears facing Okeus and Ahone until he is stronger. He has entrusted his children to another’s guidance until he is ready to face the wind gods. The Great One.”

So Okeus wasn’t the Great One after all. I bet he’d be pissed to hear that. “How do you know?”

“I know many things.” He looked bored. “The gods are all working against each other in an effort to control you and what you know. The spirit world is in chaos. You think you need to face Kalona to stop the Raven Mockers, but you need to find his proxy. The Great One.”

“Who is the Great One and where do I find him?”

“I do not know the answer to that yet.” The way his nose scrunched, it looked like it pained him to admit it. “But I do know Kalona’s proxy has the Raven Mockers at work tonight. They are in the process of taking the heart of the woman who hates you.”

“Allison?” I shrieked in shock.

Allison had been sniffling from allergies. Was that serious enough for the Raven Mockers to stalk and kill her?

Oh, shit.

I ran inside and found my phone, discovering I had two missed calls from David.

Grabbing David’s keys, I ran out the front door. After I jumped behind the wheel of the car and started for Allison’s house, I dialed David.

“Ellie,” he answered, his voice breathless. “Something evil is here.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Terror filled my chest. “A Raven Mocker.”

“Yeah, I think so. How did you know?”

“Something clued me in.” I turned the corner, the tires screeching. If I weren’t more careful, the police would pull me over. For once, I found myself wishing Tom was around. “Can you see them?”

“No, but Allison is lying on the floor screaming, telling something to leave her alone. I don’t know how to help her.” His voice was frantic.

“I’m only a couple of blocks away.” I hung up and drove faster, skidding to a stop in front of her house. Three large black birds circled the roof, releasing loud cries.

The Raven Mockers in their bird form.

I could hear Allison screaming inside the house from the front yard. Terrified, I didn’t stop to knock; I just threw open the front door.

David kneeled in the middle of the living room floor next to Allison, who was lying on the floor, thrashing around in hysterics.

I could see why.

Two old men and two old women were circling the room. Their faces were grotesque, with deep wrinkles and long hooked noses. Their mouths opened in unison to laugh, revealing their pointed fangs. Their shrunken, hunched frames were covered in loose, gray linen fabric. The men wore pants and tunics and the women wore old-fashioned housedresses.

Allison’s body was covered in bloody gashes. Her previously crisply pressed pink shirt was ripped and drenched with blood. The Raven Mockers took turns swiping at her with their long claws. Then they stopped in the same eerie unison and spun around to watch me.

Great. Possessed geriatrics.

David kneeled at her side. He looked up at me, his eyes wide with fear. “I can’t see it. Is it a Raven Mocker?”

“There are four Raven Mockers inside and three outside.”

“Seven of them? They don’t typically travel in packs.” He shook his head, helplessness filling his eyes. “I haven’t been able to do anything to help her. She just started screaming about ten minutes ago, and she hasn’t stopped.”

“The ones outside are flying around the roof, screaming. Can you hear them?”

“Yes, but legend says all people can see and hear them when they’re in their bird form. Just not when they appear as humans.”

Which is why he couldn’t see Allison’s attackers. I stepped closer as one of the women swiped at her leg, drawing fresh blood.

Allison screamed again.

“Why is she screaming, Ellie?”

“I know you can’t see them, but don’t you see the gashes all over her body?”

“No. I only hear her screaming!” His voice was frantic.

His clothes were covered with splatters of her blood. How could he not see it? “They’re clawing at her!” I shouted, running toward one of them as it reached out to slash her arm. The old woman backed away, smiling.

“Get rid of them!”

“How?” I asked, freaking out. I could see them, but I still felt helpless to stop them.

“They’re supposed to flee if they encounter someone powerful enough to see them.”

“Yeah, well they’re looking at me right now and they don’t seem to be going anywhere.” Panic crawled up my spine and burrowed at the base of my throat, clogging my airway. I had no idea how to handle this. I pinched the ring with my left thumb and middle finger. Even if I decided to use the damn thing, it would be worthless here. According to the letter at the library, I had to be standing next to the gate to use it.

The old men and women had resumed their strange circular dance, but my comment seemed to have renewed their interest in me. They stopped and turned to face me, all four laughing in tandem. I was officially freaked out, particularly since all of them were equipped with vicious claws and razor-sharp teeth. “Welcome, Curse Keeper. We’ve been waiting for you.”

One of the men lunged toward Allison.

I had no desire to throw myself into the path of his claws, but I had to protect her. I dove for her, grabbing a decorative china vase off an end table as I threw myself over her body. I twisted around just in time to smash the vase into his head. His claws narrowly missed sinking into my back as I landed hard on Allison’s bloody legs. Thrown by the sudden pain of her knee jabbing my stomach, I cried out in surprise.

“Ellie!” David cried out in a panic. “What happened?”

“It tried to claw me,” I grunted, scrambling to my knees. I was fair game on the floor.

“That’s impossible. You’re not sick.”

“What happens if they claw you?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. “I’ve never heard of them clawing anyone.”

“Add this to the not acting in character list.” My breath came in quick pants as I climbed to my feet, searching for a weapon, any weapon. Then I shuddered at my stupidity. I was surrounded by them. The wall behind me was filled with swords and knives. The question was if they would work.

I searched out the old man whom I’d attacked with the vase. He’d rejoined the group, which was once again pacing in a large circle, blocking any exit out the front door or window. Thick black blood trickled down the creature’s face, but he looked unfazed otherwise.

“How do I kill these things?”

“Other than the seven-day rule, I don’t know.” His voice was calmer and more reassuring. The fact that he had regained control settled my anxiety. “What about the ring? I know we’re not next to the gate, but it might do something.”

I shook my head. “No! I’m not using the ring.” I glanced at the wall behind me. “Can I hurt them with any of Allison’s swords?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

My other alternative was to stand back and do nothing. I quickly scanned the wall of display cases, looking for a weapon. “David, drag Allison over to the corner.”

He looked dubious. “Why?”

“Because there are four Raven Mockers, and right now they can attack us from all sides. If you’re in the corner I can protect you both.”

“Ellie. Then we’ll be trapped!”

The Raven Mockers laughed derisively.

I ignored them and the implication of their amusement. “Do it! I’ll get rid of them, but if we don’t protect her, they might kill her before I send them away.”

I picked up a laptop off the end table—the only hard object I could find in close proximity—and narrowed in on a display case containing a large sword.

Grunting, David grabbed Allison under the arms. “No, not that sword. It’s too heavy and will wear you out. Go for the smaller one on the right.”

“No.” A small gruff voice spoke up from the other side of the room. “You must use a warded sword.”

My head jerked up to the still-open front door. Tsagasi stood in front of it, his face contorted in anger.

“Are any of these warded swords?” I shouted back at him.

The Raven Mockers stopped their pacing and turned to face the little man. “Stay out of this, fairy,” one of the women hissed.

“You know how much I hate that name,” Tsagasi sneered. “That’s reason enough to help her.”

David leaned forward, still standing next to me, his arms supporting Allison. “Ellie, what the hell is that?”

“It’s Tsagasi. He’s here to help me.”

“Tsagasi? A little person?”

“The sword on the end, next to the doorway. At the top,” Tsagasi grunted as he moved into the room and shut the door.

The Raven Mockers’ eyes glowed red. Their heads swiveled to face me, but none of them made a move to attack. “The fairy can’t help, Curse Keeper. We will kill you.”

I found the sword Tsagasi had pointed out—a thin-bladed weapon with a narrow hilt and curved guard to cover the back of my hand. As I rushed toward the case and broke the glass, David dragged Allison across the floor, knocking over a table and lamp in the process. The light bulb in the lamp flickered and went out, plunging the room into a murky, shadowy darkness.

The Raven Mockers continued to watch me as if they were waiting for something. I was shocked they hadn’t intervened and couldn’t help but wonder what they had planned. Nothing good, I was sure.

Taking a deep breath, I lifted the sword off the hooks holding it in place and pulled it out of the case. I spun around to face them, hefting the weapon in my hand. I’d never held a real sword before, let alone used one. This thing was hundreds of years old. I hoped the blade was still sharp. “Only Raven Mockers will die tonight,” I growled, putting my back to David and Allison.

I considered lifting my hand to say my words of protection to send them away, but that would only be a temporary solution and I was tired of all my problems coming back to bite me in the ass. Not to mention the fact that they were so close they could attack and kill us all before the vortex even opened. I’d also have to switch the sword to my left hand. I was right-handed and wasn’t sure I’d be able to use the thing with my nondominant hand. I’d try the sword first.

Light from the moon shone through the windows, casting the room in shadows, but I could still see the Raven Mockers’ slumped frames. They broke into a collective grin, and the woman who had done most of the talking looked happiest of all. “She is ready. Let us begin.”

A male Raven Mocker rushed me while the others stood back and watched. His claws gleamed in the moonlight as he swung for me.

I had to protect myself, but more importantly, I had to save David. A surge of protectiveness rose up inside me as I swung the sword at the creature. It sunk into the demon’s shoulder and dug into bone, spraying demon blood into the air and all over my arm. The Raven Mocker screamed, his eyes glowing bright red as I pulled on the sword, trying to free it. I put my foot on his stomach and jerked backward, narrowly missing a swipe from his claws. My kick sent him halfway across the room with more force than I should have possessed.

“Good,” Tsagasi said. “Good. It gives you strength, just as I presumed.”

“We’re warning you, fairy . . . ” one of the male Raven Mockers said.

“ . . . stay out of this,” one of the women finished.

Allison had stopped whimpering and was now quietly sobbing in the corner, her eyes wild with fright. David had crouched down in front her in a protective stance.

I’d fought off one but hadn’t killed it. There were four of them. What if they all rushed me at once? Was I fooling myself by believing I could actually kill them? “I need the ocean,” I whispered. Collin was right. That was the source of my power, and I was hundreds of miles away.

“No,” Tsagasi said, his voice firm. He had moved closer to David and Allison while I was busy grabbing the sword and fighting off the first Raven Mocker, and now he stood behind me. “You get part of your power from the sea, but why do all the gods want you? Why do they search out you and not the son of the earth?”

“I’m the witness to creation.”

“Yes. Your greatest power is as the witness to creation, and you haven’t even tapped it yet. Dig deep. It’s there.”

Finding my power was easier said than done when I was being stalked by four demons. But Tsagasi was right. How had I never realized it before?

I thought about the vision I’d had in the ocean with Collin, the one in which I’d relived the creation of the universe and the world. Suddenly, I wasn’t just remembering the vision; I was remembering what it felt like to watch the event millions of years ago. Power coursed through my blood and filled my body.

“Yes,” Tsagasi said. “Now.”

When the next demon, one of women, leaped at me, I was ready. Crouching low, I let her get close before lunging toward her, using all my weight to shove the sword through her chest. I embedded the blade between her ribs and up through her back as her scream pierced my ears. I started to pull the weapon out, but her body evaporated into a ball of smoke.

“Did I kill it?” I asked, breathless. Thick black liquid coated the dull metal and dripped onto the floor.

“Yes,” Tsagasi answered.

I nodded. Three more to go. I could do this.

David was talking behind me, but I had no idea what he was saying. I concentrated on the three creatures in front of me. Two had changed from cocky to wary while the older woman beamed. One of the men glanced toward the door.

“Don’t you fuckers even think about leaving,” I said through clenched teeth. I had no idea how to correctly wield a sword, but I held my arm close to my body, the blade pointed forward. If one of them rushed me, it would run into the blade. Their claws looked vicious, so I wanted to stay out of their reach. But thinking of the number of times I’d been clawed by demons only pissed me off more.

I was done taking crap from demons.

“We aren’t going anywhere. We haven’t completed our assignment,” the two men said as one.

“And what’s that?”

“To kill you.” They laughed, but the woman—whom I was beginning to suspect was in charge—remained silent.

“How did you know that I’d be back here tonight?”

“You are predictable,” one of the men answered in disgust.

“If that’s true, why do I get the feeling that what I did to your friend was totally unpredictable?”

The creatures didn’t answer. Instead, the injured old man bolted toward me with both arms raised, ready to claw me. I shoved the sword into his stomach, but he laughed and skimmed his claws across one of my shoulders.

Trying to ignore the burning pain of the wound, I leaned backward and jerked the blade out. But he continued to come toward me, his mouth open, his teeth ready to sink into my neck. Pulling my arm back so that the sword was next to my body and parallel to the floor, I threw my weight into it, impaling his heart with the weapon.

Surprise and fear flickered in his eyes before his body turned into flames and a cloud of smoke.

Two left.

But I was already out of breath, and I lost the advantage of surprise now that they realized I could kill them. The remaining two would be prepared to put up more of a fight.

I held the sword out to my side and leaned over, sucking in a deep breath. “Are you so sure you’re going to kill me now?” I sneered. But even as I said the words, I realized that their plan made no sense. The Raven Mocker I’d seen in Manteo had told me that I was a vessel who would either save or destroy the world. How could killing me now achieve that? The future was supposedly unchangeable, and the Raven Mocker had committed suicide to deliver her prediction . . .

“We will shred your abdomen and watch your intestines spill out onto the floor,” the man said, laughing.

“While that sounds fun, I think I’ll pass.”

“What’s going on, Ellie?” David asked, terror in his voice.

Crap, he couldn’t see or hear any of this.

“I’ve killed two and two are left. They’ve threatened to gut me. I took a rain check.”

“You’ve killed two?”

Before I could answer, both Raven Mockers attacked me at once, coming at me from opposite sides. I’d been lucky to take out the first two, but I was in real danger this time.

Tsagasi’s voice echoed in my head. “Listen to your power, witness to creation.”

I dove out of their path, away from David. One followed me, but the woman moved toward David and Allison. Tsagasi shot in front of the Raven Mocker, blocking her path with his body and a flash of light.

Grabbing the sword with both hands, I ran forward, sinking the blade deep into the chest of my attacker. The weapon hadn’t hit his heart, but I’d used so much strength that its blade was embedded almost to my fist. As I struggled to pull it out, I pressed my foot on his stomach and kicked, jerking my weapon free.

The Raven Mocker growled, swiping at me from the side, but I twisted in the opposite direction and spun in a circle. I used the momentum to move behind the creature and plunge the sword into its back, under its left shoulder blade. The demon screamed loud and long before bursting into flames and smoke.

I spun around to face the remaining demon. The old woman stood in the center of the room, watching me. “And then there was one.”

She’d had a chance to kill me from behind and hadn’t taken it. Why?

I cast a glance at the group huddled in the corner. David was still squatting in front of Allison, while Tsagasi stood in front of him, bathed in a soft yellow glow. The perpetual scowl on his face was deeper and made him look fierce.

“You’ve been lucky, Curse Keeper,” the elderly woman cooed. “My brothers and sister were careless, but I am not.”

“You just keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.”

She advanced as I took a step into the middle of the room. “You’re not supposed to have the power to kill us. You need the other Keeper.”

“Surprise,” I singsonged.

“It matters not. You will soon be in Popogusso. After you fulfill your role.”

Rather than answering, I just watched as the demon inched toward me. I moved closer and closer to the front door. If I could lure it outside, hopefully David would think to pour salt across the threshold.

“Where is your sharp-barbed tongue now, Curse Keeper?” she asked.

I ignored her, digging deep inside, trying to find the well of power that had faded along with my physical strength. I was desperately out of shape and it was now biting me in the ass. I could tell this Raven Mocker was smarter than the others, more patient. She’d wait all night for me to make a mistake. There would be no defeating her in a defensive maneuver. I’d have to take the offensive.

Power surged through me again, swelling and filling me, but I held back, waiting for her to show weakness.

“Ellie, what’s going on?” David shouted, but I ignored him.

I heard Tsagasi’s low voice in the back of the room, and I hoped he was filling David in on what was happening.

“I’m going to kill your pet.” The Raven Mocker gave me a wicked grin.

David? Panic raced through me, but I forced myself to remain calm even though the Raven Mocker stood between us. She could have meant Tsagasi for all I knew. I couldn’t let anything happen to either one of them.

She spun around and kicked Tsagasi with the side of her foot, throwing him across the room. His body hit the wall and slid down it with a sickening thud.

I was too terrified for David’s safety to even stop to check on my little protector. David couldn’t even see the Raven Mocker, so he had zero chance of defending himself.

“David, she’s right in front of you! Jump to your side!”

The Raven Mocker leaped for him, her claws extended.

He dove to his left, but she kicked him, sending him flying into the wall beside Tsagasi. He landed three feet from Allison, clutching his stomach with a groan.

A metallic taste coated my tongue as fear sent my heart rate skyrocketing. I couldn’t give in to my panic. “You want to fight defenseless humans who can’t even see you? Come fight me.”

Laughing, the Raven Mocker rushed me with her hand raised. She was faster than the others, and I had no hope of killing her yet. I knew I would be lucky just to defend myself. Her arm slashed toward my chest as she cackled, sounding every bit as crazy as she looked. I swung the sword as hard as I could, the blade connecting with her biceps and slicing diagonally through muscle until bone stopped my swing. The thick black blood splattered on my shirt and droplets landed on my face. I resisted the urge to wipe it off as nausea roiled in my stomach.

She pulled herself free and lunged at me time and time again, ignoring the blood that poured from her arm. It was easy to see her goal—wear me down as I kept swinging the sword to defend myself. My arms ached from the unaccustomed activity, and my swings and thrusts became sloppy and wild.

“You are full of surprises tonight,” she said, looking thoughtful. “You are stronger than we thought. You are almost ready.” Suddenly she twisted to the side and kicked my stomach and shoved me backward, using enough force that I landed on the sofa. Then she spun around until she was standing directly between David and Allison.

“I’ve seen enough.” An evil smile spread across her face, her sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight. “But someone must die.”

Then she turned toward David and thrust her hand at his chest.

“David!” I screamed.

But at the last moment, her body pivoted and her hand plunged into Allison’s chest instead.

Allison’s eyes widened in surprise before she screamed in pain and terror.

The Raven Mocker’s arm rotated as her mouth twisted into a wicked smile, her hand still buried deep inside the other woman’s body.

Allison gave one last scream and then fell limp as the Raven Mocker pulled her heart from her chest. The creature spun around and held the organ in front of her, smiling.

“It’s a pity. If you had not seen me this night I would have gotten many years from this one.”

Then her mouth opened wider than I would have thought possible as she lifted Allison’s heart above her head, then brought it to her mouth, taking a huge bite. Blood squirted all over her face and body. She grinned as I gasped in shock and disgust, stumbling backward as she took another bite.

Fury rose inside me as I leaped for her, thrusting toward her chest with the sword, but she just laughed and turned into a flame that shot into the air and out the window.

And the Raven Mockers above the house released their haunting screams of triumph.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“What happened, Ellie?” David shouted, crawling over to Allison and feeling for her pulse.

“It took her heart.” Black dots danced in front of my eyes and I felt like I was going to pass out, but there wasn’t time for that. “Tsagasi!” I ran over to the little figure that was still slumped against the wall.

His eyes were closed, but he cracked them open when I leaned over him.

I dropped to my knees beside him. “Are you okay?”

He climbed to his feet, tilting his head back and forth, the bones popping. “Fucking Raven Mockers. Nasty sons of bitches.”

I closed my eyes, trying to keep control. I was about to lose it. “I failed.”

“No,” Tsagasi said in a hard voice. “You never accessed your power as a witness to creation until tonight, and yet you still killed three of them.”

“They killed Allison.” My voice broke as I crawled across the floor toward David.

Allison’s head lay in his lap, and he looked up at me with tears on his face. “She’s dead, Ellie. She’s really dead.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” I started to cry. “I tried to save her. I promise.” I had failed both of them. I might have tapped into my power as the witness of creation, but what good was it if I couldn’t even save people?

I relived those last moments in my head, remembering how terrified I had been when I was sure the Raven Mocker was going to kill David. “It almost killed you.” I threw my arms around his neck, clinging to him. “She almost killed you.”

“What are you talking about?” His voice was emotionless.

“The Raven Mocker was reaching for your chest, but then she swerved at the last second and took Allison’s heart instead.” My last words choked on a sob.

“How could they kill her?” His voice rose. “It doesn’t make any sense! Raven Mockers only take a victim’s heart after they’re dead.”

“I know what I saw, David. Allison was alive when she pulled out her heart.” I looked around the trashed room, battling my rising hysteria. “What are we going to do?”

“We have to call the police.”

I couldn’t believe the police hadn’t shown up already. I’d heard Allison’s screams from the front yard when I pulled into the driveway. “How are we going to explain this?”

He shook his head, his jaw set in determination, but he looked dazed and in shock. “I don’t know, but we can’t just run off, Ellie.”

I knew he was right, and if we were in Manteo, I would have felt better about the whole thing, especially since Tom knew there was something supernatural going on there. But the police here didn’t know anything about me, and David’s reputation could be on the line. I climbed to my feet and tugged his arm. “You have to go.”

He looked up at me, his eyes wide with bewilderment. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re her ex-boyfriend. You’ll be a suspect.” I continued to pull his arm, but he resisted.

“Are you crazy?” he asked in dismay. “I can’t just leave. And I won’t be a suspect, Ellie. She just died. There’s no sign of trauma, no blood.”

“What do you mean ‘no blood’? Her body is covered in claw marks! There’s a giant hole in her chest!”

“There’s nothing there, Ellie!”

“The wounds are magical.” When I looked down, Tsagasi was standing next to me, staring at Allison’s body. “Only those who belong in the spirit world can see them.”

“So you can?” I asked.

“Yes.”

David sucked in a deep breath and released it. His eyes looked vacant. “There’s no reason to worry. There’s no sign of foul play. Just like with the other victims in Manteo.” His voice broke. “I’ll call the police.”

“You and the police might not see the blood, but there’s no hiding the fact that her heart is missing. And this room is trashed, David. You have to leave.”

Tsagasi turned to David. “The Curse Keeper is right. You must go.”

He shook his head. “How am I supposed to leave? I can’t do that.”

“She’s already gone,” Tsagasi said. “There’s nothing more you can do for her.”

I pulled on his arm again, crying. “David. Please.”

“What about you, Ellie?” David asked, pulling out of my grasp. “Do you really think I’m just going to leave you here?”

“You both will leave,” Tsagasi said.

“There are too many things tying us to what happened,” I said. “David needs to go home, and I’ll clean everything up.”

Tsagasi crossed his arms with a scowl, his feet shoulder-width apart. “I may have been locked in Popogusso for hundreds of years, but I’m capable of cleaning this up.”

I wavered. I didn’t want to send David home alone, but I wasn’t sure I could trust Tsagasi either.

The small man stepped closer to me, lowering his voice. “You cannot leave him alone. The Raven Mockers might return for him. He is a target now.”

The image of the Raven Mocker reaching for David’s chest filled my head. He was right. “David, let’s go.”

His body stiffened in anger. “You’re just going to trust him? What if he’s evil, Ellie? What if he’s setting you up?”

“He helped me, David. He helped me kill the Raven Mockers. He was the one who told me they would be here. He was the one who told me which sword to use.”

“But it wasn’t enough, was it?” he asked bitterly. “He didn’t save Allison.”

I was the one who had failed to save her, but I wasn’t sure bringing that up would be a good idea. Still, the guilt was overwhelming and my shoulders sank under the weight of it.

“You can’t save them all,” Tsagasi said, looking up into my eyes. “This battle has only just begun. There will be many deaths on both sides. But each time you must move forward, not back.”

David cradled his ex-girlfriend’s head in his lap, his body shaking as he fought tears. His grief was my undoing, and not because I felt jealous or threatened. I knew he still cared for her. He just hadn’t loved her enough to commit his life to her. I couldn’t expect him to get up and brush off his hands and pretend this meant nothing.

I couldn’t help but wonder how I would have reacted if David had died and not Allison. Or Collin. I wouldn’t have been able to leave without looking back. I couldn’t expect any different from him.

I gently removed David’s hands from Allison and guided her head to the floor, trying not to look at her poor body. I couldn’t believe he couldn’t see the torture she had been through. The poor victims in Manteo must have suffered for hours. Why hadn’t I seen their wounds in the photos? “I need my phone,” I muttered, digging for it in my pocket.

“Who are you calling?” David asked.

I hadn’t considered calling anyone other than the police. But then a thought popped into my head, an unshakeable one. I needed to tell Collin. Just not yet.

“No one,” I said. “I need to take a picture.”

“You’re going to take her picture?” he asked incredulously, his eyes widening. “You want a memento?”

I opened up my camera app. “David, just trust me on this one.”

Thankfully, he didn’t try to stop me. Instead, he climbed to his feet and walked over to the sofa and sat down, cradling his head between his hands.

I centered the screen over her face and upper body. I could see the wounds on my screen, but when I snapped the photo, she looked like she was sleeping, which explained why I hadn’t seen any disfigurements in the photos Tom had shown me.

“Curse Keeper, you must leave,” Tsagasi said, his voice firm. “The longer you stay, the more danger you are in.”

“You mean of getting caught by the police?”

“The human police are by far your lowest concern.” He turned his focus to David. “The Raven Mocker was on a mission. It was obvious she didn’t intend to kill you, but she took pleasure in taunting you. She could come back to finish the job.” He tilted his head toward David.

I knew he was right, but it felt so wrong to leave her like this. Allison hadn’t liked me, and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit to learn that she’d done everything in her power to win David back tonight, but that didn’t mean she’d deserved to die. “Tsagasi, thank you.”

He nodded, looking solemn and serious. His ever-present scowl still puckered his face, but it had softened. For the first time I noticed a wound on the side of his head, black blood trickling down his cheek. He’d risked his life to help us. Why? But trying to reason it out was like pulling on a loose thread—everything just kept unraveling. My poor brain couldn’t handle another puzzle at the moment.

I grabbed David’s arm and pulled him toward the front door, stopping to peer outside to see if anyone was around. When it looked clear, I dragged him to the car and opened the passenger door, pushing him inside.

“We can’t just leave her like that, Ellie,” he said as I got in and started the car. But his voice sounded like it was drained of fight.

“Tsagasi will take care of her.”

He turned to me, the pain raw in his eyes. “Can you really trust him?”

“He has given me every reason to trust him in the little time that I’ve known him.”

“And how long has that been?” There was accusation in his voice. “Have you known about him for weeks without telling me?”

“No,” I said, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice. I deserved his questions. “I found him in your backyard after I left you with Allison.”

“Can you blame me for asking? You went to see Collin yesterday without telling me. And you avoided giving me any details about seeing Okeus so you could keep it secret. What happened when you were with Collin in the ocean, Ellie? When you were touching marks?” His voice was ugly. He knew what had happened, what I was refusing to say. “What other things don’t you want to tell me?”

“David, please. Let’s not do this right now.”

“Why not? Now seems like the perfect time, with my dead ex-girlfriend being ‘taken care of’ by your new friend.”

“No, you’re hurting.” I swallowed my tears. I deserved all of his accusations and more. And it would be easy for him to push me away in his anger, but I couldn’t let him do that. He needed me whether he wanted me or not. I had to be calm and strong for him, just like he usually was for me. “But you have every right to ask me if I kept him from you. I’ll admit that I’ve kept things from you while trying to protect you.”

“Even though you promised not to do that.” Bitterness laced his words. “You promised no secrets, Ellie. You lied to me.”

“Yes, I’ll admit that I’ve tried to protect you. I love you, David. I’ve put you through enough hell . . . I thought that I was doing you a favor if I could save you from some of it. But I was wrong, and I’m sorry for that.”

He shook his head and stared out the window, his shoulders trembling. “She didn’t deserve to die.”

“No, she didn’t. I’m so sorry.”

“We did this to her.” His voice was drenched in self-disgust. “We killed her.”

I wasn’t sure how to answer, mostly because I couldn’t deny his claim. There was a good chance that we were the cause of her death, one way or another.

“I keep seeing her thrashing on the ground, screaming and begging for me to help her.” His voice broke and he choked back a sob. “There wasn’t a bloody thing I could do about it. I brought those fuckers to her door and I couldn’t save her.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What the hell am I doing with you, Ellie?”

I gasped, the pain of his words sinking deep into my heart. My throat burned and I couldn’t hold back my tears.

“I couldn’t help Allison. I can’t help you. What bloody good am I?”

“That’s not true, David! You help me more than you know. I need you.” I reached for his hand, but he shoved me away.

“No. You need Collin.” His words were hateful. “You went to Collin yesterday because you need him, Ellie. You spiritually and emotionally and physically need him. You don’t need me.”

I pulled into his driveway and turned off the car, sobbing.

“Every time you’re with him, you have to fight some primal need buried deep inside you. Why are you fighting it? Your soul is bound to him, Ellie. You should be with Collin. Not me.”

“I don’t want to be with him. You know that! I need you. I want you!” I grabbed his hand, but he shook me off again. “David, I need you for your knowledge about the gods and the spirits. And if not for you, I wouldn’t know the story behind the ring or the spear. I wouldn’t know that Ahone had plotted that too. I wouldn’t know about the Guardians and I wouldn’t have found a warded sword.” Oh, God. In my panic, I’d left the sword at Allison’s house. “I can’t do this on my own. I need your help. I love you.” I choked on the last sentence, hoping my words were enough.

He turned to face me, his eyes filled with anger and hatred, and my heart broke even more. My worst fear was coming true. I was losing him too.

I wiped the tears from my cheeks. David’s safety was more important than my hurt feelings, and we were sitting outside in his car. “But right now, we need to get inside. Tsagasi and I think the Raven Mocker might come back for you.”

He released a bitter laugh.

By the time I opened my door, he had already gotten out of the car and was walking toward the porch. I hadn’t had time to lock the front door, but David didn’t seem to notice or care when I just pushed it open.

We stood in his living room and I wondered what we were supposed to do. It’s not like David could watch his ex-girlfriend die in agony and then come home and turn on the television.

I looked down at my arms and clothes, which were caked in demon blood and smelled of sulfur and tar. I suspected that I’d have to throw my clothes away. “I need to wash the Raven Mocker blood off.”

He swung his gaze to study me. “What are you talking about?”

“I killed three of them and their blood is on my skin and clothes, even if you can’t see it.”

He turned to look out the window.

“Do you want me to get you something?” I asked, worried about leaving him alone.

“No.” His voice was cold.

“I’m going to take my shower. Don’t go anywhere.”

He looked at me with a vacant expression. “Where am I going to go, Ellie?”

I pressed a kiss to his lips, cupping his cheek with my hand. “I love you. I’m so sorry.”

He didn’t answer and he didn’t kiss me back. I fought new tears. He looked so broken, and it was all my fault. Was I keeping him with me out of selfishness? Was the answer to let him go? I pushed down the panic that accompanied that thought.

“I’ll be right back.” I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower, stripping off my clothes. I needed to hurry back to him.

I climbed into the steaming water and quickly washed my hair and body, fighting the sorrow that permeated my heart like the demon stink that clung to my body. I scrubbed my skin until it was raw. As I rinsed off, the curtain parted and David stood in the opening, naked and watching me.

I held out my hand to him. He grabbed it and stepped into the tub, pulling me to his chest, his hands digging into my shoulder blades. I wrapped my arms around his back and held him close, nearly crying with relief. He had come to me. He still wanted me.

We stood there for several seconds, the warm water beating down on us, until I lifted my head and looked up into his face.

His eyes were squeezed shut, pain etching lines on his face.

I had done this to him. I had brought this upon him.

His hand slowly slid up my shoulder blade to my neck, and he grasped the back of my head and tilted my face up so he could search my eyes. Whatever he saw there must have been what he needed because his mouth lowered and he gave me a hesitant kiss. I tangled a hand in his now-damp hair and held him tight.

Letting loose any of the reserve that held him back, his grip on me tightened and his kiss became more demanding. He turned and pressed my back against the cold porcelain tile as his hand found my breast.

“Part of me hates you,” he murmured before kissing me again, his mouth punishing before it lifted again. “You’ve ruined everything. I can never, ever go back to the only life I’ve ever known.”

His words stabbed my heart, and my grief and guilt threatened to suffocate me.

“But I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything in my life, and the thought of living without you is inconceivable.”

“I’m sorry,” I choked out, tears burning behind my eyes.

He lifted one of my legs and wrapped it up around his waist so that his erection prodded my entrance. Then he plunged in deep.

I gasped in surprise and he stopped, holding me up with my leg and his other arm, still buried deep inside me.

“You’re my soul mate, Ellie. I never believed in soul mates until I met you. You’re the one person I was destined to be with forever. I know that as clearly as I know that winter follows fall and the sun will rise every morning. But fate is a fickle, fickle bitch.” His words were harsh as he pulled back and plunged into me again, pressing my back hard against the wall. “Because while you are my soul mate, I’m not yours.”

“David.”

He grabbed my right hand, spreading my fingers open to reveal the circle and the square embedded in my skin. “You belong to him.”

I shook my head, crying. I couldn’t deny it. “I don’t want to belong to him.”

“But you do anyway, don’t you?”

“David, please.”

“Tell me who you want, Ellie.” His voice was harsh.

“You know who I want.”

“Say it.”

“I want you, David,” I said in desperation. “I want you. I only want you.”

His eyes searched mine. “But is it enough, Ellie? Is wanting me enough?”

“It has to be.”

His mouth covered mine and he lifted my ass up so my legs straddled him. He threw the shower curtain open and stepped over the side of the tub, carrying me out the bathroom door and the few steps to his bed. The cool air hit my water-drenched skin, raising goose bumps.

I kept my legs wrapped around his waist as he dropped me onto the mattress, climbing on top of me and entering me again. I clung to him, trying to keep up, trying to give him what he needed from me, but I realized the only thing he needed was for me to be there, holding him and proving that I was staying with him. That I chose him.

When he finished, he rolled to his side and pulled me up next to him. I started to cry softly on his chest and he pulled back, horror on his face. “Oh, God. What have I done? I hurt you.”

I shook my head adamantly. “No, David. I hurt you. I’m so tired of hurting you.”

“Shh.” He brushed kisses along my cheek and hairline. “I love you, Ellie. Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

I nodded, fresh tears streaming down the sides of my face and running into my wet hair. “I love you too.”

His mouth found mine, and I held his head in place. I needed him. I needed this. I needed to know he wasn’t giving up on me.

“We left the water running in the shower. I’ll be right back.”

He left me naked on top of the bed. I realized how easy it would be for him to walk away and leave me alone and vulnerable, despite his protests that he had nowhere else to go. Anywhere he went would be safer and saner than staying with me.

When he returned moments later, I was curled in a ball on the bed, sobbing.

He pulled me into his arms. “God, Ellie. I’m so sorry.” His voice broke. “I just treated you like—”

I shook my head, my mouth finding his, but I continued to cry and had to pull away to catch my breath. “I can’t lose you. I can’t lose you.”

He pulled me against him, holding on tight. “I’m not going anywhere, love. I’m here.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I cried for several minutes and was finally starting to calm down when the image of Allison’s abused body pushed to the front of my head. “Oh, God, David. It was so horrible. What they did to her.” I released a fresh sob. “All I can see is her blood. I keep hearing her scream.”

He sucked in a breath as he realized whom I was talking about.

“That last Raven Mocker was different than the others; I knew she would be harder to destroy. And then she lunged for you.” I tried to catch my breath. “I was sure she was going to kill you, but she took Allison’s heart instead.” I took a shuddering breath. “It was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen. Until I saw what she did next.”

“What?” he whispered.

I shook my head. “You don’t want to know.”

“Enough secrets, Ellie.” His voice was harsh. “Enough.”

“The Raven Mocker held Allison’s heart in her hand and ate it. Like it was an apple.”

His body stiffened.

I jerked out of his arms. “I’m hurting you. I just keep hurting you.”

“Not you, Ellie. You’re not doing this. Ahone. Okeus. The Raven Mockers. They’re the ones who are responsible.”

“But they would leave you alone if it weren’t for me.”

“You don’t know that, Ellie.” He sounded weary. “Countless people have died who have no ties to you at all.”

I jumped off the bed, still naked, and began to pace. “Oh, God. You’re right. All those people and animals—they’re all dependent on me to save them and I’m failing.” I started to cry again.

“Ellie, that’s not what I meant.”

I shook my head. “Maybe not, but it’s true.”

He was silent for a moment, and then he slid off the mattress and opened one of his drawers, pulling out a T-shirt. Grabbing my arm, he tugged the shirt over my head and helped me put my arms through the sleeves. He leaned down to kiss me before pulling me into a hug.

“You’re doing everything you can. You can’t do any more than that.”

I took a deep breath and tried to pull away, but he led me back to the bed. He pulled back the covers and sat with his back against the headboard, my body pressed to his side.

“Now tell me about Tsagasi.”

I told him about finding him in the backyard. “He said he’s my guardian.”

“And you trust him?”

“I don’t know. He helped me, so I suppose that I have no reason not to trust him other than the fact Ahone was supposed to be helping me too. Have you heard of Tsagasi?”

“He’s part of Cherokee legend. He and Tsawasi. They are both mischievous, but they’re not supposed to be evil . . . not as far as I know, anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were brothers.”

“If he hadn’t helped, we’d all be dead.”

“You could have sent them away with your mark if he hadn’t shown up.”

Was David right? Should I have just sent them away instead of trying to destroy them? I still wasn’t sure I would have gotten the vortex open in time to protect us all, and I couldn’t have done both. But my decision had led to Allison’s death, even if it had probably saved many other people. “I’m sorry.”

He held me close. “You did everything you could, Ellie.”

“Did I?”

“You can’t second-guess yourself. You managed to tap into your power as a witness to creation by trusting your instinct, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s all you really have to rely on—instinct. I suggested that you use the ring and you automatically dismissed it.”

“I’m sorry.”

He tipped my chin up. “Don’t even think of saying you’re sorry again. It’s good that you’ve been following your gut. My suggestions are merely suggestions. I had no other idea to offer. Thank God for Tsagasi.”

“I never even considered that I might have additional power from being a witness to creation. It’s stupid when I think about it.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, but you’re right. Everyone wants you for that very power, so it makes sense. But you need to practice with it and see what else you can do.”

I nodded, relaxing into his chest. I rested there for several moments, listening to the soft rhythm of his heartbeat in my ear.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I treated you so badly tonight.”

I tilted my face up and kissed him. “It’s okay.”

“No. It is not.”

“David . . . ”

“I said some ugly, hurtful things that I wish I could unsay.”

“You had every right to say them. They’re all true.” He started to protest. “No, I have ruined your life. I killed Allison.”

“Ellie.”

“It’s true. I wish it wasn’t, but it is. I’m giving you a last out, despite what I said earlier. I need you, and the thought of living without you . . . ” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “But I don’t want you to stay with me out of guilt or obligation. Things got real tonight, and I suspect it’s only a preview of what’s to come. I won’t hold it against you if you decide that this is too much.”

He slowly shook his head. “I can’t go back now. I told you that earlier, even if it was in the most hateful way possible. Even if I could go back to my old life, I wouldn’t want to.” He lightly rubbed my arm. “Nothing of great worth comes without a price.”

“The cost is too much.”

“That’s for me to decide, love.”

I rested in his arms, both of us nearly asleep. “Did Allison show you her big secret? The reason we came to Chapel Hill in the first place?”

“No.” His arms tightened around me. “She refused to tell me. She said she’d only tell you if I broke up with you. I have no idea what it was.”

“She died for nothing.” My voice broke again.

“Ellie, enough.” His words were sterner than usual. “This will eat you alive if you let it. There’s enough guilt to go around, but I’m not blaming you. And if you continue to blame yourself, you could jeopardize our safety. Get it all out of your system now and let it go.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Nothing about this is.” He kissed my forehead. “Try to get some sleep.”

I lay in his arms, terrified as he fell asleep. The doors were marked. We were safe. But for how long? How long would I be able to protect him?

I fell asleep, David’s arms chasing away the nightmare of Allison’s screams. But I blinked awake in the middle of the night, sensing that something was off.

David slept next to me, his breathing soft and even. I waited to hear the familiar banging on the door followed by my slurred name, but it didn’t come. There was no angry god waiting for me. Still, a slight itch tickled my right hand.

I carefully sat up and slid out of bed, trying not to disturb David.

I padded through the house and into the kitchen, pouring myself a glass of water. While I was midsip I heard a noise outside, so I set the glass down on the counter and cracked the back door open.

“Took you long enough to check on me.” I heard Tsagasi’s voice but couldn’t see him.

I walked out through the door and sat on the step, tugging David’s T-shirt down to cover my bare ass. “I’m sorry. I was dealing with a crisis of my own.”

“Human feelings are such fragile things,” he grunted in disgust.

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. There was definitely no arguing his point. “Did you have any problems?” It seemed so wrong to ask it that way. Allison had died and Tsagasi had stayed behind to cover up her death. Goose bumps broke out on my arms. When had I become so callous?

“No, but the Raven Mockers returned, looking for ‘he who guides the Curse Keeper.’ ”

He who guides the Curse Keeper? “David? He has a title?”

“Everyone and everything has a title. Sometimes more than one.”

Like me. I had three. “David said Raven Mockers are only supposed to go after people who are on their deathbeds. Even then, they wait until the person’s dead to take their heart. But that Raven Mocker took Allison’s heart while she was still alive.”

“Being locked up for centuries changed the Raven Mockers. And not in a good way.”

“So they aren’t following the rules anymore?”

“Many things aren’t.” Tsagasi crawled up the steps and sat next to me. “I thought you would have realized that by now.”

I stared at him longer than intended, but I still wasn’t used to talking to a one-and-a-half-foot-tall man. “You said you’re my guardian.”

“I said a guardian of sorts. Perhaps ‘coach’ might have been a better term.”

“Coach?”

“I can guide you and point you in the right direction. I can watch you train. But I can’t volunteer information. I can only answer direct questions, but I can’t tell you what to ask. I can only steer you in the correct direction. Tonight you asked the right questions.”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t enough. I didn’t save Allison.”

“While you must try to save the world, you cannot save everyone in it.”

My head knew he was right, but I wasn’t sure how many more people I could watch die. “That’s depressing.”

“It is what it is. Once you accept your circumstances and your fate, you will truly be ready to take on your adversaries.”

“You think I haven’t accepted my circumstances and fate?”

His head tilted to look up at me. “Have you?”

“I suppose not.” I sighed and leaned my temple against the side of the house. “So what did you do after we left?”

“I straightened up the house. I asked my friends to help me lay the woman out on the sofa.”

“Your friends?”

“There are many beings in the spirit world. Many are my friends.”

“Are they good spirits?”

He groaned and shifted his legs. “There you go again with categorizing things as good and bad. The rightness or wrongness of a situation depends on which side you lean toward. The same with people.”

“I’m not sure I like that answer.”

Tsagasi’s shoulders slouched. “It is the way of the world, Curse Keeper.”

I sucked in a deep breath, surprised by how relieved the little man next to me made me feel. Still, even though I was grateful for his help, I wasn’t sure I could totally trust him. “How do I know that you aren’t trying to trick me or use me?”

He shrugged, looking unconcerned. “I suppose you don’t.”

“Then how can I trust you?”

“Maybe the question is why wouldn’t you trust me?”

“Ahone.”

He pursed his lips and nodded. “Good reason.”

“I asked you earlier, and you wouldn’t tell me. Who sent you to work with me? Okeus or Ahone?”

“Why are you so sure that someone sent me?”

I expected him to look at me, but he kept his attention on the back of the yard. Was he purposely avoiding eye contact to hide something from me? “Because the spirit world is run by Okeus or Ahone. So which one do you side with?”

“Neither.”

One thing I’d learned over the last couple of months was that most supernatural beings were cagey with their answers. I wasn’t sure what to make of him. “So you’re on your own?”

“Few beings are truly on their own.”

Yep, he was being cagey all right. “Who told you to come to me?”

“No one. Although I did discuss it with my friends.”

“And do your friends side with Okeus or Ahone?”

He laughed. “Neither of the gods pays much attention to me and my friends. We are considered too small, too far beneath the gods for them to concern themselves with lesser beings.”

I knew I wasn’t imagining the bitterness behind his words.

“Still, we are many, and some of us are smart enough to recognize that while this is a game played by the gods, we will be affected one way or another.”

“So you were elected to come to me?”

“No. I volunteered. Most think this is a fool’s errand. Especially after tonight. Many are upset with me now. They believe that I’ve put them in danger.”

“Why?”

“Because the Raven Mockers now know I’m involved.”

I closed my eyes. “And several got away.”

“Why do you think the Raven Mockers engaged you tonight?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t be so dense.”

I shook my head. “You don’t hold back, do you?”

“Do we have time to waste?”

“No.” The facts came hurling at me like projectiles. They had waited for me to get the sword before attacking. Then they’d only come at me one at a time, and the final woman hadn’t killed me when she had the chance. Why? She’d said I wasn’t ready. “It was a test,” I murmured. “She said I was stronger than she expected and I would be ready soon. But ready for what?”

“Do you think that’s the only reason? Then why would the Raven Mockers seek out that woman?”

I shook my head. “No, I thought they targeted Allison because killing her could hurt David, thus hurting me.” My gaze stayed on his face. “But that was just a bonus. The main reason they killed her was because she saw the Ricardo Estate, and more importantly the Sword of Galahad. It’s the real thing, isn’t it?”

“It depends on what you mean by ‘real thing.’ ”

“The sword the Guardians possess can kill demons.”

He shrugged, looking unimpressed. “The sword you used tonight has the power to kill demons.” He hopped off the step and waddled over to a bush, pulling out the sword I’d used earlier, the blade wiped clean.

“You took Allison’s sword? Did she know what it was?”

He laid it on the porch next to me and resumed his original seat. “I doubt she had a clue. It belongs to you now.”

“Do I still need the Sword of Galahad?”

“You need every tool at your disposal.” But the end of his sentence lifted up slightly.

My eyes narrowed. “What’s so special about the Sword of Galahad then?”

His face spun to look at me, a genuine smile spreading across it. “That is the right question.” He leaned forward. “The sword they call the Sword of Galahad has the power to subdue gods.”

It took a full two seconds for his words to register. “Subdue but not kill?”

“You can never kill a god. But you can remove its power. The sword the Guardians possess has that ability.”

So were the Raven Mockers trying to keep me from finding out about the sword? It made sense that the gods wouldn’t want me to have it. But it appeared the Raven Mockers weren’t following Okeus. The real question was what would they all do to stop me? “So it was a coincidence that Allison just happened to have a sword on her wall that was warded to kill demons when the Raven Mockers showed up to attack us?”

He shrugged again.

“Who’s in charge of creating all these coincidences anyway? Ahone?”

“That is for you to determine.”

I groaned my frustration, then we sat in silence for several moments. But the more I thought about how my life had been manipulated, the more my anger grew. “That stupid collection has killed so many people.”

“More than you know.” He sounded weary.

How many were there? “I’m sure my mother was killed because of it.”

He was silent for a moment. “Your life is like a spiderweb. There are many connections, finely woven, only there is more than one spider spinning your web. You have more tangled threads than I have ever seen.”

