The Curse Keepers (Curse Keepers series) (12 page)

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?

C
HAPTER
N
INE

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 want 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.”