This Changes Everything

By Denise Grover Swank

The Curse Keepers

(Urban fantasy)

THE CURSE KEEPERS

THE CURSE BREAKERS

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 (Between the Numbers novella)

THIRTY-ONE AND A HALF REGRETS

Chosen Series

(Urban fantasy)

CHOSEN

HUNTED

SACRIFICE

REDEMPTION

A CHANGE IN THE WIND (short story collection)

On the Otherside Series

(Young adult science fiction/romance)

HERE

THERE

Off the Subject Series

(New adult contemporary romance)

AFTER MATH

REDESIGNED

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.

Text copyright © 2014 Denise Grover Swank
All rights reserved.

No part of this work 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 written permission of the publisher.

[Fluffer Nutter]

Published by 47North, Seattle

www.apub.com

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

e-ISBN: 9781477867624

Cover design by Sam Dawson

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.”