“Who has woven the threads? Ahone and Okeus? And can I burn the web and make my own?”

He laughed. “Surprisingly, I think I will like working with you.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Maybe it’s the wrong question.”

I shook my head. “I’m too tired for riddles.”

Tsagasi chuckled softly.

“Why are you helping me?” I asked, rubbing my forehead with one hand. He was making my head hurt with all his talk of tangled webs. “You still haven’t really answered that.”

“I want to ensure your success.”

I released a heavy sigh. We sat next to one another on the porch and listened to crickets chirp all around us.

“You did well tonight, witness to creation. Better than I’d expected.”

I turned to him, my mouth gaping. “Why are you so surprised?”

“Your sex for one. You’re a female. A curious choice.”

Were the spirits all misogynists? “There have been female Curse Keepers in the past.”

“Yes, but not very many. Less than the number of fingers on my hand.”

I glanced over to see how many fingers he actually had. Five. “Why?”

He shrugged. It was a wonder he didn’t have a muscle spasm from all his shoulder rolling. “There is another question that is more important.”

“What question?”

“You must figure it out on your own.”

I groaned. “You’re talking in riddles again.”

“Try to figure out what that question is and ask me tomorrow.”

“Now that I have the power from being a witness to creation, do I still need to use the ring and the spear and the sword?”

His eyes narrowed and he leaned toward me, his gaze piercing mine. “As I already said, you need every tool at your disposal. What works in one situation might not work in another.”

“So you’ll answer every question I ask?”

He laughed and sat back. “It depends on what you ask.”

“Ahone was there on the night of my mother’s death. Do you know why?”

“I was locked away in Popogusso with the others. How would I know?”

“That’s not an answer.”

He grinned. “This is why I like you, Curse Keeper. You pay attention. I knew he was there.”

“And he let my mother die?”

He remained silent, his gaze intent on the woods behind the house.

“My memory of that night is coming back in bits and pieces.”

“Many things happened that night. You must try harder to remember. It is important.”

I nodded, picking up the sword next to me and laying it across my lap. I’d never been a proponent of citizens arming themselves, but holding the weapon gave me a confidence I hadn’t felt seconds before. “A Raven Mocker told my future and called me a vessel,” I said. “Does it mean that Okeus will get his way?”

“Fortunes and prophecies are purposely vague so that they can be interpreted in many ways.”

“You didn’t answer my question again.”

He sighed. “Sometimes there is no answer, Curse Keeper. Sometimes there is only the question, and it is up to you to supply your own answer.”

“I think that’s bullshit,” I said, even though there was a certain Yoda-like wisdom in his response. “I think that’s your answer because you don’t know and you’re not willing to admit it.”

He laughed and climbed to his feet. “Enough questions for one night. I need rest to face your next interrogation. You are like a human toddler with your endless questions.”

“How long will you be around to help me?”

He stood next to me, inches separating us, but I still had to look down at him. His head didn’t even come to my shoulder. “I will help you as long as you need me, but once you don’t, I will be gone.”

“Okay, that’s vague.”

He hopped off the porch and started walking toward the woods.

“Tsagasi, one more thing and then I’ll go inside.” He twisted at the waist to look back at me. I needed an answer to a question I’d already asked and he’d left unanswered. I took his previous advice and rephrased it. “What do you get out of helping me?”

His grin faded. “Survival.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The next morning I gasped in shock when I reached the door to Myra’s apartment.

There were marks on it.

Myra had never shown any interest in the markings I put on the doors to the inn each night other than concern for my safety. But the most perplexing part of it was that these marks weren’t the same ones I used. While they were primitive, they were mostly lines and circles. What were they, and why had she started using them?

I lifted my hand to knock, but Myra opened the door before my fisted hand could connect with the wood. A smile spread across her face. “Ellie, I’m so happy to see you.”

My palm burned when I crossed the threshold, but the sensation stopped as quickly as it had started. I turned around to check behind me. Myra’s apartment had an inside entrance, and the hall was completely bare.

“Is everything okay?” Myra asked with a worried tone.

“My mark tingled.”

“Do you think something’s out there?”

“No, doesn’t look like it.” I turned to face her. “It happened when I walked through the door. What are those marks?”

“Oh!” She grimaced and looked embarrassed. “I confess that once I got here, hundreds of miles from you, I got a little paranoid. Steven found a Native American shaman to come by and start marking my door.”

“These marks aren’t Croatan.”

“No, but I figured the gods and spirits this far inland were more likely to be associated with another tribe.” She shut the door and headed to the small kitchen that was separated from the tiny living room by a short bar.

“So are they Cherokee?”

Myra grabbed a pot of coffee and poured some into a mug. “I’m not sure. Steven called a Cherokee shaman, but he told me he blended in some other local tribal signs to be safe.”

Worry knotted my stomach. “Maybe I should mark your doors before I leave. Just to be sure. I heard about the missing Duke students.” That was the only reason I was here instead of with David after all we’d been through the previous night. In light of Allison’s death and the missing students, I had a possibly not-so-irrational fear that Myra was in danger. I needed to see her for myself. A phone call wasn’t good enough.

She shook her head, tsking. “Everyone on campus is quite upset about it, justifiably of course.” She poured creamer into my cup and handed it to me. “That’s why I decided to mark my door. Steven thinks I’m crazy.” She rolled her eyes with a grin. “In Manteo, we explained the marks on the doors as part of the colony experience, but here . . . ” She looked up and chuckled. “I told him it was because I was homesick.”

“Good thinking.”

Myra grabbed a basket and moved past me to set it on the table. “While I’m grateful for your offer to re-mark my door, I think I should keep these ones. Yours will fade, but the shaman can come back and redo his work every week.”

“Okay . . . I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

She offered me a soft smile. “Ellie, that’s what I love about you. You’ll do anything to make sure the people you love are safe.” She spun around and returned to the kitchen, leaving me standing on the opposite side of the bar.

“Can I do anything to help?”

“Nope. I’ve got it.” She pulled a bowl of cut-up fruit out of the refrigerator and a hash brown casserole out of the oven, then scooped a generous helping of both onto a plate and handed it to me.

“Good heavens, Myra. Are you trying to fatten me up?”

“You look like you need meat on your bones,” she said, scooping her own plate. “Isn’t David making sure you eat?”

“It’s not his job. I’m a grown woman, capable of monitoring my own caloric intake,” I teased, giving her a wink as we sat down at the small table.

She held up her hands in surrender. “Point taken, but worrying about you is part of my job description. You can’t expect me to give that up just because I live a few hundred miles away.”

“Fair enough.”

She picked up her fork, her mouth puckering with worry. “I hope David wasn’t upset that I asked you to come alone. You know I’m quite fond of him, Ellie, but he gets to see you all the time. I wanted an hour or so with you all to myself.”

“No, he wasn’t upset at all. I just told him that I wanted to talk to you alone about the B&B.” In reality, it had never come up. One of David’s friends had called around seven in the morning to tell him about Allison’s death. She was supposed to have gone running around six with Cheryl. When she didn’t answer her phone or the door, Cheryl peeked in the front windows. She could see Allison lying on the sofa, surrounded by tissues and cold medicine. Frantic, she called 911, and the emergency personnel declared her deceased upon arriving at the scene. The coroner had already declared the death an illness—a sudden onslaught of the flu—and decided an autopsy was unnecessary. Devastated, her friends had all gathered to console one another, David included. And since I would have felt like an outsider in their group, I’d decided to keep my date with Myra. But I didn’t want to tell my stepmother any of that. She worried about me enough.

“I want to hear about your new job,” I said, forcing myself to sound cheerful.

Myra spent the next fifteen minutes telling me about the classes she was teaching, along with some humorous encounters she’d had with students. I was happy to see how animated and excited she was, but something seemed off. I knew people changed—look at David and me—but I still felt sad. Myra had moved on without me.

That was a good thing, right?

“So how’s Claire?” Myra asked with a wide smile. “How was her honeymoon?”

“She’s good.” I paused, unsure what to tell her. “She had a great time.”

Myra’s smile froze, then faded. “What are you keeping from me?”

I gave a half shrug and shoveled hash browns onto my fork. “Myra, it’s nothing.”

She reached over and covered my left hand. “Ellie, something’s worrying you. I’m still your mother. Don’t shut me out.”

Tears filled my eyes. “So much has happened in the last two months. Some days it’s just so overwhelming.”

Myra scooted her chair next to mine and pulled me into a hug. “Oh, Ellie. It’s just so much responsibility for one person to carry. I so wish you could give this up. You have no idea how much I worry about you.” She cradled my head to her shoulder. “Maybe I should come back home.”

I jerked out of her hold, panic racing through my body. “No. Don’t. Please don’t give this up. This is your dream. I want you to have it.”

Her hand cupped my face, her skin feeling warmer than normal. “But Ellie, you’re my daughter. I want to be there for you.”

“The best thing you can do for me is stay here.” I still thought she was safer here than at home, particularly if Claire was right about the inn. “Myra, are you feeling sick? Your hand is warm.” Any sickness would make her fair game for the Raven Mockers.

Laughing, she pulled her hand free. “I’m fine. I’ve been cooking. It’s made my hands warm.”

“There are things out there killing people who are sick. They rip their hearts out after they terrorize their victims. If you’re sick, I’m not leaving you alone.”

“Oh dear.” She paused, then shook her head. “Ellie. I’m fine. You have enough to worry about without worrying about my welfare. Besides, my door is marked and the windows are sealed. There’s no need to be concerned.” She offered me a soft smile. “Enough about me. How about you explain your cryptic message about the inn?”

I put down my fork and sighed. “We both know it’s a hopeless cause to try and keep it open. I quit the New Moon, but I’m still struggling to keep the inn going with my other . . . activities.”

She frowned. “Hasn’t Becky been stepping up?”

“She’s been a huge help, but she can’t work seven days a week like you and I did.” I paused, close to tears. “I think that the best thing would be to close the inn and sell it.”

Myra stared at me for several seconds. “Ellie, I think this is an impetuous decision. You need to wait. The Dare Inn . . . well, it’s been in your family for over one hundred years.” Her expression softened. “I would hate for you to make a decision you’ll regret.”

“Myra.” I reached across the table and covered her hand with mine, still amazed by how warm her hand was. “Look me in the eye and tell me that you think the inn can be saved.”

She stared into my eyes for a moment, but then looked down. “You can probably hold on to it for another six months, possibly a year.”

“Not if I keep paying Becky’s salary. That’s a strain too.”

“It would give you time to adjust to the idea.”

“I’ve already adjusted to it. I’m ready. I just wanted to talk to you about it before moving forward.”

Her gaze returned to my face, but her face had hardened slightly. “It’s a huge job, Ellie, dismantling the house and the inn. I don’t have time to help you right now, and it wouldn’t be fair for you to do it on your own. I think you should wait.” Her tone made it clear she didn’t approve.

My mouth gaped in surprise. “I can close the inn and take a month to sort through everything. Of course, you’re welcome to anything in the house you want, Myra. It’s your home too.”

“There’s nothing there I want.” She shook her head and sounded angry.

Tears strangled my throat. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d be on board with this. You know the inn’s been in trouble for ages. This shouldn’t come as a surprise.” I tried to swallow the burning lump in my throat. “Please don’t be upset with me. I’ll keep it for now if you feel that strongly about it.” Myra was the only family I had left. I couldn’t lose her too.

Her face softened. “I’m sorry I’ve been so harsh, Ellie, but I do think you’re being hasty.” She leaned forward. “Maybe it’s being immersed in the history of the university that’s made me appreciate the history we have at the inn. Once you sell it, you can’t turn back. I think you should wait a little while.”

“Okay.” I disagreed, but there was so much turmoil in my life that I couldn’t bear to fight Myra too.

“That’s a good girl.” She stood and headed for the kitchen. “Let me get you more coffee.” She brought over the pot and the creamer and set them on a placemat in the center of the table. “But this brings up the real reason I wanted you to come alone.” She paused. “I’d like to talk to you about David.”

My back stiffened. “What about him?”

“As I said, I’m very fond of him, but I’ve also made it clear that I think things are moving much too quickly with you two. I have a feeling he’s influenced you in this decision about the inn. Am I right?”

“Well . . . yes . . . ”

Anger filled her eyes. “Frankly, he’s making decisions he has no right to make. I think you should slow things down, and the first step is for him to move out.”

My chest tightened. “How can you say that?” Myra had disapproved of several of my previous relationships, but she’d never been this forthright. “You know I need him. And not just because we have a relationship.”

“All the more reason to put some distance between you two. I think you’re still upset over your father’s death and you’re transferring those feelings onto David. You’re confusing your need for information with your need for someone to take care of you.” A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “You’ve gone from one man to another since your father became ill. Anyone with any sense can see that, and I’ve allowed your behavior to go on for far too long.” Her back stiffened. “As your mother, I’m telling you to end your relationship with David and learn to stand on your own two feet.”

I gasped at her bluntness. “I can’t do that, Myra. I love him.”

She shook her head. “You only think you love him. It’s not real, Ellie.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to see if David was calling. When I saw Claire’s number, I declined the call and set it down.

“You were checking to see if it was him, weren’t you?” There was a snotty tone in her voice I’d never heard there before. “See? You can’t even have a conversation with me without letting him interfere with it.”

I wanted to cry, but I was too shocked and dismayed to let any emotion slip through the massive fissure in my heart. “I can’t believe you’re doing this, Myra. You’ve never been . . . hateful before.”

Her expression softened. “I don’t mean to sound hateful, Ellie. I just worry about you. With all the responsibilities of the curse . . . ” Her gaze landed on my right hand. “I see you’ve taken to wearing the ring. Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“I . . . David . . . ”

Myra’s eyes narrowed. “Ellie, do you hear yourself? All you can say is David this and David that. You are a grown woman, and you need to make your own decisions without his influence.” She stood and picked up her plate. “You said you’re not working at the New Moon anymore. I take it that you quit because of your horrid new boss?”

I numbly nodded.

She set her plate on the counter and smiled. “Perfect. I think you should leave the inn in Becky’s care and come stay with me for a while. Maybe we can get you enrolled in some classes. I know how much you regretted not going to college. It could be a fresh start for both of us.”

I shook my head in confusion. “But just a few minutes ago, you said I shouldn’t sell the inn. And the semester has already started. Not to mention the fact that it’s Duke, Myra. I’d never get accepted.”

“I didn’t say sell it. I said leave it with Becky and come stay with me.”

My phone went off in my pocket again. I glanced at the screen and saw that it was Claire again. She wasn’t usually this persistent. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take of Myra’s planned reboot of my life, so I decided to use Claire’s calls to my advantage. I stood. “Myra, I hate to leave like this, but Claire has a crisis going on and I need to go help her.”

“You’re going back to Manteo?”

I didn’t want to lie to her, but I needed to get out of there as soon as possible. “Yes.”

She emerged from the kitchen and walked closer to me. “Ellie, I beg you to consider what I’ve said. I think if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll see that I’m right.” She pulled me into a hug. “Just know I care about you and my door is always open.”

“Okay.” Her body felt piping hot next to mine, and no matter how upset I was with her, I was still worried about her health. “Are you sure you’re not sick? You feel like you have a fever.”

“I’m fine. It’s just hormones. I’ve been having hot flashes, embarrassing though that is.” Her smile tightened. “You scoot and take care of Claire.” She moved toward the front door and opened it.

“Okay.” My breakfast weighed ten pounds in my stomach. I couldn’t bear to leave with things like this between us, but I wasn’t sure how to fix the situation. “Take care, Myra.”

“You too.”

I walked through the door and my hand burned again as I passed through the threshold. I turned around to mention it to Myra, but she’d already closed the door.

Whatever was on the door was messing with my mark.

I pulled out my phone and took multiple pictures to show David, then practically ran out to the car and slid behind the wheel. Once I had the door shut, I gave in to my storm of emotion and let the tears flow freely down my cheeks. I wanted to dismiss everything she’d said, but the problem was that I could see some truth in it. But how much was truth and how much was overprotectiveness?

My phone buzzed again.

I answered this time and Claire sounded beyond irritated. “Ellie, I’m sorry, but she’s bugging the shit out of me. She won’t leave me alone until I talk to you.”

I shuddered in confusion. “Who’s bugging you?”

“My ghost.” I could practically hear her roll her eyes. “The one that thinks you need to move out. She won’t leave me alone until I tell you something.”

I wiped the tears off my cheeks and started the car. “And what’s that?”

Claire paused. “She says you need to leave your house and you need him.”

“Him who?” I asked as I started to pull out of my parking space.

“David. She’s very upset. She insists that you need him.”

My head grew fuzzy, so I pulled back between the lines, shifting the car back into park. “How did she know?”

“Know what?”

“That Myra was giving me a huge guilt trip about selling the inn and being with David. She asked me to move to Durham with her and start taking college classes.”

“What? That’s the craziest idea ever. That doesn’t sound like her at all.”

“I know . . . ”

“She’s probably lonely, Ellie. Sure, she’s got an exciting new job and a boyfriend, but she’s left her entire life behind. I bet she misses you and this is her way of trying to get you back.”

“Maybe . . . ”

“Plus, my ghost is adamant that you need David.”

I laughed even as tears burned my eyes. “Too bad your ghost isn’t Myra.” I sucked in a deep breath to get control. “Can you see your ghost yet? Do you know who she is?”

“No.” She sounded frustrated. “And I still struggle to understand her. Her words are often garbled. But I do know it’s a her, and she’s quite persistent in regards to you.”

“And you think we can trust her?”

“Yes. I can feel her concern for you. So put Myra’s words out of your head.”

“Easier said than done, Claire. She’s my mom.”

“I know, but she’s still human like the rest of us, which means even Myra is fallible from time to time.”

I smiled. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks.”

“What’s a BFF for?”

I filled her in on everything that had happened since I’d talked to her last, which took up the whole twenty-five minute drive to Chapel Hill.

David wasn’t home yet, so I resumed packing but wondered if I was overstepping my bounds. He sent me a text saying one of his friends had dropped him off at the library and he’d call me to pick him up later.

My encounter with Myra, along with everything else that had happened over the weekend, had been overwhelming. After I heated up a can of soup for lunch, I went into David’s room and crouched next to the bed, pulling out the sword Tsagasi had given me from between the mattress and box springs. Sitting on the edge of the mattress, I held the blade in my hands. It needed to be sharpened, although I had no idea how to do that, but it had proven effective nevertheless. Still, I couldn’t ignore how quickly I’d gotten worn out in my fight with the Raven Mockers. If I was going to start using a sword regularly, I needed to learn how to wield it. And build up my upper-body strength.

But first I needed a nap. I lay down, setting the sword on the comforter next to me. Then I grabbed David’s pillow and wrapped my arm around it, breathing in the scent of him—the clean smell of his shampoo, with a hint of musk. Myra’s admonishment was still fresh on my mind, but so was the message from Claire’s ghost. Did I trust the woman who had been my mother for the last ten years or some nameless ghost?

I roused out of my dreamless sleep and blinked my eyes open as I felt movement on my arm. “David?” I murmured.

He was sitting on the bed next to me. “Hey.”

“How did you get home?” I asked, still groggy.

“I ran into a friend who gave me a ride. How was your visit with Myra?”

I rolled onto my back to face him. “Don’t ask. Moving to Durham has changed her in a lot of ways.”

“I’m sorry.”

I told him about the whole incident, and when he heard what Myra had said about him, pain flickered in his eyes. “It’s not you, David. She thinks it’s all me.”

“What do you plan to do about her advice?”

I sat up and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “I’ll hold off on selling the inn for a few months. But I’m not giving you up. Even Claire’s ghost agrees that I shouldn’t.”

A grin spread across his face, even if his eyes were slow to catch up. “Well, there you go. It’s a good thing this ghost likes me since you follow her lead so much.”

I shook my head and smirked. “It just so happens Claire’s ghost and I think a lot alike. Anyway, I wanted to show you the marks on Myra’s door. They’re really different.” I dug the phone out of my pocket and pulled up the photos. “Have you seen anything like this before?”

He enlarged the photos and scrolled through the images. “I can honestly say I don’t recognize any of the marks. Forward them to my phone, and I’ll see what I can dig up.”

“Thanks.” I texted them to him, then put my phone on the bed. “Now tell me about your day.”

David had spent several hours with his friends, helping Allison’s parents arrange for her body to be moved to her hometown of Asheville for her funeral, and then Phil had dropped him off at the library.

“I read the letter Penelope recommended, and it helped confirm a lot of what we know.” It was written by a man claiming to be part of a group of Keepers whose duty it was to watch for a curse to break. The man spoke of a gold ring and a spear that could be used to rid the world of demons. Both objects had been lost for over fifty years, but he’d discovered that the prominent Middleton family in Charleston, South Carolina had gained possession of them. He had gone to the plantation to confront the current heir, but had never made it past the caretaker. He’d tried to talk to the sheriff in Charleston, but the man had refused to listen because the Middleton family was so respected, not only in Charleston but in the entire nation.

“Middleton,” I said. “I’ve heard that name before.”

“Are you sure? Could it have been from a history class or book?” He winked. “Or perhaps a People magazine story about Kate Middleton?”

“Very funny.” I shook my head. “It’s a memory, trapped in my head. I’m sure it’s associated with the Ricardo Estate. I don’t know how, but I am.”

“Okay,” he said, nodding. “Somehow the Middletons got possession of the ring and the spear. And we suspect the ring you’re wearing came from the estate through your mother. But what happened to the spear?”

“Allison told Trina that the collection also had Native American spears. Some were so old that the shafts were warped.”

“So the Guardians might have the spear. That’s good.”

“Tsagasi says that there are things from the night my mother died that are important. I need to remember what happened.”

David grabbed my hand and stroked the back of it with his thumb. “I know you weren’t keen on the idea before, but do you want to try hypnosis?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” If I were back home, I could ask Collin to go into the ocean with me. But that would hurt David. He might not ask questions, but he knew my encounters with Collin were far from innocent. Yet if I could get necessary answers, didn’t that justify it?

Didn’t Tsagasi say that the right- or wrongness of a situation depended on which side you stood on?

But there had to be another way. Hurting David was an absolute last resort. Some of the memories had already emerged. I just needed to tap into the others.

He lowered his voice. “Ellie, there’s one more thing the letter mentioned.”

“What?”

“The writer of the letter—a man named Samuel—said the Middletons were part of a secret group. But when he tried to appeal to the sheriff, he was just laughed out of the station.”

“Secret group?”

“The Guardians.”

I sat up straighter. “Oh, crap.”

“Samuel found out they had the ring and the spear because he’d heard they were seeking weapons created to fight supernatural creatures.”

“It’s them.”

“I think so.” He paused. “There’s one more thing and it’s the best news of all.” His grip on my hand tightened, counteracting his words.

My breath stuck in my chest.

“This afternoon, I received a phone call from a woman associated with the collection. She had heard about Allison’s death, and she asked if I knew anything about the research Allison had been doing. When I said yes, she asked me to come to Charlotte in Allison’s place. I’m meeting them at ten tomorrow morning.”

My eyes widened. “How is this good? It’s creepy enough that they knew about her death this soon, but they specifically sought you out. I don’t like this . . . ”

“Ellie, this is my chance to see the weapons for myself.”

“And look what happened to the last two people we know who saw them.”

“Don’t be so superstitious.”

“Superstitious? My mother and your ex-girlfriend were both murdered less than a week after they saw the collection. You’re the one who keeps claiming there are no coincidences in any of this.”

“This will be different. I’m not going in blind. I have an idea of what I’m looking for.”

“But you have no way of knowing what their plans are. They might be waiting there to kill you.”

His back stiffened. “Ellie, I’m doing this with or without your approval.”

I hopped off the bed and headed for the kitchen, David on my heels. “Don’t be angry with me.”

I placed my hands on the counter and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to smother my panic. “I’m not angry, David. I’m terrified.”

He stood behind me and pulled my back to his chest. “I have to do this, love. And you know it too, deep in your gut.” When I didn’t answer, he bent his mouth to my earlobe. “This could be the big break we need. We have a sword that kills Raven Mockers, but I suspect they have many more weapons we can use. This is our chance to not only protect you but to go on the offensive. To save the world.”

He was right, and it killed me to admit it.

We hung around his house and ordered a pizza. He said he had more research to do to prepare for his visit the next morning, so I told him I was going to sit in his backyard in the hopes that Tsagasi would come to me. I hadn’t seen him since our middle-of-the-night chat.

“This is going to sound quite bizarre,” David said, glancing up from his laptop. “But I think you should take the sword with you.”

I put my hand on my hip, my eyebrows raised. “What will your neighbors say about a woman walking around your backyard with an antique weapon?”

“We’ll deal with it if it comes up. But the sun will set soon, and I’d feel better if you could defend yourself with more than the mark on your palm.”

“Okay.” Minutes later I was behind his house, heading for the woods as the sun hung low in the sky, my nearly three-foot sword in my hand. I hiked a good thirty feet before calling out Tsagasi’s name.

Moments later he walked out from behind a tree.

“Why are you in the woods, daughter of the sea?” But he wore a smirk.

“To find you, of course.”

“Did you bring a list of questions? I haven’t had my nap yet.”

“Very funny.”

He gestured to my hand. “You are carrying the sword.”

“David thought I should bring it in case I needed to defend myself.”

He nodded solemnly. “He who guides the Curse Keeper is wise.”

It was good to know that Tsagasi thought I needed David too. “You’re right. I need to remember what happened the night my mother died.”

The little man leaned his shoulder into the tree. “And?”

“I need you to help me find the memories.”

He shook his head. “You must figure that out on your own.” His scowl deepened. “The loss of your memories isn’t normal.”

“Because of the trauma?”

“Because of magic.”

I was an idiot. “I can use my power as a witness to creation to remember,” I whispered.

A hint of a smile flickered at the edges of his mouth, then just as quickly disappeared. “They will come rushing back once you tap into them. You will be vulnerable.”

“Like when I’m with Collin in the ocean.” I considered waiting until we returned to Manteo. I could ask Collin to watch over me in case something supernatural showed up, but I needed whatever information was trapped in my head now, so David would be more prepared for his visit tomorrow.

My gaze narrowed on Tsagasi. He had protected us last night. “Will you protect me?”

“I’m not sure I can do it on my own.”

“Will your friends help?”

“They are reluctant to get involved.” But he shifted his weight as his voice trailed off, hinting that they could be convinced.

If I’d learned anything since this mess began, it was that everything had a price. “What do they want?”

His eyes met mine. “They want peace, but more importantly, they are frightened of the power you wield. They want your blood oath that you will never banish them to Popogusso.”

“Blood oath?” I shook my head. I’d had one blood oath too many to suit me. “No way.”

He crossed his arms and turned to look toward the setting sun, barely visible through the foliage. “Then you must take your chances.”

This had to be negotiable. “If I swear this oath, what guarantee do I have that they won’t do something evil, something that earns them a place in Popogusso?”

He shrugged. “You don’t.”

“How many are there? Do I have to promise this for all the creatures that don’t follow Ahone or Okeus?”

“No, only those who will agree to guard you.”

“Can I meet them first?”

He nodded his approval. “It is a wise request.”

The leaves behind him rustled and another little man appeared next to him. While Tsagasi resembled one of Snow White’s dwarves, this man looked much more proportionate to his height. His face was smooth and wrinkle-free, and his long, dark brown hair hung down his back, the ends brushing the plant life at his feet.

Tsagasi stood straighter. “This is my brother. Tsawasi.”

“Hello,” I said. I wasn’t sure it was the correct greeting for a supernatural creature that wanted to protect me for a price, but it was better than “hey.”

The little man gave a tiny nod.

“And this is Gawonii and Ama.”

A man and a woman appeared out of thin air behind the little men, both dressed in deerskin clothing and carrying bows on their backs.

I gasped in surprise.

They looked like the Native American warriors I’d seen in drawings and the occasional photo, and they were the size of normal humans. The woman watched me with interest, but the man looked wary.

“They are Nunnehi,” Tsagasi said, as though that explained their sudden appearance.

I shook my head, still staring at them, even though I knew it was rude.

“The Nunnehi are ‘the people who live anywhere.’ They are immortal beings who can appear and disappear at will. They have long been friends with the Cherokee.”

“And they want to help me?”

“If you agree to the blood oath. But before you decide, you must understand that you are not the only one who will be making an eternal pledge.” He looked over his shoulder. “We will agree to come to your aid whenever you need us. But only seven times.”

“Wait, I’m being asked to never send all of you to Popogusso, but you’re only agreeing to help me seven times. That hardly seems fair.”

He shrugged his indifference.

“And how will they help me?”

“They will defend you to their deaths.”

Maybe it was a fair trade. “Okay.” I was nervous. Making another bond seemed like a bad idea, but David had urged me to go with my instincts. I had never felt comfortable taking Ahone’s mark, but somehow I was sure that making this blood oath was the right thing to do.

Tsagasi dug a hole next to the base of the tree, uttered words in a guttural language, and pulled a short, sharp-pointed knife from his belt. He pierced the palm of his right hand with the tip, then let the several drops of black blood fall into the hole and said, “Upon my life I swear.”

He repeated the process with the other three. Once that was done, he turned to me.

Shifting my sword to my left hand, I held out my right hand and he quickly pierced the exact center of the circle of the mark, where I had the scar from the blood ceremony Collin had completed. The pain was minimal as I watched the red drops emerge from the cut. When the blood started to pool in my hand, I held it over the earthen hole and tilted my palm to let it fall.

“Upon my life I swear.”

The moment my blood hit the earth, a billow of white smoke rose and a blast of energy shot from the hole, rushing through my body and stealing my breath away.

“Her blood is more powerful than I believed,” the woman said in awe.

Fear strangled my throat. Had they tricked me?

“I told you she had the power to defeat the gods,” Tsagasi murmured. He turned toward me, looking at me with something I hadn’t seen on his face before: respect. “Together we will defy the gods and bring peace to all creatures. Mortal and immortal.”

All four of them watched me.

Feeling uneasy, I took a step backward. “Let’s get started.” I sat on a log and laid my sword beside me. Taking a deep breath, I curled my fingers around the rough tree bark and then released it as I closed my eyes. “Okay.”

Taking several slow and even breaths, pulling up my memories of the birth of the world, I found myself immersed deeper in them than I’d ever been. I was the first drop of water to hit the earth. The memories of the changing and evolving world sped up to warp speed, a dizzying display of images that left me disoriented and anxious until it all stopped, dumping me into the memory of a cool winter day.

I was eight years old again, sitting under the oak tree with Claire. The wind was cool and crisp as I stared into her tear-splotched face, desperate to make her feel better. She had just told me that her father was thinking about a divorce. So I shared with her the one thing I knew would distract her—the story of the curse. As soon as I shared the information, I realized I was already forgetting things about it that I should have remembered.

Momma came home and made a phone call to Steven, asking him to help her access the archives at Chapel Hill, and she mentioned calling the police. But whatever else she said was confusing to the little girl me. I only knew she was hiding something from Daddy and she thought he’d be unhappy when he found out.

Since I was upset, Claire decided to share another secret of her own—that she heard voices. She said one of the reasons her family had moved to Manteo was that she was teased at school. But the voices had begun to quiet over the last few months, even though they all still said the same thing: you must help her. Only Claire didn’t know whom she was supposed to help.

The next two days seemed to be on fast-forward as I traveled through my memories, and the action only slowed again when I was working on my homework after school. Momma and Daddy were still fighting about Momma’s visit to Charlotte the week before and how she wouldn’t tell him about what she’d seen. They went into Daddy’s office to argue, but I hid around the corner, listening to their raised voices and getting peeks through the French doors. Finally, Momma relented and showed him a ring that she wore around her neck on a chain. It was an artifact from the Middleton collection that had been stolen and lost during the Civil War. The ring had been lent to her in good faith with the request that she discover its significance. Daddy became very excited when he recognized the engraved Croatan symbols on the ring. He told her it was the ring Ananias’s great-grandson had created with a Croatan priest. He’d had it made so that he could banish demons on his own if necessary.

She reluctantly gave him the ring, but only after he made an agreement: if he couldn’t find the gate to hell within a week, he would completely give up the curse for the rest of his life and stop telling me about it. Then he went back to his office at Fort Raleigh to get papers that would help him translate the markings on the ring.

After Daddy left, Momma told me she’d read me a story before I went to bed, but she needed to check on the guests at the bed and breakfast first. I went upstairs and put on my favorite nightgown, a lacy, white cotton, billowy gown that made me feel like a princess. After brushing my teeth and picking out the story, I started downstairs to tell Momma I was ready.

That was when I heard glass break.

A man was downstairs, threatening Momma, asking for the ring. But Momma pretended not to know what he was talking about until he threatened to hurt me if she didn’t give it to him and started to hit her.

I wanted to help Momma, but a man’s voice in my ear told me it was too dangerous. I sat on the stairs crying. When the intruder told another man to go upstairs and find me, my mother begged them to leave me alone. The voice in my ear told me to hide.

So I ran to my closet and burrowed into the back, hiding even though I was desperate to help Momma.

Momma and the bad men came upstairs. One was looking in the rooms while the other asked Momma questions.

Then there was scuffling in the hall and I could see shadows moving along the wall. A smaller shadow jumped on a larger one, and then I heard my mother’s screams.

I sobbed in the closet, anger rising up inside me. I needed to protect Momma, but some unseen force pinned me to the wall.

The bigger shadow grunted and growled as his arm swung over and over toward the smaller shadow. My mother screamed and screamed.

I tried to burst free, but the invisible hold kept me in place and the voice in my ear whispered, “Not yet, Ellie.”

A figure stood in the doorway to my bedroom, his head concealed by the hood of his sweatshirt. He held a large knife in his hand, the metal shining in the lightning flash outside my window. I stopped crying and held my breath, terrified.

He moved into the room and around the bed, crouching down to check underneath. Then he rose and moved past the closet door. Just as I thought he was going to leave, he spun around, squatting in front of me. Blood dripped from his knife onto the floor. He reached for me and I screamed, but a bright light filled the room. The man covered his face with his arm.

“I claim her as my own, Curse Keeper. You will not harm her.” The angry words belonged to the voice that had told me to hide.

Curse Keeper?

I tried to break free of the memory but it pulled me back down, smothering me with renewed grief.

“Do not think me stupid, son of the earth. You wish to break the curse. You are not the first, nor will you be the last,” Ahone said.

The Curse Keeper still held his knife, ready to attack, and Ahone’s light shone brighter in warning. “You are mistaken if you think that I will let you hurt her. I need her for another purpose. The curse will be broken, but not today. It will happen when I deem it so.”

“I’m sick and tired of being at the mercy of the curse,” the man said, his voice gravelly. “I want this to end. Tonight.”

“It began at my will and will end when I wish it. I do not condone you forcing my hand, Curse Keeper, and you will pay for this transgression, just like the others before you.” The light glowed bright white. “This girl changes everything. If only you had shown patience and restraint, you would have seen this. You will get what you want, but not during your tenure. At a time of my choosing, I will find your son and help him break the curse.” Ahone’s voice lowered and sounded more menacing. “But because of your treachery, he will rue the day I sought him out, and he will curse you for the sacrifices he must make as penance for your betrayal.”

The Curse Keeper climbed to his feet. “With the help of Okeus, my son will defeat you, Ahone.”

“He will try, and he will fail. The girl will be his downfall.”

“No!” The man grunted, lunging for me.

I screamed and the light burst brighter than before, blasting the man out the door and onto the floor in the hall.

The Curse Keeper’s hood had fallen off his head, and his wavy dark hair and dark eyes resembled Collin’s. But when this man’s eyes locked with mine, the ugliness there was nothing like the expression in his son’s eyes. He shouted at the other man and hurried down the hall and then the stairs.

The little girl me tried to break free from the invisible band holding me back. “Not yet,” Ahone said, his anger now gone.

“What are you?” I whispered.

“Not what, but who. And you will find out soon enough.”

Finally, the hold broke free and I stumbled as I ran out of the closet and landed in the pool of blood in front of the closet door. I screamed.

“Ellie!” Momma called out in fear.

“Momma!” I got to my feet and rushed to the hallway.

She lay on the floor, her clothes covered in blood. I called out her name, light-headed with fear. Her head turned toward me and I gagged as I took in the puddle of blood around her.

“Ellie, call 911.” But I was too terrified to move, so Momma told me to sit with her. I stared at the blood on the floor, feeling like I was about to throw up.

My mother comforted me, and although I knew she was dying, I could only hold her hand and listen to her last words of advice and love. Her voice broke and fear filled her eyes. “There’s so much to tell you and not enough time.”

“Momma, please,” I cried. “Pleasssse . . . ”

“Oh, Ellie,” she whispered. “I wanted to protect you from the ugliness of the world, and I brought it to your front door.” Her eyes fluttered and her grip on my hand loosened.

The next thing I knew, the shadowy figure of an older man with white hair and a white beard floated over the staircase. Ahone.

“Ellie, you are strong and brave. When it is your time, you will make an excellent Curse Keeper.”

“You said the man who killed Momma was a Keeper,” I said, lifting my head to look at him. “I don’t want to be a Keeper anymore.”

“Elinor, you are destined to be a Keeper. It was foretold from the beginning of time. You are more special than any Keeper before you. I’ve been waiting centuries for you to arrive. The forces of nature have finally heard my plea and sent you so that I may finish the job I began with your ancestor, Ananias Dare. Tonight begins a chain of events that brings us to the end.”

“I want my momma,” I wailed.

“Daughter of the sea and witness to creation, your first sacrifice has been made.” His light faded slightly, and he sounded sad.

“It will be the first of many. The unraveling of the curse begins tonight, but I will take all memories associated with the curse from you, so that the events of tonight will be locked deep in your mind. I need you to be willing to accept your role when the time comes.” He moved closer and his voice softened. “But you will also lose all other memories of the curse. They’ve already begun to slip away. You will believe it is because you told Claire, and you will be filled with a heavy burden of guilt. I’m sorry, but it is the best way.”

I looked up again, shaking my head in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“I know, but one day you will. When the time comes for you to know, you will remember everything.”

And then I began to scream.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I was back in the forest, lying across the log, my face covered in tears.

“Did you see it all?” Tsagasi asked, standing next to my head, his knife in his hand. My other guardians stood at four points, their backs to me. Their weapons were in their hands, ready to be used if necessary.

“Yes.” I sat up, still in shock. “Collin’s father killed Momma.”

He didn’t respond.

“You knew?” When he still didn’t say anything, I asked, “How could you know? You were locked away.”

“We are not clueless to the events that have occurred over the past four hundred years, at least the ones that affect us.”

I knew his answer was the best I was going to get.

Disappointment made his mouth droop more than usual. “Out of everything you learned, that is what you focus on?”

He was right, but it was still a kick in the gut. Did Collin know? I thought back to when I’d told him about my mother’s murder. The look of horror and concern on his face. If he didn’t know, he suspected. But even so, could I hold it against him? There was a lot I didn’t know about Collin, but I knew he’d never condone my mother’s murder.

“I have to call him.”

“I agree. You are half of a whole. While you have great power on your own and you must learn to defend yourself and fight alone, you need the other Keeper.”

After everything I had heard and seen over the last couple of days, finding out that I needed to spend more time with Collin instead of less was not what I wanted to hear. “I can’t. For one thing, Collin has pledged himself to Okeus. We’re on opposite sides.”

“Are you? Do you align yourself with Ahone?”

He had a point. “Second, if I spend more time with Collin, it will kill David. I can’t do that to him.”

His eyes narrowed. “More fragile human emotions. They say humans are made to resemble the gods, and every time I deal with one I understand why. Your egos and emotions rule your lives. There are more important things in the world than your feelings.”

I closed my eyes, resting my face in my hands.

“You are going to Charlotte tomorrow?”

I looked up. “How did you know?”

He rolled his eyes. But if Tsagasi knew, did that mean other supernatural beings did too? What danger did that put us in? I suspected that the Raven Mocker had killed Allison to keep us from finding out whatever she’d kept from us about the collection. What would they do if we actually went to see it?

“You need the other Keeper to go with you.”

I shook my head. “He’ll never come.”

“He will if you ask him.”

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Tsagasi might be right. Collin had ties to the Ricardo Estate. I couldn’t imagine that he’d want me to waltz right in and see it on my own. Besides, I didn’t think he knew where it was, and David had a location.

“What else did you learn?”

“Ahone has been scheming to use me for longer than I realized, but Okeus had already told me that two days ago.”

He nodded.

“My father lied to me. He knew why my mother died.”

“Perhaps he wanted to protect you.”

I swallowed a lump in my throat. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“Follow your instinct. Trust only yourself.”

I forced a teasing grin. “Are you telling me not to trust you, Tsagasi?”

“I’m telling you that every being is interested in one thing: self-preservation. I am no different. Pick the being that has your survival foremost on its mind—you.”

I wanted to argue that his opinion was selfish and egocentric, but wasn’t that the point?

“The Nunnehi wish to return and Tsawasi and I will go with them. You may use us six more times for protection. Choose wisely.”

“And how will I find you?”

“We will find you. Simply call my name.” Then the Nunnehi warriors vanished and Tsagasi and his brother walked behind a tree.

I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and checked my reception, grateful to see I had so many bars. I found Collin’s number and pressed send.

He answered on the second ring. “Ellie.”

A shiver ran down my spine when I heard him say my name, and I almost hung up. “Collin, I’m sorry to bother you.”

“I figured it must be important. That’s the only reason you call. When you want something that’s important to you.”

Ouch. But I couldn’t deny it, and his statement only confirmed Tsagasi’s words. “What do you know about Raven Mockers?”

He hesitated. “They’re Cherokee.”

“Well, they seem to be equal-opportunity terrorists.”

“You’ve met a Raven Mocker?”

I told him about my encounter with the Raven Mockers at Allison’s house.

“You fought Raven Mockers? Are you crazy? Was this his idea?”

“If you’re referring to David, then no, it wasn’t his idea. I think he wishes I would have just sent them away instead of killing them.”

“What do you mean you killed them? That’s impossible.”

I shook my head before realizing he couldn’t see me. “Tsagasi helped me.”

“Tsagasi? The little person?”

For someone who was dedicated to Croatan culture, he sure knew a lot about the Cherokee.

“Oh, Ellie. What have you done?”

I shoved down my anger. “I’ve saved countless people, that’s what I’ve done.” Even if I didn’t manage to save Allison. “But that’s not why I called you.”

“Then why did you call?”

“I remember what happened the night of Momma’s murder.”

He paused. “You do?”

“Did you know about your father?” I choked out.

He waited several seconds before answering. When he did, his voice was thick with emotion. “What do you remember?”

“Did you know your father killed my mother? Answer the question, Collin.”

It took him several seconds to answer. “I didn’t know for sure.”

“But you suspected?”

“He went off to do a job for Marino, and then he disappeared. We literally never saw or heard from him again. Marino was so attentive in offering his help after my father’s disappearance. It wasn’t until years later that I figured out that something permanent had happened to my father, and Marino was directly involved. But I wasn’t about to say anything. Hell, I was a kid. I was ten years old.”

“So why did you think your father killed her?”

“Because my father had found out about the Ricardo Estate. He knew of the ring and spear that were tied to the curse. He had no idea what they did, but he was determined to end it. I heard him tell my mother he was going to destroy the weapons. Maybe he considered you a weapon too. It sounds like your mother got in the way.” His voice broke. “God, Ellie. I’m sorry.”

I took several breaths to control my tears. “So how does Marino come into this?”

“Marino has no idea about the curse. I suspect my father found out about the Ricardo Estate, but it was too big of a job to do alone so he brought Marino on board. Marino only wants the loot from the estate. Hell, it’s not even about the money anymore. It’s the one big heist he’s never completed. It’s his ego that’s on the line.”

“Which is why he was so intent on finding me.”

“Yeah.” He paused. “All the financial aid Marino has offered my family over the years makes me think he was involved in my father’s disappearance, but at times I’ve wondered. My grandmother never condoned my father’s insistence on breaking the curse. Honestly, part of me has always suspected she may have killed him herself. Her own son.”

“Are you serious?”

He didn’t answer.

“I know where the Ricardo Estate is right now.”

He didn’t answer for several seconds. “How do you know that?”

“A professor at Chapel Hill saw it last week, but she was killed by Raven Mockers last night. My mother saw the collection and a week later she was killed by someone who was looking for the ring she’d taken. Apparently your father and Marino.” I tried to keep the accusation from my words. I couldn’t hold Collin responsible for his father’s actions.

“The one you wear now.” He cursed under his breath. “Ellie, you’re messing with shit you shouldn’t be messing with.”

“Tsagasi is helping me.”

“And you do realize Tsagasi is known for his mischievousness, don’t you? He could be setting you up.”

“It doesn’t matter, Collin. We’re going to try to see the collection tomorrow.”

“We? You mean you and your professor? Do you plan on just walking up to the door and asking to see it?”

I didn’t answer.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Is that your plan?”

“No. The woman who was killed, Allison, was supposed to meet with the proprietors of the collection tomorrow. They’ve asked David to go in her place.”

“Do not go to see that collection, Ellie.”

“You can’t stop me, Collin.”

“No fucking shit. When have I ever been able to stop you from doing something you’ve set upon doing? But I can’t let you go alone.”

“I won’t be alone. I’ll be with David.”

“Like I said,” he growled. “Alone. I know how to handle these people. What kind of criminals have you two dealt with lately?”

“I’ve met more than my fair share thanks to you.”

He sighed. “True enough.” His voice softened. “Don’t go without me, Ellie.”

“Don’t pretend your motives are purely altruistic, Collin. I know you want to see it again.”

“Again? I never saw it in the first place. But I won’t deny that I’ve tried or that it’s part of the reason why I want to come.”

“So why does Marino think you’ve already seen it?”

“Because I lied to him.”

“Why would you do that?”

“I was trying to get more information. The timing was so coincidental. Ahone approached me about breaking the curse just when Marino started talking about the Ricardo Estate resurfacing. I knew it held curse-related artifacts. I wanted to find them.”

“Only it backfired all the way around.”

“Sometimes you have to play the hand you have.”

“Which is why you never play poker.”

To my surprise, he laughed. “I miss you, Ellie.”

I didn’t respond.

“So do I get to go on this little adventure with you?”

“You have to promise me something first.”

“What?”

“David’s going to be with us. I need you to promise that you won’t be ugly to him. That you’ll treat him with respect.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“Unfortunately for you, no.”

He hesitated. “Ellie, I’m sure you’ve noticed, but the more we’re together, the more we’re drawn to each other. I’m not sure there’s any hiding that. For either of us.”

“I know, but I love him, Collin. I’m begging you to try.”

He took several breaths. “But I love you too, Ellie.”

“I know.” My voice broke.

He was silent for so long I was sure he’d hung up. Finally, he said, “I’ll do my best. That’s all I can promise. But I’ll only do it because I don’t want to hurt you, Ellie. Make no mistake, I don’t give a fuck about him.”

“Thank you.”

