Denise Swank - The Curse Keepers

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.

His 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.”