The Nymph's Curse: The Collection (23 page)

“After you fixed the staff, how did it get here?” Ariadne asked.

“Fantasma, the ghost, brought it to this place. She was looking for the spirit of her lover, hoping to bring him back from the dead with the staff, but he never surfaced. Eventually she grew distraught, and threw the staff into the lake.”

Beau leaned over the edge. Ariadne grabbed him from behind and pulled him back. “What do you think you are doing?”

Beau frowned as if she had been wrong in stopping him from falling. “I was just looking to see if I could see it.”

“What would have happened if you fell in?” Ariadne let go of the waist of his jeans.

“I wasn’t even close,” he said. “Don’t worry.”

There was no way she was going to let him risk his life for the staff. There had to be another way to heal Kaden. Maybe if she got Tammy even more — better — supplies, the witch could figure out a cure for the disease. Tuberculosis was a human disease, there had to be a cure — even if the illness had been brought upon by the Nymph’s curse.

Epione stepped between them. “Beau, the staff is in the middle of the lake.”

Beau lifted the hem of his shirt as he moved to strip it off.

“No,” Ariadne interrupted. “Beau can’t be put in any more danger. This is unacceptable.”

“Ariadne is right. You mustn’t touch the blood of the lake; if you do, you will become a spirit of the afterlife. We must come up with another way of finding the staff. Do you have anything in your bag that may prove to be useful?”

Beau dropped the bag from his shoulder and pulled the zipper open. Shuffling around the contents, he brought out a dirty rope. “I used this to climb down the hole, it should hold up.” He handed it up to Ariadne and then went back to the rest of the contents of his bag.

Ariadne tried to peek inside. “You don’t have a grappling hook in there, do you?”

“No, but I do have a trowel. Maybe if we bent it, it could act like one.” He pulled the worn, slightly rust-speckled trowel out from the bag.

The way he bit his lip as he thought, made Ariadne’s pulse rise. He was so sexy. Beau let go of his lip, stood up, stepped over to the wall and picked up a rock. A loud twang of rock against metal pounded through the cave, forcing her to cover her ears from the vibrating sound. Whatever was down there with them would be called into the sound — they wouldn’t have much time.

The sound stopped and he held up the bent hook-like piece of metal. “This should work. It’ll be just like fishing.”

Except there is more than one life on the line.

“I know you love Beau.” Epione leaned into Ariadne’s ear and whispered. “And perhaps it doesn’t have to mean a death sentence … ”

“What?” Ariadne said her voice filled with shock.

Epione nodded.

Did her goddess have a way around the curse? If there was a way, it could change everything. It could change everything for her and her kind. For once, they would have real freedom.

“How?” Eagerness filled her voice.

“We must get the staff first and heal Kaden, and then I will share my secret with you. Until then, we need to keep Beau safe,” Epione whispered with a gentle smile.

“Please — ”

“I think I got it,” Beau said as he held up the bent trowel.

Ariadne blinked.
I can love him …

“Are you okay?” Beau asked.

“She’s fine.” Epione rubbed Ariadne’s arm, but Ariadne was numb.

They needed to get out of this place.

Beau frowned, but set back to work. He reached into the bag and took out a pair of latex gloves. He pulled them onto his hands. “See, Ariadne. I’ve got this under control … don’t panic.”

His words only made the sinking feeling inside of her deepen.

Beau tied one end of the line through the hole in the handle of the mangled trowel and the other end, he tucked under his foot. With a heave, he thrust the makeshift hook out into the blood lake. The object hit the liquid with a sickening splash. He let the hook settle. Slowly he pulled the blood-covered rope backward until the hook rested on the bank.

He threw it out again. Ariadne held her breath as he pulled. It came to a stop and he tugged.

“Did you hit something?” Epione asked.

“I think so,” he answered over his shoulder.

Praise the goddess.

Hand over hand he brought the rope in. A glass ball broke through the inky surface about five feet from where they stood.

“I think I got it,” Beau exclaimed.

The glass ball dropped down out of sight.

“What?” Beau shouted as the rope jerked in his hands. “Something is pulling!”

“The dead must not be ready to give up their prized possession.” Epione moved next to Beau and lifted her hands over the pond. “Ariadne, come help me, together our power is stronger.”