“I think it’s a big mistake for you to be with him. He’s more of a hindrance than a help.”

“He’s more help than you could possibly know. And even if David weren’t part of my life, you and I would never work out. Not as long as you keep picking Okeus over me.”

“And what if I picked you, Ellie? What would keep us apart then?”

My breath caught. “Collin.”

“I don’t expect you to answer. All I ask is that you think about it. And the next time I ask, if you don’t give me a good answer, I’m going to break my promise.”

“What promise is that?” I asked, breathless.

“My promise to myself to leave you the fuck alone.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I found David at the kitchen table, huddled over his laptop. He looked relieved to see me. “I was getting worried about you. You were gone for over an hour.”

“I saw Tsagasi. He watched over me while I remembered what happened the night my mother was killed.”

He took off his reading glasses and put them on the table. “You remembered? How?”

“By using my power as a witness to creation. And there’s something else I need to tell you before I tell you what I remembered. I have my own quartet of protectors now.”

His eyebrows lifted. “You have what?”

I told him about the blood oath I’d made in the woods.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the chair next to him. “Are you sure that was a good idea?” There was no recrimination in his voice, only genuine curiosity.

“You’ve taught me to trust my instincts. So far it hasn’t let me down. I had a moment of worry when Ama—the female Nunnehi warrior—commented that my blood was more powerful than she expected, but Tsagasi said he was certain we could work together to defy the gods.” I released a heavy sigh. “That’s what we’re doing, isn’t it? Defying the gods and the plans they want to use me for?”

His hand gripped mine and held on tight. “Yeah, we are.”

I studied his face. “Very few people in the history of mythology have ever defied the gods and survived.”

His mouth shifted to one side. “Then they’ve finally met their match.”

My love for him blossomed even more. He truly believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could do this.

I told him how I’d tapped into my power and relived Momma’s murder. I stood and paced while I spoke, too antsy to sit still.

When I got to the part about finding my mother on the floor, he stood and pulled me into a hug. “Oh my God, Ellie. That’s horrible. No wonder you forgot. You were traumatized.”

I leaned back. “No, I forgot because that selfish asshole Ahone didn’t want me to remember. He stole my memories from me.” I told him the rest of the story, and then we stood in silence for several minutes.

“David, there’s more.”

“Okay . . . ”

“Tsagasi told me I needed to call Collin and tell him about his father and our plan to go to Charlotte.”

“And did you?”

“Yes.”

His left eye twitched as he searched my face. “And what happened in your conversation?”

I stood and took a deep breath. “He claims he didn’t know the truth about his father until a couple of months ago. He put it all together the day we got the cup back.”

He looked skeptical. “And you believe him?”

I resisted the urge to turn away from his scrutinizing gaze. “Yes, I completely trust him in this instance.”

He stiffened and turned toward the sink.

I followed him. “He’s the other Keeper, David. Tsagasi’s right. I can do some of this on my own, but at some point, I’m going to need Collin.”

He pulled a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with water from the faucet, refusing to look at me. “He doesn’t want to help you, Ellie. Have you forgotten that part?”

“He wants to come to Charlotte.”

“Of course he does. He wants to see the collection.” His face lifted. “What did you tell him?”

I paused. “I told him yes.”

His eyes hardened. “And what if I disagree?”

While I presumed David wouldn’t be happy with Collin’s involvement, it had never once occurred to me that he would try to prevent it. “Why would you disagree?”

He set the glass on the counter with a loud thud. “He’s using you, Ellie. Just like he’s used you every step of the way since he walked into your restaurant and purposely put you in danger.”

Could I really argue with that? “So you want just the two of us to check out this collection? We’re in over our heads. Two people have died for it, someone close to each of us. We both know how dangerous this is. Do we even have a plan other than just show up at ten?”

He slammed the cabinet door shut, anger radiating from his body. “Yes, I realize it’s dangerous, but your solution is to add another dangerous element. Collin is not to be trusted. He’s proven that time and time again. Why would you want to involve him?”

“He’s betrayed me and deceived me, yes, but he would never try to purposely hurt me.”

David rested his back against the counter, looking out the window over the sink. “Are you even listening to yourself right now? You just admitted that the wanker deceived you”—he suddenly turned and grabbed my right hand, jerking me toward him and exposing my palm, pressing his thumb to the scar from the knife wound Collin had inflicted, my wound from the blood oath ceremony still fresh—“that he bloody betrayed you, Ellie, and yet you say he would never purposely hurt you.” He dropped my hand and looked into my face. “No.”

My eyes widened. “No?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Not just no. Hell no. Fuck no. No fucking way, no.”

I put my hands on my hips, trying to keep my anger in check. “I’ll take your suggestion under consideration.”

He stepped away from the counter, his eyes burning with fury. “It’s not a fucking suggestion, Ellie. It’s a statement. No.”

I shook my head. “That’s not the way this works, David. I’m in charge when it comes to the curse. You make suggestions. I consider them. Then I decide.”

He shook his head, his mouth twisting in anger. “Not anymore. Not after last night. I’m as much a part of this as you are. I have just as much to lose as you do.”

My mouth parted in surprise. “We had an agreement. You can’t change the rules, David.”

He spread his hands wide. “Well, guess bloody fucking what, Ellie? I just did.”

I shook my head. “No. I agreed to take your suggestions under advisement, but I get to decide. We both came up with the rules. We both agreed on them.”

“Forgive me if I was too naïve to realize what I was getting myself into. Last night made it perfectly clear that we’re playing a very deadly game. It’s one thing to talk in abstracts, but this is real.”

“And Ukinim and Ilena were real too. You didn’t try to change the rules then.”

“This is different, Ellie!”

“Why? Because you lost someone you care about?” I shouted. “Well, welcome to my world! I’ve lost both my parents to this curse!” But even as I said the words, I realized how unfair I was being. I was asking him to put his life and the lives of people he cared about completely in my hands. How would I feel if I was in his position? All my fight fled and I sagged against the wall.

His voice softened. “I’m your in to the Ricardo Estate. I’m the person they’re expecting. I know what to look for. This is my area of expertise. You need me to do this, Ellie, but if you involve him, I won’t take any part in it.”

I gaped at him. “You’re serious?”

“I am unless you can give me a really good reason to change my mind. And the fact that he has experience with breaking and entering isn’t about to sway me.”

I could argue that I needed Collin to fight supernatural beings, but we were dealing with humans in this situation. And David had just admitted Collin’s criminal past wouldn’t convince him we needed his help. “Okay. What’s your plan?”

“As you know, I have an appointment with the Guardians at ten tomorrow morning. They’re calling themselves the Henderson Foundation. I told them I know everything Allison knew about the collection and that I have the research she conducted.”

“Do you?”

“No.”

I stared at him, my eyes wide.

“Don’t look so surprised. Collin isn’t your only boyfriend who’s capable of deception.”

I bit back an ugly retort. My temper never resolved anything. “David, this could all go so wrong.” I lifted my chin. If he wanted to do this alone, we could still make it work. “But I can think on my feet too, so I think we’ll be able to get the information we need.”

“There is no we, Ellie. Me. I’m going alone.”

“No.” I shook my head. “No way.”

“They’re only expecting me.”

“Tell them I’m your assistant or something.”

“No. They told me to come alone.”

“And that doesn’t make you question the situation?” My voice rose. “Why would they want you to come alone if it wasn’t dangerous?”

His cold eyes pinned mine. “There’s something important enough in these pieces that people are dying for them. I want to find out what it is. I owe that to Allison.”

“You didn’t kill her.”

He brushed past me into the living room and I grabbed his arm, but he shrugged me off.

“David, she would have died whether we were there or not. I think she died because she went to see the collection.”

He spun around to glare at me. “You don’t know that for sure. Those things made sure to prolong her torture until you showed up. There was definitely a personal tie there.”

I swallowed the lump of guilt in my throat. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say. I’d do anything to change it.”

He released a heavy sigh and then pulled me against his chest. “I’m sorry, Ellie. I know this isn’t your fault. If anyone is to blame, it’s Collin Dailey. He fucked up everything when he walked into your restaurant and broke the curse.” His voice hardened. “Her death is on his head.” He leaned back and looked down into my eyes. “So, no. We will not be using that wanker’s help.”

I nodded, biting back tears. “Okay. No Collin.”

His eyes softened. “Thank you.”

Fundamentally, I disagreed with his request, but he was right about Collin’s culpability. Ultimately, Allison was dead because Collin had broken the curse. But I could take it a step further and say I was partially responsible for not learning enough to stop him. Ahone may have stolen my memories of the curse, but I flat out refused to relearn anything about it. And after Collin had confessed that Ahone had convinced him to do it, I couldn’t help but feel sympathetic. I wondered what I would have done if a duplicitous god had approached me and tried to convince me that breaking the curse was best for all concerned. Would I have fallen for it too?

But I couldn’t make David endure Collin’s presence. I’d already put him through enough, and he alone had an invitation to see the collection. We didn’t need Collin for that. While I struggled to convince myself it was a good plan, I knew in my gut it wasn’t. I needed Collin there—we needed him, whether David wanted to admit it or not.

David was right about one thing. He’d graduated to a new level last night. He was no longer a tagalong assistant; he was a partner, whether he had magical powers or not. A good team was made up of people with various skills and talents. We needed to focus on David’s strengths and put them to the test the next morning.

“So what’s the rest of your plan?” I asked.

“Tomorrow morning, you’ll stay here while I go to Charlotte.”

I put my hands on my hips, glaring at him. “I’m going to Charlotte with you, David. If you even think about trying to go without me, I’ll just rent a car and follow you.” He started to protest and I held up my hand. “And I know the address now—I saw it over your shoulder when you were looking up the driving directions—so don’t think I won’t do it.”

“I’m supposed to go alone, Ellie.”

“It doesn’t mean I can’t go to Charlotte with you.”

He looked unconvinced.

“Do you really want me to be two hours away from you? We both know how many of these creatures are out there right now. What if they attack me while you’re gone?” I purposely avoided reminding him about my new protectors, purchased through my blood oath.

And that was what finally swayed him. My safety, not his own.

Since his meeting was at ten in the morning and the drive to Charlotte was two and a half hours, we decided to get up early and leave by six thirty to make sure he wouldn’t be late if we ran into traffic. We looked up the address online and checked out satellite images of the office building and the surrounding area.

The office was in an industrial area, which made it sketchier. When we looked up the addresses of the offices around it, we discovered that many of the businesses had closed.

I sat next to David on the sofa, staring at the screen of his laptop. “I don’t like it, David. It’s isolated for a reason. It’s not safe.”

“I’ll be fine, Ellie.”

“I can’t let you do this. I’ll worry too much.”

He offered me a soft smile. “Now you’ll know how I feel when you run headlong into dangerous situations.”

“That’s different. I actually have powers I can use to protect myself.”

“And I have a power too.” He tapped his temple. “Don’t sell me short. I can go in and inventory items and determine if they’re potentially important or not. If you go in, you’ll have no idea what you’re looking at.”

I couldn’t argue with his line of reasoning. “It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

His eyebrows rose with a hint of teasing. “I know a thing or two about that.”

He’d been so solemn all day that his momentary playfulness gave me some reassurance. “So are you and I going to be okay?”

“You mean us?” His eyes widened slightly. “Ellie, we had a fight, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to break up. Every couple fights.”

“But this is different.” I tried to settle the anxious feeling in my chest. “This is so very different.”

He put his arm around my back, snugging me against the side of his body. “I reacted badly last night and I’m not proud of it, but I’m only human. I’m glad I told you how I really felt instead of bottling it up inside. We need to know where we stand with each other.”

I nodded.

He grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together. “Tell me how you feel, Ellie.”

I sat up straighter. “About what?”

“About anything.”

“I’m not happy that you’re going into that office building without me.”

His mouth tilted into a lopsided grin. “I knew that already. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“There’s nothing.”

“That’s shite and you know it. Tell me how you feel about not including Collin in this trip to Charlotte. Really.”

I looked at our joined hands, unsure how to answer. But he wanted the truth. “I understand why you don’t want him there and I can’t argue—you have valid points, after all—but I still think we should include him. Call it a gut instinct.” He stayed silent, though it was obvious he wanted to say something. “But I want to give you more input in how we do things, which is why I’m going along with your request.”

“But you resent me for it.”

“No.” I took a breath to steady my voice. “I resent myself for letting this happen.”

“Are you sorry you’re involved with me, Ellie?”

I looked up into his worried eyes. “Not in the way you think. You may have acted like my connection to Collin didn’t bother you in the beginning, but I knew it was something we couldn’t ignore. Still, I don’t regret a single minute I’ve spent with you. Selfish or not, I can’t imagine having gone through any of this without you. But if I were a better person, I would have done things differently. I would have protected you from the pain I’m putting you through right now.”

His gaze dropped to our joined hands, and I realized how tenuous our connection was. My connection to Collin was eternal and out of my control, but my connection to David was like a thread that could snap at any second.

“David, you made me a promise not to leave me, but just like when we set the rules, you didn’t know what you were getting yourself into.” I lowered my face so it was underneath his. “I’m telling you that you aren’t bound by that promise.”

He shook his head, sadness filling his eyes. “Ellie, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Neither am I.”

We stared into each other’s eyes for several moments before I squared my shoulders. “I want to know more about your plan for tomorrow.”

He released a heavy breath. “I don’t really have one. Like I said, I just want to inventory what they have for now, and if an opportunity arises that I can take advantage of, I’ll do it.”

“How will you know what to look for? I had no idea which one of Allison’s swords to use until Tsagasi helped me. From the sounds of it, there are lots of weapons in the collection.”

David turned my right hand over and traced the circle on my palm with his fingertip. “Our only course of action is for me to go in and check it out; then you and I can figure out where to go from there.”

“David, I’m scared.”

He tugged me against him, fitting my head under his chin as he held me close. It was a warm and familiar contact that felt natural, like coming home. I wrapped my arms around his back and held him tight.

“I know, Ellie, and so am I. And I know you’d probably be more comfortable if we had an elaborate plan like whatever Collin would come up with, but in this case, I think the simpler, the better.”

I forced a smile and glanced up at him. “Actually, Collin seems to go for simple too. So maybe you two aren’t such opposites after all.”

He didn’t look happy with the comparison.

“Just don’t take any unnecessary risks,” I said, “and don’t ask too many questions either.”

He nodded, then let go of me and stood. “Let’s get to bed. We have a long day tomorrow.”

David fell asleep within minutes, but I lay awake for at least a half hour, staring at the dusty ceiling fan. Finally, I carefully slid out of bed and grabbed my cell phone. After all the time I’d spent thinking in bed, I’d realized that Tom still expected me home tonight. I needed to let him know I was going to be delayed for at least another day. And I needed to find out if the Raven Mockers had left Manteo when I did. And I still hadn’t called Collin to let him know about the change in plans.

I went out the back door and sat on the step, staring up at the starry sky. It felt so peaceful out there, alone in the dark. But the feeling was an illusion and I couldn’t forget that.

I found Tom’s number on my phone and pressed send. He answered right away. “Ellie, tell me that you’re back in town.”

I cringed. “I’m still in Chapel Hill and we’re going to Charlotte tomorrow.” I paused. “I take it things are still bad.”

“Worse. There were two deaths last night. I have no idea how to prevent them. It’s not like we can tell people who are sick that they need to put salt across their thresholds.”

“I know.” I sighed. “But the victims have all been sick, right? No one healthy?”

“Yeah, all sick.” He hesitated. “Why?”

“They’re here in Chapel Hill too. They killed a woman who had allergies, but they also went after a man who was completely healthy.”

“What the fuck am I dealing with, Ellie?”

I didn’t say anything.

“Ellie.”

“Tom, you’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“Ellie, I’m long past thinking any of this shit is crazy. What am I dealing with?”

Having an ally in the Manteo Police Department would be beneficial, and he had already made the leap to the supernatural. “Okay, I’ll tell you what I know. It’s up to you whether you choose to believe me or not.”

“Okay.”

“They’re Raven Mockers.”

“Cherokee,” he whispered.

“Yeah. They weren’t recorded in Croatan history, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I’ve encountered several Cherokee spirits here in Chapel Hill.”

“Croatan?” I heard him exhale. “What are the symbols on your doors?”

“Protection, just like I told you. Against demons and spirits. And Croatan gods.”

He was silent for several seconds. I expected him to start accusing me of lies and deceit, but instead he asked, “Okay, how do I get rid of them?”

“You believe me?”

“Call me crazy, but I do. There’s no logical, scientific explanation for all the shit that’s been happening here over the past couple of months. So what do I do? Put the marks on people’s doors?”

“I don’t know if it works if just anyone does it. Claire uses salt when I can’t mark her doors, and it keeps them out.”

“But that still doesn’t answer my original question, does it?”

“How we can save people from the Raven Mockers?” I leaned my head back to look at the starry sky and whispered, “I wish I knew.”

“There is a way,” Tsagasi said from next to me, and I jumped, caught off guard by his sudden appearance. “It won’t kill them, but it will keep them at bay.”

I covered the mouthpiece with my hand. “What is it?”

“They must gather seven smooth stones. Have the person lay with their head facing north and their feet facing south, then put a stone at the top of their head, one on either side of their head, and one at each of their hands and feet. It will hold off the Raven Mockers until morning.” His eyes narrowed. “But you are correct. Salt will keep them out in the first place.”

I relayed Tsagasi’s message to Tom. “Last night there were four of them, but they were lying in wait for me, so I’m not sure if they usually attack in groups or not,” I said. “They’re invisible to people without magical abilities, but they slash their victims with claws. They attacked David’s ex-girlfriend and he couldn’t see the wounds. After they tortured her, one of them reached into her chest, tore out her heart, and ate it. I could see the wound, but David couldn’t see anything.”

“Why do you know this? How can you see these things?”

“Because I’m a Curse Keeper. It was my job to make sure a four-hundred-year-old curse didn’t break. The curse is the reason the colony of Roanoke disappeared. Only I didn’t believe in it and it did break. Now all of these things have broken loose from hell, and I’m trying to send them back.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I wish I wasn’t,” I sighed.

“How many of these fuckers are there?”

“I don’t know,” I breathed out, suddenly exhausted. How was I going to kill all of them? “David thinks the Raven Mockers will be easier to destroy or subdue if we go after their leader—Kalona—only Kalona seems to be in hiding. Another supernatural creature told me they are currently under the control of a proxy. I’m trying to figure out what that is.”

“Can you destroy them, Ellie?”

I looked into Tsagasi’s stern face. “Yes,” I finally said. “I killed three last night.”

“Thank God,” Tom muttered.

“But we’ve found the Ricardo Estate and we think there’s a spear and a sword in the collection that will help us destroy the spirits. So we have to go to Charlotte first to try to get them. I won’t be home until tomorrow at the soonest.”

“The Ricardo Estate? The one you got mixed up in? Why did you really go see Marino back in June?”

“I told you the truth. Collin took me to him to sell my candlesticks.”

“Collin Dailey,” he said as if he’d just figured out where to fit a puzzle piece.

“Yes, he’s the other Keeper.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me this weeks ago? I begged and pleaded with you to tell me what was going on when that thing was ripping out hearts across town. What was doing all that killing?”

“Two demons—giant badgers who had once been people until a Croatan god named Okeus cursed them. They wanted to kill me to get even with Okeus, but Collin and I destroyed them instead.”

“In Festival Park?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow.” He released a low whistle. “That’s a lot to take in.”

“Do you think you were ready to believe in it when you first asked me?”

“No, probably not. But I am now. The giant snake in Wanchese?”

“Mishiginebig. I call him Big Nasty for short. He’s bad, but he protects me for Okeus.”

“Okeus, the evil god?”

“He wants to use me. Long story.”

“Okay.” But he didn’t sound so sure. “Thanks for trusting me, Ellie.”

“Thanks for believing.” I hung up and glanced at Tsagasi.

“You’re making a mistake,” he said gruffly.

My eyes widened in surprise. “You mean telling Tom? I think he’ll help me in the long run.”

“Yes, you need more human allies. I’m talking about the other Curse Keeper. You need him. I told you that earlier.”

“I know, but—”

“Are you planning to go to Charlotte without him?”

“Yes, but—”

He shook his head, his forehead furrowing so much that his bushy eyebrows became a unibrow. “Then we are done.”

He turned to leave, but I grabbed his tiny arm, surprised to find the hair on it so wiry. “What? Why?”

“You have all this power, yet you refuse to use it. When you are ready to fight the gods, call on me and I will help you. Until then, I refuse to waste my time.”

But to do what Tsagasi wanted would hurt David. “What am I supposed to do?” I asked quietly.

“Witness to creation, you are the hope of all creation. You are letting the emotions of one man cloud your judgment. What do your instincts tell you to do?”

I shook my head, frustrated. He was right and I knew it. “Collin’s untrustworthy. Even if he comes, there’s no guarantee he’ll really help. Collin Dailey looks out for Collin Dailey. Helping humanity—helping you—is very low on his priority list.”

His gaze remained unwavering. “Not everything is as it appears with the other Keeper.”

“You’re asking me to risk my life and David’s by trusting Collin.”

“Do you really fear for your life when you are with the son of the earth?”

No, but I didn’t trust him to protect David. And as difficult as it was to admit, David was the most qualified person to look over the pieces in that collection.

“You know what you need to do,” the little man said. Then he disappeared into the woods.

I stared at my phone for nearly a minute before I made my decision, but deep in my heart, I knew I’d never really changed my mind in the first place. Otherwise I would have already called and told him not to come.

I ended up texting him. It was stupid. David was going to find out, but I wanted to be able to deny calling Collin, even if it was a technicality. I texted him the address and told him that David was the only one who could see the collection and that I was going to wait for him somewhere close by.

That’s better, Ellie. Stay away from it if possible. Will he know what to look for?

I was surprised he was being so cooperative.

He’s looking for weapons we can use against the supernatural beings. We know there’s at least one spear and one sword. Anything else you know of that he should look for?

It was a full minute before he answered.

No.

Liar. He doesn’t want you there, so stay hidden. I’ll text you once he’s in.

Okay ;)

I was in so much trouble. He was definitely up to something.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I was nervous the entire drive to Charlotte, so much so that when we were halfway there, David blurted out that he wished he’d left me in Chapel Hill.

“You don’t mean that,” I said, swallowing my nausea.

“Only partially. I’m feeling fairly calm, but your jumpiness is turning me into a nutter. Stop.”

“Sorry.”

He reached over and covered my hand. “Deep breath, Ellie. No one died right when they went to see the collection. They died days later.”

I twisted in my seat to gape at him. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“It was my lame attempt at a joke.”

I spun around and pushed my back into my seat, crossing my arms. “Not funny.”

“You’re right, but it was also my way of telling you that it’s safe for me to go in there. We’ll deal with the rest later.” He squeezed my hand. “Now let’s talk about what happens when we get to Charlotte. I’m going to need the car, so I’ll have to drop you off somewhere. There was a coffee shop a couple of miles away from the office.”

“No way. You can drop me off at the corner of the building. You didn’t bring those binoculars for nothing.”

“I brought them in case I wanted to check out the building before the meeting, not for you to play Nancy Drew. And don’t even think about taking that sword with you.”

We’d brought the sword I’d used to kill the Raven Mockers. It was currently in the trunk, wrapped in a towel. David insisted it was a last resort. “Look, I agreed to let you go in alone,” I said, “but the only way I’m getting out of the car before we get to the business park is if you physically kick me out.”

“Ellie, it’s all strip mall offices and warehouses. It’s going to look suspicious if you’re just standing around.”

“I don’t care, David. I’ll find somewhere to hide out of sight. But I’m not going to be two miles from you.”

“Fine,” he groaned. “But you need to stay away from the front of the building.”

“Okay.” But I’d already figured out a plan. After texting Collin, I had looked up the location on the Internet again, paying close attention to the buildings around the office. There was an abandoned warehouse next to it, as well as a couple of businesses I could possibly visit in the guise of a customer.

Exhausted after my mostly sleepless night, I dozed off after our conversation and woke up an hour later when David patted my arm. “Ellie. We’re here.”

I bolted upright in the seat and took in my surroundings. We were parked in front of a strip mall with several cars parked out front. At least there were witnesses.

“Is one of those offices it?” Most of the complex looked abandoned.

“No. We’re on the east end. We need to head toward the center of the industrial park. I’m having second thoughts about you staying here, though. Where are you going to go? It’ll be much safer if you wait somewhere more public.”

“No, I’m not leaving you here. Besides, there’s a flooring showroom a little bit down from where you’re going. I’ll go in there and pretend to look for carpet.”

He turned to me with narrowed eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”

I gave him a haughty look. “I didn’t want to give you several hours to come up with reasons to stop me from doing it.”

He released a heavy breath. “I just want to make sure you’re safe, Ellie.”

“You forget that I’m the one with powers.”

“Sure, against supernatural beings. I’m dealing with humans.”

“That you know of. And you’re unarmed and unprotected. And what are they going to do when they find out you don’t have the research information Allison was supposed to bring?”

“Ellie. We have a plan.”

“Which is sketchy at best. You’re going in alone while I’m hanging out in the carpet store. End of discussion.”

We drove through the semideserted park in silence. David pulled up in front of the flooring store and glanced down the alley in the direction of the office. I leaned over and gave him a kiss, then stared into his eyes. “Please be careful.”

“I’ll be fine. Wait here.”

Rather than answering, I opened the car door and climbed out before he could realize I hadn’t agreed. I gave him a small wave and walked over to the showroom, going inside without looking back. The car drove off and I pushed down my fear. He was right. He would most likely be safe.

I wandered around the showroom, staying close to the windows. The building he was visiting was close enough that I could see him park and get out of his car. When he disappeared inside, I took a deep breath.

“How long do you want to give him before we start to get worried?”

When I spun around, Collin was standing three feet behind me, his trademark cocky smile on his face.

“What are you doing here?”

His eyes shifted to the windows. “You gave me the address and the time, Ellie,” he said with a snort.

“I know that. I mean here. In this showroom.”

He walked behind me, his chest barely brushing my back as he passed. “It’s such an obvious place. You must have missed the class on stakeouts when you were getting your degree in entrapping a billionaire bachelor,” he whispered into my ear, reminding me of how he’d thought I was out to marry for money when we first met. “Or how to seduce a man. You would have gotten an A plus in that. Although I think I need to spend more time with you to be sure.”

My breath caught in my throat and my hairs stood on end. “One could argue that I spend too much time with you,” I forced out.

“I don’t know, honey,” Collin said a little louder, wrapping an arm around my back, resting his hand comfortably on my hip. He ran his free hand slowly down a carpet display. “I was thinking something more brown for the family room.”

I tried to ignore the flutter in my stomach. “I know what you want, sweetie. But Aunt Melba has a nice cream color in her bedroom that I just love.”

Collin’s grip tightened when I mentioned the word “bedroom” and he lowered his mouth to my ear. “I can assure you that I wouldn’t notice the carpet color if I was in your bedroom.”

My mouth went dry and I broke loose of his hold, moving on to another display rack. “Or maybe we should go with hardwood.” I immediately jerked my head up, my eyes widening in warning when I realized I’d set him up for the perfect sleazy comment. “Don’t go there.”

His eyes twinkled. “I didn’t say a word, Ellie. You’re the one with your mind in the gutter.” He moved next to me again but kept his hands to himself this time. “I say we give him fifteen minutes before we get worried.”

I nodded, guilt washing over me. David was in danger and my hormones were getting all wonky while I was talking to Collin about flooring choices. Some girlfriend I was.

“I know a place where we can watch the building. Let’s go.” Without waiting for an answer, he headed for the door.

I glanced at an employee who stood several rows away. “Thank you.”

She nodded, and I followed him out the door. He stood at the corner of the building, looking in the opposite direction of the office. When I approached him, he put an arm around my back and led me around the corner.

I took two steps away from him. “Is all the touching necessary?”

“Just trying to make us look like the happy couple so we don’t arouse anyone’s suspicions.”

“Well no one’s watching us here, so it’s not necessary. Besides, David dropped me off. Doesn’t that look more suspicious?”

“I can guarantee you that no one noticed him dropping you off. But you’re a beautiful woman, Ellie, which means they definitely noticed you coming into the store.”

“Knock it off, Collin.”

“It’s true. If you’re going to learn the art of the stakeout, you need to learn the art of blending in. You do not blend in. You shine, demanding attention.”

“Cut the bullshit.”

“Ellie.” He stopped at the corner of the building.

I reluctantly turned around. “What?”

“I’m serious. I suspect you’re about to dig yourself into a shitload of crap, and you’re going to need to be more careful.” The earnestness in his eyes told me he was telling me the truth. “If you’re going to try playing private investigator, you need to stick to the background and make sure no one notices you.”

“Okay.” What he said made sense, as hard as it was to admit that he was right.

“Come on, this way.” He turned down the alley, heading in the direction of the office. We were on the backside of the strip mall, a warehouse on the opposite side of us.

I followed. “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere we can get a better view without being seen.”

We walked in silence halfway down the long building until we approached a Dumpster. “This is where we go up.”

I looked from the Dumpster to the roofline five feet above it. “Okay.” It made sense to be on the roof across from the office. In fact, it was brilliant, not that I was about to tell him so. Collin had a big enough ego as it was.

He stood next to the trash bin and squatted, lacing his hands together and glancing at me with a grin. “Too bad you don’t have on one of those skirts you’re so fond of wearing.”

I was suddenly glad I was wearing a pair of denim shorts. I put my foot in his hands and reached for the edge of the metal box so I could pull myself up as he boosted. When I was on top, he grabbed the edge and hoisted himself up with little effort. Once he was on the trash bin, he repeated the process, helping me up onto the roof first before pulling himself over the edge.

We stopped when we reached the edge at the front of the building, and I was surprised to see he already had a blanket spread out, topped with a bottle of water and binoculars.

“You’ve already been up here?”

“For a couple of hours, actually. I wanted to keep track of how many people were in the warehouse in case your professor got into trouble.”

“He has a name. David.” At least Collin was proving to be useful, which made me feel better about going against David’s wishes. “So what have you seen?”

“Two guys showed up at around nine. I’ve been watching since seven and hadn’t seen any other activity until then, so I think it was empty. It looked like they turned off an alarm when they entered. There’s a front office and they entered the code to get into the back. The front door only requires a key.”

“So just the two men?”

“No. A woman showed up around nine forty-five. Very well dressed—heels, expensive skirt, and blouse. I’d say her purse cost more than your car and my truck put together.”

I chuckled. “That’s not saying much.”

“True enough.”

“Allison said she met a well-dressed older woman named Miriam. I bet that was her.” I narrowed my eyes mockingly. “And for the record, may I state that I’m more than a little concerned that you recognize a high-quality purse.”

This time he laughed. “Fancy purse or not, the two guys were expecting her.”

“Any idea who they might be? Had you heard of Miriam?”

“No.”

“Would you tell me if you knew?”

He glanced over at me, his grin fading. “Yes.”

I believed him, but it surprised me that he was being so forthcoming. That wasn’t exactly characteristic of the Collin I had come to know.

“What about the back?” I asked. If he’d staked out the front, he’d definitely know about the back.

“There’s a warehouse next to the office. The public record says it’s available for rent, but I think they’re using it for short-term storage. The office has been leased to the Henderson Foundation for less than a month.”

“The people who called David to set up this meeting said they were from the Henderson Foundation.” The fact we were finally connecting dots made me feel like we were making progress. “So they’re using the warehouse without paying for it?”

“No. The warehouse is owned by the same corporation that owns the office. I called this morning to ask about seeing the warehouse for my imaginary business, and they told me it was under renovation and wouldn’t be able to be seen for another week. Which tells us two things . . . ” He turned to me with a grin. “How about giving it a guess, my little prodigy?”

“They rented the building to the foundation, but it was an under-the-table deal.”

“Exactly. If they rent a warehouse, it draws suspicion. Now, what’s the other?”

“If you can see it in a week, they’re planning to move the stash soon.”

“Exactly. I should have texted you to have Dr. Preston try and find out where it’s going and when.”

“The less he knows, the better, Collin. He’s out of his element in there. David grew up in highbrow London. He’s not used to people like this.”

“Then what’s he doing down there?”

I lifted my eyebrows. “You and I both know that he knows what to look for better than either of us do. We need him. Admit it.”

He scowled and turned to look back at the building.

I took his lack of comment as an admission of truth.

“I wish we had a better view of the back.” He picked up his binoculars and scanned the front of the building. “It’s been ten minutes and there’s no one in the office. I say we give him five more minutes, then I’m going to do some investigating of my own.”

“And how do you propose we do that?”

“Not we, me.” When I started to protest, he interrupted. “I want to go out back to make sure nothing’s going on. I need you to stay here and watch the front.”

“Why don’t we just try to get on top of that building so we can see both exits?”

He grinned. “Good question, young apprentice. I’m saving that for a last resort. It’s harder to access, and I honestly think all the action is going to take place in the front.” His grin turned wicked. “Kind of like how you enjoy all the action on top.”

I flushed. “Shut up, Collin.”

Still grinning, he turned back to his stakeout.

I took a deep breath, preparing myself for a fight. “I don’t want David to know you’re here.”

He kept his gaze on the building. “I’m no relationship expert—”

“Obviously.”

“—but I think that’s an unhealthy sign.”

“He has a large amount of disdain for you.”

“You mean he hates me?” He chuckled.

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Again, I’m no expert, but he must not be very secure if he feels so threatened by me.”

“He doesn’t trust you. On my behalf.” I held out my right hand, the pink scar reflecting in the sunshine.

Collin looked from my palm to my face, all teasing gone from his expression. “You know I wish things had gone differently.”

No apology. No regret for his actions. Only the outcome. Typical Collin. “Nevertheless, in David’s eyes you betrayed me after vowing to protect me, putting me in unnecessary danger and risking my life.”

He remained silent.

“No witty retort?”

He shook his head. “No, he’s right.”

It took me a second to recover from the shock of his admission. “And on top of that, multiple innocent people have died since you released the spirits.”

He swallowed.

“No rebuttal?”

“No. Like I said, he’s right.” He turned back to his surveillance.

I wasn’t sure what to do. I had been prepared for a fight.

We were silent for several moments before he asked, “Did you really fight Raven Mockers?”

His question caught me off guard. “Yes.”

“They could have killed you, Ellie. Your Manitou is safe, but they can still kill you.”

“What do you expect me to do? I can’t sit around and let those things torture people.”

“I know,” he whispered.

“People have died because of the objects inside that building. I want you to tell me what you know about them. And quit the bullshit about how it’s better if I don’t know. We both know it’s too late for that.”

His back tensed; then he set the binoculars on the blanket. “I told you that my father found out about the estate and then brought Marino on board. That’s pure speculation, but I’d bet money I’m right. Rumor has it that the collection disappeared soon after my father did. The next time it was heard of was when the family of the private collector, Emilio Ricardo, announced it was going to New York for auction a few months ago. Then it disappeared again. Marino got preview photos from Ricardo’s attorney, but it was gone before he could see it. Marino asked me to find out what had happened. I wanted to know the truth because of my father’s involvement. And, like I said, the Manteo Keepers knew a couple of weapons had been created by a Dare Keeper, but I never knew the specifics until I asked my grandmother.”

“And what did she say?”

“She said it was a given that the curse would eventually break. The real question was when it would happen. The Dare descendant realized the spirits and gods would be upset and had weapons blessed at the gate to Popogusso that would help defeat the demons.”

“The letters David found insinuated that Ahone was the one who instigated the creation of the weapons. He knew the curse would break, and they were his way of sealing the gate permanently.”

Collin shook his head. “We already did that.”

“Ahone wants me to use this ring at the gate.” I held up my hand, the gold glittering in the sunlight. “And I’d bet money it has something to do with my power as a witness to creation.”

Collin’s mouth twisted as he considered what I’d said.

“Did you know that a group called the Guardians owns this collection? That they’ve been collecting weapons for centuries to fight demons?”

He scowled. “No.”

“David pieced it together. They’ve been preparing for the end of the world, but Tsagasi says they’re thieves and liars. I don’t trust them.”

“It’s safer not to trust anyone, Ellie.”

“Including you?”

He looked up at me. “I used to tell you especially me. I’m trying to change that.”

“And yet you still keep a shitload of secrets from me. What do you know that you’re not telling me?”

A grin spread across his face. “That could fill an entire encyclopedia set.”

“What aren’t you telling me about the curse? What Ahone really has in store for me?”

“I’m completely clueless about what Ahone has planned. I had no idea that he wanted you to use the ring next to the gate. But I’m not surprised he wants to use you for his own purposes. Both he and Okeus have their own agendas. They always have.”

I believed him, not that I liked it. If he didn’t know, who did? Maybe I needed to press Tsagasi more. “Then I’m just as clueless as I was before. Everyone wants to use me for something, and I’m not sure how to stop them.”

“I’m sorry.”

I looked up into his face. “You keep telling me that you’re sorry, and while I realize that your apologies are as rare as a full solar eclipse, what exactly are you sorry for?”

He swallowed, his eyes turning glassy, his right hand grabbing my left one. “How about I tell you what I’m not sorry for? I’m not sorry you were persistent about getting me into bed. And I’m not sorry I gave in. And I’ll never be sorry that our souls are bound together. I’m sure that makes me a bastard, but you want honesty, so there it is.”

I fought my warring emotions.

“I’m not sorry I met you, and if it took breaking the fucking curse to do it, I’d do it again in an instant.”

I tried to jerk my hand from his hold, but he held tight.

“Now how about what I am sorry for? I’m sorry I met the one person in this world who makes me believe I’m actually worth a shit, but I completely and hopelessly fucked it up.” He dropped my hand and narrowed his gaze at the building. “And I know how much David means to you, so I’m going to go down there and make sure he’s okay.”

“He’ll be upset if he sees you.”

He grinned. “Would he rather get killed or see my ruggedly handsome face?”

“He’s going to be upset with me.”

“I may have put you in danger in the first place, but haven’t you noticed I’ve spent the rest of my time trying to keep you out of danger? This falls under the same category. I’ll cover for you. I’ll tell him I used my questionable resources to figure out where you were.”

My mouth parted in surprise. If anything, I would have suspected that he’d cause trouble between us in the hopes of breaking us up.

“I’m going to head around to the back of the building. I need you to watch the front. If you see any movement or activity, text me. Only call if it’s an emergency.” He paused. “You have your phone with you, right?”

I nodded.

“How about a kiss for luck?” he teased.

“Not on your life.”

He sighed. “Let’s hope it’s not on David’s.” Then he crawled across the roof and disappeared.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

David had been inside for more than twenty minutes, and there was no sign of any activity in the building, nefarious or otherwise.

Was Collin serious about protecting David, or was he just saying that to placate me? One thing was for sure—having Collin’s help was better than having no help at all. Without him, I’d still be perusing carpets.

I kept my eyes trained on the front door, seeing into the small front office, which was empty besides a metal desk and two plastic chairs. What was going on behind that secured door?

I checked my phone to see if I’d missed a message from David somehow, but my screen was glaringly empty.

Several minutes later Collin texted me.

I’m in the back with no signs of trouble. Anything in the front?

No.

There was a pause before he texted back.

I’m going to do a bit of snooping. Text me if you see anything.

I hesitated before texting back.

Be careful.

I expected a smart-ass response, but got nothing. I wished I knew what he was planning to do. Instead, I was forced to sit there helpless, watching the building where the two men I cared about might be in serious danger.

Several minutes later, a black limo pulled up in front of the building as the secured door to the back of the front office opened. A sharply dressed woman emerged, her snow-white hair perfectly coiffed. She walked with an air of confidence and power. I expected David to follow her out the door, but she was alone.

I quickly texted Collin.

The woman came out as her limo pulled up. She’s alone. Anything?

He quickly responded.

Nothing.

Shit. The driver got out and walked around the car to open the door for her. She was about to climb into the back when the secured door opened again and a well-built guy wearing jeans and a dark T-shirt who looked like he was in his twenties walked out to talk to her. My binoculars were trained on them, so when he lifted his hand to his face I could see that his knuckles were bloody with fresh wounds.

My heart threw itself into my rib cage. David.

I zoomed the binoculars in closer and noticed flecks of blood on his arm. I called Collin and he answered on the first ring.

“Collin, they’ve done something to David.” My voice shook with panic.

“What? What do you see?”

“One of the guys came out behind the woman. His hand is covered in blood and it looks like he’s hit someone.”

“Ellie, calm down. You don’t know that he hit David.”

“Why would the woman let him hit David? What’s her part in this?”

“Calm down, Ellie.” He lowered his voice. “Panicking isn’t going to help anyone.”

“That man has David’s blood on his hands and arm, so don’t you tell me to calm down!”

I lifted the binoculars back to my eyes. The man’s face contorted with anger and the woman pointed a finger at his chest before spinning around and getting into the back of her limo.

“You have to get him out of there, Collin. Now. I’m going to find out more about the woman in the limo. She must know something.”

“Ellie, what the fuck are you doing?” He sounded furious.

I got up and ran across the roof and then tried to come up with an off-the-cuff plan while I stood at the edge, looking down at the industrial park. “Collin, I’m begging you. Get David out of there.”

I hung up and jumped over the edge, landing on the Dumpster with a loud thud. My knees buckled to absorb the drop. Once I managed to steady myself, I leaped off the trash bin and landed on my feet.

I took off running toward the south entrance to the industrial park. Since I’d studied the area the night before, I knew that while the main entrance was to the east, there was a smaller one to the south. It was a gamble. Using the south entrance would require me to pass some dubious-looking buildings that anyone with a sense of self-preservation would avoid, but I was betting that that woman in her expensive clothes and limo didn’t want anyone to find her here. It made sense that she would opt to use the alternate entrance.

My phone vibrated in my hand and I answered. “Did you get David?”

“Ellie! You need to think this through. What are you doing?”

“Did you find him?”

“I won’t do a goddamned thing until you tell me what you’re doing.”

“I’m intercepting her car at the south entrance. Now get him.”

I hung up as I turned down a road opposite from the east entrance, hoping I’d made the right gamble. I stuffed my phone in my pocket and bolted down a side street that—if I calculated correctly—would connect to the south entrance street. I skidded to a stop at the corner when I saw that the black car was several blocks away and headed in my direction.

I reached up and grabbed the collar of my pale-blue cotton shirt and tugged, ripping it slightly. Then I grabbed my upper arms and rubbed them vigorously. As the car approached, I ran out into the middle of the road, waving and screaming, “Help!”

For a brief moment, I thought the car was going to run me over, but it slowed down and then pulled to a halt. I ran up to the driver’s window and banged on it. “Help me! Please!”

The window rolled down and a man’s irritated face glared at me.

“Thank God! I was attacked and he was chasing me . . . ” My voice broke as I looked back over my shoulder. I didn’t have to fake my terror.

The man continued to stare me down.

“Marco, where is your sense of propriety?” The cultured female voice came from the back of the car. “Offer the poor girl assistance.”

He lowered his gaze. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Have her sit in the back with me so she can catch her breath.”

He pushed the car door open and I stepped out of the way as he reluctantly slid out and opened the back door.

I peered into the dark interior before sliding into the seat next to the woman. I forced myself not to claw her. Instead, I said, “Thank you.”

“Are you okay, my dear?” She sat primly in her seat. She wore a long-sleeved white blouse, the top button left open to reveal two short strands of pearls. Her hands were neatly folded on her knees, partially overlapping the hem of her gray linen skirt. Her black heels rested flat on the floor. Her short white hair had been slightly fluffed and, although she was obviously older, her face was mostly wrinkle-free. Kudos to her plastic surgeon.

I hesitated, surprised by how concerned she appeared to be. “I’m just shaken up.”

“What were you doing out here all alone?”

“I . . . ” Why hadn’t I come up with a story before now? “I was at the carpet store with my boyfriend and we had a fight over which color to pick. But he got really mad and got physical.”

She glanced down at the red marks on my arms, then up into my face. “That must have been very frightening. Where is he now?”

“I don’t know. I got scared and took off running.”

“Marco,” she called out the door. “Why don’t you call the proper authorities? And shut the door so our guest can have a bit of privacy.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said, then did as she requested.

“That’s really not necessary,” I said. “If you could just take me back to the carpet store, I can call my friend to ask her to come pick me up.”

She nodded. “If that’s what you’d prefer, dear. We’ll just sit here for a moment so you can catch your breath.”

“Thank you.” I was suddenly at a loss. While I’d succeeded in getting her to let me in the car, I couldn’t just ask her why she had been at the warehouse.

“What’s your name?” she asked before I came up with an appropriate line of questioning.

“Ellie.” I said, wishing I’d come up with an alias.

She nodded slightly. “Such a sweet nickname. Is your given name Ellen?”

“Elinor.”

A slight smile tugged at her lips. “A family name?”

“Yes.” I rubbed my arms. “I’m so lucky you happened to drive by. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t imagine why someone as nice as you would be out here.”

“Business,” she said without emotion. She shifted and unfolded her hands, revealing blood splatters on her skirt.

Keep it together, Ellie. But what if David was lying in the warehouse right now bleeding to death and I was sitting here chatting with one of the people who had injured him? I forced out a slow, deep breath. “You must be a successful businesswoman if you have a limo and driver.”

“So you live in Charlotte?” she asked, ignoring my statement. Her question had the tiniest amount of bite.

“Yes.”

“What neighborhood? We can just drop you off at your home. No need to call your friend.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t know it.”

“I’ve lived in Charlotte my entire life and I know this city like the back of my hand. Try me.”

I stared at her.

“Ellie, why don’t you tell me why you’re really here?”

My racing heart nearly flung itself from my chest. “Excuse me?”

“You’re right. I am a businesswoman and my time is valuable. I’m sure yours is too. So why don’t we skip all of this tedious deception and cut to the chase.”

I sat up straighter and looked into her light-gray eyes. “Agreed.”

“As with every business transaction, we must come to an arrangement that benefits us both. You haven’t made any attempt to rob me, so I must surmise that you have some questions for me.”

“And what do I have that you want?”

“Ellie,” she said in a stern voice. “Or should I call you Elinor Dare Lancaster?”

My stomach dropped to my feet.

“I was going to find you soon enough, but it looks like you found me first.”

“Why would you want to find me?”

She smiled, but her eyes were cold and calculating now. “All in good time, Elinor.” She grimaced. “Forgive me, but I do hate nicknames. So uncouth.”

“It hardly seems fair that you know my name but I don’t know yours.”

“Miriam Peabody,” she said with an air of superiority, and I wondered if she expected me to take her hand and kiss the big diamond ring on her right ring finger.

Not bloody likely, as my Brit would say. But I’d do it if it would save him. “I’d say it’s nice to meet you, Ms. Peabody, but I’d be lying. You didn’t answer me before: I might want answers, but what do you want?”

“We’ll save that for later.”

“You basically want me to give you a blank check.”

A deceptively sweet smile spread across her face. “I think you really want the information I can give you. You’ll owe me something for every question you ask.”

