Krysta's Curse (12 page)

Dad knew I had the gift, too. I felt it in
his panicked voice. I could read it in the way he looked at
me—through me.

“Why do you think, Dad?” I raged. He knew
about her psychic ability. He knew I spoke to the dead, too, but
all this time he ignored it—ignored me!

“Garza is not pulling you into a murder
case!” He slammed his fists against the steering wheel again, this
time rattling the dashboard. “I
knew
this would happen!”

My stomach jerked at his reaction. Rage was
not a trait I’d been used to seeing in my dad. In fact, I’d never
seen Dad show much of any emotion before.

Until now, he’d always been my drunk,
complacent dad. A minimum-wage rent-a-cop whose sole purpose was to
drink beer and pick up trailer trash. Dad wasn’t supposed to have
feelings.

In a sudden shift of mood, Dad’s hands fell
to his sides. His chest caved inward while he dropped his gaze to
his lap. “I hear you talking to them,” he whispered.

“You do?” It was more of a statement than a
question. I guess maybe I couldn’t believe he was acknowledging my
curse.

“Yeah.” He sighed, while slouching in his
seat. “Especially at night. That’s when they used to visit your
mom.”

My throat went dry and then choked with
emotion. She was like me in so many ways. I knew I’d have a better
understanding of myself if she was here with me now.

Why isn’t she here with me now?

My mother was dead, but she didn’t have to
be dead to me.

Unless she was in a dark place like
Sunny.

Neither of us spoke for several moments. Too
many thoughts were running through my brain and I didn’t know what
to say next. I did realize that talking about my mom was too much
for me right now. Too much raw, unchecked emotion. I needed to
adjust to the fact that Adela was my mom. That she died, and for
some reason, she wasn’t visiting me.

When I looked over at Dad, my jaw
dropped.

Silent tears streamed down his face as he
stared blankly into his palms. What was he feeling? Did he miss
her, too? I suddenly understood better why he drank. It didn’t make
it right, but it explained a lot.

Maybe that’s why he ignored me. What if I
reminded him too much of her? Or maybe he was just too depressed to
take care of me.

Either way, it didn’t matter now. A killer
could go free if I didn’t help Officer Garza.

Clearing my throat, I summoned the courage
to speak. “All I want to do is put a killer behind bars. If I could
just ask Sunny where he put the gloves.”

Dad’s eyes lit up again, a raging fire
burning beneath two wide orbs. “He could go after you if he finds
out you’re involved!” he yelled.

“He’s in jail, Dad.” I forced a shrill
laugh, trying to make it seem as if he was making a big deal out of
nothing. “Let me help with this one case. Let me help Sunny.”

He shook his head. “Just one murder case.
That’s how your mom got started. Soon Garza will be knocking on our
door every week.”

“This is different,” I pleaded. “I knew
Sunny when she was alive. I
have
to help her.”

Leaning his head against the driver’s
window, Dad heaved a sigh. Closing his eyes, he spoke with a voice
thick with pain. “God, you’re so much like your mother.”

Folding my arms across my chest, I was
resolved to win this battle. “If you drive me back to the lake
tonight, we can get this over with.”

His eyes flew open and he turned to me with
a strange expression—half scowl, half smile. “Are you serious?”

“Fine.” I shrugged, turning my gaze to a
chipped fingernail, pretending I didn’t need his help. “I’ll just
wait ‘till you’re at work and go by myself.”

“No!” Dad swallowed, his chest heaved with a
deep breath and then he squeezed his kneecaps with shaky hands. “If
I take you tonight, you’ve got to promise me this will be the last
time.”

He was going to take me! My dad was actually
involved in my life.

My chest warmed, a huge smile spreading
across my face. “I promise.”

“And no more talking to Garza,” he commanded
in a stern voice. “You can tell me where the gloves are and I’ll
contact him.”

Just getting Dad to agree to take me to the
lake was a huge accomplishment and I wasn’t about to blow it by
demanding I talk to Garza. “Okay.”

Groaning, he rolled his head back, slumping
against the seat in a sign of defeat. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing
to this.”

I couldn’t either, but I was grateful, very
grateful for his involvement in my life. For once, he actually
showed he cared.