The thought of helping her goddess made her nervous. Seduction had been her only skill, and it was marginal at best, but she stepped next to the goddess and lifted her hands in imitation.

“Spirits of the underworld, we come to you with open hearts,” Epione said in the old tongue. “I wish to take back the staff that once belonged to me. People are in need of me, to help stall their delivery to the underworld. With my beloved staff, perhaps I can help your brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, grandchildren and friends.”

Beau watched as if they were telling secrets that he wasn’t privy to.

Epione began an old song to the dead, a song Ariadne had long forgotten. “
We remember you upon the earth, fresh and strong like an olive tree, bearing fruit and bringing joy, until death broke your earthly chains. You fell as ash upon the earth, covering it with your spirit. From the ash, new life has formed and continues in your memory, carrying your essence. You will never be forgotten.
”

Epione balled her fists and raised them to the sky. “Come into the light and speak to me. Then I pray you go in peace and dance as a child upon the wind.”

The melody brought chills to her skin.

A black skeletal hand emerged from the blood. Behind it raised a gaunt blackened head, with no hair, sunken eyes and mummy-like thin lips. The being opened its mouth and a flurry of bugs flew out from the opened maw.

Ariadne grabbed Beau’s arm and forced him to stand behind her, away from the grotesque creature as the scent of death wafted toward them.

“I have only one thing left in this world. You may not take the staff,” the skeletal woman said as her cold voice echoed off the blood lake.

Epione looked at the being without even a flicker of disgust. “I understand completely, Fantasma. Have you found the mariner’s son, the boy you once loved?”

The long-dead woman barely shook her head.

“I’m so sorry, my child,” Epione said. “If we helped you, would you be willing to give us the staff?”

The woman remained still for a moment, then in a stiff motion, nodded.

“What was the boy’s name?” Epione asked.

The woman quivered. “Gino.”

Epione began chanting again, singing the same song, this time calling to Gino. A large black hand broke to the surface, followed by the sunken face of whom Ariadne assumed to be Gino.

The sunken woman peered to her right as the man turned to face her. “My love,” he said, in a voice as aged and dry as the skin across his bony chest.

“Why haven’t you come to me?” Fantasma choked, her voice filled with long-buried emotion.

Gino pulled his hand out of the lake and in it was the staff.

Ariadne gasped as droplets of the inky blood ran down along the lines of the cracked surface. The top of the staff was a carved snakehead with what appeared to be ruby eyes. Below the eerie head, two wings extended outward, like a flying bird. Looking closer, she could see the body of the rod was a snake and around it, two snakes were entwined in a perfect swiveling pattern.

The ghastly man stared at the skeletal woman. “My love, I have always been with you. Why would you think you were alone?”

“I’ve been searching … ”

“When I left this world I left it knowing that I loved you. I had been granted a gift few have had the honor of receiving. Even if brief, I had true love in my life. I had no reason to stay behind.”

The skeletal woman fell into Gino’s arms. “I love you. I have always loved you. We can be together forever. Take me home, Gino, my love.”

Gino pushed the forgotten staff into Epione’s waiting hands.

Kaden would be saved. But would Beau be good to his word and tell no one of this place?

The dim light of dusk streamed through the entrance and littered the floor in front of them. He pulled the last bit of golden wire around the spool and stuffed it into his backpack. They had been below too long and his body ached to get back to his son’s side. The thread of life Kaden had left this morning was undoubtedly getting thinner each second.

He looked up as the light from the entrance shifted. Beau put out his hand and stopped Epione and Ariadne from going any further. Something was wrong.

He rushed toward the entrance and peered out. “Where the hell did Trina go?” He pointed toward the empty ledge.

Ariadne ran up to his side and looked out. “Maybe she got tired and sat down. Trina is my sister and she loves Kaden. She wouldn’t let us or him down.” There was a tense edge to her voice.

“Do you think Kat found us?” Beau looked over to Ariadne. There was fear in her eyes.

Before she could answer, a gray cat with a crooked tail and golden eyes stepped out from the darkness and wrapped itself around Beau’s legs. Beau pulled the dagger from its sheath and pointed it at the unexpected beast.