It was tempting.

“I’ll give you one question for free.”

One question. What should I ask? “Why are you collecting weapons?”

Her smile widened. “Cut right to the heart of it, don’t you?” She laughed softly, then reached into her purse and pulled out a handkerchief. “There’s a war brewing, Elinor. It’s been predicted for over four centuries. It’s important to be prepared. And to pick the right side.”

“And which side is that?”

“The side that benefits us the most.” Her eyes twinkled as she dabbed her nose with the handkerchief before lowering it. “And that was question number two. We only agreed to one free one. You are now in the deficit.”

Oh, fuck it. “Why were you coming to find me?”

“You are a key player in the outcome of this battle.”

“You know about the curse?” I asked, incredulous.

Confusion flickered in her eyes. “What curse?”

What the hell was she talking about if she didn’t know about the curse?

She shifted slightly in her seat. “My turn.”

My heart sped up. Her answers had only given me more questions, and now I was supposedly in her debt. Well, I’d learned a thing or two from Collin. There was no honor among thieves, and this bitch was definitely a thief. I gave her a cocky grin. “Go for it.”

“Where is your friend, Collin Dailey?”

I lifted my eyebrows. “First of all, Collin-fucking-Dailey is not my friend.”

She cringed at my vulgar language and I fought to keep from smiling. Ms. Uptight Pants didn’t even like nicknames, so I hoped I was offending her prudish sensibility.

“And second, I don’t keep tabs on the bastard. We spent a week together and then we were done.”

She dabbed her nose again, then glanced out the window before returning her gaze to me, her eyes hard. “That’s not what my sources say. I know he protects you and that you two are capable of great things together.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly. “I think you do. In fact, I’m counting on it.”

The smugness in her voice sent a shiver down my spine. “What are you talking about?”

Her head tilted slightly. “Unfortunately for Dr. Preston, he was quite uncooperative.”

My chest tightened and the blood rushed from my head. Focus, Ellie. Focus. “Funny, I’ve found him to be quite the opposite. He’s proven himself entirely useful.”

“I know that you’re fond of him, Elinor.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You sent him to see the collection, didn’t you? You’re curious about what we possess. Dr. Preston was sent to evaluate it.” She tsked and shook her head. “It’s a pity what happened to his ex-girlfriend.” Her eyes lit up. “Have you noticed that the collection seems to be quite unlucky? When outsiders come to see it, foul play usually befalls them. You know this firsthand. On multiple counts.” She shook her head. “Your poor Dr. Preston was doomed from the moment he stepped into the warehouse.”

I forced myself to remain calm, at least on the outside. Time to pull more Collin Dailey tricks. I was playing the role of an aloof bitch who was about to kick an old woman’s ass. Or maybe I wasn’t pretending. “And where is Dr. Preston now?”

She grinned. “Somewhere safe.” Her mouth twisted in amusement. “Well, safe for my purposes. I shall not comment on his physical state. And no, he’s no longer in the warehouse.”

I forced a wry smile. “I’m going to need him back. I’m not done with him yet.”

“I’m counting on that.”

“If your time is so valuable, tell me what you want.”

“An exchange of a sort. Your Dr. Preston for your cooperation.”

“With what?”

“We want to locate the gate to hell.”

I blinked, certain that I’d heard her wrong. “What?”

“We want you to provide us with the location of the gate to hell. We’ll meet you there and then we’ll hand over Dr. Preston.”

“That’s it?”

She smiled. “We want the location confirmed. We’ll need Mr. Dailey to be present to ensure that.”

My heart sunk. There was no way Collin would go for that. “I want something in return.”

She laughed in surprise. “You’ll get your valuable Dr. Preston. Isn’t that reward enough?”

“No. I want more.”

“You’re not exactly in a position to negotiate.”

“I think I am. You need me and you need Collin. Collin can’t stand David, so he’ll never agree to cooperate. He’ll gladly see him gone. You’ll need to make it worth his while as well.”

She pondered my statement. “Obviously, you have something in mind.”

“There’s a seventeenth-century Croatan spear. I believe it’s in your possession. He’ll want that as well as the Sword of Galahad.”

She shook her head. “No.”

I sighed, reaching for the car door. “Then I guess we’re done here.”

She laughed. “You haven’t fooled me. I know you care more about Dr. Preston than you’re letting on. You’re not going to just walk away and leave his life in my hands.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You’re right. I do care about David, but I also know Collin. There’s no fucking way he’ll agree to this unless he’s getting something in return. Something big. So if you won’t offer anything up, I don’t see any point in wasting more of either of our valuable time.”

“The spear. Not the sword.”

I shook my head.

“That’s the best you’ll get, Elinor. Take it or leave it.”

“It’s not my call to make, Miriam. It’s up to Collin.” I opened the car door, but she surprised me by grabbing the handle and pulling it closed.

“If you are going to leave without reaching an agreement with me, then I’ll need a deposit to pay for the care and well-being of your beloved Dr. Preston. Otherwise we’ll deliver him dead.”

I couldn’t contain my shock.

She smiled and almost looked pleasant, like an overly polite grandmother. “I thought that might grab your attention.”

“What do you want?”

“The ring on your hand.”

I instinctively raised my hand, my left hand fingering the band. “Why?”

She tilted her head to the side, irritation flickering in her eyes. “Why? Because it doesn’t belong to you. It was given to your mother in good faith and never returned. It belongs to the Guardians.”

“Did you play any part in my mother’s murder?”

She rolled her eyes in disgust. “Why would we want her killed? We wanted her expertise. She was killed by barbarians. We presumed they stole the ring.”

“Why do you want it?”

“Seeing how it is my property, I don’t feel the need to tell you. Why do you want it?”

“Sentimental reasons.”

She chuckled. “You are a very gifted liar.”

Collin would be so proud.

“I need you, Elinor, and I’d prefer for you to be cooperative. I’m told you need a bit more time before you’re ready, so I’m happy to let you go prepare. But make no mistake: I have no problem taking you with me right now. So I’ll take your ring as a down payment for Dr. Preston’s care as well as insurance that you’ll meet me tomorrow night.”

Did I really have a choice? Could she or someone else in her group use the power of the ring? Did they even know what to do with it?

Her eyes narrowed. “Now, Elinor.”

With shaky fingers, I slipped the band off my finger and placed it in her open palm. While I’d never planned to use it, my finger felt naked, and I worried about what she’d do with it. But I’d do anything to save David, even if I was trying to project otherwise.

“That’s a good girl.” She thrust a cell phone toward me. “You’ll want this. Call the most recent number with your answer. But don’t take too long. Dr. Preston’s current hosts aren’t very civilized, if you catch my meaning.” She leaned toward the door and called out, “Marco, Ms. Lancaster has recovered enough to take her leave.”

He opened the door and I started to get out, but before I did, I turned around to stare at her.

“You messed with the wrong person,” I said after a long moment passed. “You might get what you want this time, but in the end, I will hunt you down and make you sorry you ever messed with me.”

She laughed. “You are quite entertaining.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “The last demon I killed thought the same. Disposing of you will be ten times easier.” I climbed out and slammed the door on Miriam’s stunned face.

Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t an empty threat.

CHAPTER TWENTY

The limo pulled away just as Collin rounded the corner.

“Ellie!”

I turned to him, my anger surging. “Did you get David?” I asked, hoping Miriam had been bluffing even if I knew better.

“No! I came after you!” He watched the limo drive away and then looked down at my torn collar. His eyes hardened as he clenched his fists at his sides. “What happened?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

His gaze drifted to my still-red arms. “You don’t look fine. Why did you run after them? What happened?”

“I’m fine, and I got some answers.” My voice quivered on the last word and I started to break apart, but I pushed down my panic. “She said they have him.”

“You actually talked to her? What else did she say?”

I tried to step around him, but he blocked my path. “I’m not telling you a goddamned thing. How does that feel?” I shouted, shoving his chest with the heels of my hands, the phone she gave me still in my grip. “Now get out of my way.”

He stood his ground. “Why’d she let you go?”

I gritted my teeth, anger surging through my veins. I latched on to it, because I couldn’t let myself think of the worst-case scenario. “Get out of my way, Collin. Now. I have to find David.”

He studied me for several seconds before stepping to the side. I took off sprinting, but he easily fell in step beside me. “We have to stick together, Ellie. You need to tell me what you found out.”

I shook my head, worried that I’d burst into tears if I tried talking. There was little chance that David was still in that building—after all, she’d flat out told me that he wasn’t—but I had to make sure before I let myself accept it.

I skidded to a halt in front of the glass door to the front office, grunting in frustration when the door wouldn’t open for me. Out of breath, I leaned over my legs and sucked in lungfuls of air, willing myself not to cry. “I have to get into this damned building.” But when I scanned the street for something that would break the glass, I came up empty.

Collin had stopped next to me, but he took off down the road and rounded the corner while I continued to futilely pull on the door. David surely had a jack in the back of his car, but he had the keys. I pounded my fists on the glass in frustration.

“You’ve got quite the temper, but I don’t think that’s going to get it open,” Collin called out. He came back into sight with a crowbar in his hand. “This will come in handy all the way around. Step back.”

I took several steps away and he swung the steel rod at the door without any hesitation, creating a hole that fractured the entire pane but left the glass in the frame. Several quick taps knocked the shards to the floor.

As far as I knew, Collin never carried weapons—other than the crowbar currently in his hand—but I wasn’t about to go in there unarmed. Not after Saturday night. I grabbed the bar out of his hand and strode toward David’s car as I shoved the phone I held into my pocket.

“Ellie. What are you doing?” he called after me.

I swung the bar into the driver-side window, but it bounced off.

“Ellie! Now’s not the time to have a fit.”

Ignoring him, I jerked the bar back and swung it two more times before the glass in the window shattered and fell onto the seat. I tossed the crowbar onto the pavement in front of Collin. While he bent down to retrieve it, I reached into the car and popped the trunk.

“Ellie.”

I stomped around the back of the car and lifted the lid, then pulled out the sword.

“What the fuck is that and what do you think you’re going to do with it?” Collin asked as we headed back to the office, a hard edge in his voice.

My gaze hardened. “Protect myself.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed with that thing.”

“This thing saved my life two nights ago, so I’ll take my chances.”

He looked doubtful but kept his opinion to himself as he ducked under the door handle, the only barrier to the now-gaping doorway. “We don’t have long, so let’s hurry.”

I followed after glancing down the street to make sure no one had noticed us, even though it was too late for that. Luckily, the area was completely deserted. I only hoped no one in the flooring showroom was watching.

We stood in the small foyer, the keypad on the secured door mocking us. “Will your crowbar get us through that door too?” I asked, some of my anger fading.

“Why? Eager to try your new toy?” he asked with a sneer.

“Shut the fuck up, Collin.” I was ready to kick someone’s ass and if Collin wanted to volunteer for the position, more power to him.

“No, my crowbar won’t open it, but this will.” He punched in a code and then tugged on the door.

I gasped when it opened. “How do you know the code?”

“I watched them with binoculars, remember? It wasn’t hard to figure it out. I planned to check it out later anyway.”

I started to walk past him, the tip of the sword pointed toward the floor, but he grabbed my arm and held me still. “Slow down. I know you want to find him, but we need to sneak in before we start eviscerating people,” he whispered sarcastically. “Let me go first.”

I almost pointed out that breaking the glass door and my attack on David’s car had ruined any chance at stealth, but instead I nodded. And I had no problem letting Collin take the lead. There was no denying he had more experience with break-ins than I did, even though I seemed to be racking up a fair amount of experience the more time I spent with him.

He stuck his head through the opening and peered around the corner before slipping through the door and motioning me to follow. We entered a dim six-foot-long hallway with stark white walls and a single flickering fluorescent overhead. At the end of the hall was another door with a keypad.

Collin lifted his hand to punch the buttons, but stopped and turned at the waist to stare into my eyes. His irritation softened. “Ellie, I know you’re upset, but don’t do anything stupid with that sword when we get in here.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see what we find.” I hadn’t grabbed it with the intention of protecting myself from human attackers. Even though it was daylight, I wanted to be equipped to defend myself against supernatural foes. But if David was inside and using the sword would help me save him, I wouldn’t hesitate, not even if the threat came from a human. Still, I hoped I wouldn’t need it.

Scowling, Collin entered the same code he’d used before, which—to my surprise—worked. He slowly opened the door and scanned the room before motioning to me. We stood in a large space that reminded me of some type of distribution center. Two rows of empty stainless steel tables that resembled the ones in the kitchen of the New Moon filled the space. Collin tossed the crowbar onto one of the tables with a loud clang, then walked down one of the rows and spun around in a circle. “They’re gone.”

“No shit.” Anger surged through my body again, burning away the tears that stung behind my eyes. My grip on the sword tightened. “How did this happen?” My accusation was clear.

His mouth dropped open. “How did what happen?”

“How did they manage to take him away without us even noticing? We were both watching the building!” I shouted.

Collin walked over to me and snatched the sword out of my hand before I could stop him. He dropped it on a nearby table and then grabbed my shoulders, his face firm. “I know you’re upset right now, and if it makes you feel better to blame me for this along with everything else, go right ahead. But I need you to focus and tell me what that woman said to you.”

I took several deep breaths.

His face softened. “If you want me to help you find David, you have to give me whatever information you have.”

I hated to admit it, but he was right. Now was not the time to be petty. “Her name is Miriam Peabody. I’m sure she’s the woman Allison met. She confirmed they’ve been collecting weapons. She said there’s a war brewing and they’ve been preparing for centuries. According to her, it’s important to not only be prepared but to pick the right side.”

He frowned. “What’s the right side?”

I gave him an ugly smirk. “The side that benefits them. Whatever the fuck side that is.”

Collin placed the heel of his hand against his temple, looking bewildered.

I nodded. “I ran in front of her limo and pretended I’d been attacked so she’d let me in the back. She did, but she knew who I was from the start. She called me by my full name—Elinor Dare Lancaster—and told me she had been about to start looking for me.”

His face tensed as his gaze jerked to my face. “Why?”

“She said I’m a key player in the outcome of the war. She also knows about you and the fact that you’ve been marking my doors. She called you by name.”

“They’ve been watching us?”

I didn’t answer his question. I didn’t know how. “They took David.” My voice broke and I stiffened my shoulders. “She offered me a trade.”

He lowered his hand. “What does she want?”

“She took the ring and she wants me to show her the gate to hell.”

“She wants what?” His eyes widened and he took a step back. “Why? And how does she even know about Popogusso?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. But she wants both of us to show it to her and prove it’s real. She seemed confused when I mentioned the curse.”

He rested his butt against a table, looking like he’d been blindsided. “The only people who know anything about the curse on my side are my grandmother and my brother. And I know they didn’t tell anyone.”

“The only people who know about it on my side are Claire and Drew, and they would never tell . . . And I told Tom last night,” I added as an afterthought.

He bounced upright, his face red. “You did what?”

Who the hell was he to judge me? “You’ve been out on your boat frolicking with all your demon buddies while I’ve been stuck in Manteo dealing with the fallout of their extracurricular activities. Which brings me face-to-face with Officer Helmsworth on a regular basis.” I took a breath, my irritation softening. I couldn’t blame Collin for being upset—this affected him too. “Look, he’s not stupid, Collin. He knows there are supernatural forces behind what’s happening in Manteo, and he knows I’m square in the middle of it. The Raven Mockers are killing people every night and he’s trying to save them. Tsagasi told me what to do, so I told Tom. Was I supposed to keep that from him?”

He heaved a sigh and closed his eyes. “What a fucked-up mess.”

“But I only told him late last night, so there’s no way they found out from him.”

He stood upright and turned toward me, his eyes gleaming with determination. “We need to figure out how they know about us.”

“I can’t think of anyone else.”

He stared at the floor for several seconds before looking up. “You’re forgetting about Myra.”

I shook my head. “There’s no way Myra would tell anyone.”

“She’s seeing someone now, right? Didn’t she move to Durham to be closer to him?”

“Well . . . yeah . . . but she wouldn’t tell him.”

“What if she slipped? You and I both know how easy it is to get caught up in the heat of the moment and say something you don’t mean to.”

My face burned with the memory of the things I’d said to him. Things I should have kept to myself. Yet despite his betrayal and the fact that the man I loved was in mortal danger, my body responded to the memory of being with Collin. I hated him a little for that, even though it wasn’t his fault. “Steven’s an old family friend. He would never put my life in danger.”

The pain in his eyes told me that he noticed the venom behind my words. “Maybe he accidently told someone, Ellie. We need to talk to him and find out.”

I just couldn’t believe Myra would tell him, let alone that Steven would sell me out. “What if it wasn’t someone human? What if a supernatural creature spilled the beans?”

“To what end?”

“I don’t know!” I shouted in irritation. “Maybe it’s Ahone. Miriam took the ring. She knows it does something.”

He pushed out a breath. “Let’s presume you’re right about Ahone wanting you to use the ring at the gate, and I suspect you are—why would he encourage them to take it from you? That doesn’t make sense.” He paused. “But if my grandmother was right about the Dare line being the only ones with the power to use it, they won’t be able to do anything with it anyway.”

None of this speculation changed the fact that David was in danger right now. My fears pushed to the surface, but I buried them again. I didn’t have time to cry. “I told her that you hated David and you’d need some other incentive to cooperate. I said that you needed the spear and the Sword of Galahad.”

He shook his head. “What’s the Sword of Galahad?”

“It’s a sword from the twelfth century that was blessed for King Richard the Lionheart to take to the Crusades.”

“And why would they want that?” He squinted in confusion. “Why would we want that?”

“It was blessed to kill demons.”

His eyes widened. “You’re shitting me? They think they have a sword that can kill demons?” he scoffed. “What idiots.”

“Collin, they do have a sword that will kill demons. Tsagasi confirmed it. Hell, I have a sword that kills demons. I killed three of them two nights ago. But that’s not all the Sword of Galahad does. Tsagasi says it can subdue gods too.”

His face paled. “How can such a thing exist?”

“I don’t know, but I need it.”

He shook his head, clenching his jaw. “No, Ellie. That’s the last thing you need. You’ll become a target.”

“Wake up, Collin! I already am a target!”

He paced for several seconds looking like he was about to be sick. “So you told her the only way I would show was if she gave you the spear and the sword. What did she say?”

“She only agreed to the spear. I told her I had to check with you.” I suddenly remembered the phone and dug it out of my pocket. “She handed me this and told me to call her when you had your answer. She said to use the most recent number.”

He reached for the mobile. “That’s no burner.” I handed it to him and he frowned. “It’s an iPhone. How much money do these people have?”

When he tapped the screen, I recognized the screen saver and instantly felt like I was going to throw up. “Oh, God, it’s David’s.”

I reached to snatch it back, but Collin refused to release it. “Ellie. There’s a video on it.”

My breath caught. “I want to see it.”

He held it close to his chest, pity in his eyes. “I think I should see it first.”

His pity only made me angrier. “Why? Are you trying to protect me? Too goddamned late for that. I’ve had to face more shit in the last couple of months than I did in my entire life before meeting you.”

“Ellie.”

“You can’t protect me from this, Collin. You can’t protect me from anything.”

He looked devastated. “I know.”

His hold loosened and I grabbed the phone with shaky fingers, holding it out so we both could see it.

Then I pressed play.

The video started with Miriam’s face. “Hello, Elinor. If you’re watching this, then you’ve discovered who I am. I want you to be completely aware of what you’re dealing with.” She stepped away from the frame, revealing David. He was tied to a chair, his face bloody.

My stomach jolted and I sucked in a breath. Collin snaked an arm around my back, pulling me to his side.

David looked at the screen, and I could tell that one of his eyes was starting to swell.

“Tell Elinor what we instructed you to say.”

“Go to bloody hell.” He spat blood at her and it landed on her skirt.

The man next him—the man who had gone out to talk to Miriam before she left—hit David in the face and his head slumped to the side.

I felt wobbly, but Collin’s hold tightened.

“I expected better manners from you, Dr. Preston,” she reprimanded in a disapproving tone. “Now tell Elinor what she needs to do.”

He looked at the camera, anger radiating from his body. “Ellie, don’t listen to her. Don’t do it.”

The man hit him again.

Miriam released an exaggerated sigh. “Dr. Preston, we really don’t want to have to do this, but you leave us with no choice.”

Blood dripped from his nose and down to his light-blue dress shirt. The one I’d ironed for him that morning, even though he’d protested he could do it himself. Hysteria bubbled below the surface and I struggled to keep it under control. “All right, but I want to give her a message first.”

Miriam hesitated. “Fine. But then you must deliver the message you were instructed to give.”

He looked into the camera, his face softening. “Ellie, listen to me.”

I released a soft whimper. They were beating the shit out of him and he was still only thinking about me.

He leaned forward as though he could get closer to me. “If something happens to me, don’t blame yourself. I wouldn’t give up a single minute with you. Give Myra’s boyfriend my regards. And remember that I love you, Ellie. I’ll always love you. Not even death can separate my love from you.”

“Enough,” Miriam shouted. “Deliver the instructions.”

“They want you to meet them in the Manteo aquarium at eleven on Tuesday night.” His gaze dropped as though he was ashamed, then he looked up again. “I’m sorry, Ellie. I didn’t want to tell them where the gate was, but they forced me.”

“He lied to them,” I blurted out.

His uninjured eye widened and his back stiffened. “But don’t do it, Ellie! Don’t meet them. They’ll kill me anyway, and they won’t let you go when they’re done.”

The man punched him twice more and David slumped in the chair. The camera turned back to Miriam. “Elinor, I hope I haven’t underestimated your attachment to young Dr. Preston. Meet us tomorrow night or we’ll deliver him to your front doorstep. And you won’t like the way he looks when we’re done with him.” Then the video ended.

I stared at the frozen frame on the screen. A sob broke loose and I reached back my hand to throw the phone across the room, but Collin grabbed my fist and pried the device loose before I could do it.

“I know you’re pissed, Ellie, but we need this phone.”

I leaned over my knees, my heart cracking into pieces as I finally let myself break down. What had they done to him? What more hell would he have to go through because of me? I struggled to catch my breath. No, the fucking Guardians were the ones who had beat the shit out of him. I needed to blame them. I choked on a sob again, remembering how his sweet face had looked in the video—bloody and bruised. My threat to Miriam wasn’t a bluff, and her video only made me hate her more. I stood up straight, my chest heaving as I fought to regain control. “Pissed? You think I’m only pissed?”

“Ellie.” He grabbed my shoulders and stared into my eyes. “I swear to you, I’ll do everything in my power to get him back. This is not done.”

My control broke again and tears clogged my throat. “I begged you to save him when I went after her. You told me you would and you didn’t . . . you came after me instead. Why should I believe you now?”

His hand cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing away my tears. “Because you’ll always come first. Above everyone and everything. Every fucking time, you’ll always come first.”

I shook my head and sagged into his chest and sobbed, some of the fight draining out of me.

His hand moved to the back of my head as his other arm wrapped around my back, holding me gently against him. “He was already gone by the time I got out back, Ellie. There wasn’t anything I could do. I’ll help you save him.”

His words filled me with hope. But I suddenly realized that I was back to where I was when all of this began—blindly following Collin. Well, I was no longer that naïve, stupid girl who’d followed him like a lost puppy. I was stronger now, and I knew things he didn’t. I jerked out of his grasp. Nothing good ever came from letting Collin take control. “Then you’ll have to tag along with me, because I’m going after him myself.”

Resignation filled his eyes and he took a step back. I reached over and grabbed my sword off the table and strode toward the door.

“Ellie, hold up.”

I spun at the waist and stared at him, my gaze cold. “Are you coming with me or not?”

“Hey, I’m all for going on a recovery mission, and you seem hell-bent on taking over,” he said, his tone light as he held his hands out at his sides. “And fine, I’ll let you. But what’s your plan?”

Asshole. I didn’t have one and he knew it.

He took a cautious step toward me. “Can I just make a suggestion?”

“What?”

“Before we leave, let’s look for clues.” He took my nonresponse as a sign to continue. “If they moved the collection out, they would have needed a big truck. Maybe someone noticed.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Who? This building is completely unoccupied except for this section. And the back faces a field. Who would have seen anything?”

A wry grin lifted his mouth. “Someone most people would ignore.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Come on.” He brushed past me as he moved to the back door, unlocked it, and then pushed it open.

I followed him out and down the steps next to the loading dock. A puddle of water sat in the middle section of the drive.

“I noticed this earlier, but it’s directly under an overhang and it rained last night. But now I think it’s condensation from a car or truck’s air conditioner.” He pointed to it. “This was how they took David.”

Fear rushed through my bloodstream, making me light-headed. Get it together, Ellie. “And it was gone when you got back here?”

“Yeah, I suspect they didn’t waste any time before starting their interrogation, and then they hauled him off before anyone could investigate. If they are really watching you—or me—then they probably even knew we were here.”

I put my left hand on my stomach to ground myself. “So what do we do with that?”

“Come here.”

I followed him down the stairs and around the corner, telling myself that following him didn’t mean I was giving him control. “Where are we going?”

“To talk to someone I noticed earlier.” His gaze drifted to my sword and he scowled. “You might want to keep that hidden. It doesn’t exactly make us look friendly.” Without waiting for an answer, Collin walked toward the end of the building and stopped next to a sunken doorway. An older man in dirty jeans and a faded army fatigue jacket lay on his side, curled into a fetal position on a piece of cardboard. He wore a stocking cap even though it was already at least eighty-five degrees.

I kept to the side and put the hand that was holding the blade behind my back. But I was carrying a three-foot sword—if the guy paid any attention to me, he would see it. I’d make it work, because there was no way Collin was questioning the guy on his own, and I wasn’t about to put the sword down.

Collin looked down at him. “I need your help.”

The man blinked, his clear blue eyes focusing on Collin. “I ain’t got time to help you. Can’t you see I’m sleepin’?” Then he closed his eyes again, curling up tighter.

Collin reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

The homeless man cracked one eye open.

Squatting next to him, Collin set a five-dollar bill on the concrete stoop. “Have you noticed anything unusual here in the last few weeks?”

The man pushed himself up into a sitting position and grabbed the money in his fist. “I keep to myself. It works better that way. That’s why I hang out back here.”

“I need to know if a big truck has been back here this week.”

The man eyed Collin’s wallet, his fingers fidgeting.

Collin put a ten on the pavement.

The man snatched it up. “Yeah, it was here last night. Big white truck with no words on the side. I had to hide in the corner because they’ve kicked me out before and I was comfortable in this spot.”

“So they’ve been here for a while?”

“Yeah, for about three weeks. The big truck came in and they unloaded lots of silver boxes. But last night another big truck came and took all the boxes away.”

Collin pulled another bill from his wallet and placed it in front of the man. “Tell me what you know, not what you think I want to hear.”

The man nodded and snagged the bill, bolder this time.

“Do you remember any defining characteristics about the people who came and went? Anything different about any of them?”

“The guys movin’ it all were just regular guys, but the cars were fancy, usually two of them. Two different men would come, both dressed in suits. Once there was a woman, all hoity-toity.”

“Was she older? Did she have white hair?” Collin asked. “A long stick up her ass?”

The man cracked a smile. “Yeah, that was her.”

“Did you hear anything they said?”

The old man shook his head. “Nope. I kept out of the way.”

“What about this morning?” Collin asked, shifting his weight and glancing toward the loading dock. “Did you see any activity back here?”

“Yeah, I saw a silver car leave just a bit ago. Didn’t see it come earlier, but like I said, I was sleepin’.”

The cry of a bird came from overhead. A shiver ran down my spine, but I took comfort in the fact that it was late morning and the sun was beating down on the pavement. My imagination was getting carried away.

Collin rested his forearms on his knees, balancing on the balls of his feet. “Did you see who got in it?”

When the man hesitated, Collin started to pull out more money.

Another bird cawed, joined by a third. Anxious, I spun around, the sword still in my hand, and moved into the center of the street.

Collin stood and narrowed his eyes. “Ellie?”

Screaming filled the air and three large, black birds started to circle over our heads. “Raven Mockers. What are they doing here?” I asked, shading my eyes to look at them.

“That’s impossible. Raven Mockers don’t come out in the daylight. They’re nocturnal.”

“Well, someone forgot to tell them that . . . that and everything else they’re not supposed to be doing.”

Two of the birds swooped down, landing in the middle of the road before they transformed into an old man and woman—the same woman who had killed Allison.

The old woman tilted her head to the side and studied Collin with a sly grin.

A shiver settled at the base of my neck and I lifted my sword, ready to defend him. My action caught her eye and she laughed, her eyes sparkling. “Curse Keeper, we meet again.”

“What do you want, Raven Mocker?” I asked.

“What I always want. To eat.” Her gaze was drawn back to Collin, while the male stood behind her. “Son of the earth,” she said with a smile. “I’ve been curious about you.”

Collin glanced from me to the Raven Mocker, clenching his fists at his sides. “Ellie is protected by Okeus. You can’t harm her.”

The Raven Mocker laughed and then lunged toward me, but she was purposely slow, as though she was taunting me. I jumped out of the reach of her claws, raising my sword.

Collin moved closer to me as she retreated.

The woman and man split apart, the man moving toward the building and the woman toward the field. We all stood about fifteen feet apart, facing each other.

“Okeus wants her protected,” Collin snarled.

“Okeus wants her alive,” she said. “And we don’t care what Okeus wants. We answer to another.”

The homeless man had climbed to his feet, though he was still in the sunken doorway. “Who are you talking to?”

The male Raven Mocker rushed toward the homeless man, sinking his claws into his shoulder, dragging down. The man screamed in pain and fright as blood soaked through his jacket.

Not again. I couldn’t watch them kill someone again.

The homeless man shrank back into the corner, grabbing his arm while he moaned. The male Raven Mocker paced back and forth in front of him, taking swipes at his face and arms, leaving surface wounds.

I started to rush to his aid, but Collin grabbed my arm, his fingers digging deep. “Ellie, stop.”

My mouth dropped open in shock and horror. “You’ll let them kill him?”

He didn’t answer, his face pale.

Disgust washed through me in hot waves. “Maybe you can stand back and watch him suffer, but I can’t.”

I jerked out of his hold and lifted my sword as I took several steps toward them. I needed to get between the Raven Mockers and the homeless man.

The bird overhead still circled and cawed.

The old woman lunged as I passed, purposely missing again. She laughed when I jumped out of her way and wielded my sword in a defensive position.

“Ellie. Goddamn it! Stop this! You’re going to get yourself killed!” Collin shouted.

The male Raven Mocker released a loud caw and the black bird overhead joined in, as though they were chanting a taunt.

The old woman grinned, her lips pulling back to reveal her yellowed razor-sharp teeth. She stood six feet away but she reached her hand toward me, rolling her fingers as if she wanted to dig them into my skin. “You are slow today, Curse Keeper. I think the Great One is wrong about you after all.”

“Okeus?” I asked, sliding closer to the doorway, and the old woman moved with me. Tsagasi had already said it wasn’t, but it didn’t hurt to get confirmation from one of the Raven Mockers.

She spat on the ground as she matched my movement, keeping her sharp eyes on me. “Someone more cunning than Okeus.”

“Ahone,” Collin grunted as he positioned himself closer to the male Raven Mocker.

“A thousand curses on Ahone’s head.” She spat again.

A glob of spit landed on the homeless man’s arm and sizzled. Smoke rose from the spot and he screamed.

Her eyes narrowed with hatred. “Soon he will pay for his transgressions.”

So if they weren’t working for either of the gods, who were they working for and why were they here now?

The only way to defeat them was to take the offensive. I stood at the corner of the doorway, the homeless man shrieking in pain behind me. He grabbed at the hem of my shirt, pulling me backward.

“Help me!” he screamed.

Collin was a good fifteen feet away from me now, with the male Raven Mocker circling around and separating us. Collin’s gaze shifted from the male Mocker to the female one and then to me, his eyes flying open in horror as I fought to untangle myself from the homeless man’s grasp. I jerked free and moved several feet to the side, but the injured man fell face-first on the street.

The old woman took advantage of my distraction and rushed toward us, clawing the man’s back. The angle was wrong—her side was to me—but maybe an injury would slow her down. I grabbed the sword with both hands and lifted it like a bat, swinging with all my strength and embedding the blade into her back.

She shrieked and bolted upright, nearly pulling the weapon from my grasp. “You will pay for that, Curse Keeper.” Thick black blood spilled onto the pavement as I wrenched my weapon free.

Collin’s face hardened as he glanced from me to the Raven Mockers, the homeless man still screaming in pain. Fear and anger filled his eyes as he ran between the demons and then turned to face me, lifting his palm. The mark on his hand began to glow.

“I am the son of the earth.”

The wind howled and a pinpoint vortex appeared.

“No, Collin!” I shouted above the gusts. “Let me destroy them!”

The old man’s face contorted in anger and he ran toward me, lashing out as a bird’s scream came out of his mouth. I held the sword in front of me with both hands and planted my feet, bracing myself. It was a risky move. Even if I dealt a killing blow, there was a strong likelihood he’d be able to claw me before he succumbed.

“ . . . born of space and heaven.” Collin’s firm voice boomed through the open space and my head.

The vortex widened and the suction increased. The old man was struggling to reach me while the old woman turned her attention to Collin. I decided to take the offensive and surged forward, sinking the sword deep into his chest. But even as I pushed the blade in with the continued momentum of my lunge, I knew it was too low. I had missed his heart. With the sword embedded in his chest, I was close enough for him to wrap his arms around my back. His claws sunk deep into my shoulder blades. A maniacal laugh escaped his mouth, followed by a putrid odor. The scent and the pain overwhelmed my senses, and the edges of my vision turned black.

Who would save David if something happened to me?

“I am black earth and sandy loams . . .”

I could hear the panic in Collin’s voice. The pure terror in it registered as a sticky warmth coating my back, plastering my shirt to my skin and trickling down, seeping into the waistband of my pants. How I separated his voice from the chaos going on around me was a mystery. But somehow it gave me strength. I couldn’t leave him either.

The wind grew stronger. The monster still had his claws embedded in my back, and they sank deeper yet, digging into my muscles and dragging outward toward my sides. I gritted my teeth to keep from giving him the satisfaction of a scream. His feet began to slide and I realized he was being pulled into the vortex.

And he planned on taking me with him.

“Don’t kill her, you fool!” the old woman shouted in anger. “The Great One needs her!”

“The mountain ranges and the rolling hills.” Collin’s voice faltered as he realized what was happening. The vortex shrank slightly and the wind lessened.

Fighting to keep conscious despite my pain, I instinctively bent at the knees and forced the sword higher into the monster’s chest, then to my right.

The old man’s eyes widened and he screamed before sinking his teeth into my shoulder. Then his body evaporated into a plume of black smoke.

I fell to my hands and knees, the sword tumbling from my hand and clattering onto the pavement. The old woman moved deliberately toward me, stopping only a few feet away from the screaming homeless man. He still lay on his stomach, his jacket ripped open, the muscles and skin of his back ripped into ribbons, blood covering his clothes and the street beneath him.

I realized my own back must look the same. Probably worse.

“I am the foundation of life and the receiver of death . . .”

The woman laughed, only it sounded like cackle. “So the Great One is right after all. You are a fighter.”

I looked up at her, my hair hanging in my face, my blood dripping into alarmingly large pools around me. “Go to fucking hell,” I snarled, trying to summon the strength to grab the sword and kill her, an unlikely act given the fact I was moments away from passing out from blood loss.

“ . . . and everything in between . . .”

The wind was hurricane force now, and the woman struggled to resist its pull.

Caught in the gusts of wind, the sword spun back and forth on the asphalt before starting to slide toward the hole. I lunged for it, stretching out my arm. But my coordination was gone and my arms flailed like a rag doll’s, sending intense pain searing through my back. I screamed as my fingers closed around the handle and I fell the rest of the way to the ground, my cheek scraping the pavement as I watched the Raven Mocker turn toward the homeless man.

“I compel you to leave my sight,” Collin shouted, fury in his voice.

In one movement, she thrust her hand into the homeless man’s back. His screams pierced my ears, only stopping when her wrist twisted with a sharp jerk. The wind swept her feet out from beneath her and pulled her backward as she ripped the man’s heart from the gaping hole in his back. Holding it up in triumph, the Raven Mocker took a bite as she disappeared into the vortex. The hole closed, but her evil laughter still rang in my ears as everything fell away and faded to black.

I was dying. I’d failed them all.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I was plunged into the blackest darkness I’d ever experienced and surrounded by an icy cold. Was this Popogusso? I fought to breathe, but my chest resisted the simplest command to draw in a breath. I was suffocating.

Collin called my name and I tried to answer him, but nothing came out. Instead, I felt myself falling and his voice became fainter and fainter.

Desperate, I reached out for anything to hold on to. My hands felt nothing but the dank, heavy air around me.

Was this how it would end?

The moans of countless creatures filled my ears and my panic resurfaced. I couldn’t spend the rest of eternity in Popogusso. Hysteria took over and I searched for an escape. But it was like I was running on a treadmill; there was nowhere to go. The moans and screams grew louder.

“Collin!” I screamed.

Then a searing pain exploded in my hand, shooting straight to my back, and a bright, blinding light flashed in front of my eyes. My spine arced as electricity shot through my body, jolting my nearly still heart and sending it racing. The band on my chest loosened and I sucked in a deep breath.

The Manitou of every living thing rushed through me with an intensity I’d never experienced. The sensation had always been peaceful and reassuring before, but this time it burned through my blood, filling every cell, and I cried out in pain and surprise. I was me, but not me. I was part of all living things, both in the sea and on the earth. I was everywhere and nowhere.

I was in Collin’s arms. His touch had brought me back.

Our connection was stronger than it had ever been before, and I not only felt his emotions—intense, overwhelming grief and panic—but my racing heart slowed down to synchronize to the rhythm of his, the rise and fall of our chests matching to the millisecond.

I felt his arms loosen around me as he realized I was not only alive but that we had a deeper access to each other than ever before.

We were literally two halves of a whole, separated by a thin veil. We stood on either side of it, our conscious minds aware of each other but neither one willing to make the breach.

I dragged my eyelids open and took in his pale face and his red, glassy eyes.

“Ellie,” he murmured in relief as he bent forward, resting his face on the top of my head. “Thank God.” His voice cracked with emotion.

Without releasing my hand, Collin sat on the ground with me draped across his lap. His grip on me tightened and his body shook with emotion.

“Oh, God, Ellie. I thought I’d lost you.” His grief and gratitude pushed through with his words, and I knew without a doubt that Collin had never been more frightened or more thankful in his life.

I stared up into his face, realizing that something about our connection had changed. I had always been able to feel him before, and while the veil between us was still intact, a wall I hadn’t known existed was gone.

“Thank you,” I murmured, but my mouth was dry and my tongue struggled to form the sounds. “You saved me.”

He let go of my hand, shutting down our connection, and pulled me closer. His eyes sank closed and he kissed my forehead. “You were dead, Ellie. You had no pulse.”

“I’m not dead now.” I didn’t want to think about what I’d experienced before Collin saved me. Nor the implications of where I’d be spending eternity.

I tried to sit up but realized my energy had faded now that we were no longer touching marks. I sagged into him, limp and useless. If a Raven Mocker were to attack us now, I wouldn’t even have the strength to lift my hand and recite the words of protection.

He felt my movement and released a heavy breath, searching my face. “How do you feel? Does your back hurt?”

“There isn’t any pain. I’m guessing our connection healed me?”

A soft smile barely lifted the corners of his mouth. “Yeah, but I thought I was too late.” His mouth pinched with anxiousness. “We have to get out of here. It’s not safe.”

“The third Raven Mocker?” I asked, looking for the bird.

“It was sucked into the vortex with the woman.”

At least those two would be gone for a while. I tried to move again, but my body was slow and sluggish.

Collin climbed to his knees and pulled me with him, but when he got us to our feet, my knees buckled and I fell against him. The front of his T-shirt was drenched in my blood, and a large puddle was still pooled in the street. How much blood had I lost?

“Don’t look at it, Ellie. You’re safe now.” He scooped me up in his arms and started for the corner of the building, but something shiny caught my eye.

“Collin, wait. The sword.” It lay on the pavement, several feet from the bloody body of the homeless man. He was one more person I had failed to save, but I couldn’t think about him right now. I was lucky to have survived myself.

Collin’s body tensed. “Fuck that goddamned sword,” he forced through gritted teeth as he kept moving toward the front of the building.

Some of my strength returned and I squirmed in his arms. “No! I need it!”

His feet froze and his face contorted in anger. “I’m not taking that fucking sword with us! It almost got you killed!”

“No!” I protested, still struggling, but I didn’t have the energy to fight him. I was barely hanging on to consciousness. “Collin, please. I need to be able to defend myself. You know there are countless creatures that have me on their hit list. Okeus’s protection isn’t enough.” I leaned my head on his shoulder. “You can’t leave me unprotected, Collin.”

I felt his resolve soften. “You won’t be unprotected, Ellie. I’ll be here for you.”

“You can’t be with me every minute of the day. I need to learn to defend myself.” I forced all my strength into lifting my hand to his cheek.

His gaze drifted to my face and I saw the terror in his eyes.

“Collin, please.”

He lowered his head until his forehead rested against my hair. “I’ll get it, but it doesn’t mean I’m just going to give it back to you.”

At least it was something.

Grumbling, he turned around and squatted next to the sword, then picked it up with me still in his arms. He carried the weapon in one hand, the blade pointing away from us. Collin’s truck was parked two streets over. He opened the passenger door and set me gently on the seat and buckled me in when I struggled to reach for my seat belt. The physical exertion from fighting him had sapped what little energy I had left, and sleep was quickly overtaking me.

“I’m tired.”

He cupped my cheek, searching my face. “You just fucking bled out, Ellie. I can’t believe you’re sitting here talking to me. You need sleep. Hell, you probably need a transfusion.” His gaze drifted from my shirt to his. “Do you have anything to wear in David’s car? We’re going to get a shitload of unwanted attention in these blood-soaked clothes.”

I nodded, or at least attempted to.

He shut my door and the truck engine turned over. My awareness faded, and when I came to again, he was back on my side of the vehicle. He stripped my shirt off and leaned me forward to look at my back. His fingers trailed down my spine, sending sensation shooting through me. “I can’t believe it. Not even a scar. Your back was ripped to shreds.” Then he tugged another shirt over my head and gently rested my head on the back of the seat.

“We have to save David,” I said, but my words were slurred like a drunk’s.

“We will,” he whispered next to my ear. “I promise.”

The truck began to move again, and I pried my eyes open. “Where are we going?”

His gaze turned to me, serious and protective. “Chapel Hill.”

Sleep took over before I could ask why. And when I awoke hours later, we were parked in front of David’s house and Collin was watching me with a guarded look.

I was on my left side, my back slumped against the door. At some point Collin had rolled the open window halfway up. “David’s house? Why are we here? How did you know where it was?”

“We need somewhere to clean up before heading to Durham. And I found his address in his bag.”

I pushed myself into a sitting position. “You had his bag?” But I also noticed he was wearing David’s short-sleeved button-down shirt—David’s favorite, a white and blue plaid. Anger raged to life inside me, accompanied by the irrational desire to demand he take it off. But Collin’s shirt had been soaked in my blood. It was smart for him to change, and I was sure that Collin hated wearing David’s clothes.

“I got all your personal belongings out of David’s car before we left Charlotte.”

“Why Durham?”

He hesitated. “I want to talk to Myra and especially her boyfriend. David wouldn’t have mentioned him for nothing.”

“Oh.” After my encounter with Myra yesterday morning, I wasn’t sure how well she’d take it if I showed up at her doorstep with Collin in tow. But Collin was right. David’s message had to mean that Steven must know something. Had Myra told Steven anything about the curse? Had he sold me out?

“I called the number on the phone while you were sleeping and arranged the meeting for tomorrow night at eleven. They agreed to give me the spear, but not the sword. But I want to know what these people know about us and how they found out. We need to figure out a way to get the three of us out of this alive and unharmed, so the more we know going in, the better.”

“The three of us?”

He nodded, looking solemn. “I promised to help save him, and I intend to make good on my word. We will get him back, Ellie.”

I couldn’t answer without breaking down again. Instead, I looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was close to two o’clock. It was hard to believe that so little time had passed since David and I first arrived in Charlotte. “So what’s your plan?”

“Let’s go shower, change clothes again, and try to set up meetings with the both of them for this afternoon. Then we’ll head back to the Outer Banks. You need the ocean.”

I couldn’t argue with him.

“I considered driving straight to the shore, but we really need to talk to Myra and her boyfriend in person. I’m pretty good at reading people. I think I’ll be able to tell if he’s lying.” His eyes hardened. “And if he is, I’m going to find out the truth.”

I couldn’t stomach the thought of Steven betraying me, but at this point I could count the people I trusted on one hand. “It’s a good plan.”

He wove his fingers through mine. “Do you know where a spare key to the house is? I can pick the lock if you don’t.”

“I don’t think he has one.”

“Wait here while I take care of it and I’ll come back to get you.”

He was out the door before I could answer.

My eyelids felt heavy again and I let them close for a moment before jerking them open. I didn’t have time to sleep. We needed to get this information. Now. I couldn’t leave David with those people. What were they doing to him?

Tears squeezed through the corners of my eyes and Collin’s voice surprised me.

“I’m going to carry you inside.”

I tried to lift my forehead so I could look him in the eye. “I can walk.”

“I know you can, Ellie.” But he scooped me up anyway and carried me into the house, setting me down on the sofa. “You really need to shower. Do you think you can stand for long enough?” He sounded worried.

“Yeah.” I sank back into the cushions, letting my eyes close again. “Just give me a minute.” But when I opened my eyes, it was dark and the air around me was cold.

I was really dead this time.

I bolted upright, screaming Collin’s name as hysteria swamped me. He pulled me into his arms in an instant.

“Ellie. It’s okay. You’re safe.”

“It was dark and cold,” I forced out between sobs. “I thought I was dead again.”

“No. It’s nighttime. You’re safe.” He held me for a long time until I calmed down, and then he unwrapped his arms from me and slid off the bed. Seconds later a light turned on in David’s bathroom and Collin cracked the door before coming back and sitting next to me.

I was in David’s house. On his bed with Collin.

This was so wrong.

“I thought we were going to Durham,” I said, confused.

“Ellie, you passed out. I almost put you back in the truck and drove you to Nags Head, but Tsagasi convinced me to wait. We decided the best thing was to let you sleep.”

“You met Tsagasi.” My mouth cracked with the hint of a grin.

“Stubborn little ass, isn’t he,” Collin grumbled.

“You could say that.” I was already tired again. How was that possible? “What time is it?”

“Two thirty.”

“In the morning? So I wasted a full day.”

“No. You died or came damn near close. Your back might be healed, but you need the ocean to fully recover. But Tsagasi thinks it’s too important for us to meet with your stepmother and her boyfriend for us to leave now.”

“I’m surprised you listened to him.”