“Thanks, Dad.” Leaning over, I kissed his
cheek. He kind of looked like he needed it. Besides, I wanted him
to understand how important his involvement was to me.

I was almost afraid to get my stuff from
AJ’s house now. I feared he’d change his mind and bolt, but I
pushed aside my worries and ran into AJ’s house, packing within a
matter of minutes.

To my relief, he was still in the car when I
ran out the door. Looking through the windshield, I almost forgot
that the man in the driver’s seat was my dad.

He wore a grim expression, but I read
tenderness in his soft gaze.

Did he really care about me?

****

“Sunny?” Though dawn was breaking, the lake
felt colder, more desolate. Even with my dad standing only a few
feet behind me, I’d never had such a feeling of emptiness. Like a
giant tornado had sucked my soul from my chest. I recognized this
feeling whenever I was near Sunny’s spirit, but with each visit, it
was getting worse. Was her world growing darker? Was I feeling her
emptiness?

“Sunny?” I cried again. I knew by the
darkness inside my heart, she was nearby. So why wasn’t she
answering?

“Who’s he?” The voice echoed inside my head,
around me, then it resonated behind me.

She was standing next to my dad, looking at
him with a sideways glare.

I didn’t like it.

A powerful urge swept through me.

Get Dad away from here.

I held out both palms. “He’s my dad.”

She continued to leer at him through pale
features.

Dad looked at me wide-eyed, standing
perfectly still.

He must have felt her presence, too.

“He
won’t
hurt you.” I spoke each word with care.
Instinct told me she needed to know he came in peace.

Her gaze dropped from him before she turned
cold eyes on me. “Why are you here?”

“I don’t want to bother you.” I swallowed,
preparing for the next question. I didn’t want to stay here any
longer than I had to, so I decided to get to the point. “I just
want to know where Raymond’s gloves are.”

“His gloves?” She spoke with no feeling, but
her eyes narrowed to slits.

The mention of his gloves angered her.

“Yeah,” I stuttered. “He, he was wearing
them when he…”

Tilting her chin, she glared at me with
defiance in her translucent eyes. “When he hurt me?”

“Yeah.” The mouse inside me squeaked.

“In our special place.” Her heated stare was
still on me, growing more ominous by the second.

“What special place?” I asked through a
shaky voice, not realizing until this moment how much my entire
frame was shaking.

Why did this particular ghost rattle my
nerves so much when none before her had this effect on me? Would it
always be this way with souls who were murdered?

“Why do you want to know about our
cave?”

Her hiss sliced through me, sending more
chills up my spine.

“Cave?” So that was their special place. The
tension in my neck and back coiled even more. I really wanted to
ditch this place, but the information I needed was almost in my
grasp. “If we find the cave, we can use the gloves to put him in
jail.”

“He didn’t mean to hurt me!” Her shrill,
hollow scream, shattered the cool air.

And my nerves.

My legs felt like they would buckle, but I
had to finish this thing. Squeezing the tension from my body into
two tight fists, I squared my shoulders, hardly believing I was
actually defying her. “Yes, he did, Sunny. What he did was
wrong.”

“No!” She screamed.

Branches from the nearby trees shook.

My dad swore, his eyes looking ready to pop
out of his head.

I forced myself to be still, hardening my
face and narrowing my eyes. Neither of them could see I was scared.
I wouldn’t let Sunny use her ghoulish force to bully me and Dad
didn’t need an excuse to make me leave.

“Sunny, you are dead.” I spoke with strength
and determination in my voice. “And it’s not a good dead. You’re in
a dark place because you were murdered.”

“No.” Sunny jerked back, then shook her
head. “I can’t be talking to you if I’m dead.” Her response floated
on a whisper.

Her lip turned down in a pout while her
translucent limbs shook. She’d instantly transformed from
frightening to frightened.

I swallowed hard, then slowly began to
breathe deeper. I didn’t want to look too confident, but I inwardly
smiled. My show of strength was working.

“Sunny, I can talk to spirits.”

“If I wait here, he’ll come for me. He’ll
take me to our cave.” She looked beyond me, her gaze lost somewhere
on the water.