“Really, Beau? You wish to kill a cat?” Epione said, as she squatted down and rubbed her fingers together, beckoning the cat toward them. “This is not a normal cat. Reveal yourself, witch.”

The cat mewed with an annoyed flick of its ears. Looking up at him with its sparkling eyes, its body pulled and stretched. He blinked. There was so much he didn’t know. Not only were there witches, there were shape-shifting witches as well. The world was becoming less familiar with each passing minute.

A naked gray-haired woman with ample bosoms stood before him where the cat had been only moments before. He recognized her from somewhere.

“Hey y’all,” the woman said, extending her hand to Epione.

The goddess politely tipped her head, but kept her hands firmly clasped at her waist. Beau forced himself to step forward and shake the woman’s hand.

Tammy smiled brightly at him. “We all haven’t really been formally introduced, but I’m Tammy Blithe. I just came to warn y’all.”

He pulled his hand from her gripping, cat-paw-like hands. “About what? Is Kaden okay?”

“Kaden’s doing all right for now, he’s a li’l better than this mornin’. I heard about him seeing the priest.”

Beau bristled. Kat wouldn’t go after his son, would she?

Ariadne moved toward the entrance and peered out. “What happened to Trina?”

“Kat had the other nymphs take her. I think she’s fine, but Kat and Stavros have an ambush waiting outside.” Tammy pointed out past the edge of the pit. “I heard them talking about a staff…I don’t think they want you to be taking anything outta this place.”

“Why Stavros? He doesn’t have a dog in this fight? Does he?” Beau glanced over toward Ariadne.

Ariadne nibbled at her bottom lip. “Maybe Kat finally convinced him it wasn’t a good idea to expose the Labyrinth and the staff. The staff is extremely powerful and in the wrong hands, it could prove to be disastrous. Something with its power could start a war.”

“And a war isn’t good for a country that’s financially strapped,” Beau said, finishing her sentence.

“Exactly.” Ariadne nodded. “What do they have planned, Tammy?”

Tammy shrugged. “Well, there’re a bunch of funny-looking men who stink to high heaven.”

Epione sniffed the air. “Muroidea, I suspect.”

“Ratters? You’re probably right. We saw some the other day at the Mouse Hole,” Ariadne said.

Tammy stepped to look out of the entrance. “They are waiting out in the parking lot for y’all. Didn’t want you to be able to escape.” She pointed down the caves.

Beau looked into the swallowing darkness. “Do you think we could find the other exit?”

The goddess closed her eyes and muttered magical words. After a second, she opened them. “It’s quite a distance. It’ll take us at least a few hours to get to the other side, and that’s if we don’t run into any more trouble.”

“Let’s go.” Tammy walked down into the cave and waved for them to follow.

“No.” Ariadne shook her head. “We’re going to face them.”

Tammy’s gaze flickered to the entrance, then back to Ariadne. “That Kat’s gotta hell of an axe to grind with you.”

Ariadne rubbed her hands over her face and sighed and for the first time, Beau noticed how tired and drawn she looked. “I just want to help Kaden.”

Beau stepped to her and squeezed her hand.

“Aria.” Tammy sighed. “That’s not how Kat sees it. She thinks you’re trying to take her place at the head of y’all’s sisterhood.”

“I should’ve known she would think that. All she cares about is power and prestige. She needs to control.” Ariadne shook her head.

“Let’s go.” Ariadne motioned to the hole in the wall. “We’ll hope for the best, but be ready to fight. Watch me closely, I’ll go out by myself and see if we can talk it out. If something goes wrong, come at them with everything you have.”

Tammy licked her lips. “Stavros is mine.”

Ariadne pointed at the witch. “You can’t kill him.”

“But he killed Ms. Angelica,” Tammy said in a pout. “And that little Vickie failed.”

“Vickie was the one who shot him?” Beau said, as a wave of shock passed over him. “But why?”

Tammy snickered. “She’s real fond of ya, that one is. Didn’t want to go home, I ’spect.”

It all made sense. She had been the only person who hadn’t been at the meeting with Stavros and she’d been obvious in her flirtation. Why hadn’t he seen it before?

“Does Stavros know?” He shuddered at the thought of what the governor would do to the young girl if he found out that she had tried to assassinate him.

“I heard him talking to Kat about it,” Tammy said.