“Well, I didn’t at first.” He ran a hand through his ruffled hair, a sly grin spreading across his face. “But the little shit got my attention when he jolted me with a bolt of electricity.”

“He has a way of getting his point across.”

Collin’s shoulders tensed. “Ellie, I’ve watched the video a few more times.”

My head jerked up. “Why?”

“To see if I missed anything. We were both pretty spooked the first time we watched it.”

I fought my rising tears as the memory of David’s battered face filled my head. I refused to break down. I was already weak enough. “And did you figure anything out?”

“No, the only thing that stands out is David’s message about Myra’s boyfriend.” He turned to look at me and took my hand in his. “Who is her boyfriend? I take it David knows him.”

Of course Collin wouldn’t know. I hadn’t thought to tell him earlier. “Um . . . yeah. Steven was a researcher at the colony. He invited David to Manteo to spend two weeks at the colony. They both stayed at our house because the bed and breakfast was full.”

His face lowered closer to mine. “He invited David? So they’re friends?”

“Yes, but David hasn’t talked to him lately, and I know he hasn’t told Steven about the curse.” I looked into Collin’s eyes. “He’s always very careful.”

“But Steven could have gotten information from Myra.”

“Yeah . . . I guess . . . ”

“Is there anything else tying Steven to this collection?”

“Oh, God.” I nearly passed out as the truth hit me. “Momma. After she saw the Ricardo Estate, she called Steven. She wanted to call the police, but he convinced her to wait.” I couldn’t stop the tears this time. “I don’t understand. When he told me about this a few weeks ago, he seemed genuinely upset.” I shook my head. “He’s been part of this all along.”

Collin sucked in a breath. “Maybe. Maybe not. But we’ll find out. I promise.”

“Okay.”

We sat together for several minutes before he stood. “I’ll be back in a minute. Are you okay?”

I nodded. I knew he was asking if I was okay with him leaving me. There was no way I was okay in general, and we both knew it.

He got up and left the room, returning less than a minute later with a plate and a glass. “You need to eat to help regain your strength.” He set the plate on my lap and clicked on the bedside lamp.

“A hamburger? Where did you get this? I know for a fact David didn’t have any.”

He scowled. “Your little friend forced me to get you takeout. I refused to leave you unprotected, but three of his friends showed up to stand guard while I was gone.”

I groaned. “His brother and two Nunnehi warriors?”

“Yeah . . . actually . . . ”

“Oh no.” I leaned my head back against the headboard. “I only had six more times. Now I’ve wasted one.”

Collin shook his head. “You lost me.”

I explained my blood oath and our agreement.

“You didn’t lose anything, Ellie. Tsagasi told you to call on him when you need to use their protection.”

“But you said they showed up and guarded me.”

“Yes, but they volunteered.”

“Why would they do that?” I shook my head in confusion.

“Ellie, they call you the salvation of the world. They think you’re going to save them.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Then they’ll be bitterly disappointed, won’t they?” I asked with an acrid laugh. “Shall we run through the very long list of people I have not only disappointed but gotten killed?”

“Ellie.” Collin’s voice was soft and gentle. “Stop.”

When I looked into his face, I was grateful to see no pity there, only understanding.

“You need to eat. We need you to be strong enough to go to Durham tomorrow.”

I nodded and took a bite of the hamburger. “This is cold,” I mumbled through a mouthful.

“I can’t help it if you slept for hours and hours,” he teased, but it was forced.

“Ever heard of a microwave?”

He laughed and took the plate from me. “Glad to see you’re feeling better. I’ll be right back, Diva Princess.”

“Cold hamburgers are disgusting,” I called after him.

He’d been gone for several seconds when I heard a pounding on the front door.

“Curse Keeper.” My title floated through the house with authority, rippling through the air as though it were smoke. This was different from any other time I’d had a house call. I could feel it in the simmering burn in the mark on my hand.

Pure unadulterated panic shot through my body. After my most recent experience, I definitely didn’t feel prepared to face anything supernatural. But I scooted to the edge of the bed and put my bare feet on the floor.

Halfway across the living room, I heard the pounding again.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Collin asked in disbelief, standing in the kitchen doorway.

“Getting this visit over with. It won’t go away until I answer, and they usually last for less than a minute.”

“You need to go back to bed.” He sounded angry. And scared.

I stopped in front of the door, the knob in my hand. I turned to him, wariness washing through me. “You re-marked the doors, didn’t you?”

“Will you stop this madness if I tell you no? You’re in no condition to deal with a supernatural visitor.”

Collin had marked my doors for over a month when he thought I was safe. There’s no way he would have left them unmarked when I was in this state. Before he could stop me, I pulled the door open.

I gasped when I saw who was on the other side.

Okeus.

His eyebrows lifted in a bored expression. “Ellie, you have a penchant for finding trouble.”

“Uh . . . ” I was literally speechless. I’d had plenty of visits at my door since the curse broke, but never from Okeus. He always had me brought to him. His terms, his location. My eyes shot to the door. Had Collin tricked me? No, the familiar symbols covered the door in heavy charcoal, joined by ones I’d never seen before.

“May I come in?” the god asked with a wry grin.

At least I was starting to regain my senses. “No.”

“No?” he asked equally amused and irritated. “I’m surprised the spirit world hasn’t given you another title to add to your growing list.”

“And what’s that?”

“Defier of the gods.”

When I didn’t respond with one of my usual barbed answers, Okeus became more serious.

“I sent Mekewi to warn you about the Raven Mockers.”

“The wind god of the south?” I grabbed the side of the door and leaned into it before I fell over. “Yeah, his warning was pretty vague. You might want to start sending more helpful messages. A copy of Killing Raven Mockers for Dummies would have been a nice place to start.”

A smirk lifted his lips. “And if I gave you such a manual, would you let me in?”

“Hell no.”

His grin fell. “You nearly died, witness to creation. You’re no good to me dead.”

I put a hand over my heart. “That is one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me. I suppose you want me to say I’m sorry?” When he didn’t respond, I snorted. “A big powerful god like you didn’t send one of his abominations to protect his potential brood mare. Sounds like somebody messed up.”

Okeus’s eyes glowed bright red, and he released a loud roar that shook the house and made my ears ring.

Collin was behind me in seconds. “It was my fault. She was in my care. I tried to stop her from engaging with the Raven Mockers, but she’s persistent. She was attacked before I could stop her or them.”

Okeus turned his evil gaze on Collin. “If a Raven Mocker comes anywhere near her again, you are to get rid of it without hesitation. Is that understood?”

Collin’s body stiffened. “Yes.”

“Good.”

I’d never seen Collin so subservient, and I had to admit I didn’t like it.

“Elinor,” Okeus said with an air of authority. “Tomorrow night you will receive a very powerful weapon. Ahone wants you to use it to help him.”

“Let me guess—you want me to use it to help you instead?”

“Ahone will use you again and he will demand another sacrifice. I’m sure you can imagine who.”

“David,” I whispered, fresh terror washing through me.

“Ahone has distanced himself from his children for so long he no longer knows how to show them love and mercy. He wishes to separate you from all that you love so that you will be dependent on him. But Ellie, I assure you that I wish to show you my kindness.”

“For a price,” I said, but my fight was gone. Only horror was left.

“Everything comes with a price. You pay for everything you own and use, from your clothing, to your food, to the shampoo that makes you smell of spring flowers.”

I wasn’t sure I liked that Okeus was so familiar with my scent.

“You wear Ahone’s mark, yes, but you can still choose me. I will give you what he chooses to take: I will protect the people you love.”

My heartbeat thudded in my ears and Collin pressed his chest into my back. I felt him tense.

“I know you don’t trust me, and I understand why,” Okeus said, placing his hand on his chest. “I give you my word, Curse Keeper. If you agree to my arrangement, I will save the people you love. You only have to name them, and they will be protected.”

“From everything? The demons and Ahone?”

“Yes, if you agree.”

Could it really be that easy? I could make sure David, Myra, Claire, Drew, and Collin were kept safe from all the threats around us.

Then he added, “But the arrangement has changed.”

Weariness washed over me. Of course it had. “You and I both know that you can forcibly impregnate me anytime you want. So why is my cooperation so important to you?”

“Because I see the potential in you. And let us not pretend that if I forced you to carry my child, I wouldn’t then have to imprison you to make sure you didn’t harm it. To do so would break your spirit, and it’s that spirit I need to create the perfect children that would result from our union.”

“Before, you wanted me to have your baby. What do you want now?”

“For you to be my partner.”

This couldn’t be happening. “What does that mean?”

“Ellie, you will be my queen, the mother of a new race. You will be revered and loved for all eternity. And the humans you love will be protected.”

My mouth opened, but no words came out.

“I will save David from the Guardians. If you agree right this moment, I’ll have him retrieved and delivered to you within the hour.”

I shook my head in dismay. “Queen? What does that mean?”

He grinned. “Ellie, you are a bright woman, which is one of the things I most appreciate about you. You know what it means.”

I stared at him, trying to wrap my head around his words.

“You will be an excellent queen. Our many children will love you, and you will never be alone again.”

Many children?

“I sense your reluctance to make such a big decision so hastily,” he said, his voice lowering. “So you have until tomorrow night to decide. While considering your answer, think about this . . . ” He leaned closer to the doorway. “I am not the only one who wants you for your power, but I’m the only one who’s offering you something in return. Who’s the malevolent one now?”

Then he was gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Collin pulled me backward into the house and shut the door. “You need to go back to bed.”

I was still numb with shock. “I could have saved David—right now—and I didn’t do it.” My voice broke. “I didn’t do it.”

He grabbed my shoulders, his eyes penetrating mine. “Ellie, you can’t make a decision like that on the spot, not even to save David.”

I started to protest, but he shook his head. “Ellie, I know you love him. I can feel it when we’re connected; your love for him fills me until I’m choking on it. This isn’t some crush. It’s the real fucking deal. Do I like it? No, I hate it.” Anger blazed in his eyes, then just as quickly faded. “But I love you. I’m the one who made your life this hell”—he grabbed the side of my head, his fingers digging into my hair—“but I’m going to help you fix it.”

Being this close to him sent my hormones into overdrive, and I pressed my chest against him, lifting my mouth to his before I could stop myself. Fresh horror washed over me. I might love David, but I was still irresistibly drawn to Collin.

“Ellie, don’t be ashamed,” Collin murmured. “We can’t help the way we feel. It’s part of the curse. I think Ahone’s plan is that my overwhelming attraction to you will be my downfall.”

I blinked up at him through tears. Collin’s destiny had been determined by Ahone just like mine was. Only Collin had been set up for destruction because of what his father had done and because I was a witness to creation. I was just as responsible for Collin’s predicament as I was for David’s. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. You called it hormones and magic. Maybe you’re right. Maybe this connection between us isn’t real. Maybe it’s all an illusion. So we’ll just keep trying to fight it.”

He was right. So why did his words make me feel so lost?

He took a deep breath and released his hold on me. “I mean what I said. I’ll help you save David. The offer still stands.”

The weight of his words settled on me. “You mean you’ll help me if I choose not to accept Okeus’s offer?” I shook my head. “He won’t like it.”

He put an arm around my back and steered me into the bedroom. “You need to get more sleep. You need your energy for tomorrow.”

“Will you stay with me?” I asked. I knew it was a bad idea, but I couldn’t be alone.

A war raged in his eyes before he gently pushed me to a sitting position on the bed. “I’ll bring your once-again cold hamburger and sit with you until you go to sleep.”

“Thank you.”

When he returned with the rewarmed food, he sat on David’s side, fully clothed, his back pressed against the headboard. He watched me eat half the hamburger before he shifted on the bed. “Tsagasi helped put some things in perspective earlier.”

I put the burger on my plate and turned to face him. “Like what?”

“My role in all of this.” He looked into my eyes. “Ellie, I’m going to help you.”

“You mean tomorrow night? You already told me you would, and I know the sacrifice it entails. It means more to me than you know, Collin.”

“No. Not just tomorrow night.” He paused. “From here on out.”

I inhaled sharply and jerked backward to get a better view of his face. “What?”

“You’re not seriously considering Okeus’s offer, are you?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I have the chance to save everyone I love. How can I reject it offhand?”

“You don’t want to be his queen.”

I shrugged and looked away from him. “There are worse things than being a queen.” Thinking about being his queen was preferable to thinking about mothering the new race he envisioned. Would they be monsters like his other biological children? Could I love them?

“You know he’s not telling you everything.” He grabbed my hand, wrapping his fingers around my palm. “Okeus is a tricky bastard. He might save the people you love, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get to be with them. You might never see them again if he has his way.”

I took a deep breath. “I know. But to really love someone means that you’re willing to give them up to save them, right?” My hand tightened around his. “Maybe this is the one last good thing I can do before . . . ” Before I became the mother to monsters.

“Do you really think David wants you to sacrifice yourself to save him? Seriously?” There was no recrimination in his voice, only insistence. “And Claire. Hell, she’ll track you down to wherever Okeus lives and drag you back herself.”

I laughed, but it had to squeeze past the lump in my throat. “And what about you?” I asked.

“What about me?” He sounded gruff.

“Your name will be on my list, Collin. What will you do?”

He grabbed my chin and tipped my face up so that our eyes met. “If you give yourself over to him to save me, I will find the fucking Sword of Galahad, hunt Okeus down, and neuter the bastard myself.”

I gasped at the intensity in his gaze. I had no doubt that he meant it.

“Ellie, you’ve decided to turn your back on Ahone. What if I turn mine on Okeus? Tsagasi and his friends declare no allegiance to either god. What if we follow their lead and make our own side?”

I stared at him in disbelief, wondering if I’d heard him wrong.

“We’ll find another way, Ellie. I promise. Just trust me. We’ll find another way to save everyone.”

I nodded, too tired to fight.

He took the plate off my lap and set it on the bedside table. Still sitting up, he pulled me against him, resting my head on his chest. “Get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us. Don’t you worry. We’re in this together. We’ll get David back, and we’ll get the weapons too. After we get through tomorrow night, we’ll start worrying about the future.”

I shook my head slowly. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you.”

“I know. It goes against everything I’ve been saying since we met, but Tsagasi made a lot of sense. I think he’s right.”

I fell asleep against his warm chest and woke up to the sunlight streaming through the bedroom window. I was still in the same position, and when I looked up, Collin was sleeping.

He felt me stirring and his eyes cracked open. “Please tell me there is coffee in this house.”

“I think there is somewhere.”

He leaned to the side to check his phone. “It’s already eight. Why don’t we get ready to go. We’ll find out Steven’s schedule so we can ambush him at the university.”

“You don’t even know that he’s guilty.” I couldn’t believe the seemingly sweet, kind man who had been friends with my parents—and was dating my stepmother—might have arranged for David to be kidnapped. But I couldn’t ignore David’s suggestion that he was involved somehow.

“I’m going to presume he’s guilty until he proves otherwise.”

“That’s not how the United States works, Collin,” I said.

He lifted his eyebrows. “Obviously you’ve only been on the right side of the law, or you’d think differently.”

“Maybe you can take this opportunity to get on the right side of the law.”

He laughed. “I think it’s too late for that. Now get ready. I need coffee.”

Sleep and food had helped restore some of my strength, but I was still slower and weaker than normal. I was definitely in no shape to fight demons, let alone gods. Hopefully, when we got back to the Outer Banks, the ocean would revive my strength.

I was still caked in blood, so I showered and then dressed in the clothes I’d worn on Sunday. Myra would be sure to notice, but everything else I had was covered in gore—my own, Allison’s, and Raven Mockers’. I hoped this wouldn’t become a trend.

When I emerged from the bathroom fully dressed, towel-drying my hair, Collin filled me in on his progress. He had called Steven’s office, claiming to be a student, and asked about his office hours.

“He has an eight-thirty class, and then he’s going to have office hours from ten until eleven-thirty.”

“So when do you want to go?”

“The earlier the better. I want to cut him off before he makes it to his office after his class. He’ll be in his own environment there, which will give him an edge. If we catch him on the go, it’ll shake things up in our favor.”

“Okay.” I still felt wrong about not warning Myra that Steven could have betrayed us, but we had no proof. At this point it was a wild guess. And unlike Collin, I really did believe in the presumption of innocence.

“Let’s drive over to Durham now. It might take us a while to find parking.”

It turned out that Collin was right. We spent twenty minutes looking for a place to park and another ten minutes locating the history building. The campus was bustling with the excitement of the new school year, but I was full of dread, especially since my palm started to itch as we walked past the library.

“Did you feel that?” I asked, turning to Collin.

“Yeah,” he mumbled with a scowl.

“I’ve had that same itch off and on for a couple of weeks. Like something’s there but not.”

“I think the smarter demons are figuring out how to camouflage themselves,” he said as we approached the door to the history building. “We’ll have to be more careful.”

“Great.” But I could see the truth in his words. If there was a way to hide from us, it made sense that some of them had figured it out.

Collin held the door open and followed me inside. “Back to Steven . . . our biggest question right now is if he typically keeps his class the entire time it’s scheduled or if he likes to let them out early,” he said, watching the students pass us in the hall. “Does he enjoy hearing himself talk?”

I glanced up at him with a scowl. “What kind of question is that?”

He tilted his head to the side with a smirk. “Does he talk a lot or not?”

I shook my head and admitted, “He talks a lot.”

“Then we go to his classroom.”

When we reached the second floor, I peered into his classroom, which was still full. Students furiously typed notes into their laptops while Steven stood at the front of the class.

“Good call,” I said. “He’s still lecturing.”

Collin shrugged with a smug grin. “So now we need a plan. We’ll catch him by surprise. Introduce me as a friend.”

“He knows that David’s living with me. He’s going to think it’s weird for me to be here with you.”

“Then tell him I’m a colleague of David’s.”

I looked him up and down, taking in his T-shirt and faded jeans, which hung on his hips in a very alluring way. I felt myself flush.

“Eyes up, Ellie. Focus.”

I cringed.

He chuckled. “You don’t think I look like a college professor?”

“Not just that. I’m sure Steven probably knows anyone who’s important enough to work on anything Roanoke related.”

“Then tell him I’m a family friend and don’t elaborate.”

“If he tells Myra, she’ll instantly know who you are.”

“I don’t care what he finds out about me after we leave. Right now we need the upper hand.”

“Okay.” This still felt wrong, but if there was the slightest chance he knew something that might help David, it was worth it, consequences be damned.

Collin put his hand on my arm and lowered his voice. “Don’t tell him anything about David being taken. Let’s see if he shows any signs of knowing it when we start asking questions. I’ll be able to tell if he feels guilty about something.”

I nodded. That sounded smart. “But he’s going to wonder why I’m not with David. And Myra knows I was in Chapel Hill with David this weekend. I had breakfast with her on Sunday.”

His head lowered closer to mine. “Was Steven there?”

“No, she wanted to talk to me alone. I was fine with it since I wanted to consult her about selling the inn.”

He froze. “You’re selling it?”

I sucked in a deep breath, the pain of my decision stabbing me with guilt once again. “Now’s not the time to discuss that.”

“Ellie,” his hand tightened on my arm. “You gave up everything for that place. You hawked the cup on multiple occasions to get money to keep it afloat. How can you just let it go?”

Now he sounded like Myra, making me once again question my decision. “Sometimes you have to know when to let something go. Just like this topic.” I heaved a sigh. I had enough to worry about without adding the inn to the mix. “I’ll tell Steven you’re a family friend; then what do we do?”

“Tell him you have a question about the colony. He’s an early-American history buff, right?”

I couldn’t hold back a smart-ass grin. “If you want to call a master’s and a PhD in the topic a buff, then yes.”

He laughed. “Ask him if he found any weapons when he was there, particularly swords, and we’ll see how he reacts.”

“But we’re not interested in weapons at the colony.”

“Right, but it will provide a natural segue into the work of the Guardians. If he’s involved with them, he’s going to know about them collecting the artifacts. Once you get him talking about weapons, let me take over.”

“Okay.”

Five minutes later, the door to Steven’s classroom opened and students poured out of the room as Collin pulled me around the corner to another hall. We waited several minutes and I was starting to worry that we’d missed him when I saw him round the corner, looking down at a stack of folders in his hand.

“That’s him.” I moved toward him, Collin following close behind me. My heart raced, and I forced myself to breathe normally. If Steven was involved, or if he at least knew something, I needed to get as much information from him as possible. Freaking out wouldn’t help a thing.

“Steven!” I called out, sounding bright and happy. I had no idea how I pulled it off when I felt like I was about to throw up. Maybe Collin was right about me being a natural con artist.

Steven looked up, confusion flickering on his face, then smiled when he caught sight of me. “Ellie, what a wonderful surprise. What are you doing here?” He didn’t act like a man who was wracked with guilt over the kidnapping of his colleague and the boyfriend of his girlfriend’s daughter.

“David’s in Chapel Hill doing some research. I’m surprised Myra didn’t tell you.”

“She did, but she said you were headed back yesterday.”

“We got delayed.”

Steven’s gaze had turned to Collin, not that it was surprising. Collin had a commanding presence, despite what he said about his ability to go unnoticed. I was far from convinced that he was capable of blending in anywhere.

“Steven, this is my friend, Collin.”

His eyes flickered with uncertainty for a moment before his mouth stretched into a smile. He extended his hand. “Hello, Collin.”

“Nice to meet you Dr. Godfrey,” Collin said, shaking his hand.

“What are you two doing at Duke? I believe Myra has a free period this morning if you’re hoping to see her.”

I smiled up at him. “Actually, I wanted to see you.”

“Me?”

“David has come across some interesting information in his research. I was hoping to ask you a specific question about what you found at the colony while you were there.”

“Why didn’t David just call?”

Oh, crap. Think, Ellie. Think. “There was a departmental staff meeting today. Since he’s been out of town, he felt he should go.” I leaned closer. “He wanted to cross-reference some information he found in the library, which is why he asked me to talk to you.” My smile widened. “I hope that’s okay.”

His forehead wrinkled and he looked unconvinced. “Sure, but can we talk on the way to my office? I believe I have a student waiting for me.”

“Of course.”

I fell into step beside him, with Collin on his opposite side. Steven cast him a quizzical glance and then turned to me. “What do you need to know?”

“Did you find any weapons at the site? Maybe some spears or swords?”

“Or any other weapons of significance,” Collin added.

Steven slowed and his face paled. He glanced at Collin and back to me before he continued to walk. “Of course, Ellie. It was a colony on the brink of a war. We expected them to have weapons, and they did.”

A heaviness filled my heart. It was obvious from Steven’s reaction that he was involved, and although Collin said he’d take over the questioning, I saw another way to draw Steven out that wouldn’t occur to Collin. “David’s ex-girlfriend was an expert on weapons from the Middle Ages. She told me about a special sword from the Crusades. She showed me a photo of it too.”

He rubbed his forehead, breaking eye contact. “Myra mentioned that you were in Chapel Hill this weekend because David’s ex-girlfriend had seen a collection of weapons and he wanted to speak with her about it.”

Sweat broke out at the base of my head. I only told Myra David was meeting a colleague—no other details.

Collin moved in front him. “Dr. Godfrey, do you happen to know anything about the Ricardo Estate?”

His mouth opened then closed like a fish’s.

“Ellie’s mother spoke to you about it fifteen years ago. I’m sure you remember it. It happened shortly before her murder.”

Steven took several more steps before stopping and turning back to look at him. “And who are you again?”

“I’m Ellie’s friend.” His face hardened. “And you didn’t answer the question.”

Steven turned to me, anger tensing his shoulders. “Ellie, what is the meaning of this? Does David know this man is here?”

“Steven, I’m sorry.” I tried to look contrite, but I had to force it. I wanted to punch him in the face myself, but we were already showing too much of our hand. We’d be lucky to get him to give anything away. “Collin is a family friend.”

“You didn’t answer the question, Dr. Godfrey,” Collin repeated. “What do you know about the collection that got David’s ex-girlfriend killed on Saturday night?”

Obviously, Collin had assumed the bad cop role.

Steven’s face turned white. “I don’t have to answer anything.” He swallowed. “In fact, I’m going to call security.”

“Steven, please,” I said.

He looked around, his eyes wild, before pinning me with his gaze. “Ellie you need to stay out of this.”

I grabbed his arm. “I can’t . . . because of David. Please.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t help you.” He shrugged off my hand and took two steps down the hall, which had gotten more crowded in the last minute.

“We know about the Guardians,” Collin said.

Steven stopped and turned around, his face expressionless. “What did you say?”

“We know about the Guardians.” Collin took a step closer and lowered his voice. “And we know what they’re doing.”

He spun around, hurrying toward the open elevator car at the end of the hall. We ran after him but had to push our way through a group of students, and the doors closed before we could reach it.

“Now what do we do?” I asked.

“He obviously has information we need, so we’ll stake out his office. He said he was meeting with a student, although that might have been a ruse to get rid of us.”

“Do you think he knows about David?”

“No. If this group has levels of membership, he must be at a very low level. He sucks at subterfuge. He gave away so much without even saying a single word, but he asked if David knew you were here with me and he didn’t look like he was being coy. He doesn’t know what happened.”

“So what is his involvement?”

“I suspect they use him to get information, but give him little in return.”

Just as I pushed the elevator call button, the doors opened and Myra walked out. Her eyes widened and she stopped in her tracks. “Ellie! What are you doing here? I thought you left yesterday.”

“We had to come back. I needed to ask Steven a few questions.”

She moved to the side, grabbing my hand and pulling me with her.

My palm tingled.

I looked up at her wide-eyed. Why was my palm burning now? My gaze fell to the base of her throat. She was wearing a round pendant with symbols raised in bas-relief. “Myra, what’s that?”

Her hand lifted to it. “This? After Steven saw the markings on my door, he gave me this on Sunday night. Wasn’t that sweet of him?”

My stomach dropped. “I don’t think it’s safe, Myra. You need to take it off.”

“Ellie, what’s gotten into you? Is this your way of getting back at me for bringing up my concerns about David?”

“What? No!”

“Then what are you doing here? You said you wanted to ask Steven questions. What kind of questions?”

“About something he may have found at the colony site.”

“You could have just called him.” She cast a glance to Collin.

I considered introducing her to Collin. While she’d never met him in person, she knew enough about him from what little I’d told her to disapprove. Ignoring him seemed the best policy unless she asked. “We stuck around Chapel Hill yesterday, so I thought I’d just come over and see him. And of course you.”

“I wish I had more time to spend with you, but I’m on my way to a class. Will you be around for lunch?”

“No,” Collin said. “We need to get going.”

“Oh.” She frowned at Collin. “Well, I guess this will just be a quick hello and good-bye then.” She hugged me tight and whispered in my ear. “Be careful, Ellie. Think this through, and don’t let poor David get hurt.” She pulled back and cast a dark scowl at Collin before hurrying down the hall.

“I don’t think your stepmother likes me much.” He laughed. “I can usually charm the mothers. It’s the fathers who tend to hate me.”

“Wow, that’s a shocker,” I said sarcastically as I watched her round the corner. “She’s worried I’m going to hurt David by being with you.”

Collin’s smile fell. “Let’s go find Dr. Godfrey and then get on the road to Manteo. David told them the location was by the aquarium, so I’d like to scope it out and find a possible place to use as our supposed gate to Popogusso.”

“Let’s make it next to the sound. Who knows, Big Nasty might show up to help me.”

“Good idea.”

We took the stairs up one flight, looking for Steven’s office. When we found it, the door was locked and several students were waiting in the hall.

“Have you seen Professor Godfrey?” Collin asked.

A guy who looked like he should be in high school frowned. “No, but I had an appointment with him and he hasn’t shown up.”

A woman walked past the group, casting a glance at the closed door. “Dr. Godfrey won’t be in for the rest of the day. I just ran into him in the hallway. He was rushing out the door and he told me he was going home sick.”

Collin’s eyebrows shot up. “Come on. Let’s go.”

When we left the building and were walking across campus, Collin looked down at me. “Do you have a home address for him? He’s sure to have it unlisted to keep students from showing up at his house.”

I pulled my phone out of my purse. “I think I have his cell phone number and his address from when Myra first started visiting him here.” I pulled up my list of contacts. “Here it is. Myra was paranoid about leaving me alone, so she made sure I had lots of contact information for her.” I rattled off the street address.

“Good. We’ll head over there, but I suspect we might be too late. He’s scared and he’s running. When a herd animal is scared, it almost always runs to its herd for protection. If we can find him, we might be able to follow him to the Guardians.”

The embers of hope kindled, but I kept the feeling contained. There were a lot of what-ifs in following him to the Guardians, and even more what-ifs in him leading us to David. And along with the hope came disappointment. One more person had hurt me. I’d trusted Steven. He’d slept in my house, and he’d convinced Myra to move to Durham. Did he intend to hurt her? My head swam with questions and overwhelming heartache. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.

I turned to look at Collin, now unsure about everything. If I couldn’t trust Steven, who could I trust? I stopped on the sidewalk and someone bumped into my back. I stumbled forward as Collin took several more steps before realizing I wasn’t with him.

He turned around, a quizzical look on his face. “Ellie?”

Would Collin betray me again too? I was far from certain that I could handle it if he did.

He closed the distance between us, searching my face. “What’s wrong?”

“Can I trust you?”

Confusion flickered in his eyes along with something else. Anger? Disappointment? He grabbed my right hand and cradled it between both of his, the mark on my palm tingling from the proximity to Collin’s.

I tried to pull away, but he held me in place.

“Collin, if you plan to betray me in any way tonight, whether it’s out of your control or not, just leave me here and I’ll find my own way back to Manteo.” My voice broke.

His face softened. “Ellie.”

Tears filled my eyes. “I’m letting you get close to me again, and if you go behind my back to help Okeus or someone else, I don’t think I can take it. It will destroy me. So please, Collin, I beg you, if that’s what you’re doing, just leave me here.”

He shook his head. “No. I promise you, I’m supporting you all the way in this thing. I won’t trick you or betray you.” He grabbed my shoulders and tipped his face down to mine. “I know the fact that Steven is part of this is screwing with your head. And if he had anything to do with your mother’s involvement—I know it’s making you doubt everything. I don’t blame you, but I swear to you, Ellie, that I will never again do anything to intentionally hurt you.” His hand cupped my face, tilting it up to him. “I finally realize where my real priorities lie.”

A fire of lust spread through my body and it took all my willpower not to stand on my tiptoes and kiss him. But if I was asking Collin not to betray me, I owed the same to David. I took a step back and Collin’s hands fell to his sides.

“Let’s see if we can find Steven and have him lead us to David.” Then he turned and started walking again, leaving me to follow.

Why did I have the feeling that I was now betraying Collin?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Steven wasn’t home when we got there. I wasn’t surprised, but the disappointment was heavier than I’d expected it to be. With no other leads, there was nothing left to do except go back to Manteo.

We were both quiet as we left Steven’s neighborhood, and the morning had exhausted me. Collin stopped somewhere in Durham to pick up an early lunch, and I fell asleep as soon as we got back in the car. I didn’t wake up until I heard Collin’s voice.

“Ellie, we’re here.”

I blinked and looked around, confused that we were parked on the side of the road and surrounded by sand dunes. “Where?”

“Pea Island. I thought it might be more private here.”

“The beach?”

“Yeah.”

It was a good choice. I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t thought of it before. Pea Island Wildlife Refuge was only a fifteen-minute drive from Nags Head, but it wasn’t as touristy.

He got out of the truck and I followed his lead, meeting him at the front of the vehicle. “If we hike over the dunes here, we’ll be close to the ocean.”

I kicked off my Vans and carried them in my hand as we climbed a tall sand dune. I could hear and smell the ocean before I saw it. I stopped at the top and took in the view, surprised and elated that just the sight of the ocean could energize me.

Collin had taken several steps down the other side, but he stopped to look back, his face filled with worry.

I started down, the call of the ocean irresistible. Once I was at the bottom of the dune, I passed him, dropped my shoes on the sand about ten feet from the tidal edge, then waded out into the water. Collin stayed on the shore behind me as a surge of power rushed through my body and I once again experienced the familiar yet always intoxicating sensation of the Manitou of every living thing in the ocean. My eyes sank closed as I gave myself to the moment, letting the vibrant life force remind me of what was really at stake. Not just David or me or Collin; not even just the fate of humanity. As Tsagasi said, the fate of every being in creation was in danger. I wasn’t sure what Okeus and Ahone had planned, but I had no doubt that it risked all of us.

I walked deeper into the water, my eyes still closed, unaware of how long I had been there until I sensed Collin in front of me, taking my hand in his before I could think to stop him.

His feelings surged through me, his love, his need to prove that I could trust him. Without thinking, I moved closer to him until I was plastered against his chest. The other half of the Manitou joined with the half I had already experienced. The animals and the plants of the land flooded my head, and while I should have been overwhelmed, I felt nearly complete instead.

I looked up into his face, and the tenderness there caught my breath. His free hand reached for my cheek and his mouth lowered to mine, but then he stopped. “I want you to trust me, Ellie. With everything else you have to worry about, I don’t want this doubt to distract you. Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

His hand let go of mine and I stumbled. He wrapped an arm around my back and held me against him for several seconds. To finally be able to trust him was an amazing gift.

Collin offered me a grim smile. “Now let’s get ready to save David.”

We were quiet as we walked back to the truck, but I was amazed by how much the power of the ocean had helped me regain all my strength. I knew I’d need every bit of it and then some to survive the night.

There was so much against us, not just the Guardians and the challenge of getting David back, but the Raven Mockers and the gods. Okeus’s offer, Ahone’s plans. Part of me was weary of the whole mess. I had no idea how to fight them all. The best course of action was to deal with them one at a time. Which meant facing the Guardians first.

My cell phone rang as we headed back to Manteo. Tom was on the other end. I plugged my other ear with my finger to hear the call over the wind rushing through the windows.

“Ellie, there were four more deaths last night.”

“I’m on my way back, Tom.”

“Are you any closer to finding who’s in charge of these things?”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I hadn’t even had the chance to look. “No. I’m still working on it.”

“We can’t tell everyone in town to put salt on their thresholds, Ellie.”

“I don’t know what else to tell you, Tom,” I snapped.

Collin shot a curious look in my direction.

“Look, I’m doing the best I can. David went to see the Ricardo collection and they kidnapped him.”

“What did the police in Charlotte say?”

“We didn’t call them.” Funny how I’d never even considered it as an option.

There was a pause. “Dr. Preston was kidnapped and you didn’t think to call the police? What the hell, Ellie?”

I cringed. “Tom, you know that I can’t tell the police about any of this crap. Calling the police is at the bottom of my list of resources.”

“Were they humans?” When I didn’t answer, he continued. “You should have called the police.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if he was right. “We’re getting him back.” I shifted my gaze to Collin.

He shook his head, his mouth pursed.

“How?” Tom asked, sounding skeptical.

Even without Collin’s warning, I had no intention of giving Tom any information. “Don’t worry about it. We have it under control.”

“You keep saying ‘we.’ Who’s we? Collin? Is he working with you now?”

“The less you know the better, Tom.” I quickly ended the conversation, cursing myself for telling him anything about David. But then I wondered if I should have told him more. The Guardians were human. The police could deal with them, but then again a secret society didn’t last hundreds of years by acting stupid. If I involved Tom, it could get him killed.

“What do you want to do?” Collin asked. “It’s seven thirty. I think we should get something to eat and then head to the aquarium and scope it out. We need all the advantage we can get.”

I was letting Collin take charge again, but I didn’t have a better plan. And disagreeing for the sake of being in control was stupid. “Okay.”

Collin stopped at a gas station and filled up the tank while I went inside and bought a couple of deli sandwiches, chips, and water. We drove in silence as we ate our food.

My phone rang as Collin pulled into the aquarium lot. When I dug it out of my pocket, I wasn’t surprised to see Claire’s number on the screen.

“Claire—”

“My ghost is freaking out, Ellie.”

Fear shot through my chest. “What are you talking about?”

“She says you’re in danger. So much danger.”

My mouth went dry and I swallowed. “Hold on, Claire. I’m going to put you on speaker so we can both talk to you.” I pressed the speaker button, then held the phone next to me.

“Who? You and David?”

Oh, God. She didn’t know. I’d spent most of yesterday unconscious, so I hadn’t had a chance to check in with her. “No. Me and Collin.”

“Collin? Where’s David?” She sounded panicked.

“The people who have the collection kidnapped him.”

“Oh, my God, Ellie!”

“Collin and I are in the process of getting him back.” I had to believe we’d be successful.

“No wonder Mary’s so upset.”

“Mary?” I asked, confused.

“Yeah, I finally got a name out of her even though she’s still not coming through clearly and she gets pissed when I call her that. Do you have any relatives named Mary? That perhaps went by a nickname?” Judging from her mocking inflection, I gathered that the ghost must have been close to her.

“Uh . . . ” I rubbed my temple. “I had a great-aunt Mary who went by Bitty.” Why were we discussing my relatives when I needed to prepare to save David? We had absolutely no plan at all. This was going to backfire and get all three of us killed.

“Maybe that’s her.” Claire seemed relieved. “Aunt Bitty says you’re in danger. Especially David.”

“Then the crazy-ass ghost of Great-Aunt Bitty is Captain Obvious,” Collin muttered. “He’s been kidnapped and they’ve threatened to kill him. That’s about as dangerous as it gets.”

I shot Collin a scowl. I didn’t need the sarcasm, and I certainly didn’t need the reminder of the gravity of David’s situation.

“Aunt Bitty says you need the ring, but not how you think.”

My gaze locked with Collin’s. “How do I need it?” I asked.

“Each time she tries to tell me, the words are garbled.” I could hear the frustration behind her voice.

“If you find out, will you let me know?”

“Of course.” Claire paused. “Ellie, there’s one more thing. The blackness surrounding your house has gotten worse in just the last hour. And it keeps getting blacker and blacker.”

My stomach twisted. “What does it mean?”

“Evil.”

I hung up and stared at the phone.

Collin’s eyes narrowed. “Do you really trust a crazy-ass ghost?”

I gave him a wry smile. “Okeus says I can.”

He rolled his eyes. “Well, if Okeus says so . . . We know how trustworthy he is.” He opened the truck door and moved to the tailgate and climbed onto the bed.

I got out and followed him. Talk about a total about-face. Only a few days ago he was trying to convince me that Okeus was the way, the truth, and the life.

He started to open the toolbox attached to the rear of the truck bed when he squatted and stared into my eyes. “Are you going to accept Okeus’s offer?”

My gaze lowered to his feet. “I . . . I haven’t made a final decision yet.”

“Can we discuss it right now? Because I’d like to say my piece before you decide.”

My eyes widened. “Okay.”

He moved to the end of the bed and sat down on the open tailgate, patting the spot next to him. Once I was seated, he didn’t waste any time. “Why would you accept Okeus’s offer?”

“To save you. And David and Claire and Drew and Myra. To save the people I love.”

He swallowed but he didn’t look at me, staring instead at the small county airport next to the aquarium. “So let’s say you become Okeus’s queen and you save all of us, but you get pregnant with Okeus’s babies. Do you really think you can love them and raise them?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I can’t let myself think about that.”

“That’s exactly what you need to think about. And when your many babies grow up and become the monsters their father is, how will you deal with that?”

I closed my eyes.

“Let’s go ahead and ignore the fact that not one of us could live with ourselves if you made this decision. Let’s even ignore that you’d be lonely as shit. Despite what Okeus says, you will be utterly and eternally alone. And eternity is a fucking long time.” His hands curled around the edge of the tailgate. “But let’s not ignore what those creatures will do when they are grown. They will kill and destroy. You may have saved Claire and her husband, but you haven’t saved their children. And that’s the mind-fuck Okeus will play on you. He’ll kill their kids. Or, hell, maybe he’ll make your kids do it.”

The truth struck me with mind-numbing horror. He was right.

“So tonight, when he asks you for your answer, tell him to go fuck himself, Ellie. Because not one damn good thing will come from saying yes.”

I bit my lip to keep from crying and nodded.

“Promise me. Promise me on David’s life.”

I gasped.

His jaw set. “I have to be sure. You need to be able to trust me, but I need to be able to trust you too.”

“I promise I won’t accept his offer.”

He stood, stomped to the toolbox, and lifted the lid. “Come here.”

I got up and stood next to him, surprised by how serious he looked. “Elinor Dare Lancaster, Curse Keeper, daughter of the sea, witness to creation.” He pulled out the sword and handed it to me.

My right hand encircled the grip, and his right hand covered mine, sending a surge of power from his mark into mine. I looked up at him in surprise.

His eyes were trained on my face. “I promise to stand by your side and defy the gods. To forge our own destiny. From tonight and forward, we will work together to defeat the demons and send them back to Popogusso. We will fight to protect all of creation from the evil that we—I—set free. And I promise to stand with you until the end, whenever that comes.”

I shook my head in shock. “Collin . . . ”

“Now let’s figure out how to save David, because we need ‘he who guides the Curse Keeper’ if we have any hope of defeating these guys in the future.”

I nodded as he dropped his grip. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he mumbled, shutting the lid. “We have an uphill battle ahead of us.” He walked to the end of the bed and jumped down. “I’m still not sure returning that sword to you is the brightest idea, but I feel better knowing you have some way of defending yourself.” When I reached the edge of the tailgate, he grimaced. “Try not to impale yourself when you hop down.”

I twisted my mouth into a mocking smile. “Very funny.” I held the sword up and away from me as I jumped and landed on my feet.

“Let’s go survey the grounds and come up with a plan.”

We walked around the building toward the sound. We stopped at the edge of the trees to the north of the complex. “I think you’re right. If we lead them to a fake gate, we should make it close to the water. If Mishiginebig is still watching out for you, he’ll come to your defense.”

“If?”

He shrugged. “Well, we do run a risk. I suspect once Okeus figures out you’ve decided to turn him down, he’ll remove all protection from you in the hope of forcing your hand. And just like that, Mishiginebig will turn from protector to predator.” Collin started to walk into the woods.

“And what will happen when Okeus realizes you’ve defied him?” I asked as I followed him.

He didn’t answer.

“That bad?”

“Honestly, Ellie, I don’t know. We’re making our own rules tonight.”

“I need to tell you about the Raven Mocker’s prediction for my future.”

He stopped and turned around to face me. “A Raven Mocker told you your future? Why didn’t you tell me?”

I lifted a hand in frustration. “I don’t know. Maybe because I was busy dying and all.”

“Sarcasm won’t help right now.”

He was right, damn him. “Look, Collin, I’m sorry. With everything else that’s been going on, it slipped my mind. She told me almost a week ago.”

“Shit, Ellie.” He groaned and lifted his head to look up at the now-darkening sky. “What did it say? It could make all the difference tonight.”

“She said I was a vessel that will determine the fate of the world and I will either save it or destroy it. And that it will happen soon.”

He watched me for a long moment. “That’s it?”

My eyebrow shot up. “That’s not enough?”

He snorted. “Well, it’s vague as shit.”

“Thank you.” I thrust my hands out from my side. “That’s what I said.”

“What do you think it means?”

“I thought it meant I’d become Okeus’s boo. What else would I think?”

He crossed his arms and stared out into the sound. “Remind me of what the ghost of your Aunt Betty said.”

“Aunt Bitty. And she said that I need the ring, but not in the way I think.”

“Okay.” He put his hands on his hips. “How do you think you’re supposed to use it?”

“There are letters in the library at UNC at Chapel Hill, and one of them is an eyewitness account of the blessing of the spear and the ring.”

“You’re kidding?”

I shook my head. “Of course I’m not.” I told him about Okeus and Ahone. “So Ahone told my ancestor that a she in his line would need the ring and it would save her life. And that if she were to stand next to the tree with the ring that sings and read the inscription, she could permanently seal the gate to hell.”

“Is that what you intended to do with it?” Collin asked.

“No,” I said in frustration. “I think it’s a terrible idea. Ahone’s been planning this for centuries, and we both know he’s just about as trustworthy as Okeus.”

“Your ghost aunt said you need the ring, but not in the way you think. Without her influence, how would you use it?”

“I don’t know,” I groaned. “I probably wouldn’t use it at all.”

“Maybe that’s the answer. Maybe you are supposed to use it.”

“Should I really put that much faith in a ghost that’s giving me instructions through Claire?”

Collin’s shoulders slumped. “Maybe Tsagasi knows something.”

“I haven’t seen him since Sunday and I’m scared to call him. What if it counts toward the seven times he and his friends agreed to protect me? I don’t want to waste the blood oath.”

“You just want to ask him a question, so I think you’re in the clear. Besides, I think this is important enough to warrant calling him.” He paused. “But if you want, I’ll try to summon him instead.”

“Wait!” My stomach cramped from my nerves. “Let’s talk a bit more about this shindig tonight. Maybe it’ll help us figure out what to ask Tsagasi.”

He nodded. “That’s a good idea. And let’s figure out where we want the fake gate to be.” He stopped next to a tree about twenty feet from the shore. “There’s a neighborhood to the north. I’m worried we’re too close to people.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe we should do this on the dock.”

“But what if they expect a tree?” I said. “David tricked them with the aquarium, but what if they know that part? We’ll have to find one that’s close to the water and hope Big Nasty will help.”

“You want a plan, here’s one: We lead the Guardians here, we start the words of protection and create a vortex. They won’t know it’s not the gate. We’ll get David and the sword and the spear and then get the hell out of here.”

“That’s still a sucky plan, Collin.”

“And it’s the only one we’ve got.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

We walked out onto the dock and came up with more details. We’d stand at the back of the dock while Collin used his guile to convince them to show us any warded weapons they had. The threat to my safety would hopefully draw the attention of Big Nasty, and the confusion of a giant snake showing up would help Collin free David and steal the weapons while I added to the chaos. Not to mention I had my own supernatural bodyguard detail at my disposal. And if Big Nasty didn’t show, we’d create the vortex and tell them it was the opening to Popogusso.

There was no way in hell it was going to work, but I couldn’t come up with anything else.

The sun had begun to set, and I was getting more and more nervous. “We should call Tsagasi now. If nothing else, my four protectors can help us.”

“Good idea.”

We walked to the edge of the dock when the familiar ringtone of David’s phone went off, echoing off the water and trees around us.

I stopped in my tracks, terrified, but I told myself that anyone could be calling him.

Collin was several paces ahead of me, but he spun around to face me as he dug David’s phone out of his pocket. He checked the screen and cringed. “Fuck,” he muttered before answering. “Yeah.” He was silent for several seconds, and then he put his hand on his hip and looked down at the wood planks under his feet. “Fine.” After he hung up, he turned to look at me, his face tense.

“What did they say?”

“They changed the location and time.”

“What?” I shook my head in frustration. “When? Where?”

“The Elizabethan Botanical Gardens at the five-hundred-year-old oak tree.” His eyes locked on mine. “In ten minutes.”

I gasped and took a step backward. “But how did they know?”

“I don’t know. Does Myra know the location?”