“No!” I barked, summoning all the strength I
could muster. This was my last shot to make her accept death. “He’s
not coming. He’s in jail for
killing
you.”

Her hands flew to her mouth, muffling a
scream that not only shook the trees but rattled the stagnant air.
“You’re lying!”

Her spirit vanished into the trees, sucked
into some unseen hole until she was no larger than a pin of
light.

Then nothing.

I gasped, too stunned to speak for an
interminable second. “Sunny, please come back! I don’t know what to
do.” I called into the darkness, knowing my efforts were
wasted.

I’d never seen a ghost disappear like that.
She had left me disoriented and confused. Where did she go? What
was that hole she’d slipped into?

“There’s nothing you can do.”

Dad’s voice brought me back to reality. As I
looked up at his somber expression, I noted all the sharp, severe
angles of his face before his image blurred. The flood of tears
that filled my eyes made it difficult to see clearly.

Pulling me into his arms, he kissed my
forehead and spoke against my ear. “She needs to come to terms with
this on her own.”

A new wave of tears gushed down my face and
I sobbed out loud into his shirt.

How could this have happened? I was only
trying to help. Where did she go? Was this an even darker place
than before? Was this why Adela never spoke to me? Was my mom in
that hole, too?

But that wasn’t the only reason I was
crying. My dad was finally here for me.

Hugging me.

I sank deeper into his embrace, not caring
if I messed up my makeup. Besides, I’d already ruined it earlier
tonight.

Slowly, Dad pulled away from me.

Inwardly, I sighed, missing his affection,
but I wouldn’t tell him I needed another hug.

I suspected he’d had enough of my drama for
one night.

“Your mom had cases like this.” He spoke
while pulling a wadded up napkin from his pocket and handing it to
me. “What did Sunny tell you?”

I looked at the napkin and an involuntary
groan escaped my lips. He expected me to use this on my face. I
wanted to laugh, but didn’t. Despite everything that happened
tonight, Dad was still Dad.

“She’s waiting here for him to take her to a
cave.” I said while using a corner of the napkin to dab my eye. “I
don’t get it. Where is there a cave on the lake?”

“Look there across the water.” He pointed
beyond my shoulder. “They probably took a boat.”

Turning, I followed the direction of his
extended finger. The blinding orange glow of dawn’s first light
made it difficult to see anything. I could vaguely see a faint
outline of something, maybe an island. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Krysta, let it go.” Dad turned me back to
face him. The lines around his eyes were set deeper, making him
look like he’d aged ten years in the past hour. “I’ll tell Garza
about the cave.”

Looking at the man I called my father, I saw
more than just a washed-up cop, a failed parent. Somewhere beneath
his dark eye-circles, I saw the remnants of a strong man. My chest
welled up with hope. Maybe he could be that man again.

I knew my mom’s death had a lot to do with
who he’d become.

But maybe…

A crazy thought crossed my mind. What if I
brought her back in spirit? He might not be able to see her, but I
would speak to him through her. Together, Adela and I could bring
back my old dad and I could have the mom I’d always wanted.

Kind of.

First, though, I’d need to find Adela.

A lump formed in my chest at the thought of
her lost to me. At the thought of her in a dark place.

“Dad?” “Yeah.”

“How come Mom never visits me?” He seemed to
know about the ghosts who visited her. Maybe she’d told him how to
find missing spirits.

“I don’t know.” He spoke quickly before
turning away, his back rigid.

He does know
.

He stomped off to the forest trail which led
to our car. I had to walk quickly to keep up with his pace.

Fresh tears threatened at the backs of my
eyes. I had to use all of my strength to keep from crying again.
“Is she in a dark place, too?”

“No.” He spoke in a strained voice.

He was keeping something from me. I knew it.
Why wouldn’t he tell me?

I nearly stumbled over a tree root. After
catching up to his backside, I drew a deep breath. “How do you
know?”

“I just do.” His answer came on a growl.
“She used to visit you when you were a baby.”

She did?

It didn’t make any sense that she’d visit me
when I was an infant and not during my teenage years when my power
was strengthening and I needed her more than ever. “Why doesn’t she
visit me now?”