My head was a blur of conflicting emotions and thoughts, but I needed to focus. “No, I don’t remember telling her specifically, but it wouldn’t be that hard for her to figure it out. Tom found me out there multiple times. He might have told her.”

“Or they could have broken David,” Collin added, his voice gentle.

“That too.” The thought brought me close to the edge of hysteria. But I needed to keep my shit together. Freaking out would get David killed.

“We better get going. We don’t know if there’s a penalty for being late.”

We walked across the parking lot as a small single-engine plane took off from the airport. I was glad for the noise. The eerie stillness of the night made me more nervous.

“What about the sword?” I asked, laying the weapon on the floor at my feet once we got into the truck.

“If we take it, the Guardians might steal it from us. But if we encounter any demons, we’ll need it. I say it’s worth the risk.”

“Do you know how to use one?”

“If you’re asking if I’m better with it than you, I’m honestly not so sure. But if you’re going to focus on getting the ring back from the old broad, then maybe I should take it. We can still move forward with the plan to form a vortex to confuse them, and once it’s open, I’ll try to go for David and any weapons they may have.”

I nodded. “And Tsagasi?”

“If things get dicey, call him.” Collin’s hand gripped the steering wheel so tightly, his knuckles were white. “In fact, you should have called him yesterday when we encountered the Raven Mockers.”

“You know what they say about hindsight.”

“Yeah.”

Several other cars were in the parking lot when we pulled in. “Why did they wait so long to call and tell us to come here?” I asked as Collin turned off the engine.

“The same reason we ambushed Steven at the university this morning.” He turned to look at me. “To shake us up and throw us off. But we can do this. You can do this.”

“I still don’t know what to do with the ring, Collin.”

“You don’t even have the ring, so it might turn out to be a nonissue.”

“I got the distinct impression she’s going to give it back to me to use. What do I do?”

A sly smile lifted his mouth. “You’ll figure it out.”

I was glad he had so much faith in me. “No pressure. I’m just the salvation or the destruction of the world after all.”

“Don’t be such a diva.” He picked up the sword and got out of the truck while I climbed out on my side. I’d only had the sword for a few days, but I felt naked without it. Still, having Collin carry it was the right decision. He could use it to save David while I created the vortex.

We headed for the back gate, the way we’d gone in almost two months ago. I’d been a different person then. Naïve and blind. My eyes were open to a whole new world now, but I felt as blind as before. I still had so much to learn.

As we entered the gate, a white-hooded figure stepped out from behind a tree and I squelched a shriek.

Collin, on the other hand, was unimpressed. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he grunted. “I thought you people were the real deal, not some kids playing dress-up.”

The man kept his face hidden. “You’ll find out how real we are soon enough. Especially since you tried to deceive us about the location.”

Clouds blew in and covered the moon. Was it the work of the wind gods? I couldn’t imagine the spirit world was happy with these people messing around with the gate. For once, I was actually hoping that demons would show up. Sure, being away from the water meant that Big Nasty wasn’t about to come to our rescue, but he wasn’t the only creature that went bump in the night in Manteo.

As we rounded the corner to the giant oak tree, I noticed scores of candles on the ground and at least twenty more figures shrouded in white robes. A man was tied to the oak tree, but his face was slumped forward. He was wearing a rumpled blue dress shirt covered in spots of blood and dirt.

David.

He was standing, which meant he was alive. When our guide led us past the tree, I couldn’t take my eyes off him, even if I couldn’t bring myself to call his name.

Collin moved closer and leaned into my ear. “We’re in deep shit, Ellie.”

My gaze turned to what he was looking at: a pentagram burned into the grass with candles at the tips. While it looked spooky as hell, I wasn’t sure what it meant. But I did have an idea what the rectangular table in the center meant. I looked up at Collin.

His jaw tightened. “They don’t want to send the demons back. They want to enslave them.”

My head felt fuzzy, especially when I realized they had the weapon to do it. The Sword of Galahad supposedly had the power to subdue gods. Did they plan to enslave Ahone and Okeus? Did they want to use me and the ring to seal the gate shut? If Collin and I were right, we were on our own in this. The demons and spirits might act crazy, but they had to be smart enough to stay away from this mess.

Our guide pointed to a place at the head of the star. “You may stand there.”

We had a perfect view of the entire scene. We were directly opposite the tree, and the fifteen-foot pentagram spanned the space in front of us. A golden chalice had been placed at the head of the table, which was covered in a white tablecloth. The robed figures made up two arcs of a circle, the tree on one side, Collin and I at the other.

Terror raced up my spine and I took an involuntary step back.

A man broke free of the circle and moved toward us, staying clear of the pentagram.

“Ellie, Collin, I’m Jeremiah, and I’d like to thank you for joining us this evening.” The man’s voice echoed off the trees. His chin lifted, pulling the hood back slightly so we could see his pudgy middle-aged face. He wasn’t what I’d expected.

David’s head jerked up at my name and he looked directly at me. His face was a bloody, swollen mess.

My emotions threatened to overrun my senses, but I had to keep them in check. David—not to mention all of creation—was counting on me.

Collin took a step forward. “Well, an engraved invitation is hard to resist. Only mine didn’t mention that it was a white-tie event. Sorry we’re not dressed appropriately.”

Jeremiah chuckled. “You’ll do.” He turned his attention to me. “But Ellie, you’re the guest of honor tonight.” He smirked. “Not to worry, Collin, your presence is still needed.”

The man’s words elicited a reaction from David, who began to tug at the ropes securing him to the tree.

Collin lifted the sword and moved in front of me, blocking my path. “We were told you’d give me the spear and free Dr. Preston if Ellie and I show you the gate to hell. We’d prefer to play our part, then let you get back to it.” He waved the tip of the sword to the group.

“All in good time.”

Two figures broke from the group and moved toward me, grabbing my arms. Collin spun around, ready to strike with his sword, but the man on my right lifted a knife to my throat.

Jeremiah pressed his hands together in front of his chest. “Collin, why don’t you stand back and give Ellie some room to join me.”

My blood pulsed in my head. Collin was right—we were in deep shit. I knew what the table and chalice were for. The Nunnehi had said my blood was strong. Had she been sent to test me just like the Raven Mockers? I’d lost enough blood in the last thirty-six hours, and I really didn’t care to share any more. I wanted to call Tsagasi for help, but what if he’d betrayed me too?

Collin reluctantly took a step back but kept his sword in a defensive position.

The man in charge beckoned me with his hand. “Come, Ellie. I’m sure you’re eager to be reunited with your ring.”

The ring. Surely Ahone hadn’t planned for this to happen. Could I use that to my advantage? Plus, I could still use the words of protection. Hell, I’d even ride away with Okeus on his giant snake if it meant getting out of this, because I doubted these people planned to let me live. “Tsagasi,” I whispered, reasoning that he was probably hundreds of miles away. If he could hear my regular voice, he could hear a whisper. He and his friends had taken a blood oath to protect me to their death. I had to trust them and their promise. They were one of my last, best hopes.

I took a deep breath and tried to slow my racing heart. “And the Sword of Galahad?”

He laughed. “You’ll see it soon enough.”

Oh, shit.

David renewed his efforts to break free of his restraints.

“I don’t like surprises,” I said. “So let’s make a deal. I’ll be a hell of a lot more cooperative if I know what’s going on and what to expect. Why don’t you go ahead and fill me in.”

His hood had fallen over his forehead again, revealing only his lower face. The image shook a memory free and I was transported to a stormy night fifteen years ago. When Collin’s father had worn a hood over his head.

“Collin’s father was one of you.”

The leader laughed and clapped. “Very good, Ellie.”

Collin’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

Suddenly it was all so clear. “Miriam was lying. You didn’t need information from my mother. You needed me. Inviting my mother to Charlotte was a ruse.”

“At the time, we didn’t realize you were too young and wouldn’t be ready for another decade. Mr. Dailey came back empty-handed, not to mention quite belligerent.”

I remembered Collin saying Steven was a low-level member and would probably run to the group looking for help after we showed up with our questions. Collin’s father must have done the same. “You recruited him because you needed him. But he didn’t really know why.”

“He was needed as a backup plan, just like Collin. We would have considered using your father, Ellie, but we were told to wait for the female Dare Keeper. So we kept waiting, as we had for three hundred years. And once we realized you wouldn’t be ready for another ten years, and that Mr. Dailey had a son who was only two years older than you, it was much cleaner to dispose of him and wait for the two of you.”

“You killed my father?” Collin asked, his voice gravelly.

Jeremiah released a derisive laugh. “He was hardly an innocent. He murdered Ellie’s mother.”

“So why wait?” I asked. “Why didn’t you instigate this five years ago when I turned eighteen?”

“The timing wasn’t right.”

Then the answer hit me. “You didn’t have the ring. You needed the ring.”

The man’s mouth twitched. “Admittedly, it was lost. But then Steven told us a couple of weeks ago that you had recovered it.”

“He found out from Myra.”

He smirked. “Once we knew you had possession of the ring, we could finally achieve our goal.”

“To harness the demons to do your will.”

Jeremiah nodded. “We will be performing a great public service.”

I shook my head. “I don’t get it. Why do you need both Collin and me for that?”

“We need you to show us the gate.”

I glanced at Collin and gave a slight shake of my head. There was no way I was going to help them. Especially since they planned to kill me anyway.

“But Miriam said you didn’t know about the curse.”

“Curse?” He paused. “We’ve never known anything about a curse. But we’ve known for centuries about the spear and the ring that have power over the demons and gods. And the prophecy has been passed on that the girl who could use the ring would be a descendant of Jonathon Dare, the man who commissioned the Croatan conjurer to bless the objects at the gate to hell.”

My mouth dropped open. “How did you know?”

“The letter.” He smiled. “The one we sent to the Wilson Library in Chapel Hill several months ago.” He took a step forward. “We’ve watched your family since we stumbled upon the letter. We acquired the ring and the spear in the seventeen hundreds after one of your ancestors became careless with the ring. So we held the weapons for safekeeping and began to accumulate additional weapons that would help us to manage the demons. All in preparation for tonight.”

“So we show you the gate, the ring brings all the demons to the yard, and you trap them . . . how?” Their plan didn’t make sense. The letter in the library said the ring would seal the gate. From the sounds of it, that was the last thing the Guardians wanted to do.

He hesitated.

So they planned to control the demons with the sword. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out, but Jeremiah seemed uncomfortable with how much I’d already deduced. But what about the spear? “Okay, then tell me why you need my blood.”

Jeremiah’s mouth gaped and he sputtered, “How . . . ”

I glanced at the table. “It wasn’t hard to figure out.”

He swallowed and seemed to regain his confidence. “For the Great One. She has helped us set this in motion, and we have agreed to give you to her in exchange for her assistance.”

“Why?”

“The Great One has taken the form of her latest victim, but it comes with limitations. The Great One says your blood will let her stay in one body. She will choose your likeness as an homage.”

My blood turned icy and I gaped at Collin. His eyes were wild with fear.

How were we going to get out of this? Why hadn’t Tsagasi shown up yet?

“Come, Ellie,” the man said, beckoning me again.

“I want the ring.”

“All in good time.”

“I want the ring now.” My voice bellowed louder than I anticipated, but I had another resource. These nut jobs might be human, but I suspected they weren’t immune to my power as a witness to creation. If only I could figure out how to use it to save us.

He grinned. “Bring me the ring.”

A shorter figure stepped forward and placed the ring in the leader’s open palm. She looked up with a smirk. Miriam.

Hot anger burned away my fear, and I welcomed it. “I told you I’d make you pay for taking David,” I said, surprised to hear how cold my voice was. “I meant it.”

A flicker of fear flashed in her eyes. “No need for incivility, Elinor,” Miriam murmured.

“Yes, let’s keep this all nice and polite. I hope the Great One brought a napkin.”

Jeremiah released a hearty laugh. “You are entertaining.”

Miriam shot him a frown of disapproval.

Rebuked, he lowered his chin and then lifted the ring between his thumb and index finger. I held out my left palm and he placed it in the center. As I pulled my hand back, I waited for the singing. Wasn’t the ring supposed to sing?

I put the ring on my left middle finger and still nothing. I hoped it was because I held it in my left hand.

“It is time, Ellie.”

This wasn’t the order things were supposed to take. Weren’t we supposed to show them the gate first? But even if I agreed to do that, David was tied to the tree. What would happen if we opened it while he was still tied there? Could we take the risk?

“We need to show you the gate,” said Collin, his voice loud and authoritative. And it was obvious to me that he was thinking the same thing I was.

“The Great One believes she only needs the ring. She has opened our eyes since she sought us out a month ago. She wants to help us enslave the wicked spirits, and she has the knowledge and tactics to make our dream a reality at last. You, Mr. Dailey, are here as insurance if something happens to Ms. Lancaster.”

“But Ellie needs to be alive for me to show it to you. I can’t do it alone.” I was amazed how much Collin’s voice sounded detached and in control.

I glanced at the table, my heart racing. Had I gambled wrong when I put the ring on my left hand?

The two men who’d grabbed me earlier took hold of my arms and dragged me to the makeshift altar, then lifted me onto the table in a sitting position.

“Ellie,” Jeremiah said. “If you’d please cooperate and lie down.”

If this wasn’t so dire, I’d laugh. So polite. Ellie, please lie down so we can slaughter you. But they probably expected me to put up a huge fuss. They probably got off on it.

This was a huge gamble. Probably a stupid one, but David had told me to trust my instincts and every part of me screamed this was the right thing to do. “I’ll lie down and I’ll let you perform your sacrifice—”

“No!” David shouted.

“—but all I ask is two things. That you don’t tie me down, and that you allow me to meet the Great One.”

“We’ll try the first. The second has already been arranged.”

A million butterflies with razors for wings flapped furiously in my stomach. My thumb rubbed the band on the backside of my finger.

“Ellie!” Collin shouted. “What the fuck are you doing?”

I turned to him and stared into his eyes for a long second. “Collin, I’m going to need you soon. To help me finish my sacrifice.”

His eyes hardened. “Okay.”

He understood. I resisted the impulse to cry with relief. “I have one more request. I want to see the great Sword of Galahad.”

The man’s voice thinned. “Have no fear, you will see it in a few moments. But I’m curious: Why are you being so cooperative?”

“I’ve seen what the demons are capable of. I was born and raised to protect humanity. I’ve proven myself incapable of protecting it on my own. If this will ultimately stop their ravaging, then I willingly make this sacrifice.”

“You have proven wise and selfless. We will sing our praise of the martyr who was willing to give herself so others might live. It is good.”

The group murmured as one. “It is good.”

Goose bumps broke out across my arms.

“Ellie!” David shouted, his arms jerking the ropes so hard it looked as if he was going to dislocate his shoulders. “Stop!”

My heart raced and I fought my impulse to suck in deep lungfuls of air as I lay down on the table. I’d never been more scared in my life, but I had to keep control. I had to get out of this and save David.

“Great One, she is ready.”

The air stilled as a small figure in a blood-red robe broke through the white-robed Guardians, a golden sword in hand. The hooded figure moved gracefully toward us, stopping at the edge of the makeshift altar. She held the sword parallel to my body with one hand, the other reaching for her hood and pulling it down.

Myra smiled down at me. “Hello, Ellie.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“Myra?” My shock was too great to hide. “Why?” I wailed, struggling to sit up and confront her. But I’d broken the rules and the two men were quickly at my side, tying my hands to the legs of the table. I bucked and fought. This wasn’t going according to the skimpy plan I’d scrambled together at the last minute.

Grunts and moans came from Collin’s direction and I saw three bodies lying on the ground. As I watched, he struck another, ramming the sword into the figure’s abdomen. White-clad figures rushed toward him, pulling out knives as they ran.

Where were my bodyguards? This was officially an emergency, and I needed them now more than ever. “Tsagasi,” I called out. “I need you. Save David and Collin.”

Myra had been momentarily distracted by Collin’s attempt to free me, but now she turned her attention back to me. Her fingers touched my cheek and trailed down to my neck, lightly pressing my pulse point. “I’ve wanted your blood for weeks, but I had to wait until the time was right. Until your power was strong and you were ready.”

Weeks? Jeremiah had said the Great One had assumed the image of her latest victim.

Did that mean Myra was dead?

Oh, God.

My grief was suffocating and too heavy to bear. This was one loss too many. I lay still as Myra’s copy murmured words over my body and then lifted the sword over me. So she had been using the Raven Mockers over the past several weeks to test my strength. Would she kill me the same way I’d killed her pets? Would she run the blade through my heart? Could Collin bring me back from that?

Instead, she grabbed my arm and ran the tip of the blade down my forearm, pressing it deep. I expected pain, but there was nothing, only blissful numbness as Myra, the woman who’d held me when I was frightened and wiped my tears, the woman who knew my greatest fears and greatest triumphs, bent over and began to lap up my blood.

“Ellie!” David screamed.

Tears slipped out of my eyes and down my cheeks, drenching my hair. I’d failed her too.

Maybe I deserved to die.

I saw a flash and heard shouting close to the tree. A tiny streak shot toward David. Tsagasi and his warriors were saving him.

Myra grunted her frustration and untied my restraints, lifting my arm higher so she didn’t have to bend at an awkward angle. The blade had dug deep and I was losing blood at an alarming rate. If I was going to use the ring to save David and Collin, I needed to do it soon.

I bent my left arm, pulled it back, and smashed my elbow into the demon’s nose. She cried out in pain as I reached over to my right hand, the fingers pulling off the ring and enclosing it in my fist, the band exactly in the middle of the circle and square.

An eerie sound filled the air, alternating between harmony and discord. It grew louder and louder, with an ear-piercing hum. The white-clad figures dropped to their knees and covered their ears, releasing shrieks of their own.

Myra’s eyes burned bright red and anger contorted her face. She dropped her hands from her bloody nose and reached for my right hand, but I clenched my fist tight. She used her demon strength to try and tear my fingers away from the ring. I resisted, but I’d already lost a lot of blood. Again. I was weakening fast.

Digging deep inside myself, I tapped into my power as a witness to creation and focused all of it on my hand.

The music grew louder and faster. The notes filled my head, and I was spinning and spinning until I was transported to the field where I’d seen Daddy and Okeus. The sky was the same gray and the field was dead and trampled, only this time there were two thrones on opposite sides. Okeus sat on one side in a dark suit, his hair slightly mussed in a sexy way. Ahone sat on the other. His clothes looked like something straight out of a Bible adaptation. His long white hair and beard added to the look.

“You must choose, Ellie,” Okeus said, rapping his impatience with his fingers on the wooden chair. “It is time.”

I turned slowly, from Okeus to Ahone. “No persuasive speech from you, Ahone?” I asked.

“I do what is best for my children,” was his reply.

I was so fucking tired of gods and their bullshit answers. I wanted some real information.

I looked into Ahone’s eyes. “The ring. What does it do? Does it seal the gate? Why does the Great One want it?”

Okeus snorted derisively. “The Great One.” There was obviously no love lost between Okeus and his offspring.

Ahone sighed. “The purpose of the ring was to give you an advantage over Okeus’s children. So you can defeat them on your own without the other Keeper. No more. No less. It was designed for you and you alone.”

He sounded convincing, but I had a feeling he wasn’t telling me everything. “But it’s not doing any harm to the Great One right now beyond pissing her off. Am I doing something wrong?”

A smile spread across Ahone’s face, the first I’d ever seen from him. “Choose me and I’ll give you the answer.” He shifted in his seat. “Besides, you’ve already chosen. You wear my symbol on your back. This is a mere formality to appease my brother.”

Why would I expect direct answers from a god? Everything came at a price. “So I make my choice and that’s it? You’ll both leave me alone?”

Okeus stood but didn’t stray from his throne. “Ellie, you know there’s really no choice here. Come with me now and I will save the men you love, who are fighting for their lives right now—who are fighting to save you.”

But it wasn’t that simple. I knew I could never give Okeus what he wanted.

“I make my choice and you will honor it?” I repeated. I wanted confirmation before I played my hand. I turned to look at Ahone. “I want you both to agree to leave me unharmed if you aren’t my choice.”

“I will honor it for one year,” Okeus said, his voice cold. He knew I was up to something. “Ahone,” he called past me. “Do you accept this amendment?”

“I do.”

Freaking gods. But that meant I’d have a year before I had to deal with them again. “Agreed.”

“Enough of the drama, witness to creation. Tell us your choice.”

I lifted my chin. “Neither. I choose neither of you.”

Okeus shot toward me at lightning speed and wrapped his hand around my throat, squeezing so tight that black dots filled my vision. “You refuse me?”

“Let her go.” Ahone stood behind me. “You agreed, my brother. And you agreed to leave her unharmed. You must honor your agreement.”

Okeus gave one last squeeze and threw me to the ground, where I landed in a crumpled heap. “You will have your year, and then I will take what is mine.”

And just like that, I was back on the altar. Myra had given up on trying to pry the ring from my hand and had resumed her meal. Her eyes rolled back in her head in pleasure as she licked my arm. “Yes, the power is incredible. I will be invincible now.”

The power made it better for her apparently.

The contents in my stomach roiled and I swallowed to keep from throwing up. I pushed what was left of my energy into my wrist and focused on breaking free. The rope smoldered and then burst into a small flame, singeing my skin before it fell off.

Ignoring the pain, I dropped the ring and reached for the Sword of Galahad, which lay across my stomach and legs. When I wrapped my hand around the hilt, a new surge of power shot through me, catching me by surprise. I rolled away from Myra—who’d been so intent on drinking my blood she hadn’t noticed I was escaping—and off the table.

Surprise flickered in her eyes when she realized we were now separated by the table. “You are mine,” she hissed, crouching down.

A sharp point pressed against my neck and I glanced over at Miriam. “The Great One isn’t finished with you yet,” she said, her expression smug. Grabbing my upper arm, she tried to push me toward the table.

I had nothing to lose at this point other than opportunity to make at least one person pay for what they’d done. “Maybe not, but I’m finished with you.” In one move, I dropped out of range of her knife and grabbed her arm, shoving it behind her back.

“Enough!” Myra shouted and jumped over the table with a squatted hop, landing in front of Miriam. She reached forward and ripped out half the woman’s throat, then pulled the body from my grasp and dropped it to the ground.

I froze with shock for a moment and only started to step back when the demon rushed toward me with superhuman speed. I jabbed with the sword, amazed by how it felt like an extension of my arm, lightweight and effortless to hold.

“I will finish you, Curse Keeper.” A low growl rumbled from Myra’s chest, and she looked more like a wild animal than my mother. But this woman wasn’t my mother, I reminded myself.

No, this was the creature that had killed my mother.

A white-hot rage flashed through my body and I went on the attack, determined to destroy the monster forever. But the demon jumped out of the way and surveyed the clearing, taking in the sight of the bloody white-robed bodies on the ground, and laughed. “We will meet again, Curse Keeper.” Then she took off running faster than humanly possible.

My adrenaline crashed and I collapsed to my knees on the grass, the sword still clutched tight in my grasp. I was dying again. Collin was still fighting off a small group of Guardians and I knew I should help him, but my blood was spilling freely from the three-inch gash on my arm. I knew I should drop the sword and put pressure on the wound, but my hand wouldn’t release it. It was like the mark on my hand was welded to the hilt of the sword.

My gaze swung to the tree and relief flooded through me when I saw that David had been untied. But he, Tsagasi, and my other protectors were nowhere to be seen.

The world swayed and I fell to my side, pissed that it would end like this, terrified by what I’d find in the blackness this time.

Collin was directly in my line of sight, and I watched him fight the white figures who now brandished swords of their own.

My protectors rushed from the other side and surrounded Collin. Letting the supernatural creatures take point, Collin fell back. After a moment his gaze landed on me, and the way his eyes widened told me a lot about my condition. He was by my side within seconds, trying to pull the sword from my right hand.

“Ellie, let go.” He sounded frantic. “We have to touch marks.”

“My hand won’t let go.” I laughed, but I knew it was my blood loss that was making me act like a drunk. “It’s the Sword of Galahad.”

“Fuck the Sword of Galahad.” His fingers dug deep, but mine still wouldn’t budge. “Ellie,” he pleaded. “Work with me here.”

“I’m trying. My mark won’t let go.” I rolled from my side onto my back. Though I was more tired than I could ever remember being, I forced my eyes to stay open, terrified of the darkness. It would come for me soon enough.

The stars overhead shined in pinpoints that burned bright before shrinking.

“She needs the one who guides the Curse Keeper,” I heard Tsagasi say.

“David!” Collin shouted as he stood and took several steps away.

The stars were swirling now, and I realized I was reliving the birth of the universe. The beginning of everything. And the end. I was the salvation and the destruction of the world.

“I am the alpha and the omega,” I whispered in awe.

“You’re a bloody pain in my arse,” David mumbled as he dropped to his knees next to me, his hand encompassing my right hand. He leaned over me, his battered face blocking out the stars. “Let go of the sword, Ellie.”

I stared up at him, his injuries only adding to my guilt. “They hurt you because of me. They killed Myra because of me. I hurt everyone I love. I can’t hurt them anymore. Soon there won’t be anyone left.”

“I’m too bloody stubborn to leave you alone, so don’t you dare leave me, you bloody fool. I need you, Ellie.” His voice cracked. “Let go of the sword.” His mouth lowered to mine and my fingers relaxed and the sword fell as I felt his love fuse with mine.

Then David was gone and Collin was with me, pressing our marks together. Power surged through my hand and into my body and I cried out, unable to take it all in. The stars filled my vision again, and then I was swept back to the beginning when the universe began. Only this time, I wasn’t alone. Collin was with me. An explosion of energy and light ripped through my consciousness, hurling me through time and space as I witnessed the birth of the stars, violent eruptions that filled the black expanse with clouds of reds and oranges, blues and greens. The beauty was almost too much to take in as the massive power of the explosion filled me, consumed me, and then hurled me to the birth of our own star, our own planet. Once again, I was the first drop of water to join with the molten lava on the surface of Earth. Time raced by, and I experienced the birth of Ahone and the other gods, the evolution of the earth, the creation of humanity. It all came to a screeching halt at the gate to Popogusso. I stood in front of it, wearing the ring and holding the Sword of Galahad. Collin was next to me, brandishing a spear, and I was chanting in a language I didn’t recognize. Suddenly I was infused with an overwhelming power, and the gate to hell erupted with a blinding white light.

I knew my purpose.

I was the alpha and the omega.

Demons would fall before me.

Collin released my hand, severing our connection, and we both gasped for breath. He fell on his back, next to my side. “My God, Ellie. I was there. At the birth of the universe. I was there watching it with you.” He pushed up on his elbows. “How can you see that and be the same?”

I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t. Especially after seeing the last part.

“I can usually feel your emotions, but this time I only had a vague sense of being with you, like I was looking over your shoulder. Did you feel me through our connection this time?”

“No.” I sat up. “No.”

Tsagasi appeared next to us, his face grimmer than usual, holding the ring between his thumb and finger. “You’re not done.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“The demon that calls itself the Great One has escaped and is returning to the body of its deceased host,” Tsagasi said. “If you hurry, you can catch it.”

Myra.

She might be dead, but I would destroy the thing that killed her.

I took the ring from the little man and put it on my left hand. Then I scrambled to my feet and retrieved the Sword of Galahad.

Collin jumped up, still wielding his own weapon. When he started to pick up a sword from one of the fallen Guardians, Tsagasi stopped him.

“You don’t have time to waste. My friends and I will collect them while you pursue the Great One.”

Collin nodded, but I turned back to the little man. “Are all of these weapons warded?”

“No.”

“Find me one that is. David needs it.” I had no idea what we were about to face, but I wasn’t leaving the man I loved unprotected.

Tsagasi waddled over to a group of bodies and pulled a short sword from the pile. “Here. This will work for him.”

David took the weapon, and the three of us took off running for the parking lot, but it soon became apparent that David’s injuries were slowing him down. “Go without me, Ellie. Get the wanker,” he said, holding his side.

“Sorry, Doc.” Collin grabbed his arm and pulled him along. “You’re one of us now.”

We climbed into the front seat of Collin’s truck, with me in the middle, and Collin sped down Highway 64 toward the bed and breakfast.

“I saw this thing when they held me prisoner,” David said, shouting to be heard over the wind rushing through the windows. “I know what it does. I know how to stop it.”

“How?” Collin asked, his grip tight on the steering wheel.

“It’s a demon that mimics its host. It kills the host and stores the body in the victim’s home. It leaves a token that stays with the body, a stone that hangs from a cord around the victim’s neck. It helps slow down decomposition. But once the body has decomposed too much, the demon must retrieve the token and find a new host within twenty-four hours.”

“And if it loses the token or doesn’t find a new host within that time frame?”

“It dies.”

Tears filled my eyes. “I visited the demon in Durham, not Myra. How could I not know? Why didn’t the mark on my palm give her away?”

“The marks on her door,” David said. “In essence, they cocooned her, protecting her from detection.”

I cast a glance toward Collin. “You said they’d figure out ways to hide themselves from us.”

He nodded, his mouth pressed into a tight line. “And when we saw her at the university, the pendant with symbols hanging from her neck probably prevented us from knowing she was a demon.”

I couldn’t let myself think about the fact that this thing had killed Myra. That I’d slept in the house where Myra’s body was hidden. I’d tried to keep her safe, and she’d ended up just like Momma and Daddy. Had she suffered? Did she blame me? Did Steven play a part in Myra’s death and possession? Or was it a coincidence? Rage burned in my chest. David was right—there were no coincidences in any of this.

The blackness Claire had seen was the evil stench from the demon. Claire’s ghost—the one who was so desperate to help me—was Myra. When was the last time I’d seen the real Myra? Apart from the protective markings on her door, how had I missed the fact that she’d been replaced by that thing that called itself my mother? But I had noticed. I’d just attributed the changes in her to the stresses of her move and her new job. Could I have saved her if I’d paid more attention? I sucked in a deep breath to regain control of myself. I could grieve later. First I had to kick a demon’s ass.

When we pulled up next to the house, Claire was pacing the porch in a skimpy robe, tears streaming down her face.

I jumped out of the truck, heart racing. Had something happened to Drew? “Claire. What’s wrong?”

“Ellie,” she choked on my name. “My ghost . . . ” Her voice quavered. “It’s Myra.”

“I know,” I said, letting several tears fall. “She’s dead. She’s been dead for weeks.”

“But you just saw her! How?”

“A demon.” Those two words explained it all.

She threw her arms around me. “I’m so sorry.”

“I think the thing that killed her is in the house right now. It’s here to get her body.” I wiped my tears and lifted my chin. “And I’m going to make sure it never leaves.” Collin had helped David out of the truck and both of them were heading toward us. I grabbed David’s arm to stop him. “David, you stay outside.”

He started to protest, but I moved my hand to his chest. “I need you to stand watch in case it tries to escape, and I need you to protect Claire.” I spun around to face my best friend. “Claire, ask Myra if there’s anything else I should know before going in.”

Collin, who was standing next to us on the porch now, handed me the Sword of Galahad, keeping Allison’s sword in his own hand.

I lifted my gaze to his face, needing his reassurance that we could do this.

“The Sword of Galahad belongs to you, Ellie. Now let’s find this thing.” Then he held the door open and waited for me, holding his sword in his right hand.

“Ellie,” Claire said, her voice still shaking. “She says to look in the attic.”

I sucked in a deep breath. The location made sense, and now I knew exactly where to look, but the stark reality of the situation still ripped a hole in my heart. How could Myra have been dead in my house without me knowing about it? What kind of daughter was I?

“Lead the way,” Collin murmured as we edged past the kitchen toward the living room. He turned from side to side, checking the shadows as we made our way to the staircase. “Is there anyone else here?”

“Five researchers.” I cringed. “They rent the bedrooms upstairs.”

“Shit.”

We picked up the pace as we headed down the hall toward the staircase leading to the attic. The house was old enough that it had been built with an actual staircase and not a pull-down ladder. Which meant the demon had easy access. I flicked the light switch at the top of the stairs, but the room was still encased in darkness. My breath caught in my chest.

“Ellie, what’s wrong?” Collin whispered next to me.

“It’s dark.” I shook my head, feeling stupid, but I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to handle a dark room again. After a couple of seconds my eyes adjusted to the dim interior, and two small dormer windows let in enough light to show the outline of the room’s contents. “Let’s look around.”

The attic was a graveyard for every discarded thing in the house. My father, a notorious pack rat, had saved just about everything we’d ever owned. Halfway across the room, we found a small pentagram, the corners dotted with the bodies of dead animals—birds, mice, and squirrels. We’d smelled something bad off and on for a couple of weeks, and this explained it. A human body would have smelled worse. Which meant there was only one place Myra could be.

I picked my way to the back of the large space, Collin following silently on my heels, until we stopped in front of a chest freezer.

“Ellie, this thing is plugged in and running.”

I bit my lower lip and nodded. I wasn’t surprised. The demon would have wanted its host’s body to last for as long as possible. Freezing Myra’s body would have given it an indefinite amount of time. I grabbed the handle.

Collin placed his hand on mine. “Let me look.”

I shook my head, trying to work up the courage. “I owe it to her, Collin.”

He removed his hand and I lifted the lid. The freezer light blinked on, and there at the bottom was her bruised and broken body, a vacant look in her eyes.

“Oh, God.” I took a step back, sucking in deep gulps of oxygen. I was going to pass out. “Myra.”

Collin pulled me to his chest. “We’ll get the piece of shit that did this. I promise.” His arm dropped and he leaned into the freezer as I turned away.

He stood upright and closed the lid. “Ellie, she didn’t have the stone around her neck that David mentioned. The demon’s already been here.”

I closed my eyes and tried to hold back tears. Damn it.

“Let’s go back outside. I don’t feel comfortable leaving Claire and David alone. David may have a sword, but he’s not in great shape to fend off a demon.” He put an arm around my back and I let him lead me to the staircase. But halfway down the stairs, Collin tensed. “Do you smell that?”

“Smell what?” I shook my head, trying to keep it together.

“Sulfur.”

My eyes widened and raw anger surged through my body. “It’s still here.”

“We don’t know that, Ellie. But don’t do something stupid if we find it.”

Instead of answering, I raced down the stairs and stood in the middle of the hall, spinning around in a circle. “I don’t smell it.”

When Collin reached me, he lifted his face in the air and just stood there for a moment. “Over here,” he finally said. He moved to the second bedroom on the left, his hand on the doorknob. “I hope we don’t scare the shit out of one of your boarders if I’m wrong.”

That was the least of my concerns. I stood to the side of the door and lifted my sword. My tears were gone, driven away by my strong need for revenge. “Open it.”

Collin flung the door open.

Demon Myra stood in the middle of the room, her hands wrapped around the throat of a woman who was on her knees in front of her. The demon had pulled back the rug and scratched a pentagram into the wood floor. Candles encircled the space. When the woman tipped her face up, I could see that it was Sarah, a researcher from Virginia. Duct tape covered Sarah’s mouth, and her eyes were wide with terror. Tears streaked down her cheeks.

“Let her go,” Collin said, raising his sword.

“I need her,” the demon hissed.

Collin moved several more paces into the room.

Myra’s eyes flashed red and she released a low growl as she lifted Sarah to her feet. “If you come any closer, I’ll kill her now.”

I had to remind myself this wasn’t Myra, the woman I loved. This was a monster.

“You have two choices,” Collin said. “You can kill her and I’ll kill you. Or you can let her go and I’ll let you jump out the window.”

“What?” I shouted. There was no way in hell I was letting that bitch go.

Instead of answering, the demon shoved Sarah toward me. The poor woman stumbled, struggling to get her balance with her hands tied behind her back. She tripped on the folded-back rug and I caught her before she hit the floor face-first. The demon kicked over several candles and then leaped for the window. Glass shattered, and a gust of wind rushed in as the demon dropped to the grass below. Within moments, flames started to lick up the drapes.

Sarah collapsed against me, sobbing in terror. I pulled the tape off her mouth and then untied the shoestring binding her hands.

“We can’t let it get away!” I shouted. “We have to go after it!”

But the flames on the drapes had spread to the wall, and the bed linens were burning too. The fire was spreading fast.

“Ellie, we need to get her and the other guests out of here.” Collin grabbed a pillow off the bed and started to beat the flames. “Go wake up the boarders. I’ll try to buy us some time.”

I almost screamed in frustration. Goddamn it. He was right. My need for vengeance was curbed by the need to save the people I could help.

I led a still-shaken Sarah into the hallway and was already banging on the bedroom doors when Claire and David came racing to the top of the stairs.

“We saw the smoke. What happened?” David shouted.

“The demon started the fire,” I said. “And it’s spreading fast.”

A door down the hall opened and one of the researchers stood in the doorway, wearing pajama pants and a T-shirt. “What’s going on? I smell smoke.”

As if on cue, the smoke alarms kicked in, emitting their high-pitched, eardrum-piercing tones. The other researchers appeared in their doorways, noticed the smoke, and raced for the staircase.

“David, we have to hurry!”

He nodded, then wrapped an arm around Sarah, who was crying hysterically, and asked the man in the doorway to help her downstairs.

Smoke filled the hallway, and flames were now shooting from Myra’s open bedroom doorway.

“That’s everyone, Ellie,” Claire shouted, emerging from a bedroom. “It’s moving fast. We have to get out now!”

“I have to get Collin! You and David make sure everyone got out okay.” I ran into the bedroom where we’d found the demon. Collin was using a blanket to beat the flames. Half the room was almost completely engulfed.

“Collin!” I shouted. “Come on!”

He turned to me coughing, his face black from the smoke. “Is everyone out?”

“Yes! Hurry!”

Thick smoke filled the hall as we stumbled to the staircase, both of us choking. There was a pocket of clean air halfway down, and I sucked in a deep breath and held it until we reached the dining room. Flames covered the dining room wall, and a cracking sound filled the entire room. The ceiling in front of us caved in, dropping a pile of burning debris onto the table. A plume of smoke rushed through the house, filling my lungs and blocking our exit.

I grabbed Collin’s hand, lacing our fingers together, and tugged. “This way.” I pulled him to the front door, coughing so hard I could barely see the steps leading to the yard. I dragged him to the edge of the yard and when I released my hold on him, he fell to his hands and knees, trying to catch his breath. Knowing he was safe, that we were all safe, I sat on the grass beside him, exhausted and heartbroken.

A crowd had already gathered before I heard the sirens. They were too late.

“Ellie!” David’s terrified shouts rounded the corner of the house. He saw me on the grass and ran to my side, falling on his knees next to me. “Thank God. I was so scared you were still inside.” He pulled me to his chest and buried his hand in my hair. “I couldn’t find you.”

“The ceiling caved in. We had to go this way. I’m safe.” But I felt numb. Like none of this could be real.

He held me for several seconds before he looked up at the inferno. “God, Ellie. You’re going to lose it all.” He sounded horrified.

“No. Not everything.” I buried my face into his chest. Not yet.

He turned me so my chest was pressed to his, and I let myself fall apart, safe in his arms. “Myra. We found her.” I broke into sobs.

I cried myself into exhaustion before I had the sense to check on Collin. An ambulance was parked on the side of the street now, and an irritated Collin was sitting on a gurney with an oxygen mask on. When he saw me watching him, he tossed it down and, ignoring the shouts of the paramedic who was treating him, jumped out of the ambulance and strode over toward me, his jaw set in determination.

I climbed to my feet as he approached.

“I’m sorry I didn’t go after her, Ellie. We’ll track her down. I swear to you.”

“You did the right thing.” I reached my arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. “Thank you.”

His hands loosely held my waist before he gently pushed me away. “It looks like your favorite police officer is waiting to talk to you. He’s already told me not to leave until we’ve had a ‘chat.’ ”

Tom made his way toward me, and I looked up at Collin in a panic. “What happened to the swords?”

“Claire,” he said as Tom walked up.

“What about Claire?” Tom asked, his hands on his hips, his gaze swinging between the three of us.

“Ellie wanted to make sure her friend was okay,” David volunteered, wrapping an arm around my waist.

“I’m going to go check on something in my truck,” Collin mumbled as he walked away.

The house gave a loud creaking sound before one side caved in.

“What happened, Ellie?” Tom asked in his official voice.

“Do you want the report-friendly version or the truth?”

He hesitated. “Truth.”

“It was a demon. It killed Myra and started the fire.” Grief stabbed my heart, but my tears were dry. Tears wouldn’t bring her back.

Tom put a hand on my arm. “God, Ellie. I’m sorry.”

I nodded, pressing my lips together. “The demon was attacking one of the boarders when we found it.” I searched the crowd and pointed to Sarah when I caught sight of her next to a second ambulance. “She was pretty freaked out. The demon has impersonated Myra, so I’d appreciate it if you could do something about that.” I cleared my throat. “For the report. Myra deserves better than for the town to think she attempted murder.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” He looked over at the fire, then back at me. “And the Raven Mockers?”

“The demon impersonating Myra was controlling them and it just fled. I hope they’re gone too, but it won’t be forever.”

“Then we’ll hope they don’t come back for a long time.” He started toward Sarah.

“Tom.”

He turned back to me.

“You’re going to find a total mess at the botanical gardens.” Although I hoped Tsagasi cleaned some of it up along with the weapons.

“Again?”

I didn’t answer and he turned away, muttering under his breath.

David tugged me tighter to him. “I guess this means we’re moving for sure. But we didn’t find all of your father’s notes.”

“We don’t need them. We’re making our own rules now.” I looked up at him. “Collin and I have officially broken all allegiance with the gods. This is far from over.” I offered a pained smile. “It’s only just begun.”

“We’ll be prepared. You know I’m on your side.”

“What about the Guardians? Do we have to worry about them coming back?”

“I don’t know, but I know we pretty much decimated their core group. All the people there tonight were the higher-level members. They might rebuild, but hopefully it will take years.”

I nodded. It was the best I could hope for.

David’s attention drifted to Collin. He sat on the back of his pickup looking more lost than I’d ever seen him. “He needs you right now, Ellie.”

I jerked my gaze up to meet David’s.

“You picked me, Ellie. But Collin is floundering right now, and he’s your partner. The three of us will be working closely together, and we all have to trust each other. I know your heart. I have faith in you.”

I placed a gentle kiss on the corner of his bruised lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Now go talk to him.”

I pushed through the now-thinning crowd, stopping next to Claire, who huddled next to an obviously shaken Drew.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know it was Myra sooner, Ellie,” Claire whispered through fresh tears.

I pulled my friend into a hug. “You couldn’t know, Claire. It’s okay.”

She pulled back and offered a smile.

“Can you do something for me?” I asked, my voice breaking. “Can you give Myra a message?”

Claire nodded.

“Can you tell her I’m sorry that I failed her?” I started crying as I said the words.

Claire shook her head, starting to sob. “She says you didn’t fail her. She’s so proud of you and she loves you so much.”

I could hardly see Claire through my tears. “Tell her I love her too.”

“Ellie, she already knows. She never once doubted your love for her.”

I sucked in several deep breaths to regain control and offered her a sad smile. “Thank you.” I cast a long glance toward Collin.

“It’s okay,” she said. “Go to him.”

After I made my way to the back of Collin’s truck, I hopped up on the tailgate next to him. “You were a hero tonight. Who would have thought?” I teased as I wiped my stray tears, leaning my shoulder into his. “You’re just full of surprises.”

“I meant it about finding the demon that killed your mother. I don’t want you to think I purposely let it go.”

“I know you didn’t.” I slipped my hand in his, lacing our fingers together.

He didn’t answer for several seconds, just watching the now-smoldering house. “Our connection is different. It changed tonight. I didn’t feel you. Did you really not feel me?”

“No.” And my hormones were under control even though we were sitting next to each other. If this lasted, it would make our lives infinitely easier. “Did you mean it about David being part of us now?”

“There’s no denying that he can find things we can’t. We need him.” He glanced over at the man I loved. “If he’s open to it, of course.”

“He is.”

“And Claire?” he asked, turning back to me and studying my face.

“I guess she’s one of us too. Part of our team.”

A smirk lifted his mouth. “I’ve never been much of a team player.”

My eyebrows lifted and a grin spread across my face. “Why does that not surprise me?”

He turned serious again.

A new thought hit me. “Are you okay with being part of a team?”

He sighed, his gaze on our joined hands. “For the first time, I feel like I belong to something important.” His deep brown eyes lifted to mine. “Do you know what I mean? Like we’re supposed to save the world even though no one realizes it.”

“Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.”

His smart-ass grin spread across his face. “We’ll need shirts. I think they should say ‘Team Collin.’ ”

I snorted. “Not a chance.”

Several minutes later David joined us, and I sat between the two most important men in my life, the two men who would help me fight the evil that was still growing and waiting to rise up and strike innocents.

We stayed until the fire was completely extinguished, wisps of smoke rising as firemen began to poke around the debris. The rising sun shot streaks of reds and pinks along the horizon. A new day was about to begin.

The first day of my new life.

I’d lost my family home and my last remaining parent, and yet the sun still rose. The world still spun. Life went on.

I leaned my head onto David’s shoulder and he pulled me close. “Are you ready to leave yet?” he asked.

Was I? No. Something wasn’t done. I wasn’t sure what, but I knew I needed to stay.

Not long after, Tom made his way over to me, holding a small wooden box. “Ellie, the fire inspector found this in the rubble. Everything around it was practically cinder, but this is in nearly pristine condition.”

I took it from him, gasping. The box with Daddy’s pocket watches. It was coated in a layer of dust, but he was right—it was completely undamaged. I ran my fingers around the edges.

David sat upright. “Is that what I think it is?”

“What is it?” Collin asked, leaning closer.

I lifted the lid, exposing the contents. “It’s from Daddy.” The timepieces were in perfect condition, nestled in their velvet beds. Obviously, the watches had survived for a reason. They still had an important purpose.

Did Daddy have anything to do with this? Was this his way of offering his love and support? If someone had suggested it two months ago, I’d have called them crazy. But a scent of leather and cinnamon hung in the air. He was with me right now.

I looked up at Collin. “It’s a sign of hope—that we can do this. That we can conquer the demons and make everything right again.”

A cocky grin spread across his face. “Hell, we already have that, Ellie.”

I chuckled. “Why? Because you’re on board?”

“No. Because we’ve got the best weapon we could possibly have.” He leaned closer, turning serious. “We’ve got you.”

I only hoped that I was enough.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’d like to thank 47North for their hard work and dedication to the Curse Keepers series. My acquiring editor, David Pomerico, heard the worst pitch in the history of pitches and still asked for a proposal. My first developmental editor, Alison Dasho, came with me to 47North, then left me after the line edits of The Curse Keepers to become an acquisitions editor for Thomas & Mercer. Her excitement at helping me create the Curse Keeper world, starting from the very beginning with the proposal, was contagious and inspiring. I was sad to lose her but excited to see her fulfill her dreams. Thankfully, I gained Angela Polidoro, whom I absolutely adore. She jumped in with both feet, not only with the Curse Keeper world, but my Rose Gardner Mystery series as well. She’s an absolute joy to work with and puts up with my moments of insecurities. (I’m convinced the poor woman usually sees me at my worst.) And finally, I’m lucky and thankful to have worked with the same copy editor for all three books. Jon has been an absolute joy to work with. I love how he understood me and my style, offering suggestions that were nearly always spot on. I can honestly say I’ve never enjoyed working with a copy editor as much as I have with him.

This series has had many highs and lows for me, and I’m forever thankful to Heather Pennington, Stormy Udell, Christie Timpson, Emily Pearson, and Rhonda Cowsert, who always believed in Ellie, Collin, and David, even when I doubted. I couldn’t ask for a better set of beta readers and friends.

I’m blessed with amazing readers, who not only read the book in their hands, but devour it and ask for more. You inspire me to keep this crazy pace. You inspire me to keep going even when I’m filled with doubt.

To those of you who have grown to love Ellie, Collin, and David—not to worry, this isn’t the end. Their journey has just begun.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER ONE

Two months before the curse broke

The waves slapped the side of the boat, but instead of the usual peace I experienced while alone on the water, irritation flooded through me. The damn engine was dead again even after the two grand I’d just dropped into it, and I suspected this time it was gone for good. Add on to that the fact that my haul of soft-shell crabs had been pitiful tonight—a far cry from the past four nights, which had netted me almost enough to pay off my latest loan from Marino. Now I was still in debt and about to fall even deeper into the hole. A new engine for the Lucky Star would cost me thousands of dollars I didn’t have.

Tossing the wrench across the deck, I sat back on my heels, cursing, as a sick feeling of dread washed over me.

It was like the universe was conspiring against me. I was good and truly fucked.

Kicking my legs out in front of me, I scooted back and rested my spine against the side of the boat, then reached into the cooler next to me, pulled out a bottle of beer, and popped the top. I took a long drag and stared up at the cloudless, starry sky. At least I could salvage something from this sorry excursion.

I sucked down the first beer, then took longer to drink the second. When I was finished, I grabbed another even though I knew having three so quickly was a bad idea. But I’d take whatever comfort I could get. Echoes carried over the water and I was close enough to the shore to hear the sounds of civilization, but the night was disarmingly quiet. I found it ironic that Collin Dailey, son of the land, was most at peace while on the water.

On nights like this one, when I wished I could be anywhere but here and anyone but me, I sometimes wondered about the other Keeper. Did she have the same bad luck that seemed to follow me around like a homeless dog? Did being a Curse Keeper mean we ourselves were cursed?

My grandmother was the greatest and wisest Manteo Keeper who’d ever lived. She was a Croatan conjuror, a converser with the spirits. Every Manteo Keeper before her had been a priest, so it stood to reason that Grandma Opal should have been one too. A female Curse Keeper was a rarity. But one who was also a conjurer? There had been no recorded conjurors in our line—male or female—since the descendant who’d carved out our fate so long ago.

There had been whispers about my grandmother when she was a little girl. Friends and family had thought her strange, and it was said that shadows followed her. But when she was older, she revealed that the shadows actually spoke to her. At first her father insisted it was impossible since all the gods and spirits were locked behind the gate of Popogusso, but even as a girl, my grandmother had possessed an intimidating presence. Besides, she wasn’t conversing with gods, but with lost souls—those who had died and not yet crossed over to the spirit world. Soon her father was a believer, and he declared her a conjurer.

My family had waited for centuries for a Dare Keeper to find us and break the curse. It had been foretold. It was expected. My great-grandfather was sure my grandmother would be the one to see it happen.

Here’s how the story went:

Over four hundred years ago, my ancestor Manteo befriended the Englishmen who landed on the shore of what is now North Carolina. He sailed to England twice and returned on the third English excursion to the New World. While the previous two ventures had been composed of explorers and geologists looking for treasure, the third included settlers—men and women and children who would make the New World their home. But the Native Americans were embittered by the previous atrocities that had been carried out by the English, and they vowed to wipe out the colony, going so far as to threaten the Croatan tribe because of Manteo’s traitorous behavior.

Ahone, the creator god, sensed Manteo’s growing desperation for his people and used it against him, convincing him to create a curse that would bind the gods and spirits of the warring tribes, weakening them. But Ahone insisted that Manteo needed the help of his English friend, Ananias Dare, son-in-law of Virginia governor John White, to do the deed. Since Ananias’s wife had given birth to their first child on Roanoke Island, he bore a desperation of his own.

So Manteo led Ananias into the woods one cold winter night and followed the instructions Ahone had given him, performing a ceremony to open the gate to Popogusso—hell. Ananias followed along, unaware until the very end that there would be a price for his participation. All he knew was that he was stopping the hostile tribes.

Ananias raced back to check on his wife and infant daughter, horrified to find nothing—every building, object, man, woman, and child had disappeared from the Roanoke colony. While Manteo’s sacrifice had been the life of his own son, Ananias had unwittingly trapped the entire English village behind the gate to hell along with the Native American gods and spirits. But Manteo had been tricked as well. The gods and spirits of his own people had been ensnared along with the deities of the neighboring tribes. The only god to escape was Ahone.

Ahone had used Manteo and Ananias for his own selfish purposes, and he saddled them with an additional responsibility. Each man would be a keeper of the curse from that day forward; his entire future purpose would be to protect the curse’s existence. He would pass on the duty to his firstborn once the child turned eighteen; the child would in turn pass it on in the same manner, and so on.

But Okeus, Ahone’s twin, hadn’t gone quietly. Before he was locked behind Popogusso’s gate, he used what remaining power he had to engineer an escape clause. The curse would break if the Keepers pressed their right palms together, freeing the gods and spirits. The Lost Colony of Roanoke would return with one caveat: everyone would be dead—no living thing could go to Popogusso and survive the journey back to the earthly plane.

When Ananias realized he’d lost the two people he’d tried to protect—his sole purpose for cooperating with Manteo’s plan—he became inconsolable. In his despair, he tried to kill Manteo, but Ahone had created a failsafe of his own. Whenever the two Keepers were in close proximity, they found it difficult to breathe, as though they were two magnets that repelled each other. Ananias found it impossible to get close enough to Manteo to break the curse, but he vowed that one of his progeny would hunt the Manteo Keeper down, break the curse, and seek revenge.

And so we began our vigil.

For over four hundred years, we waited. Our destiny weighed so strongly on us that when Grandma Opal turned out to be a conjurer, her father was greatly relieved. Surely the Dare Keeper would finally come on her watch, and my grandmother would be the one to save us all.

When she turned eighteen, Grandma went through the marking ceremony and had Okeus’s symbol tattooed on her chest like all the Manteo Keepers before her. Grandma’s father refused to let her marry for fear that a husband and children would distract her from her mission. The years passed like water in a stream, but the other Keeper never came. My great-grandfather died without seeing his prophecy come to pass and, at the age of forty-one, my grandmother married a man she hadn’t loved, solely to carry out her duty—bearing the next Curse Keeper.

My own father—her only child—was a bitter disappointment.

He was irresponsible and insolent. He hated his duty and felt trapped by my grandmother’s iron fist, but he couldn’t deny that she was the wisest woman he’d ever known, a fact that chafed like sandpaper on an open wound. He knew he’d never live up to her expectations, so he soon created a mission of his own.

To break the curse himself.

When he became an adult, he rarely saw my grandmother, putting as much distance between them as possible, which was ironic considering my grandmother owned the house we lived in as well as her own smaller home less than two blocks away.

After my fifth birthday, my grandmother convinced my mother to bring me to her house for weekly lessons on the curse. My father wasn’t happy about the arrangement, yet he never considered denying her. As much as he hated his mother, he feared her more.

I feared her as well.

Her house smelled of the herbs and roots she used to help her speak with her spirits, and she had a no-nonsense air about her. When she turned her deep, dark eyes on me, I knew without a doubt she could see into the depths of my soul. But the more time I spent with her, the more my fear—although still present—gave way to respect.

One day, after a year of lessons, I finally felt bold enough to ask a question of Grandma Opal rather than just listening to what she had to tell me.

“Am I a Keeper yet, Gran?”

“No, my child. Not yet, but soon. You will be the Keeper.” Her voice was low and sad.

I studied her face even though I found it hard to hold her gaze. “What does that mean?”

“You will find out soon enough.” She sounded weary and old when she said it. Even though she looked older than anyone I knew, she usually didn’t sound like it.

“Do you think she learns about the curse too?” I asked.

“Who?” Her voice had a sharp edge to it.

“The other person who’s going to be a Keeper.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why do you call her a she?”

I shrugged. “Something tells me the Dare Keeper is a girl.” I glanced up at her. “Is she? Do you know?”

She watched me, then nodded. “Yes, the voices have told me that she is female. Younger than you. But the fact that the Dare Keeper is a female is secret. Not even your father can know. Do you understand?”

I nodded. Even though I didn’t understand the urgency, by the age of six I’d already figured out that my father and my grandmother had very different ideas about what it meant to be a Curse Keeper.

“And yes, I’m sure she knows about her role.”

“But she’s our enemy?”

“You can’t believe everything your father tells you.”

“Which is why I visit you?” I asked.

“Yes.” She was quiet for a moment. “How did you know with such certainty the soon-to-be Dare Keeper was female? Do you hear voices, Collin?”

“No.”

She watched me for several seconds. “No, I didn’t think so. Still, my voices assure me it will happen in this lifetime, even though you aren’t a conjuror.” Her voice trailed off.

“Does that make me a priest?” I asked, not sure I liked the sound of that. “Like Father Brian at the Catholic church?”

“Yes and no. You will be educated about the spiritual world like Father Brian, but you will know things no one else can ever know. Not even the other Keeper. The priest and the conjuror each have their roles and powers, but their knowledge shouldn’t cross. Just like the Keepers get their power from opposite forces—the land and the sea—your purposes for the curse are opposite as well.” She leaned close. “The fact that she is a female and a conjuror is a bad sign, Collin. That is why my father thought I was the one, because I was both—something that has never been seen in the history of the curse. But the fact that she is female, a conjuror, and a Dare Keeper is ominous. This girl is special. She is already stronger than I am and she has barely begun to learn her role. When she seeks you out, she will be prepared . . . and dangerous. I must make sure you are ready.”

“But Dad says he will be the one to break the curse.”

She sighed. “Life is full of many disappointments.”

After that, I went to her house more frequently—several days a week—and she told me everything she knew about the curse and my role in it. She taught me about the gods and the major spirits, and about the Manitou, the life force of every creature. But as I grew older, she switched her to focus to the ceremony.

“She will resist the ceremony to reseal the gate, Collin. You must find a way to make her do so anyway. Tell her that there will be a great reward if she reseals the gate.”

“I thought you said she wasn’t my enemy,” I said, reminding my grandmother of our earlier conversation.

Her gaze narrowed. “I never said she wasn’t. I only said you can’t believe everything your father says.” She studied my confused face. “There’s a chance she could end up being a friend, but the truth is that if she purposefully breaks the curse, she’s most likely a foe. You must be prepared for either possibility. Especially since she may seek you out with the intent to harm you.”

I nodded. Hurt me? This was becoming all too real.

The ceremony was a thorny issue, since the Dare Keeper, as the conjurer, should be the one to conduct it. But my grandmother ensured that I would be able to take the lead role if the opportunity presented itself. She drilled me endlessly until every last detail of the ceremony was seared into my memory.

When I was ten, Gran told me about the weapons a Dare Keeper had made a hundred years after the creation of the curse, an act encouraged by the betrayer god, Ahone. The Keeper had hired a Croatan conjuror to give the weapons power to use against the gods and spirits when they eventually escaped from Popogusso. “The Dare Keeper may have had a weapon made to protect himself from the gods,” she said, “but he really did it to have the upper hand on the Manteo line when the time came. But the curse is based on duality, so any weapon must have a counterpart. He was forced to create one for the Manteo line as well, even though we’ve never laid eyes on it.”

“What are the two weapons?” I asked in awe.

“A spear and a ring.”

“I want the spear.”

She gave me a grim smile. “The spear is yours, but the ring holds more power.”

“How can that be?” I asked in disbelief. “What can a ring do that a sharp-pointed spear can’t?”

“Power is deceiving, Collin. Great things can be hidden in small packages.”

“What does the ring do?”

“The ring gives the Dare Keeper who possesses it power over the gate to Popogusso without the other Keeper.”

I scowled. “So what does the spear do?”

“It can maim gods and spirits.”

“Hmm.”

“It is powerful in its own right, Collin. When you are old enough, I encourage you to find both weapons and hide the ring from the future Dare Keeper forever. The less she knows about its power, the better. You do not want her to have a strength that you do not.”

I shook my head in annoyance. “But I don’t even know exactly what it does.”

“All the better,” she murmured.

“You said ‘find the weapons.’ Are they lost?”

“Yes, a foolish descendent of Dare sold the weapons to a family in South Carolina and they disappeared for more than a hundred years. But the voices tell me that they’re about to surface, and you must find them. The fate of the world depends on it.”

I nodded solemnly. I took my future Curse Keeper role seriously, unlike my father.

“The Curse will break when you take on the role. I foresee this more strongly than any other vision I’ve had, yet I can’t see the outcome.”

“I won’t let you down, Grandmother.”

She grabbed my hand and pulled me close to kiss the top of my head. “You will have a rocky start, but you will make me proud in the end.”

CHAPTER TWO

While my grandmother taught me what she thought I needed to know to fulfill my role as the Manteo Curse Keeper, my father had his own version of the truth. With an intact curse, my father had two responsibilities: provide a new Keeper, and teach that Keeper about his heritage. Since he’d completed task one of his role, that left task two. He taught me about the curse, just not in the way his forebears had intended.

He’d kick back in his lawn chair in our ramshackle backyard, drinking beers like they were ice-cold lemonade. While my grandmother taught me about my duties, my father made sure I knew that Manteo had fucked us over twice. “Not only are we expected to get this damn tattoo”—he pulled down his T-shirt to show the intricately designed ink on his chest, the god Okeus’s mark in the center—“but we’re expected to sire a brat to get the same damn mark.”

I waited for him to finish his guzzle of beer while my six-year-old brother Conner sat several feet behind me, digging in the dirt with one of my mother’s spoons, one of our few “toys” that actually worked. All the other ones were broken thrift-store finds that should have been thrown in the garbage.

“But the best fucking part, my boy, is we are stuck in this cesspool forever.” He motioned around him as he said this, a slosh of beer flying from his can.

That was new information, and my expression must have given away my interest.

“Aha! You didn’t know that.” He pointed his index finger at me while still gripping his can. He finished the beer, then leaned to the side and shouted at my brother. “Conner, get me another one.”

Conner grumbled, but got to his feet and went through the back door. My father waited for the bang of the door shutting before he leaned forward. “That’s right. We’re stuck here.”

“In this house?”

He snorted his disgust. “No.” He crumpled the can with his fist and tossed it over his shoulder. “The Outer Banks. Bet your grandmother didn’t teach you that, did she?”

“No, sir.”

Conner came back out with my father’s beer and handed it to him. My father popped the top and leaned back in his seat with a satisfied grin. “There’s two sides to every story, Collin. Don’t you forget it.”

“Yes, sir.”

After that he started to take me out on the Lucky Star late at night, when every other kid in my third-grade class was tucked safely into bed. We’d shoot across the water as quickly as the rattrap would take us until we were out on the ocean, the lights on the shore barely visible. Then he’d kill the engine and we’d sit in silence—sometimes for a couple of minutes, sometimes for nearly an hour—while he nursed the bottle of Jack Daniels he kept tucked in the captain’s room.

Sometimes I’d doze off before he began to talk, but eventually he always got around to discussing the reason for our father-son bonding sessions.

“What are you, boy?” he’d ask and I’d rouse, my shoulders stiffening in anticipation of the lesson to come.

“The next Manteo Curse Keeper.”

“Which one?” his gravelly voice would bark.

“The twenty-ninth.”

“That’s right. The twenty-fucking-ninth.” Then he’d spit his disgust into the ocean before grilling me on how the curse began. Of course, everything he said had his own special twist on it. He talked about how Manteo threw everything away to protect bastards who never appreciated one fucking ounce of help. How twenty-nine generations had suffered because of the irresponsibility of one man. How it was our job to rectify the sorry situation.

“What does your grandmother say?” he’d ask at the end of his lesson, his words slurred.

“She says the signs say the curse will break in her lifetime.”

“It ain’t broke yet, has it?”

“No, sir.”

This continued to happen, off and on, for two years. My mother didn’t approve, but she lacked the backbone to defy him. I could only remember her speaking up to him once, and he backhanded her across the face in front of the whole family. My then-six-year-old brother clung to her leg, crying with fear, then my father stumbled out of the house in a drunken stupor for the rest of the night. He never once addressed the fact that he’d given her a black eye.

When I was ten, my father started to disappear for days on end. He spent time with a new group of friends—people he claimed could change everything for us. He would pull a wad of small bills out of his pocket, flashing the cocky grin he’d probably used to win my mother, and say, “Times are a-changing, Collin, my boy. There’s a new family business and it sure ain’t fishin’ or curse keepin’.” Then he’d laugh until he broke into a fit of coughing.

My grandmother watched it all with her sharp, dark eyes. Eyes that took in everything the human eye could see and more. I knew she saw what I did: even though he hated the curse, my father had never once denied its existence. To do so would have forced him to accept responsibility for his own fate, a task he’d never be prepared to assume, no matter what his word vomit claimed.

But one cold winter night, he staggered into my room and sat on the edge of my bed, leaning over me and pushing a cloud of alcohol-laden breath into my face.

“Collin Fitzgerald Dailey,” he sneered, shaking my shoulder. He hated my name, only one of two concessions he’d ever made to my Irish-American mother—at least as far as I knew—the other being my brother Conner’s name. “It’s time to prepare.”

I had no idea what he meant, but I was smart enough not to ask. He tossed my heaviest coat at me, and it landed on my twin bed with a thump.

“Dress warm, boy. We’re goin’ out on the sea.”

I waited until he left the room to release my groan.

“He’s taking you again?” Conner whispered with a mixture of jealousy and fear.

“Yeah,” I grumbled as I reached for my jeans lying on the floor.

“You haven’t gone out for a long time.”

“I know.” It had been months. That had been one of the perks of my father spending so much time with his new friend Marino: no more nighttime sea excursions. That, along with the money my father seemed to have.

Besides the fact that he was indisputably drunker than usual, there was something ominous about tonight’s adventure. Still, there was no denying my father.

I dressed quickly and heard my parents in the living room. My mother was crying, but my father was having none of it. “I have a lead on the fucking weapons, Katie. I’m gonna put an end to this thing. I’m going to destroy them.”

I stood in the shadows of the hallway, listening.

“But she’s just a child,” she whispered.

My stomach clenched. Who was she talking about?

“Come on out here, boy,” my father bellowed. “I see you lurking in the shadows like a coward. Real men stand up to what they’re afraid of.”

Three steps brought me to the entrance of our tiny living room. My mother sat on the sofa, wringing a tissue, her eyes red and puffy. I stopped in the middle of the room, then added a few extra steps to show I wasn’t afraid. In truth, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this scared.

“Collin,” my mother whispered, but my father grabbed her arm and leaned over into her face. She grimaced, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Enough, Katie.”

I lifted my chin and steeled my back. “I’m going. Don’t try to stop me.” I couldn’t let him hurt her. She’d become so fragile it wouldn’t take much to break her for good.

My father dropped his hold and teetered toward the front door while my mother watched in wide-eyed horror.

I ran to her and gave her a hug. “I’ll be fine.”

She pulled back and grabbed the lapels of my too-big brown coat, a hand-me-down from my cousin. Her eyes searched mine, wild and desperate. “You know how to drive the boat, don’t you?”

I nodded.

“He’s more drunk than usual . . . ” she whispered. “If he—”

“Come on!” my father bellowed.

I jerked away from her before she could finish, hustling to meet him at the door. He whacked me on the back of the head, sending pain shooting through my skull.

“Are you a baby or a man, Collin Dailey?” he slurred.

“A man.”

“Damn right. Men don’t answer to women. Women are good for screwing and cleaning house. Best you remember that, boy, otherwise you’ll end up being pussy whipped. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” I said as we went into the darkness. I’d heard different versions of this speech about women for as long as I could remember. Sometimes I wondered what would happen if he said that to Grandma Opal. She’d probably kill him on the spot.

Sometimes I wished she would.

In his inebriated state, it took my father three attempts to open his car door, and two to get his keys into the steering column. The car straddled the centerline of the road, but thankfully there wasn’t much traffic this late at night. There were only a handful of cars at the parking lot abutting the dock when we arrived because the early-morning fishermen wouldn’t be out for another hour or two.

My father grabbed a small brown bag out of the back seat before he staggered to the dock and climbed over the edge of the boat, nearly falling on his ass from the drop in height. I untied the vessel from the dock and then followed him onboard.

Soon we were flying across the water, my father at the helm while I sat outside, huddled with my back to the wall of the cabin. My father would never let me ride in the captain’s helm with him, no matter how cold it was. Real men sailed in the cold, he would say. I knew better than to point out that we weren’t sailing or that he was always inside.

I was tired, but my fear kept me awake as he raced through Pamlico Sound, around the tip of Hatteras Island, and out onto the Atlantic. I wrapped my coat tight around my body, leaning my head back to stare at the stars.

He took us farther out than usual. I hadn’t seen any sign of the shore for quite some time when the engine finally slowed, then died. The door opened and he walked out, tripping over his feet and nearly falling. His face darkened with anger and he spun around to face me.

“Time for your lesson, little Curse Keeper.”

The look in his eyes was murderous. I had always been scared of him, but this was the first time I’d feared for my life. My back pressed against the wall, I slowly slid up until I was standing, and squared my shoulders.

Real men showed no fear . . . It was another lesson my father had taught me.

“Okay.” My voice sounded strong and clear in the darkness.

He began to pace across the short deck, weaving as he sipped on a nearly empty bottle of Jack. “It’s all about to end, Collin.”

I waited several seconds for him to continue and when he didn’t, icy fear seeped through my veins. It was obvious he wanted me to prompt him for an explanation, and while I was fairly sure I didn’t want to hear it, I didn’t want to make him any madder. “What is?” I forced out.

“The curse.”

I’d heard this before, but something was different on that cold dark night. Something told me I should take him seriously.

“I know how to break it this time.”

My eyes grew so wide that the cold wind whipping across the water made them sting. “How?”

“You don’t need to worry about the how of it, only that this damn thing will finally be over and we’ll be rich.”

“How?” I repeated.

“The Ricardo Estate, boy.” He’d been talking about the elusive Ricardo Estate for weeks, but I’d figured it was just one my father’s many pipedreams and schemes. Until now. “I’ve found the ring . . . and I know where the spear is too.”

“What ring?”

He pointed his finger at me, his eyes wild. “Don’t play stupid with me, boy! I know your grandmother told you all about the Dare weapons.”

My father hated that she tried to counteract his teachings, and I was the one caught in the middle of their conflict. “She says the curse will break in her lifetime. She says I need to be prepared,” I sputtered out.

“Because she doesn’t think I’ll be the one to do it,” he sneered, resting his ass on an upside-down bucket. “But I fooled her.” Then he broke out into laughter.

I always kept at least part of her lessons secret from him, even when he grilled me for hours. Up until the previous year, she’d tried to convince my father his designs were foolish, but it was a wasted effort. As wise as she was, I wondered how she failed to realize that a fool’s mind couldn’t be changed. Maybe she had a hard time giving up on him since he was her son. What I had trouble understanding was why he wanted to be the one who broke the curse. The responsibility sat heavily on my shoulders.

“So this is our final lesson.” He teetered close to the edge of the boat and it suddenly occurred to me how easy it would be for him to fall over the side and be lost at sea forever. No one would ask any questions if I went back without him.

But my luck was worse than my father’s and he stayed on the deck, bitterly complaining about all the hardships the descendants of Manteo had faced over four hundred years, going on and on about how he’d be the one to save us all. The reason my grandmother would never recognize his greatness, he said, was because she was jealous of him. It was a verbal manifesto, wasted on the ears of his sleepy ten-year-old son.

My father ranted for nearly an hour, an incoherent mess of a person who grew messier with each sip of Jack, especially after he opened the fresh bottle he’d brought on board. He sat on the deck across from me as he continued his binge. When he reached a lull and seemed more passive than before, I asked the question that I’d wanted to ask him for two years, ever since our first Curse Keeper boat outing. “Why the ocean?”

His head jerked up but the uncoordinated move almost made him fall over. “What about the ocean?”

“We’re the sons of the land. Why do you bring me out onto the ocean to talk about this?”

“We’re fisherman,” he sneered. “It’s part of our fucking history.”

“Yeah, I know.” I was sitting on the deck and scooted several feet closer to him, making sure to stay out of arm’s reach. “But that’s not why you bring me out here to teach me your lessons. Why the ocean?”

He closed his eyes and rested his head against a bucket. He hesitated for so long I wasn’t sure if he wasn’t going to answer or if he was even awake. Finally, he said, “So the gods and spirits won’t hear.”

It was my turn to hesitate. “The gods and spirits are locked up in Popogusso,” I said. “How can they hear us when we’re on land?”

“One god escaped. You know that from me and your grandmother. He’s watching me and plotting against me. I’m trying to hide my plans from him.”

Ahone?

My father was drunk and crazy.

I watched him for several minutes, waiting for him to say more. But he didn’t. Soon I realized he was asleep. When the sun began to rise and he still hadn’t come round, I went into the helm, started the engine, and headed back toward Hatteras Island, glancing back at my father to see if he’d roused. He was still out, and he stayed that way even after I docked the boat. I stared at him for several long moments, trying to decide whether to leave him there or wake him.

But I’d suffered his wrath before after waking him from drunken slumbers. I tied up the boat and started walking back home so I could go to school. I had a spelling test to take.

I never saw him again.

CHAPTER THREE

I leaned my head back and finished my third beer, trying to decide whether to drink another or call Conner to come get me. But Conner and I hadn’t been on the best terms over the past year, so I tossed the empty can in the cooler and grabbed another one.

I was going to have to kiss Marino’s ass again to get the money to fix the Lucky Star.

Conner thought I was an idiot to keep the boat, and part of me knew he was right. I claimed I kept it because it had been my grandfather’s, but even my grandmother wanted me to sell it. The truth was, even though I needed to work for Marino to finance the repairs, the boat was the only thing that gave me independence from him. Marino had his hooks set so deeply into my back there was no way I could avoid becoming his full-time lackey without a good excuse. And since I was good and stuck in the OBX—my father had been right about that; I tried leaving once and nearly suffocated to death—there was no escape. The boat was my salvation. Marino had known my father before his disappearance, so he knew I came from a long line of commercial fishermen. In fact, he’d come to me soon after my father’s disappearance, offering his financial help if I ever needed it. And like a lamb to the slaughter, I’d taken out my first loan from him during my junior year of high school. I had already quit school midyear to earn the money to pay for my mother’s medical bills and help raise my brother.

Mom had been in and out of the hospital with severe depression ever since my father’s disappearance, and Conner and I had been shuffled from one relative to the next when she wasn’t home. For some reason, my grandmother refused to watch us. But even when our mother was around, she didn’t do much to take care of us. I was the one who made sure Conner did his homework and stayed out of trouble. By the time I turned seventeen, I was sick and tired of her inability to be a mother to us. I insisted I could raise my brother on my own, whether she was home or hospitalized. My decision inadvertently influenced her to swallow half a bottle of sleeping pills. Her suicide note said she’d always planned to end her life. Her intention had been to wait until Conner’s high-school graduation, but my declaration of independence had accelerated her plans.

I borrowed money from Marino to pay for her funeral, sinking me deeper into his debt.

The guilt over her death had clung to me ever since.

I took a long sip of the beer, letting the cold liquid slide down my throat. Working for Marino full time was most likely inevitable. Why was I fighting it so hard? Maybe I should stop being so stubborn and give in.

Was this my destiny after all? Maybe my grandmother’s predictions were just as inaccurate as her father’s had been.

“Is that what you want?” I shouted out to the universe, my voice echoing across the even-tempered sound waves. “Do you want me to sell my soul to the devil?”

Of course there was no answer. How could I expect differently?

I tilted my head back again, focusing on the stars overhead. I’d learned the constellations to help navigate when I was out at sea. After all, given the general state of my boat, I didn’t want to put too much trust in its navigation system. My ancestors had used the stars for guidance, a fact that had fascinated me ever since my father had started our Curse Keeper lessons while out at sea. But tonight there was a star that didn’t belong. I wondered if there was a comet I wasn’t aware of, but quickly realized it didn’t have a tail. The three and a half beers must have been hitting me harder than usual because the star began to pulse, growing larger and larger.

I got to my feet, wondering if I was seeing things, but then the star exploded with a startling bright light and began to plummet to the earth. I watched in horror as I realized it was falling directly toward the Lucky Star. Staggering to the helm, I tried in vain to start the engine to get out of its path. When I realized I wasn’t going anywhere, I ducked for cover.

The sky filled with a blinding light, forcing me to close my eyes as I braced for some kind of impact. To my surprise, nothing happened; the light faded and the Lucky Star continued to gently float on the water. When I opened my eyes and stumbled onto the deck, a glowing yellow orb about two feet in diameter was waiting for me, hovering over the water several feet from the edge of the boat. I blinked, wondering what in the hell I’d been drinking, because beer had never made me hallucinate.

“Curse Keeper,” whispered a voice that could only be coming from the orb.

Terror shot down my spine as I walked to the edge of the boat. Only a handful of people knew of that title. Not that it mattered. A fucking ball of light was talking to me. Was this how it was for my grandmother when her lost souls spoke to her?

“Curse Keeper.” The light pulsed inside the orb and a warmth rolled from it, taking away the evening chill.

“What are you?”

“Someone who wishes to help you.”

I shook my head, narrowing my eyes with my skepticism. “Me?”

“You are the son of the land. It has always been your destiny to be one of the Keepers of the curse.”

I took several deep breaths, swallowing the metallic taste of fear on my tongue. If everything my grandmother had taught me was to be believed, this orb could only be one of two things. The first was one of her lost souls, what most people called ghosts. Although she never gave me too many specifics, I knew not all spirits took their human form, but I’d never once heard of one appearing as a pulsing ball of light that fell from the sky. That only left one other option—Ahone, creator of humanity and creator of the curse.

Given the consequences of his visit with Manteo, I wasn’t very happy he’d chosen to visit me now, especially after his comment about my destiny. I decided to take the offensive. “What do you want, Ahone?”

“For centuries your ancestors have suffered. I wish to help you put an end to this.”

“Aren’t you the one who caused their suffering?” I knew I was playing with fire. He was a god. He could kill me on the spot. But the alcohol pumping through my veins tempered my restraint.

The light expanded then shrank. “No, son of the earth. I created the curse to help your people. I wanted to protect you from your enemies, so I approached Manteo and told him how to harness the power of the earth and the sea to trap the evil forces that plagued this land.”

I scoffed, feeling braver. “That’s not what I was taught.”

“You were taught many things, most of them contradictory. Your grandmother believes I tricked the first son of the earth into doing my will, while your father believed your ancestor was selfish in his quest for peace. Both are wrong, biased accounts.”

“And I’m supposed to believe your version?”

“Curse Keeper, what purpose would it serve me to lie to you?”

“What purpose does it serve you to make this little visit to me tonight?” I shot back.

The orb grew brighter and I wondered if I’d gone too far, but this thing floating in front of me was the whole reason I was stuck in this hellhole, and God help me, I struggled to hold my anger along with my tongue.

“My purpose in being here is to help you.”

“Then set me loose from this goddamned curse so I can get the hell away from this place and never look back.”

“I can grant your request.”

An invisible band cinched around my chest. This had to be a trick. “You’re telling me I don’t have to be a Curse Keeper anymore? Because I’m sure as hell not going to have any kids to carry on this legacy, and I don’t plan on dying and passing it on to my brother. Based on what I’ve been told, there’s no Option C.”

“There is one possibility you haven’t considered.”

I laughed, holding my hands out from my sides. “I’m all ears.”

“Break the curse, then seal the gate permanently.”

I did a double take. “You want me to break the curse?”

“Yes.”

I rubbed my eyes, trying to wrap my head around what was happening. “My father spent his whole life trying to figure out a way to break the curse. He failed.” Hell, he hadn’t even been right in thinking we’d be safe from Ahone on the ocean.

“Your father was a fool.”

There was no denying it, but part of me wondered if I should at least try to defend him. In the end, I didn’t have the stomach for it. “For my whole life, my grandmother has told me the Dare Keeper will seek me out to break the curse. The spirits have told her so. She’s made sure I know how to reseal the gate when the time comes.”

“Your grandmother is correct. The Dare Keeper is very strong. When the time comes, you must use all of the knowledge your grandmother has instilled in you to reseal the gate permanently.”

“What makes this time any different than the last? Why bother breaking the curse at all?”

“Last time Okeus tricked us all and created those marks on your palms.”

While there was nothing on my palm at the moment, my grandmother had taught me that a circle enclosed in a square would appear when the curse broke. The mark would give me power over the spirits and gods.

“It gave him and the other evil ones an out. This time there will be no escape. If you and the other Curse Keeper break the curse and use the original artifacts in the ceremony, you will have the chance to reseal the gate for good. Then you—and all of humanity—will be free forever.”

In my twenty-five years of life, I’d learned that when something sounded too good to be true, it almost always was. I couldn’t help wondering what Ahone had promised my twenty-seventh great-grandfather to get him to carry out his crime? Had Manteo also been swayed by an impossible-to-deny offer?

I cocked my head. “My grandmother says all the signs point to the curse breaking on my watch. She made me prepare. If this is going to happen anyway, why don’t I just wait until the Dare Keeper finds me?” Of course, my family predicting the breaking of the curse was a lot like Christians predicting the return of Jesus—every generation was sure they’d witness it.

“If you wait until the Dare Keeper finds you, it will be too late. She is too strong, and she grows stronger by the day. But if you find her soon, your power will be able to overcome hers. You can force her to participate in the resealing ceremony. You are the one who must save humanity.”

Fear sent icy shards through my blood. Just how powerful was she?

While I’d known since the beginning that the Dares had vowed to find us and not only break the curse but destroy the Manteo Keeper, when I looked at my own life, I had to wonder what there was left to destroy.

The fact that I thought of saving myself before humanity was probably a telling character flaw. Not that I gave a shit. “What’s in it for me?” I asked.

The ball pulsed for several seconds before responding. “Survival for you and your family. If you let the Dare Keeper find you first, she will destroy you all.”

I grimaced and shook my head. I didn’t trust the bastard. “I think I’ll leave well enough alone and take my chances.”

The orb burned brighter. “You have the opportunity to free yourself forever. I understand you’ve been trained to protect the curse, but you have the chance to save future generations of your family from its yoke. I will give you one month to think it over, but consider this: What will the curse do for you if you let it stand? You have far more to lose than to gain.” Then the light flashed blindingly bright and shrank to a pinpoint before disappearing.

I stared into the darkness where the light had been and asked myself if he could be right. What good did the curse do me if I let it stand? But breaking the curse was a crazy idea . . . wasn’t it?

I spent the remainder of the night out on the sound, drinking the rest of my six-pack as I gave Ahone’s suggestion serious consideration.

CHAPTER FOUR

I woke slumped against the cabin, my neck aching from being bent at an odd angle, the sun glaring in my eyes. I sat up straight, remembering the crazy encounter I’d had with Ahone. Had it really happened? I’d never had such a vivid dream before, but maybe I’d passed out after drinking a few too many beers. In over four hundred years, no Manteo Keeper had ever seen or talked to Ahone, so why would he visit me?

But what if it actually had happened? My grandmother firmly believed the Dare Keeper would seek me out to break the curse. And Ahone had confirmed her fear that the other Keeper would be powerful . . . and probably vindictive to boot. But what if I really could take the offensive, stopping her before her gifts blossomed?

I snorted, then immediately regretted it when pain shot through my head. This was why I rarely drank too much. I couldn’t hold my liquor. That would have been a bitter disappointment to my alcoholic father.

My cell phone rang, the sound making me jump and sending more pain through my head. I slid my phone out of my pocket and grimaced. It was the very last person I wanted to talk to, but I couldn’t avoid him forever. I answered it, already cringing before he spoke.

“Collin, you disappointment,” Marino’s raspy voice filled my ear. Apparently, there was plenty of disappointment to go around as far as I was concerned.

“Perhaps your expectations are too high for me, Marino.”

He chuckled. “Good thing I liked your old man or I wouldn’t let you get away with talking to me like that.”

I bit my tongue to keep from telling him the fact that he’d liked my father was reason enough to question his judgment. No need to push my luck.

“I know you must have gotten my message requesting your presence at my office, Collin. Why has it taken you so long to get back to me?”

I stood and looked around at the water, trying to find the shore. I must have drifted deeper into Pamlico Sound. How was I getting cell phone service out here? I opened the door to the captain’s room and turned on the navigational gear, waiting for it to warm up. “I’ve been detained. I’m out on the sound with a dead engine.”

Marino belly-laughed.

The GPS turned on and I saw I was a good half mile off shore, closer to Ocracoke Island than Hattaras Island. Shit. I’d been drifting all night. “I’m glad you find it amusing,” I said when he finally settled down.

“Why do you insist on keeping that death trap?” he asked.

“I’ve already told you,” I grumbled, heading back outside and dropping to my knees next to the engine compartment. “Tradition.”

“Your father started a new tradition before his disappearance. You should follow in those family footsteps, which leads me to the reason I’ve requested a meeting with you. Since you seem so reluctant, here’s an added incentive: an invaluable estate collection that went missing around the same time as your old man recently found its way to the surface.”

I sucked in a breath, sitting back up. “My father said he was working on something called the Ricardo Estate.”

“That’s right. Now get your ass in here and I’ll tell you what I know.”

“Why do I give a shit about some estate collection that disappeared around the same time as my father?” I asked, trying to mask the level of my interest. “He was a mean drunk who beat the shit out of my mother. The day he disappeared was the best day of my young life.”

He laughed again. “You’re a good bullshitter, Collin Dailey, but I know you better than you think. You’re curious as hell to know what it’s all about. You may not give a shit about your father’s disappearance, but the estate is one giant mystery you want to solve. Come see me, Collin. This afternoon. Three o’clock.”

I cursed after he hung up. He did know me well. Too well. He’d met me as a child and had started to study me years before I realized what he was doing. Marino had grown in power since I’d first met him after my father’s disappearance, and his rise to bad-guy greatness could be attributed to his ability to read people. He knew his enemies as well as his associates. He knew what made people tick—what buttons to push, what triggers to pull to get them to do what he wanted. Marino had figured me out all right, but at least there was an upside: he’d also taught me to hide myself from everyone else. One of many reasons I was still under his thumb.

I examined the engine again and came up with a temporary fix that might get me back to the dock if I was lucky. When I was back on dry land, it would be time for some serious soul-searching about what to do with the money-sucker.

It was nearly noon when I tied up the Lucky Star to the dock. My beat-up red truck was in the parking lot, the windows rolled down, daring anyone to come steal it. I’d scrimped and saved to come up with the fifteen hundred dollars I’d needed to buy the thing when I was fifteen. My mother had been in and out of mental health hospitals since I was eleven, and we’d lost my father’s car. We’d only managed to hold on to our house because it belonged to Grandma Opal and we didn’t have any mortgage payments. My father’s meager social security checks, which continued to arrive long after he disappeared, helped pay the taxes and utilities. And my own wages from working for my uncle on his fishing boat helped with food and clothing for the whole family. So when I turned fifteen, I bought the truck with spare money I’d been saving for two years, and drove it without a license for the six months before my sixteenth birthday. I drove like a grandma to make sure I didn’t get pulled over. It was the one thing I truly owned.

As much as I hated to think about it, Marino now held the title on my boat.

I drove home to the tiny house where I’d grown up. Sometimes I was surprised I still lived here. My mother was gone and Conner had moved out years ago. Maybe I was a masochist, determined to coexist with the haunting memories of my father’s abuse. But most of his violence had been aimed at our mother, who’d done her best to protect us. Conner remembered things differently, blaming my mother for staying in the first place, subjecting us all to our father’s wrath. But Conner liked to toss judgment around, and he always made sure to heap plenty on me as well. Nevertheless, I stayed in the run-down house, telling myself it was because I could live there rent-free. It wasn’t like I spent much of my free time there anyway.

I pulled into the driveway and my stomach tightened when I saw that the front door was partially open behind the storm door. Someone was in my house. Only two people could be there—my brother, which seemed unlikely since it was a little past noon on a Tuesday afternoon and Conner had a respectable job at an insurance firm, or my grandmother.

When I walked in through the door, she was sitting in my father’s old, green, threadbare recliner in the corner.

I offered her a grim smile. I knew this wasn’t a social call. Her lost souls were more gossipy than the women at her bingo night. “Grandmother,” I said, walking into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. “Glad to see you still have your key.”

“Of course I have a key. I own the damn house.”

I screwed the cap off my bottle and lifted it in salute. “And you can have it back anytime you want.”

“We both know that’s not why I’m here.”

I sat on the sofa across from her, leaning back in a nonchalant pose, even though I was feeling anything but. She never came to my house, so this was a bad sign. Was this confirmation that my tête-à-tête with Ahone had actually happened?

“Where were you last night?”

“Out on the sound.”

“Something happened.” It was a statement, not a question.

I cocked an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Don’t get smart with me, Collin Fitzgerald. You need to tell me everything.”

I crossed my legs and stretched my arm across the back of the sofa. “Something happened, all right. That piece of shit engine on the boat finally crapped out for good. I was lucky to make it back to shore this morning.”

She scowled, looking like she was about to wallop me in the head. I wouldn’t put it past her, which was one of the reasons I was leaning back. “You know damn good and well what I’m talking about.”

“Actually, Gran. I don’t. Why don’t you enlighten me?” I wasn’t exactly sure why I was lying to her. It would serve me better to tell her the truth and get her opinion on the whole mess, but lying was such an ingrained habit, it felt more natural than telling her what had really happened, as sick and twisted as that was.

“The lost souls are like a flock of chattering birds. They say the entire spirit world has been shaken.”

“Really?” I asked in mock surprise, taking a drink. “What could that be about?”

“Don’t you lie to me, Collin.” She was up and out of the chair faster than I’d seen her move in years. All five-foot-two-inches of her towered over me. “Something happened on that boat of yours, and you’re going to tell me what it was.”

I heaved out a sigh. “I got a visit from a bright ball of light.”

She waited for me to continue.

“You realize anyone else would call me crazy.”

Her mouth twitched to the side. “I’m not anyone else. What was it?”

Fear caught my breath and “Ahone” came out in a whisper.

She sat back down in the chair, her face turning pale. “What did he want?”

“He wants me to break the curse.”

“You?”

I nodded. “He says the other Keeper is strong and I need to find her before her power grows and she destroys us all.”

Her mouth pressed into a tight line. “Do you believe him?”

I shrugged, my bravado evaporating. “I don’t know. I know he tricked Manteo, but what if he’s right?”

She remained silent.

Running my hand through my hair, I leaned forward. “You taught me that I should wait for the Dare Keeper. But what if you got it wrong?”

Her eyes narrowed. If I hadn’t been a twenty-five-year-old man, I would have been worried she’d take me out back and switch me.

“What do your voices say?” I asked.

“They are strangely silent on specifics.”

“But they told you the Dare Keeper was female and strong, which matches what Ahone told me last night. That was years ago. What do they say now?”

She shook her head, looking worried. “They stopped talking about her after your father disappeared.”

My eyebrows rose. “You never told me that.”

“You never asked,” was her short reply.

“They haven’t spoken of her for fifteen years?”

“No.”

“And now?”

“Still nothing. Even when I specifically ask.”

“What does that mean?”

Her mouth puckered. “Probably nothing good.”

This was getting worse and worse.

She stood. “What did you tell him?”

I stood next to her, dwarfing her tiny frame. I had seen her no more than a week ago, but she seemed older and more fragile. Even though she was in her late eighties, she’d never looked it. Until now. “I told him I’d wait for the other Keeper to find me.”

She grabbed my hands in her own and looked into my eyes. “Good boy.”

My mouth parted in surprise. Praise from my grandmother was as rare as a blue moon.

“Ahone used trickery and deceit with our ancestor, and he’ll use it again. I have no idea what he could be up to, but his purpose could only be evil. Stay away from that liar and carry on with your life.”

I nodded as I walked her to the door, though I couldn’t help but wonder if she was being naive. Was it possible to say no to a god and expect him to accept that answer? Had Manteo told Ahone no countless times before finally saying yes?

After showering, I made a sandwich and opened up my secondhand laptop, hacking into my neighbor’s Internet to do another search for anything about the Ricardo Estate. It had been a couple of years since I’d attempted to track down any information on it, and this search proved to be just as unfruitful as my previous attempts. It was as if the damn thing didn’t exist. For all I knew, it didn’t.

I pulled up in front of the thrift store Marino used as a front for his business. His newest front-desk employee, a teenage boy, looked just as bored as all of his predecessors. I’d been in the store a few times, and I’d never seen more than a handful of customers. I was certain the lack of business was the reason for the high turnover at the desk.

The employee perked up when I entered the musty store, but slumped over the counter again when he saw me heading for the curtain that divided the storefront from the back room where all the action happened. I found Marino in his office; a small space filled with disassembled electronic parts. He fancied himself a computer guru, but I’d never actually seen anything completed and in working order. At least it kept him occupied. An idle Marino was nothing but trouble for everyone.

When I entered the room, he spun around in his metal office chair that creaked from his excessive weight. As far as I knew, he’d never been a small man, but he had to have gained at least a hundred pounds since I’d first met him.

“Collin, my boy.” He clapped his hands once in mock joy. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

I closed the door behind me and crossed my arms. “You offered the right incentive, but then you knew that, so let’s cut to the chase.”

Marino’s smile fell. “One of these days I won’t find your mouth so cute.”

I cocked my head and flashed him a grin. “Lucky for me that’s not today.”

Marino looked like he didn’t agree with that assessment, but he moved on anyway. “You haven’t been to see me lately, Collin. I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.”

I shifted my weight and recrossed my arms, putting my left arm on top this time. “I’m here now.”

“Where’s the money you owe me? I hope that’s not why you’ve stayed away.”

I forced my shoulders to stay relaxed. “I’ve got most of it.”

“Most isn’t good enough.”

“I would have had it all, but my engine died and I couldn’t get around to all my cages.”

“Collin, Collin.” He shook his head, pinching his lips together. “You know what they say about excuses? They’re just like assholes—everyone’s got one and they all stink.”

If he’d told me that joke once, he’d told it a hundred times. But it carried more bite today.

“Marino, you know I’ll get it. I always do.”

He laughed again. “Have a seat, Dailey. I think we can work something out.”

I sat in an uncomfortable office chair across from his desk and waited while Marino screwed around with the motherboard in front of him.

“Fifteen years ago, your father and I worked on a job,” he said after a moment. “It was an estate that became available for auction. We had only just begun to case it and your father . . . disappeared.” He rolled his chair across the concrete floor and stopped next to a small table covered in papers. He grabbed a file, then rolled back to me. “Three weeks ago, I heard rumors that the estate was available again, and I got preview photos from Emilio Ricardo’s attorney.”

He handed me the manila folder and I opened the cover to reveal a stack of photos. Pictures of swords and spears, both plain and intricate, along with images of pocket watches, candlesticks, and a wide variety of jewelry filled the folder. I tried to hide my interest. There was a strong likelihood that the Dare weapons were in that collection. I closed the folder and looked up at him. “So where do I come in?”

“We know it exists, but we don’t know where. Ricardo’s attorney is in Greenville, but I suspect the collection is being kept in Charlotte. I want you to track it down and case it out. Then I’ll send Tony and Vinnie with you to steal the loot.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What’s my take?”

“Ten percent, I’ll forgive your debt, and you’ll be promoted within the organization.”

His terms sucked and he knew it. It was a test to see how interested I was. He had showed me enough to pique my curiosity, but not enough to find the collection without his help. There was obviously information he was holding back until I committed myself. Damn him. “Thirty percent and no promotion.”

Marino burst out laughing. “You’re hilarious. Thirty percent?”

“I’d be doing all the legwork, Marino.”

“And I have all the pertinent information, Dailey. Twenty percent and you commit to full-time employment.”

“Twenty-five percent and no change to my employment status.”

He shook his head. “No deal. And if you don’t take part in this, you better pay off your loan—with interest—by Friday.”

I stood, ready to bluff. “Then I’m done.” I headed for the door, waiting for Marino to call me back, but I kept going when he didn’t. Any hesitation on my part would mean I’d never get my terms. I wasn’t surprised when I reached my truck without being stopped, and I wasn’t even surprised when I drove all the way home. But I was surprised when he didn’t call me back. He knew what he was doing. He knew I wanted in. Fucker.

But I was a stubborn son-of–a-bitch, and I needed to find those weapons. Part of me wondered if I should just cave and accept his terms. What if I found the weapons and hid them from the Dare Keeper, then tried Ahone’s crazy scheme?

If what Ahone said was true, I’d finally be free.

Marino might think I was his minion, but I could escape if I wasn’t bound to the Outer Banks anymore. I could go anywhere. The thought made me eager with excitement. For a man who spent most of his life lying, I couldn’t find it in me to agree to Marino’s terms, even if I didn’t have any plans on following through. Call it pride, but I’d spent years telling him no. I couldn’t agree to be his full-time goonie now.

CHAPTER FIVE

A week passed without word from Marino. The boat engine was definitely dead, and the jobs I did for Marino—small time theft, usually involving breaking and entering—were my only source of income. It was only going to take a couple of days before I became desperate. But desperation apparently had varying levels, and I decided to climb the lower rung first.

I paid a visit to my brother.

I wasn’t entirely sure why I felt a strong need to see him. Perhaps because all the curse-related nonsense was dredging up bad memories. Or maybe I just needed to talk to someone other than our grandmother about what was going on in my life. But the need to spill to Conner was a gut feeling I couldn’t deny. And, to be honest, I was hoping he might help me out with some money.

I pulled my truck up to the curb in front of his cute house with its well-manicured yard. The thought of living in such a suburban stamp of a house made my skin crawl. A wife, two-point-five kids, a dog, and a spotless home with stainless steel appliances and granite counters. That had always been Conner’s dream . . . and my nightmare. Even walking up to the front door was hard. The only thing that made it easier was the six-pack of Corona tucked under my arm.

Conner had gotten his respectable job and made an attempt to distance himself from his disgraceful past, but for some reason he’d chosen to stay in Buxton. He wasn’t tied to the Outer Banks like I was. He was free to go to Timbuktu if he wanted. God knew I’d get the hell out of here if I had the choice. But the real reason he hadn’t left the island answered the door seconds after I knocked on it.

The gorgeous, dark-haired beauty gave me a slow, seductive smile. “Collin, long time no see.”

“I’ve been busy, Rosalina.”

“Too busy for your own brother?”

I knew what she was really asking, but I kept my thoughts to myself. She made no secret of the fact that she was interested in me. Conner had enough reasons to hate me without adding that one to the list. “It’s soft-shell crab season.”

“Hmm . . . ” She gave me a sexy pout.

“Is Conner in a good mood?”

She grimaced. “He was.”

I sighed. There wasn’t going to be any ideal time to do this, so it didn’t really matter what kind of mood he was in.

“Have you eaten?”

I hesitated. “No.”

Her face lit up with a bright smile. “Then I insist you stay and eat with us. I’m making enchiladas.”

“Sounds tempting. We’ll see how it goes.”

She gave me a pretty pout and I instantly regretted my decision to possibly stay. Rosalina was one of the most beautiful women I had ever met, and Conner was definitely a lucky man in that regard. More than a few of his ex-girlfriends had tried to jump ship after meeting me, so he’d waited until two months into their relationship before introducing us. To her credit, she hid her interest in me when she was around Conner.

I knew women were drawn to me, so finding beautiful women had never been a problem. And if I’d met Rosalina before she and Conner started dating, I wouldn’t have thought twice. But Rosalina was just like all the other women I’d met since turning fifteen—biding her time, waiting for the next best thing to appear. Conner deserved better than that and I sure as hell wouldn’t be the one to screw his girlfriend. Still, I couldn’t help wondering how long it would be before someone else did.

I was still on the front porch while she stood in the open doorway. She must have realized this because she took two graceful steps back, allowing me room to enter, but she stayed close enough that her breasts brushed against my arm. I suppressed a groan. I hadn’t slept with a woman for weeks, and despite her character flaws, Rosalina was tempting.

But I’d sooner take the Lucky Star out to the Atlantic and jump off the deck before I would betray my brother. Turned out I had some scruples after all.

“Is he out back?”

“Yeah.”

I walked through the kitchen and out the back door to the covered deck. Conner sat in a folding camp chair, watching a small dog sniff around in the yard while he nursed a can of beer.

“I hear they actually make outdoor furniture that’s comfortable to sit in,” I said, stopping a few steps outside the doorway.

He glanced up, and a grin lifted his mouth before it fell, as though he remembered he was angry with me. “Old habits die hard.”

There was an empty camp chair next to him, presumably Rosalina’s, but she stood behind the screen door and motioned for me to sit there before she walked away. I sat down and pulled a bottle out, popped off the top, and handed it to him. He took it without hesitation and gulped down a long drag. Turned out the chairs weren’t the only habits to die hard.

I grabbed another bottle and took a sip after removing the cap.

Conner turned his gaze toward me. “What do you want, Collin?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“You show up out of nowhere with a six-pack of my favorite beer. It’s not my birthday, so you must want something.”

I could have denied it, but it would have been a waste of both our time. “Do you want the bad news or the really bad news?”

He grimaced, then took another long drink. “Just spit it out. The Daileys are cursed with nothing but bad luck.”

“Not you,” I said. “You have a great job. A loving girlfriend.” I gestured to the black-and-white puppy bouncing in the grass, chasing a flying bug. “And a cute dog. You’re well on your way to the great American dream. When did you get that?”

He shrugged. “Two weeks ago. Rosalina wanted it . . . ”

I took another drink as memories washed over me, making me melancholy. “Remember how we always begged Mom for a dog?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “I think that was part of the reason I agreed to it. All those unfullfilled childhood wishes.”

I took another drink then spat out issue number one. “The engine on the Lucky Star is officially dead. We need to replace it.”

“It should have died five years ago. It only lasted this long because of your expert finagling.” It was a compliment, which was rare from him.

“We need to come up with thousands of dollars to get a new one.”

“We?” he asked, his gaze on the dog. “I’m not sinking another dime into that boat.”

“You’re half owner.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. Last I heard, Marino holds the title.” He took another long sip. “And even if he didn’t, I don’t even want the damn thing.” He took another long drag, finishing his beer. He set the bottle on the deck, then held his hand out toward me, still not meeting my eyes.

I opened another bottle and handed it to him.

He took a drink and said, “You should sell it.”

I grimaced. “You know I can’t do that.”

“Why? Because it belonged to our loving father?” he sneered. “The shithole’s a money pit.” Then he grinned. “Besides, you suck at fishing.”

My eyes bulged. “I do not.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “You’re terrible. Even Uncle Gus says so.”

I was silent for several seconds. Maybe that was part of the curse too. “I can’t sell it.”

“Look, Collin,” he said, finally turning to study me. “There’s no denying you love the sea, which I always found ironic considering all that son of the earth nonsense. But then again, Dad always took you out at night, leaving me behind.”

He took another sip and I tried to hide my frown. Conner always drank more than me, but the way he was guzzling tonight made me worried. And we both knew I’d always dreaded those late-night trips to the ocean. It hadn’t occurred to me that he might have been jealous of them.

“But putting money in that boat is like pouring money down the drain. Sell it and buy something else.”

“First of all, that boat’s been in our family for four generations. I can’t just sell it. What about tradition?”

He shook his head in disgust. “Here we fucking go again. The next thing you know, you’ll start talking about the damned curse.”

I took another sip. “As a matter of fact . . . ”

He groaned. “It’s made up, Collin. I don’t see how you of all people, can’t see that! You’ve got to be the most cynical, narcissistic person I’ve ever met—”

I forced a grin. “Why thank you.”

“—which is why I find it so ironic that you believe that load of shit, hook, line, and sinker.”

I didn’t answer. I found it hard to believe he didn’t. But then, I’d been the one to get the lessons, which had increased in frequency and intensity after my father’s disappearance. Sometimes I was certain Grandmother knew something about where he’d gone. She’d get a knowing look in her eyes the few times we discussed it. Maybe her lost souls had told her, although she’d never felt inclined to fill me in. Part of me wondered if she’d had something to do with it, but as cold-hearted as she seemed toward him, even she wouldn’t kill her own son, would she?

But a voice whispered in the back of my head that she could and would if it meant preserving the curse.

That kind of zealous dedication must have come from somewhere deep; a well of faith. Perhaps it was easier to follow so resolutely when voices whispered in your ear all day long. And perhaps it was easier for me to believe because not believing had never been presented as an option. And even if I hadn’t believed, I would have changed my opinion last week.

“That’s why I donated that damn bowl to the museum,” he said, but I heard a hint of regret. “According to all of Gran’s stories, you need the bowl to perform the ceremony. No bowl. No ceremony. That means you’re free, Collin.” He took a long drink. “Does she know it’s missing yet?”

“No,” I growled. “And don’t you dare tell her.” If the end really was on the horizon, I’d have to get the bowl back. “It wasn’t yours to give, Conner. I could protest the ownership at any time and take Gran down there to get it back.”

“You won’t,” he sneered. “You’ll resort to more devious methods.”

There was no use denying that either. I’d already cased the museum after I found out what he’d done.

I finished off my beer and grabbed another. “Something happened on the boat last week.”

He laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “I thought you didn’t take women out on the Lucky Star.”

“I don’t.” It was one of the only firm rules I had. I didn’t even like bringing them back to my house, since it made it harder to get up and make a quick, unentangled exit in the morning. But on the rare occasion when a woman lasted longer than a few nights, I never, under any circumstances, took her on the boat.

Conner shrugged. “Then I can’t begin to fathom anything interesting that could have happened on that piece of crap.”

His attitude was irritating, jabbing at my patience. “It’s the really bad news part. It’s curse related.”

“Ho! I can’t wait to hear this,” he laughed, finishing his second bottle and dropping it onto the deck. He reached his hand out to me, watching the dog as it lost interest in the bug it was chasing and ran up the steps to Conner’s feet. He leaned over and put the creature on his lap as he waited for me to hand him another beer.

“Rough day at the office, dear?” I asked as I placed the bottle in his open palm.

He grimaced as he took a drink.

“Listen, Conner, I need some advice.”

That got his attention. He turned toward me, surprise in his eyes.

“My whole life, I’ve been taught the Dare Keeper would find me and break the curse. Then we’d beg Okeus for mercy for locking him up for centuries.”

Disgust covered his face. “Which is why you have that damn tattoo on your chest. For protection. But like I said, it’s all a fucking load of shit, Collin.”

I leaned forward, resting my hand on his knee. “Your disbelief is more than apparent, Conner. But for just ten minutes, can you indulge my supposed delusions and pretend like you believe?”

He grinned, but it was ugly, and for a split second he was the spitting image of our father. A tug of recognition stole my breath away. His drinking was like our father’s . . . Did he have a temper too? I only saw him a few times a year now. How well did I really know my brother?

I recovered and pressed on when he didn’t say anything. “Listen,” I glanced toward the screen door to the kitchen and lowered my voice. “Last week I was on the sound, checking the traps for soft-shell crabs, when the engine died again and I couldn’t get it started. I thought about calling you to help me get the boat towed back to shore, but I sat out there for a while first. I was studying the stars when I saw one begin to pulse and then fall.”

“You saw a shooting star?” he asked, but the previous malice was missing.

“Not exactly.” I set my bottle on the floor and clenched my hands into fists. “It fell from the sky, but it stopped above the water, a few feet from the boat.”

“A ball of light fell from the sky then stopped and hovered over the water next to the Lucky Star?”

I released a slow breath. “Yeah.”

To his credit, he pushed on, setting the puppy on the ground. “And then what happened?”

“It talked to me.”

He took a drink of his beer then leveled his gaze on me. “The ball of light talked to you. What did it say?”

“It was Ahone. He told me that I need to find the other Keeper and break the curse.”

“Ahone?” He sat up straighter, his expression intense. “So a ball of light claiming to be Ahone falls from the sky and hovers over the water. Then he tells you to find the other Keeper and break the curse.” He waved his hand into the air at his side. “I’m confused . . . which part do you want advice about? What kind of astronomical object behaves like that, where you can find the other Keeper, or if the hallucinogens you took were too strong?”

I groaned. What had I expected from him? He’d always been this way about the curse. I started to get up, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back down into my chair.

“Collin, come on, man. You have to admit this is bizarre. Even for you.”

“I told you that you had to suspend your disbelief.”

“A load of good that did Mom.”

There was the heart of it. “You think I’m crazy. Like Mom.”

“Collin,” he said in exasperation, resting his forearms on his thighs as he leaned toward me. “You have to understand where I’m coming from. You show up and talk about a ball of light telling you to break the curse. I’m worried about you.”

I bit back my retort that he needed to worry about himself since he appeared to be well on his way to alcoholism. While I may not have seen him often over the last year, mutual friends had kept me apprised of his heavy—and ever increasing—drinking. Still, I hoped to get him to put his animosity toward the curse aside for at least a few minutes and give me his opinion.

“Okay, but you agreed to indulge me for ten minutes and pretend the curse exists and you’ve only given me a couple of minutes at best.”

“Fine.” He sat up again, looking wary. “What do you want advice about?”

I shrugged. “Gran knew something was up. When I got home, she was sitting in Dad’s chair. She demanded that I tell her what happened out on the water.”

His eyebrows lifted. “How did she know?”

“Her lost souls told her something happened, but refused to tell her what.”

“So what did she say when you gave her the story?”

“She warned me that Ahone tricked Manteo years ago and he was trying to trick me now. The same thing occurred to me when I was out on the water, but Ahone claims it was Okeus who created the curse and set limitations on the Keepers.”

“Ahone told you this?”

I nodded.

“What else did he tell you?”

“He said the Dare Keeper was very strong and I needed to find her before she grew in power. He said the fate of humanity depended on it. As well as the survival of the Manteo Keepers.”

“What does that mean?”

“What do you think it means? He said she would destroy us—all of us—if I waited for her to find us first.”

He laughed. “You make her sound like a monster.”

Fear made the beer in my gut churn. “Maybe she is.”

“Okay,” he said, lowering his voice and glancing toward the screen door. “For the sake of argument, let’s say the ball of light is correct. Let’s pretend the Dare Keeper—a she?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Isn’t that unusual?”

“According to Gran, there’s never been a female Dare Keeper before her. She’s known the Dare Keeper was female since I was a kid. And I knew it too.”

Conner frowned. “Okay, so Gran said the Dare Keeper would be a she. Ahone confirmed it?”

“Yes.” I paused. “Gran also says she’s a conjuror.”

He looked skeptical. “That’s impossible. Only a Croatan can be a conjuror, and Gran’s the only other female conjuror we know of.”

“I know; it’s extremely rare, but Gran thinks the Dare Keeper will be extremely powerful, and that the curse is destined to break on my watch. That’s why she’d spent so much time preparing me.”

“If I were to fall for this nonsense, I would take that to be a very bad thing.” Despite his protestations of disbelief, he looked genuinely worried.

“Now you see my dilemma,” I said. “I’ve been raised to wait and guard the curse from breaking. Gran is positive the Dare Keeper will seek me out and break it. Ahone is telling me to take the offensive and break it myself.”

“But to break the curse means the gods and spirits will be set loose. We’ve been told that would be detrimental to humanity.”

“Ahone told me to reseal the gate afterward. If I do that, he says I’ll be free of the curse for good. Do you know how tempting that is?”

My brother puckered his mouth in disapproval. “You’re free to leave anytime you want.”

So easy for him to say . . . He hadn’t been the one gasping for breath on a Florida beach eight years ago.

He looked me square in the eye. “What are you supposed to do? Find the Keeper, grab her hand to break the curse, then reseal the gate?”

“Yeah, but I can’t imagine it will be that easy.”

“First things first. You’ll be protected from Okeus, but what about her?”

“What about her?” I asked in disgust. “Why should I care if she’s protected? She’s hell-bent on destroying us.”

“You need her to close the gate, you imbecile.”

Shit. He was right.

“Didn’t Gran say the Dare Keepers don’t get a mark of protection like we do?”

“Yeah.” He’d absorbed more than I would have thought given his attitude about the curse.

“You’re going to have to protect her, Collin. Those spirits are going to be angry as shit.”

My mouth dropped open. Who was this guy sitting across from me? He actually sounded like he believed in the curse. “If she’s so powerful, she can surely protect herself.”

He shook his head. “You can’t count on that. Ahone is telling you to find her before she’s ready. What if she doesn’t know how to protect herself?”

“Damn.” What was I going to do? “I don’t want to permanently protect her. Just until the gate is resealed.”

His eyes widened as an idea came to him. “You can protect her with symbols.”

“What do you mean?” I couldn’t believe he was discussing this with me.

“I don’t know . . . Maybe lock her up somewhere until you need her. You can mark the doors with symbols to protect her.”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure locking her up is the best way to go about it. What if I can convince her to willingly stay behind the symbols?”

“How?”

“I don’t know, Conner,” I said in frustration. “This is all supposition anyway. We don’t know that she can’t protect herself. If she’s really a conjurer, she should be able to.”

“I think you need to go into this expecting to spend six days babysitting her until the gate is resealed.”

“But if she’s really as strong as Gran and Ahone say, she’ll never agree to being locked up for six days. Besides, Gran’s always said the gods and spirits will be weak and lay low after the gate’s open. It will take them a while to regain their strength, and they’ll be locked behind that gate again before they have the chance.”

“I thought she said there was a way for them to regain their strength quicker.”

I didn’t want to consider that, but he was right. My grandmother said the spirits and gods would return weak and instead of waiting for their strength to be restored, they would consume the Manitou of animals and possibly people to regain their power faster. “So I’ll need to stand guard over her until I reseal the gate.” I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

“What if you give her the mark you and Gran have? The tattoo?”

I narrowed my eyes. “I told you I don’t want to give her anything permanent.”

His eyes grew wide with excitement. “What I’m thinking of isn’t permanent. What if you used henna? Like Rosalina uses on some of her clients.”

I studied him, still amazed he was helping me figure this out. “That could work.”

“But only use it as a last resort. While it’s not permanent, it will last for weeks.”

Rosalina stood in the doorway. “Dinner’s ready.”

“We’ll be right there,” Conner said, his eyes lingering on her ass when she turned around to leave.

“How long have you been with Rosalina now?” I asked, studying him.

“Six months.” His gaze turned back to me. “Why?”

“Are you two serious?”

His eyes narrowed, not trusting my change in topic. “Yeah. I’m thinking about proposing.”

“Are you sure, Conner? You deserve a woman who wants to be with you and only you.”

He stood, anger filling his eyes. “What the fuck does that mean?”

I got up too and looked down at him. He’d always hated that I was a good six inches taller than him, perhaps because it meant that he was the same height as our father. He already resembled him more in looks. “Conner. It doesn’t mean anything. You’re my kid brother. No one will ever be good enough for you in my eyes.”

His shoulders relaxed as he seemed to accept my lie of omission. “I always hated you,” he said without anger.

“I know.” Maybe breaking the damn curse would be the best thing all around. My relationship with Conner could only be improved by having some extra space between us.

“I know she wants you.”

“Who?” I asked before I could stop myself. Then I groaned and closed my eyes for half a second. “I’m not after your girlfriend, Conner.”

“Why, because she’s not good enough for you?”

Shaking my head, I turned toward the screen door, but he grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face him.

“Answer me!” His face was red and the veins on his neck were bulging.

“No, I’m not good enough for her, you asshole.” I jerked out of his grip. “But that being said, I’m not sure she’s good enough for you either. You’ve put up with more shit than anyone deserves. I only want you to be happy.”

“Happy?” he shouted. “How in the hell can I be happy? No one wanted me. You were the golden child. Even our abusive, alcoholic father preferred you.”

“Are you talking about how he took me out on the boat?” I asked.

“You could have brought me! Just once!”

“Are you shitting me? I was terrified! We weren’t on joyrides, Conner. He was drilling his manifesto into my head. I didn’t want to go, but if I’d protested, Mom would have tried to interfere and he would have beat the shit out of her. If he’d tried to take you, I would have done anything in my power to stop him.”

“Why?”

“To protect you! Are you even listening to yourself?”

“If we’re being honest, you might as well know that I didn’t give the bowl to the museum to protect you.” He licked his lower lip, watching for my reaction. “I gave it to them to hurt you.”

My mouth dropped open. “Why?”

“I told you. I always hated you. I wanted you to sweat it when the curse finally broke.”

His words sliced through my chest, dissecting what was left of my scarred heart. “Hate. Past tense or present?”

“Both.”

It wasn’t a surprise, but it still stole my breath. We had a love-hate relationship, but I had always thought our love for one another would win out. While it proved true for me, it wasn’t the same for Conner. On top of everything else I was dealing with, I wasn’t sure I could deal with the pain of his rejection. It was safer to change the topic. “I thought you didn’t believe in the curse.” I sneered. “I thought you were indulging me just now.”

“I heard the stories, even if it wasn’t at our grandmother’s knee, even if I was shoved off into the corner. I don’t want to believe them, but deep in my gut, I do.”

“And you’d risk destroying humanity over some childish grudge?”

His eyes narrowed and he looked murderous. “It’s not a childish grudge. It’s very grown-up.”

“The fact that you’d put humanity at risk proves how childish it actually is.”

He swallowed. “You’re going to break the curse, but I wish it was me.”

“You have no idea what you’re asking for . . . ”

He took a step toward me. “I do.”

I held my hands out at my side. “You want it? Take the goddamned thing! I would have risked my life a thousand times to protect you from it, but if you’re so headstrong, come and take it!”

“You can’t give the role to me. I already asked Gran. You have to die for me to get it.”

I swallowed. “I know.” I kept my hands raised. “But if you want it so bad, come and take it.”

Conner grabbed a beer bottle off the deck and rushed toward me, aiming the bottle at my head.

“Conner!” Rosalina shouted, swinging the door open and running outside.

I ducked out of Conner’s way, which wasn’t too difficult since he seemed to have trouble keeping his balance.

“I’m going to kill you, Collin!” he screamed. Rosalina grabbed his arm and struggled to get the bottle out of his hand. “I hate you!” It was the third time he’d said the words this evening.

“I know.” My voice broke. Like I told him, I’d always known. I just hadn’t known how much.

I turned and headed for the door, but he shouted after me.

“Marino has the map!”

I paused with my hand on the door. What the fuck more could he do to hurt me? “You gave it to him to screw me over like you did with the bowl?”

“No, he won it from me in a poker game.”

“So he stole it. He set you up to get to me.”

“You think I don’t know how to play poker?” he shouted as I rushed through the house, heading for the front door.

Rosalina called after me as I was climbing into my truck. “Collin, stop!”

I stood in the open door, my hand on the steering wheel. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. “What?”

“Was he really going to kill you?”

I heaved out a breath, my eyes burning. “Yes.”

“He’s really drunk. He’d been drinking for at least an hour before you got here. He didn’t mean any of it.”

“He did.” I turned to her. “Conner and I have always had a . . . complicated relationship. We grew up in abuse and neglect. I got more of what little attention was given to us, which made him jealous of me. It didn’t matter that it was negative. He loves me, but he hates me more. When he sobers up, he’s going to hate himself for what he tried to do.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I think it’s best if I don’t see him anymore.”

“For how long?” she asked in panic.

“Forever.” I got into my truck and shut the door, looking at her through the open window. “Tell him that I forgive him.” I took a breath. “Tell him I’m going to end this once and for all.”

Then I drove away.

CHAPTER SIX

I needed money, and fast. I wanted to finish paying off Marino in the hopes that it would butter him up enough to relax his conditions for my involvement in the Ricardo Estate. Now, more than ever, I needed to get my hands on the Dare weapons.

After driving up to Wanchese and stealing enough parts to patch my engine together, I borrowed extra fishing gear from a friend’s boat and headed up Pamlico Sound toward Manteo. The best way to make a buttload of money fast was to take tourists charter fishing. My boat looked like a wreck, but tourists often didn’t realize that charter trips needed to be booked weeks in advance. I had a good chance of catching a few wannabe fishermen by hanging out at the Manteo docks. Some would be more than willing to look past the rust spots in exchange for instant gratification. The only problem with my plan was that I didn’t have a charter-fishing permit, but as long as I was in and out in a short period of time, I ran a pretty low risk of getting caught. Especially since I didn’t plan to make it a regular gig.

When I was in Manteo, especially by the docks, the palm of my right hand felt heavy and slightly itchy. I wondered what it meant, but I was afraid to ask my grandmother, perhaps because I knew what she’d say.

Within a week, I raised over two thousand dollars. But while I was able to settle my current debt, Marino was still making noise about putting me on his payroll permanently. I knew I should just suck it up and accept his offer. I could take the twenty percent from the Ricardo Estate and use it to start my new life somewhere else, far from his reach—maybe in some tropical paradise in the Pacific Ocean. As far from Buxton, North Carolina, as I could get.

All the more reason to break the curse so I could put my plan in motion.

Ahone had told me he’d return in a month, and before I knew it, a month had passed. I started to keep a vigil for him every night—bringing the Lucky Star out on the sound to wait for him.

All the time alone on the water had left me with too much opportunity to think. About Conner. About how my grandmother would react when she found out what I intended to do.

About Rosalina.

Not Rosalina herself, but the way my brother felt about her—how he was already so willing to tie himself down. I considered the possibility of having a woman in my life for longer than a week. Bottom line was that I didn’t trust women. My grandmother had been overbearing. My own mother had been so beaten down by my father that she’d forgotten how to live without him. Women either tried to dominate men or were like an albatross around their neck. I knew I was better off without them, but sometimes, like tonight, I wondered.

Every marriage I’d ever witnessed had been a disaster. My parents. My grandparents. My friends’ parents. My aunt and uncle were the only happy couple I knew, but I suspected they were a fluke. There was no way I’d ever make the mistake of falling in love, but I couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to love someone so much I was consumed by her. Most of the time, I thought it sounded like a disaster. Giving my heart to someone was handing her power over me, something I doubted I could ever do and I definitely couldn’t afford. Bottom line, I was too selfish to really love someone. She’d expect me to give something I wasn’t even capable of giving: myself.

But I was lonely. Mom was gone. My grandmother was close to ninety and wouldn’t be around much longer. I had vowed to stay away from Conner, which meant I had no one. I was totally alone. It had never bothered me before, but now it stirred a restlessness inside me. And I didn’t like it. At all. The sooner I got this nonsense behind me so I could leave it all and start out somewhere new, the better.

The wind began to pick up and my palm started to itch. I climbed to my feet, looking into the sky for any sign of Ahone. Sure enough, a light appeared over the water, several feet from the boat. The yellowish glow pulsed as the orb hovered over the water. It was silent for several minutes before it spoke.

“Curse Keeper. Have you made your decision?”

“I have questions.”

“You may ask.”

He didn’t say he’d answer them. Had I expected anything else from a god? “Is the Dare Keeper dangerous?”

“She has the power to destroy you and she will grow stronger still.”

Sounded like incentive enough. “If I break the curse and I reseal the gate, will I be free?”

“If the gate is closed with the gods and spirits permanently locked behind it, you will be free.”

“But they’ll all come out when we open the gate?”

“Manteo trapped them before. You can do it again. But be wary of Okeus’s tricks.”

I released a heavy breath. This was a very bad idea, but I was beginning to think I would do it anyway.

“You need to locate the Dare weapons. She will use the ring to gain power over you.”

“How?”

The ball released a blinding light. “You must keep her safe until the gate is locked again.”

He’d completely ignored my question. I considered pressing him further, but I was struck by the fact that Conner had been right. I’d have to protect the person I was determined to keep from destroying me, my family, and humanity. I could barely stomach the thought of being in close proximity to her, and now Ahone wanted me to protect her. “Anything else?” I sneered.

“Your children and grandchildren will speak of your name for centuries.”

That didn’t seem likely given the fact I had no plans to have kids.

“How do I find the Dare Keeper?”

“Your palm will guide you.”

“You’re serious? That’s it?” But I remembered how my palm had felt heavy and itchy before Ahone showed up and at the docks in Manteo. “How will I know who she is?”

“Your palm will guide you.”

“Again with the palm.” His explanation sounded pretty evasive and shady. “And if I don’t do this . . .?”

“It is as I said. She will grow stronger and will develop the power to destroy you.”

Again with this destroying business. Nevertheless, I was having second thoughts.

“With great sacrifice comes a great reward,” the god said.

“That’s just it.” I gave him a sarcastic grin. “I’m not much into sacrifice.”

“You need money for your boat.”

“Yeah . . . ”

“As a sign of good faith, you will get the money to replace your engine. But if you accept, you must seek out the Dare Keeper.

“And if I take the money and don’t break the curse?”

“Your misery will have only just begun.”

Shit. So I faced being destroyed by the Dare Keeper’s power or Ahone’s punishment if I didn’t do his bidding. Some choice.

“I will need your answer before I leave.”

“This is a big decision. I don’t want to be hasty.”

“You’ve had a month.”

Was a month long enough to make such a life-altering choice?

“Humanity rests in the balance.”

Ahone didn’t know me very well if he was using that argument to sway me. I knew it was my duty, but that wasn’t necessarily the incentive I needed. Humanity had treated me like shit most of my life. What did I owe it?

“But your brother’s life depends on it.”

So he did know my biggest motivator.

The light pulsed but gave no answer.

I struggled not to show my terror to the god. I suspected the threat came from the other Keeper, but I wouldn’t put it past Ahone to use my brother as a bargaining chip to get what he wanted. Conner might hate me, but I was still his older brother. I’d spent my entire life looking out for him, trying to keep him safe. I didn’t plan to stop now. But my grandmother was right. Ahone might be tricking me. But could I really risk ignoring him if there was a chance he was right?

I’d spent a month debating this decision, but in the end, it was an easy choice. If there was any chance of freeing myself of this curse and saving my brother in the process, it was worth the risk.

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

The light pulsed. “You have made the right decision. Find her and be ready. I will give you a sign within a month, and then you will have forty-eight hours to break the curse.”

“What’s the sign?”

“You will know when you see it.”

Fucking gods.

The light shrunk to a pinpoint and disappeared. I sat out on the water for another hour, wondering if I’d just made the best decision of my life or the absolute worst. But at least I was taking action. It sure beat sitting on my ass, waiting for something to happen.

I steered the boat back to shore, the engine cutting out several times on the way back. When I checked my mailbox the next day, I was surprised to see an envelope from my insurance company. I’d made a claim for the damage the boat suffered in the last hurricane, but the company had denied it. The envelope contained a letter saying they’d reversed their decision, along with a check. Which, incidentally, equaled the amount it would cost to replace the engine.

If I cashed this check, I was committed. But who was I kidding? I was already committed.

If I was really going to break the curse, I needed to get my hands on the Dare weapons before the other Keeper had the chance. But tracking down the collection on my own was tricky. I snuck into Marino’s office late the next night, finding the file with the photographs but little additional information other than the name and address of Emilio Ricardo’s attorney. I suppose a treasure map with a giant X was too much to hope for. A trip to Greenville and three days getting friendly with the attorney’s receptionist was little help. The week I trolled around Charlotte trying to locate the collection’s actual location was also a bust. But I’d spent nearly two weeks on the Dare weapons when what I really needed was to find the Dare Keeper. I abandoned my search and headed back to the OBX.

Instead of going home to Buxton, I stopped on Roanoke Island and drove straight to Manteo, figuring I needed to begin looking for the woman determined to destroy my life. Since my hand had itched when I was docked next to the small downtown area for my charter-fishing venture, it seemed like the logical place to start.

My palm was already tingling when I parked by the lighthouse on the south side of downtown. I couldn’t believe my luck. Could finding her really be this easy? Using my hand like a metal detector, I tracked her to a restaurant downtown—the New Moon. I considered going in, but didn’t want to risk it. What if she figured out who I was? If I was going to take the offensive, I wanted the element of surprise, and I wasn’t prepared to make a move yet.

Instead, I went into the sandwich shop across the street and ordered lunch, taking my meal outside to sit on a park bench across the street from the New Moon. I watched the restaurant for an hour, spending part of my time pretending to read tourist pamphlets before walking around the block and moving to another bench down the street while keeping the restaurant still in view.

Piecing together the information from Ahone and my grandmother, I knew the Dare Keeper was female and younger than me. Since I’d been watching the restaurant for over two hours, I knew that the customers who’d been there when I arrived had already left. And my hand was still tingling, so I figured she worked there.

After paying close attention to the employees I could see through the restaurant’s windows and in its patio area, I narrowed it down to two women, both waitresses. One was a redhead with girl-next-door looks. She smiled and chatted with the customers on the patio, her laugh floating across the street. While she caught my interest, she looked too friendly and happy to fit the profile of a woman intent on destroying me. And, oh yeah, humanity. The woman who kept opening the front door for patrons seemed the more likely choice. Her long black hair was a sharp contrast to her pale skin and her dark eyes. When she met customers at the door, her greetings sounded forced. She was a woman doing her job until something better came along. She had to be the Dare Keeper.

Nevertheless, I wasn’t going to make a spur-of-the-moment judgment. I wanted definitive proof. I went back four times over the course of the next week and a half, ruling out the possibility of the cooks since both were men. The other women who worked in the restaurant appeared older than me. But both of the younger waitresses I’d noticed were working during all of my visits.

I had two weeks left, and I still wasn’t sure who the Keeper was.

I moved my boat up to the Wanchese docks, which were a short drive from Manteo. Twenty-five days after Ahone’s second visit, the hot, humid night added to my insomnia, so I took the boat out on the sound, hoping to catch a breeze off the water. I dropped the anchor and lay on my bedroll, staring up at the cloudless sky, second-guessing my quest. It was a crazy scheme, but it was too late to turn back now.

Had Manteo felt this way after making his decision centuries ago? Had he stared at the sky like I was doing now? I’d spent most of my life cursing him; I’d never once thought about what might have spurred him to make his decision. I’d been raised to believe he’d created the curse to protect his family and his people. I was breaking the curse to protect my family and myself. Ahone said future generations would speak of my name. It suddenly occurred to me what he hadn’t said: whether they’d praise it or curse it.

As I watched the night sky, a star appeared in the center of the summer triangle directly overhead—a star that didn’t belong there. It pulsed like the previous two stars for a few moments, but then expanded to at least ten times its size and exploded, sending pieces of light raining from the sky. They fell like fireflies, landing in the water around the boat.

I sat up in shock. This had to be my sign.

I officially had forty-eight hours to find the Dare Keeper and break the curse. The clock was ticking.

I steered the boat back to the dock as the sun rose, then drove to Buxton to my grandmother’s house. She was sitting on her front porch snapping a big bowl of green beans when I pulled into her driveway, like she was waiting for me. Then again, I supposed she was. I was certain her lost souls had told her what I was up to.

“Collin,” she said as I walked toward the house. “I wondered when you’d finally show up.”

I climbed the porch steps and she motioned to the chair next to her.

When I sat down, we were both silent for a minute, the crisp snaps from the beans filling the quiet before she said, “So you’re really gonna do it.” She said it as a fact, not a question.

“I have to do something, Gran.”

“You can do exactly what all the Keepers before you have done. You can obey the rules and perform the duties assigned to you.”

I sighed. “But what if it’s not enough?”

Her hands stopped their busy work and she was silent for several seconds. “We both know you’re going on a fool’s errand, so don’t insult me by pretending otherwise.”

My face burned.

“Have you gotten the bowl back yet?”

I sucked in air in surprise and began to cough. “Excuse me?”

She picked up a bean and tore off the end. “The bowl Manteo used in the ceremony. I know that Conner gave it to that museum. Have you gotten it back yet?”

I shook my head, wondering why I was so stunned that she knew. Of course she knew. “No, not yet.” I’d been too focused on finding the Dare weapons and then the Keeper.

“Wait until she’s with you to get it.”

“What?” I leaned forward and turned my head to face her. “Why would I wait for her?”

She dropped the bean in hand and narrowed her eyes. “You’re turning your back on everything, Collin. All I’m asking is for you to wait for her to be with you to retrieve it. The spirits have spoken.”

I scowled. “It would be smarter to get it now.”

“The matter of your intelligence is currently in question. He’s tricking you, Collin, and you’ve fallen right into his trap.”

“You don’t know that, Gran.”

“Unfortunately, I do.”

The blood rushed from my head. She was probably right. What had she actually learned from the spirits? I considered asking, but decided I’d rather not know, particularly if I couldn’t do anything about it. “It’s too late. I’m committed.”

“I know that too.”

“So what do I do? I have less than forty-four hours to break the curse.”

Gran set the bowl full of beans beneath her chair and turned to me. “Then you follow through with this crazy scheme and do your damnedest to close the gate.”

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say to me besides your advice that I wait for her to get the bowl?”

She wrung her hands, looking nervous. “She’s strong, Collin. She’s hidden herself well for fifteen years, but over the past two weeks, I’ve been getting faint glimpses of her power. She may very well destroy you anyway.”

“So what do I do?”

“When you were young, do you remember how I told you that you are the priest and she is the conjuror? You have your information and she has hers. Under no circumstances should you share information with her. What you tell her could be your end, Collin. It could be the end of us all.” She turned to me and placed her gnarled hand on mine, her eyes wide. Her voice shook with fear and my breath caught. Not once had I seen my grandmother scared.

“Okay. I promise. I won’t share information.”

She nodded, blinking back tears.

“I’m sorry, Gran.” Why hadn’t I sought out more advice from her before I’d made my bargain with the devil? But I knew the answer to that.

“The lost souls have foreseen this for years.” She sighed. “Breaking the curse is your destiny.”

The blood rushed from my head and I leaned back in my seat. “What?”

“I’ve known, Collin. Since your father disappeared. I always told you that you would be the one to see the curse break. I just didn’t tell you that you would be the one to make it happen.”

My mouth opened, but no words came out.

She nodded and gave me a grim smile. “Yes, my lost souls told me. Late one dark and stormy night fifteen years ago. Right around the time your father vanished.”

“And how did they know?”

She shrugged, looking away. “All I know is that they did.”

I stood, my anger rising. “So why didn’t you warn me?”

“You had to follow your own destiny. You had to reach this decision on your own. I pushed the limits by warning you that you would see the curse break . . . but I was desperate to make sure you were prepared.”

I ran my hand through my hair, fighting nausea. “So I just go find her and break the goddamned thing?”

“Yes.”

I hated Ahone for putting me in this position. I hated my grandmother for not warning me what would happen. But most of all, I hated the Dare Keeper. Who the hell was she to plan on destroying people she didn’t even know? Who could be that hungry for power?

“I’ll do it today.” I stood and started to walk past her on the narrow porch, but she reached out and grabbed my arm.

“Collin.”

What now?

“You must give her the full six days to grow in power so you can reclose the gate. She will not be able to help you perform the task if she doesn’t have access to all her power.”

I shook my head and groaned. “I’m stuck with a dangerous witch for six days? Why do I feel like I need to bring a Taser?”

Her eyes pierced mine with a frightening intensity. “You do whatever you have to do to keep the upper hand.”

I gave her an arrogant grin. “I always have the upper hand with women, Gran.”

She scowled. “You’re too damn cocky.”

My grin widened.

Her face darkened. “Use everything you have at your disposal to accomplish your task.”

My smile fell and I nodded.

On the drive back to Manteo, I wondered if I should take one more day to find the Dare weapons. But Marino had called to tell me that they’d disappeared again. The Estate was gone. He asked if I knew anything about it, and in an attempt to get more information, I insinuated that I’d seen the collection. No dice. Hopefully, the disappearance of the entire estate meant the Dare Keeper probably didn’t have the weapons either. At least I could try to keep her from finding them. My priority at the moment was to determine whether the black-haired waitress really was the Keeper and, if so, where to intercept her.

My hand tingled as I shifted my truck into park in the lot on the south side of town. It was nearly noon, which meant the restaurant would be busy with the lunch crowd. Both of the Dare Keeper candidates would probably be too preoccupied to notice me. Thankfully it was full-on tourist season so I would be just one of many customers who went in and out of the sandwich shop across the street. No one would remember me. But sitting outside on the bench again seemed to be pushing my luck. I decided to walk around the shops in the small downtown area while keeping an eye on the restaurant.

The black-haired waitress was working the small patio, but she didn’t look happy about it. I decided to take a chance and, when she had her back to the sidewalk, I brushed past her, rounding to the front of the building.

My grandmother had taught me that I would feel like I was suffocating when I was close to the Dare Keeper—just like I’d felt that time I tried to leave the Outer Banks—but I’d felt nothing other than the lingering tingle in my hand.

She wasn’t the one.

The front door of the restaurant swung open, catapulting me from my thoughts, and the redheaded woman stood in front of it, greeting a couple who were walking up the ramp toward the door.

“Welcome to the New Moon!” Her cheerful voice rang out over the small courtyard.

I felt my chest tighten. What the hell?

I took several steps closer to get a better look at her. Her dark red hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she had on a white polo and a khaki skirt that hit her mid-thigh. She looked nothing like the evil monster she’d been made out to be . . . and yet it was indisputably her. Especially since I felt like an elephant had sat on my chest just from being near her. I reminded myself that looks could be very deceiving. I’d been warned of her power and her goal by my grandmother. And a god. This woman was my enemy and I couldn’t forget it.

I waited two more hours, until the lunch crowd thinned out and the black-haired waitress left. She got in her car and drove away, but the tingle in my hand persisted, confirming that the redhead was the perpetrator of my impending demise.

I knew there would be no perfect time to do this and backing out wasn’t an option. I decided to go inside to get a closer look.

When I opened the door to the restaurant, she was behind the counter. Her eyes landed on me as my gaze swept the room. There was only an elderly couple at a table, the redhead, and a tall waitress who looked like a linebacker as she moved toward me, eyeing me up and down as though she had just decided to stop being a vegetarian and I was a filet mignon.

“What can I get you, darlin’?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at the redhead.

Did this woman—whose nametag read Marlena—know about the curse? Was she screening me for the Dare Keeper? But the more I watched Marlena, the more I realized that what she actually wanted was to set me up with the redhead, who looked like she wanted no part in the plan.

The redhead also looked like she was struggling to breathe as she darted toward the back. I had to put a great deal of effort into keeping my breathing at a normal rate. The fact that she was affected by my presence was further confirmation.

I considered going after her. I couldn’t lose her now, but Marlena took my order—a draft beer. When Marlena came back with my mug, she told me she was getting ready to go on break but the other waitress would finish taking care of me.

Sure enough, the redhead returned with a slightly panicked look on her face. I cursed myself for doing this now. She obviously knew who I was and I’d lost the element of surprise. When Marlena left for her break, I’d make my move. Especially since the older couple appeared to be on the verge of leaving. Then we’d be alone.

The Dare Keeper came out with a pitcher of tea, looking nervous as the older couple got up and moved toward the door. “Thanks for coming in. Have a great day,” she called after them.

She took a step toward me and tripped, the tea in her pitcher sloshing over the side.

This woman was a threat to humanity?

I studied her as she slowly walked toward me, her chest heaving as she struggled to breathe.

There was no doubt. She was the one.

I gripped my beer mug, my face tingling from hyperventilation, wondering what I should do. When should I make my move? Should I confront her or just grab her hand? Instead, I did nothing as she tossed a bill folder on the table.

“You can pay whenever you’re ready.” Her words came out in a sexy rasp, but I detected a hint of fear. She took two steps back and placed her hand on her chest with a bewildered look, like she wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.

I was getting light-headed from the lack of oxygen. I either needed to make a move or leave. Immediately.

I pulled out my wallet and threw some cash on the table, then stood as I returned my billfold to my jeans pocket. I took a step toward her and she backed up into a table.

“I didn’t catch your name,” I said, but I had to force out the words, and they sounded like a growl. While unintended, maybe it would help me get the upper hand.

She watched me with terrified eyes. “I didn’t give it.” Her words were slightly slurred.

I glanced down at her chest and read her nametag. Ellie.

“Thank you, Ellie.” I was close to passing out, which would be beyond a bad idea. I needed to get the hell out of there. “Until next time.”

I turned to walk away but realized again that it was now or never. She’d be ready for me if I came back later. I still had a small element of surprise, and I needed to use it to my advantage. I spun around and took in her startled expression as I reached for her right hand, pressing my right palm into hers.

An electrical current shot from my palm, up my arm, and into my chest, jerking my body with the jolt of it.

Then the world faded away and I was one with everything nearby—the plant life, the animals, the people.

My mouth dropped open in shock. I was one with the Manitou of every living thing.

But just as quickly, the wonder was replaced by a ripping sound and my head was filled with screams and shrieks from the angry creatures that had been locked away for centuries.

I jerked my hand from hers, glancing down at my burning palm that was now marked with the black lines of a square encompassing a circle. As I rushed out the door, the screams still echoed in my head and I wondered what hell I had just let loose. Not that it mattered.

There was no turning back.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo © 2013 Cathryn Farley Photography

New York Times bestselling author, Denise Grover Swank, has written ten novels, including the Chosen series and the Rose Gardner mysteries. She was born in Kansas City, Missouri. At nineteen, she became a nomad, living in five cities, four states, and ten houses over the next decade, before returning to her roots. Her hobbies include posting witty Facebook comments and dancing in the kitchen. She has six children and hasn’t lost her sanity. Or so she leads everyone to believe.